Coronavirus. Covid-19. Wuhan Flu. Whatever you want to call it, this pandemic has become bigger than anyone had expected and it’s affecting us in ways never imagined. I’m not here to make light of the situation; it’s a bad deal and you need to do what you can to protect yourself and your family … but if you’re like me, you’ve now got a surprising amount of time around the house (along with my 13-year-old son who’s going to be out of school for at least three weeks, maybe more).

So, as car enthusiasts, what can we do to pass the time? Personally, I have been building an Exocar with a buddy and while it’s mechanically together, it needs paint. We’re going to quarantine ourselves to the garage and get that done this week (yes, I have respirator masks that we may then wear out in public!). The garage needs to be cleaned. Heck, I have to get caught up on writing stories for DodgeGarage!

But, what about others? I reached out on social media and asked what folks are up to.

Andrew D. – “Finally have time to maintain the daily driver instead of the project cars lol.”

Mark S. – “Let’s see…quitting my job in the news media…pulling the engine on the racecar to get a rebuild…Virginia International Raceway sez they’ll be back in bidness April 1 so the vintage event is on…get the ’77 Crossle’ (a vintage formula car) ready for the VDCA event the first weekend in April…other than that, nothing…” 

Alan C. – “Fixed my commuter bicycle. Fixing up my project car so I can get it to a dyno, then hoping to sell it soon so I can buy a new mountain bike.”

David L. – “Oh let’s see… Just this morning I got the right side dash accessible for installation of the electric wiper conversion and to install the Secret Audio in the glove box. Last night I got both horns working (all were unplugged and steering wheel wasn’t cinched on far enough to hit the ground stud), but I could not get the turn signals to cancel properly. Gotta revisit that. Soon I’ll dig into the carburetor – it’s filthy, and the accelerator pump doesn’t engage until 30% throttle, so it wants to die on tip-in. Had to re-weld some clutch linkage which started to peel apart, and replace the tail shaft bushing which fixed some nasty driveline vibration. I’ve only had the car 6 weeks, but if the quarantine continues, it’ll be ready for spring!”

Julianne M. – “Detail the car, what else is there?!”

And while we’re all being cautious, we can’t lose our sense of humor. My buddies are still cracking jokes about our racecars…

Plus, a number of us are taking to esports racing: iRacing, video games and such. 

Whatever it takes to continue our passion for cars while staying safe. What are you doing to keep busy while practicing social distancing? Jot your ideas in the comments below!