Long term project vs lifespan?

[dontlifttoshift]

Wecome to the club brother!!

Most people on this forum have some sort of project A.D.D......some of us are afflicted way worse.

To complicate things, there are those moments when you realize your first, or second, or third plans for a certain aspect just aren't what you want them to be. The rework, the money, the days off the calender, it wears on you. All in pursuit of perfection, full well knowing perfection is unattainable, it doesn't exist, you press on. Cutting up perfectly good parts fresh out of the box, modifying your plans, telling yourself "what's a couple more days?" Deadlines come and go. Weld shows up in your thread to tell you how many cars he has finished since you started

You _love_ the car but you hate what it has done to your life.....consuming every waking moment. Your mind wanders, you go a little crazy really. You start to think an amphicar would be fun. Cool stuff comes in the shop and you think you would rather have that. You miss the little projects of throwing parts at a late model, compared to the prototype work we do on early stuff, drilling holes in a late model is a cake walk. You need some time off, so you go to a car show or a track event, as if breaking something on the car you have is a vacation.

You are not alone. Just this moring I had two future projects run through my head.....a 58 Edsel with a GT500 powerplant and a chassis to carry it but done up like a bellflower custom, candy, metalflake, lace, etc.....from that it was a 29 roadster with an aluminum flathead, pretty traditional car with two sets of wheels and tires designed to murder the Goodguys autocross with the right driver. That was this moring. I haven't worked on my Mustang in 2 months.......Shop has been busy....life has been busy

I try not to think about my mortality.....everybody dies, I'm going to do something different.

[Blake Foster]

I have 2 cars the Nova and a nice GN. they both sit there and I drive a Jeep to work. lol
it never rains, it is always sunny. both are insured and have gas in them. and I drive the jeep..........lol I GET IT.

[Rick D]

Ok I'll jump in as well Jim. First I'm with you on wow I had a car that ran and drove and now I took it apart to "build it" lol

I think sometimes for some of us (not me every day) that are in the industry; we get burned out and when you get home you just think it would be cool to just jump in a car and go cruse around, go racing or what ever. I'm somewhat lucky because I work in the industry but I don't work on cars all day.

I'm with you, I like the planning, the building, the finished product but then I get board and I want to start the next project. Once I get into the next one I think what the he!! am I doing

I'm just getting back on my 2nd gen after it sitting for 9 months. I would play here and there but just not much motivation to really get on it. The crazy thing is I had lots of motivation to do other things, bike ride like crazy, yard work, stuff around the house.

I'm not building a car to the caliber that you are as far as parts and fab work and mine still runs but I still need an LS motor

I'm building something I can get in and go for a drive and have fun with, could I build a 100K plus car sure I can (not at once but sure)! I chose to do other things that make me happy, like bike riding (which is about to cost me more money Marty but I'm good with it and when my car is done it's done!

When it becomes like work to go out in the shop and work on your car that's when you need to take a step back and say either I need a break or maybe I shouldn't be building it in the first place??

I think my next project will most likely be a newer car or truck?? I've thought of selling what I have and just go get a C6 Z06 and mess with it maybe I will but then I think I can't have both my kids at the same time so then I think I'll build a truck?? Or buy a new one and do it up

If you are still happy with the build keep going and you will get it done, if not well you know what to do, just have Tom bank roll it to finish it up??

[Vegas69]

It comes down to what floats your boat. The problem with a custom car is, you don't know what you have until it's finished. I hope it was worth the expense and loss of seat time in the afformetioned cars. Me, I've lost the desire for pissing countless dollars and time down the drain on a custom build. I'm certainly not judging you as I understand the thrill of the build process and the payoff of the results found after some serious persistence. Good luck on your build...

Ferrari: I don't care what people think of me. However, I don't want to be treated like a 2nd class citizen. ha (My BMW is about 2/3rds as bad)

70 Malibu: It's finished and I'm ready to turn the key whenever my heart desires.

[SSLance]

For years and years all I had to hot rod was my daily drivers, that meant whatever I did to it on the weekends had to be road ready by Monday to get me back to work. I'm certain it was the same for many of you.

When I finally got to where I had a dedicated fun car, I spent the first 4 or 5 years with it off the road a large part of the time restoring\modifying it for better performance like I always wanted to do with my daily drivers. Once it was "done" I found that it sat int he garage covered up most of the time because I didn't want to clean it back up after getting it dirty driving it.

The lightbulb finally went off and I started driving it...a LOT. Since then when I do plan upgrades to it, I try to have things bought and planned out well in advance to make sure it's only off the road for very short times. It only took me 3 weeks to transplant the T56 in the car for example...start to finish. The whole suspension was swapped out twice last summer, without missing a regularly scheduled local SCCA autocross event.

I've found that being able to drive the cars regularly motivates me to keep them on the road. I like working on them in my home garage as much as anyone, but I like driving them when done even more.

I live vicariously through others on the board with their long term custom built car projects...thankfully get my fix that way. Then I close the laptop lid and go for a drive.

[fleet]

Jim,

Maybe if you price it out by the pound... it'll look better.



Seriously, how long do you estimate before it's drivable?

[INTMD8]

Great responses guys, I enjoyed reading them.

I can relate to all of you but somehow Donny was able to type out my exact thoughts LOL.

Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy working on this stuff, fabricating parts, welding but I sometimes get to thinking, man, I'll probably have 5 or 6 years into this thing.

Probably doesn't help that I recently moved and do not currently have a functional work space. I need to get back into work mode so I don't have time to think about this stuff.

[mfain]

I don't know how to fix the time problem, but the $$$ issue was easy -- I just throw the receipts away and bury the old/installed new/never used parts in a storage shed. I started working on my "project" in July, 1975. Here I am, 39 years later, laying under the car in 110 degree weather welding in the last modifications to my FORTH front suspension. I thought I had it nailed at 3, but Ron Sutton threw a monkey wrench in that. When people ask me when it will be done, my standard answer has been "about 3 weeks". That answer doesn't hold up well anymore. I haven't faced up to the lifespan part of the equation, but I'm only 67, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Pappy

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by dontlifttoshift

To complicate things, there are those moments when you realize your first, or second, or third plans for a certain aspect just aren't what you want them to be. The rework, the money, the days off the calender, it wears on you. All in pursuit of perfection, full well knowing perfection is unattainable, it doesn't exist, you press on. Cutting up perfectly good parts fresh out of the box, modifying your plans, telling yourself "what's a couple more days?" Deadlines come and go. Weld shows up in your thread to tell you how many cars he has finished since you started

You nailed it Donny!

[Lenie]

Originally Posted by dontlifttoshift

Wecome to the club brother!!

Most people on this forum have some sort of project A.D.D......some of us are afflicted way worse.

Don, this is sooooo true!