Vision Too Big For Bank Account????

[98ssnova]

We need a neiborhood based around PT car's like living on a golf course but we will just have gargages in the hood and you will have to own or be able to contribute to the hobby???? anyone with me....

[fleet]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

I have to add just one little bit more...

I have a buddy - a retired butcher... he has a 56 Nomad too... it's a pretty decent 30 footer... and mechanically challenged... He's running an cast off set of headers I gave him - and my old Heidts tubular A arms w/disc brakes up front... and until recently had the original (rebuilt) 265 and a powerglide... There's an "early horse blanket" on the front seat...

BUT this guy gets more SMILES PER MILE than any man I've ever known... and I don't care where you go - he knows everybody and everybody knows him. Nobody EVER says a bad word about him - or his car... except... they do shake their head with amazement when he tells them he's just driven it round trip to Colorado - or Hot August Nights - or Boise... He doesn't own a wrench... doesn't even have a garage. The car is parked in a carport when not being driven... He put cardboard under it to catch the drips.

Recently - a group of his friends stuffed a 350 and a TH350 in it over a weekend and a lot of beer.... he's there to step and fetch tools - and to open another one... He has ZERO grease on himself... nobody cares.

He L O V E S his car... and all the PEOPLE that go with it. I envy him.

Great way to paint a picture Greg...

I like the simplicity of the whole thing.

Best post I've read in awhile.

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by camaro2nv

Im one of "those" But Im selling for health reasons. In a year or two I could finish it but I just hate to have it sit. I bought parts for the time were in. In a couple years who knows what new parts will be out. Then what are my parts worth?
I look at it like this. I dont have to sell it. If I dont Ill finish it later. But Im giving someone else a chance to build a car with top of the line parts for thousands off!

Take care of your health issues first !! Hope all is going to be okay!! Sux but I hear where your coming from...

[67ragtp]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

The economy isn't my excuse, I felt the downturn before the first bolt was pulled off my car. About mid 2006. I don't live beyond my means but don't tell me there aren't a few decision you've made that you look back on and go hmmm... Anyway, I don't regret building my car. I love my car and wouldn't sell it for $150k.(I know that won't happent) I simply wouldn't want to go back through the process of building it. I'm not one of those guys that enjoys the process more than the finish line. I like to beat the piss out of my stuff. If it get's cone rash all the way down the side, I just smile. It comes off, if it doesn't then it will get fixed when I freshen it up down the road. I guess what I meant was if I knew then what I know now, I would have bought a car with reasonable paint and made the changes to that car. I probably wouldn't of built it quite this nice either. The problem is, once you're all in, you're all in. You must protect your investment and the flow of the car. Luckily, I have done a major load of the work and that's saved me alot of cash. I can't imgagine paying someone to do all the little stuff. It just adds up so fast and really makes the car.

Todd- Thats cool, I get it. I guess I fall into the catogory of the big chase and love to build, I too try to do as much myself and it truly does save a lot of money. This allows me to spend the money on the expensive big ticket items, definatly the Drug Attic. Now where do I find that rehab center

With out a doubt, you guys have made my car building journeys educational and cost effective and your a fine group of coconuts as well.

Rich

[Northeast Rod Run]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

hobbies take time - over a long period of time - and should never be based on "what it's going to be worth". If these builds get canceled because they're not going to be "worth" continuing - then the builder/owner shouldn't have started in the first place. That was NEVER what this hobby was.... and if you think it was - then you've been watching WAY TOO MUCH Barrett Jackson.

after reading through this entire thread, this one quote states exactly the way I have always thought when it comes to cars. my Camaro is nothing special, but after I built it (for the second or third time), friends and family kept telling me that I'm wasting my money because I'll never get the money back. I just told them it doesn't matter, and they will never understand.

some people think I've "wasted" too much money on cars in my life. I think they've "wasted" too much time not enjoying life.

[COYBILT]

I am the second paragraph, My car was a mistake. I never meant to go all out crazy on it.

[ccracin]

Wow, I never imagined when I was eating my lunch at work today and starting this thread based on an off the cuff conversation that this kind of insight would be laid out. Thanks to everyone that has posted so far. I think anyone working on or starting a project would be well served to read through what all you guys have had to say.

Personally, I am trying to stay focused because the project I am working on is my Dad's. He has trusted me to bring his dream vehicle to reality. He has work multiple jobs (construction) all his life to provide for our family. He has let me do whatever I wanted. I've raced go-karts, rode atv's, he put me through college, we built my 69 Camaro in High School, we raced stock cars and now it is his turn. That's why it is important to me to actually get to the end of this project.

Other than changing engine choices (which he was fully in favor of) we have tried to avoid alot of these pit falls. We try to plan steps ahead so that we know where the expenses are and what we have to spend each step.

We also try not to buy then re-buy. For example we almost fell into the "Bigger Brake" pit. We have 13" 6 piston Wilwoods for the front and 12" 4 Piston for the rear. Then they came out with the 14" stuff. Do we NEED 14" 6 piston mono-blocks all the way around for what he wants to do with the truck. NOPE! Were they new, trick, and twice the price YES! That extra 14-1500 will be used very well someplace else.

Even trying to be smart, this stuff is still expensive.

In the end, no matter what it turns out like I would never trade the time my Dad and I are spending together working on this truck. The new friends that I have met along the way from this site and other places are just bonuses! It's not just about the cars.

[RECOVERY ROOM]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP!

I'm in!

Have broom - will travel!

I have 5 acres of grass to mow this summer,I will let you use my tractor

[gearheads78]

I'm on the same page a Greg just with a lot less tools (for now )

I am a car guy through the bone. Even waisted 7 years in a marriage with a girl that kept me away from them. Now she is gone and I am happy with my understanding wife

I will own many projects in my life. Some will finish so will not but I will be collecting tools and equipment the whole way to do it myself.

I know my limitations with money and I won't put myself under water.

[rwhite692]

I am in a phase of my life now (3.5 year old daughter whom I can't get enough of, very busy with work, etc) where I don't have much time at all for building my car, so it will take a long time to complete, and that's just fine with me. When I was younger (and especially when I was single!), it seemed time was relatively unlimited and I was banging out big project after big project...For me, I like the building of the car as much, if not more, than when they are finished. So nowadays I am focused on setting up my small garage/shop, and working a lot slower than I used to.

I keep costs in control (my definition, not my wife's!) by mostly buying new or slightly used parts secondhand, wherever possible. That way I don't feel like I have a giant amount of "real" money tied up in the project. I tell people all the time, that if you just have the patience to wait, and you keep your eyes open, the parts you want, will most likely come around.