Bragging about build cost

I often hear car owners proudly proclaiming how little they spent to build their project vehicles. It seems to have become some sort of contest: "I built my Model A for $4000." "Oh yeah, well I've only got about $3200 in mine." Another forum has an Under $3000 Club - strictly on the honor system. It is as if everyone wants to be thought of as the shrewdest builder and parts buyer around. Nobody wants to admit that they overspent. It makes them look stupid. If there's one thing I've discovered on the internet is that there are a lot of liars out there...

The fact is, there are many creative ways of calculating the total you've spent on your hot rod. There was a fellow who claimed his car had been built for under $3000. Turns out his dad GAVE him the original vehicle. Sorry man, but that's cheating on your total.

Another method of cheating is if you already owned many of the parts and pieces of your project and therefore are failing to include the original expenditures in your total.

Yet another way of cheating is to have traded labor or services for parts and are therefore counting them as free. That's like working for a month, using your paycheck to buy a car, then claiming you got it for free!

I don't suppose anyone would stoop to stealing parts for the purpose of gloating about the cheapness of their build...would they?

In most cases, build cost exaggerations are much less nefarious than that. The truth is that most builders really don't keep track of EVERY SINGLE CENT they've put into the car. If someone asked me, by memory from looking at my car, I can only account for about $5000 in my 34 Ford PU. But when I add my detailed receipts I'm always amazed to discover that it's nearly twice that. And I have done 100-percent of the work myself, fabricated almost everything, bought almost nothing. I KNOW what it costs to build one of these things. Hey, those $1.57 nuts and bolts add up!

Probably these ridiculously low build cost figures are a combination of all the above errors. And a little exaggerating as well...

So guys, we know you're fibbing so lets knock off the bragging about how cool you are cuz you only spent X-dollars on your build and get back to bragging about what's really important:

...the size of your penis ;-)

 

Mines just under a foot long....

 

Mine's 2 inches............from the ground.

And so far I've Made 1 million bucks on building my car....

Seriously though. I have a hair over 4k in mine including materials and gas. If you counted the parts I have sold that came with it or I got with parts I need it would be less. I'm sure I have at least that much more to spend. None of this includes my time.

 

Whatever I spent I think there is probably about a third of that amount either sitting on a shelf in unused parts or in the scrap bin.

 

Think it also from another side; there are many people who are eager to tell that how they have spent six digit amount of money on their car... and still, their car possibly looks like s*it.
Amount of money spent does not have much to do with that how car looks... and how car looks is one of the biggest reasons why kustoms/hot rods are being built.

 

It is inherent to our nature to brag, the first guy "rich man" that bought a car bragged about how much he spent on it to make himself look good in the eyes of his peers...............the first guy "poor Joe" who could buy a model T bragged to his buddies how affordable it was, and how he haggled the price down so far that the salesman was in tears.
Both achieved status in the eyes of their friends through bragging, male puffery is second nature.

 

400 hours of welding coust something

 

Neatly tucked in my sock

 

Maybe they need a good story to tell their wives about how much they have spent

 

No idea what mine cost and not that interested
Try to keep cost's within what I have available when I am after parts.
.
Sell some parts.
Buy some
Buy some
Buy some
Sell some.
etc.

8 inch is the new 6

 

I thought 6=8

 

when your a 10 you dont worry about stuff like that

 

As far as I'm concerned, it's nobody's business but mine how much I spent on my build, because it's never been about the money. We seem to live in a world obsessed with putting a monetary value on everything.
"How much is that worth?"
"How much did that paint job cost you?"
"How much does it cost to fill the tank on that?" Etc etc etc………
In my humble and very personal own opinion you can't put a price on passion. It would never occur to me to brag to anyone how cheap this was or how expensive that was. Even I don't know how much I've got in my truck, so why would anyone else want to know?
Paul

 

Low buck usually indicates invested sweat and ability. Many guys who doubt don't want to recognize the abilities of others, or just are not as capable and they will criticize rather than recognize. Some complain because they don't want people to recognize that they were irresponsible or reckless with there money. The best thing about the low buck guys is that they will show you how or what you can do for a less costly alternative. Many big buckers can tell you how much (or what catelog) like it's a "I'm better then you cause I got the means" bragging point. It takes all kinds, the low buck guys are some of the hardest workers on their cars....the big buckers are some of the hardest workers in business. Neither are exclusive or unappreciated. I know more than one guy with means and did the work himself. But, I do appreciate the cars built by guys who built a more modest project.

 

I wouldn't bother including consumables if I detailed a build.
Why?
Because I'm always building SOMETHING so the consumables disappearing are a given! It's like asking someone to detail their BEER consumption during the build!!! Hahaha

I don't give a rats ass about how much someone else spent on any of that stuff either...the interesting stuff is the parts sourcing and horse trading involved etc...

Are you pissed because someones adding up a lower number????
Ignore them. They're just pushing your buttons...

 

With my cars I keep all the reciepts and have a rough idea of how many hours I have into the build, but I never add it up, I don't want to know and don't really care what the money is in my car. The only time I even think about all the money and time in my car is when I go to insurance company to put a value on it. Some people always ask "how much you have in it?" I always say "lost track of the dollars in the car years ago" its really no one business and if they really want to know build your own.

