I needed that- thanks for the laugh. Just when i started taking life too serious.

Mine was a run-in with a pizza called the "Flame-Thrower" had no idea what that meant- til later that light-Chris:_paranoid

True true. I did put a ton of stuff on ebay. So far it looking pretty good, might make a good chunk of the money i need :)

btw, you have a PM mecom.

to the rest, i agree, i'm glad i calmed myself down, had a smoke and responded to mecom more like an adult... That's debatable i know, my adult status! LOL. Thanks to everyone for having a level head and no completing writing me off :D

Family and faith first. Cars can always be had later. I have been working on mine for about 4 years. I haven't done a thing till recently. I am not allowed to use the familys money. If I want something I have to budget and save. If not, I dont get it. Simple as that.

I made a decision a few years ago, that I could not realistically afford a real nice show car. I could however, afford a real nice weekend driver. It may take time, but it will be there some day. I could finance it, but then it changes the true flavor of what the car means to me.

I now enjoy what others do with thier talent and thier cars. I really like to see it when someone does something diffrent. Actually seeing cars like Jodys and Charlies make me appreciate our muscle cars that much more, as it shows me what can be done to them. I may never have a car of that caliber, but they are cool to me none the less.

Keep you money and mind in balance. If you can afford it, by all means do it, if not, be true to yourself and admit it that you really should be happy with what you have. I will guarntee there is someone who whishes they have what you got...even if you fell you have nothing.

There is no doubt that you have to 'pay to play'. When I go to a car show, I tend to notice that most of the people who drive deuce roadsters, and midyear Vettes have gray hair. To me, this says that these people have finally come to a place in their lives where the kids have moved out, retirement is close by, and they have earned enough extra bucks to build or own the car they have always dreamed of.

Anybody can have a cool car. It just depends on what level you want to be on. I have seen $1500 cars slammed on the ground and coated with primer that interest me more than some 100k+ cars. But.....you still have to have that $1500 bucks.

I have sacrificed many things in order to induldge in my car habit. I don't go to the bar on Friday and Saturday nights. I don't go out to the casino. I try to stay away from fast food lunches. Little things like that help me to have a few extra sheckels in my pocket for when it is time to order parts. Yeah, I have missed some good times going out and partying. It is all worth it when I put the key in the ignition and fire up one of the cars.

What forum was this on??

Very well said in my opinion. I do the same thing. I spend when I have to, but mostly, I "keep my eye on the prize"!!!
I own a '99 Hugger Orange SS which I will eventually sell, investing that money and then building my '69 Camaro/Chevelle SS. May take some time, but, it will be well worth it.:cheers:

Not a rich man's hobby at all, IMHO. Unless you don't consider a car PT until every part has been upgraded from stock and it outhandles 'vettes and looks like sex on wheels. But that is not the definition of Pro-touring IMHO. To me any car, especially a classic, that has been upgraded with more power, better handling, and body and interior improvements (but not necessary), qualifies. IMHO some guy who goes to the junkyard finds big brakes from another car and bolts them to his car, or uses lowering blocks to improve the roll center of the car, and other such mods, I would consider a PT guy. You don't always have to use expensive aftermarket parts (although they are nice). You don't really have to spend much money to be into PT, again my humble opinion only. If you want it to be nice and look great then yes you gotta pay to play.

I think we get the impression that this hobby costs big bucks because the pics and specs of the high-dollar cars are much more widely circulated, whereas the average dudes' car doesn't get the coverage, leading to the false impression that a "real" PT machine costs HUGE money. But truth be told, I think the vast majority of us (like me) have less-than-complete cars, with only a few thousand here and there invested of our hard-earned dollars, as time and money allows. Most of us sacrifice big time and put in extra hours to get that next trick widget for our cars.
:lateral:

rich mans hobby... with this hobby not rich for long :-)

seriously, like any hobby it costs all the money you can spare, and some people spend close to a million on a cuda and sell it for half.. others spend what some considder alittle, others alot.. on a camaro.. or malibu :unibrow: and end up with somthing that is just as pro-touring, so the answer is definately no, it is not a rich mans hobby, but it certainly isnt cheap either

if you look at some of the coolest tro troring cars out there they are built by somone with a a good welder and a lot of clever engineering, not all the money in the world, take charles libbys 66 fairlane, or the schwartz caddilack attack... they arent super high dollar cars but i cant say they are any less PT than any other car..

I could come up with a extra $1200 a year for ya. When I quit smoking 10 years ago I put $4 a day in a jar as I left for work each day to substitute for my 2 packs I would purchase every morning. At that time with 3 kids 9 to 13, my money was as precious as yours appears to be. 1 1/2 years later I was on vacation in Jamaica for my 10th anniversary, something I would never had been able to do.

BTW, this is not some quit smoking preaching, Lisa still smokes like a chimney. The money savings was the focus here.

yes you can build low buck pro-touring car,chevy high performance did on it was call the brady wagon,i have two novas i am build right now,1978 nova that i driven since 1989, it has 350ho 330 motor ,200r4 with 2.73 gears,lowed two inchs and has 255/60/15 and 195/60/15s, on rallys,plans are to get 16 inch rallys, my other car is 1979 nova it been lowered two inchs,4 wheel dics brakes, a 4 speed with 290hp 350hp, with tbi fuel injection been working on both car for over 10 years that my 2 cents