Until recently, I hadn’t really given much thought to this question. I owned one car (okay, two cars, but one has been parked at my parent’s house for years with only minimal ribbing from my dad to get rid of it) and it was my daily driver, bought brand new, and everything I needed in a car—well, almost everything.

This past summer, I bought another car—a Fiero—to build for racing. I’m now in possession of two cars—one that I drive every day and one that I can’t drive at all since it’s in pieces in my garage.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) I also have a thing for station wagons – specially 70s Dodge Colt and Volvo 240/245 wagons.

I have just enough space in my garage for one more car, which makes the urge to get a wagon almost unbearable. This, however, leads me to the question: how many cars is too many?

I have a daily driver. I have a car to race. Do I need another car to drive occasionally? How many cars can I own and drive before I can’t get around to all of them? How do I decide which cars are insured to allow me to drive them at any given time since, well, insurance isn’t cheap?

These are all points that need to be considered.

Another point, though, is whether or not I can afford to purchase another car. Especially if this car needs to be rebuilt, restored, or repaired in any way to make it drivable. On the other hand, though, the condition of the car has a direct impact on the price of the car… more wrong with it, the cheaper it is, the more affordable the car (itself) is. But the more expensive it can become.

Does the purpose of the car have any impact on the number of cars is appropriate?

One daily driver—shared between myself and my fiancée. One car earmarked for racing—and the associated breaking. Is there room for another car to drive on nice days, in the summer, and on beautiful fall weekends in Michigan? I mean, it’s possible. I can come up with ways to justify it (mostly to myself).