 

Why would anyone keep receipts for parts they use in the construction of a Hotrod?
Unless you charge yourself a hourly labor charge,your only calculating half the cost of construction. This is supposed to be a HOBBY. To get a accurate cost, you would have to calculate the cost of all parts that go into the build,every part, even things you already own. Then you have to calculate your labor.
Why would you want to do this for a hobby? Does anyone really actually care how much you have spent in the construction of your Hotrod? I really don't think so.
When the car is finished,and gets appraised,the insurance will pay out the appraised value in case of total loss.
I have built a few cars,and never keep the bills. I have built frames,front suspensions,rear suspensions, welded body panels in,painted,did some interior and wired hot rods from scratch. I will never keep the bills,unless I was doing the build for someone else.
Enough ranting for now,
Cheers,
Roger

 

When they say it only cost $3000 to build, offer them $4000 to build you one just like it and keep the extra for profit.

 

I've got too much in mine and it isn;t running yet. I bought some one else's unfinished project. I got in from a hamber who changed course for reasons known to him. He put it up for sale here, I called him. He sent more pics. we discussed so more, came to an agreement and I bought it. Hopefully I will have it going early this yr,not finished, but driveable. I'm happy, he's happy. Don't care if anyone else is.

 

2 schools of this angle;

The gold chainer who boasts how much he spent; "that's a 50k paint job or 40k motor you're lookin at partner"!

The low buck do it all yourselfer who's only out of pocket cost seems to be oil and coolant to fire up his new build.

I love reading about builds where a guy starts talking about the car and parts he had "laying around the garage or "got from a friend" in trade" and decided to build a Hot Rod out of it. "This build starts with a chassis a friend gave me, and a 392 that was collecting dust in the corner of my garage..."
If you continually horse trade long enough, you could build a car for very little, but you also have to consider the value of the parts and your labor you traded to get the parts. To me, that's part of the fun.

 

i spent a lot of money to buy my 55 and a lot of money to get it going and it's still a piece of shit! a pretty cool piece of shit but a piece of shit none the less.

 

I wish I could throw some money at mine.

 

I hate the first reaction of most to ask, "How much did that cost?" "What did you get that for?"

I say every time whether its a car or whatever, I got it for a good price or I say I am happy with what I paid for it.

If you say a high dollar amount you are an idiot in their eyes or if you say a low enough dollar amount you are a hero for getting such a great deal.

Its funny how many times that same person will keep asking you over and over "How much" until you tell them to shut the fu©k up!

 

I do save the receipts BECAUSE if I need to fix or replace something ...
I have the part number and know where I bought it

I generally spend too much on my projects ... and have more money in them than their are actually worth. But I build them to suit me ... not to sell ... so it does not really matter.

Most here ... have way more money in their rides ... than they are worth anyway
... if the TRUTH was known.

 

The only time it's important to find out how little you spent is when you're evaluating a RR!!!!

The rest of the cars on this site, who cares!! We spend money on our cars some more than others, it don't matter cause when we get in and start em up and drive em down the street we all got smiles on our faces!!!

 

well i guess i may be guilty of that. when people ask about my 64 i tell them i got if for free for hauling it off. i do have about 4000 invested in it though, but it's no show truck. i save all my reciepts no matter what i do so i can see where i got it and part numbers and such. it's always a little depressing to add it up, like he said the nuts and bolts add up.

 

How is it "Cheating" if you build a car that someone gave you or by using parts that you had? The bottom line, so to speak, is that is still what it Cost you to build it. It's not "Cheating" it's Jealousy! If someone gives me a bunch of parts, and I get a car for free, then trade out for some labor the fact is I still only have X amount of dollars in it and that is real - not "Cheating". Could it be done again? probably not. Does it mean that's all it's worth, I certainly hope not, but the fact is, that is the amount in that car at that given day. More importantly SO FUCKING WHAT, Who Cares?

As for saving receipts, I always keep every one, down to the last washer, and I put them in a spread sheet. I want to know exactly how much I have in each build. Why? so I know if what it would cost to build another and so I have a better idea of what it should sell for. Many folks do this, many don't ~ again, who cares?

 

the trading and buying with intent to trade stuff has really helped keep the cost of my topolino build low....$600 354 hemi traded for help with my frame work, Z'ed, front n rear...frontend tabs welded and triangulated rear 4 link tabs, motor mounts built ...thanks Kirk!!!19 old nos hemi blower pistons came with that hemi,,,traded for cash off on my running 325 hemi...and adapter for the WC T-5 adapter and flywheel mods....but this was all financed by the sale of my 72 blown vega wagon....don't even want to think of the cash thrown at the wagon over 14 years.....

oh yeah, and how much should i put on the hours of thinking...yeah, thinkin about how to do something in the build process...a dime per hour???hell i got a few thou in it if that was the rate,,,,

i agree with the hobby aspect of it....and i've found most aren't honest about the big HOW MUCH thing....braggin it up...or braggin it down.....i do know that 3 1/2 years later...2 driving , nice ass hod rods sold off to fiance parts.....not enough cash( if i had spent enough by now, i would be drivin it) and a ton of "o f--k's and damnit's and i'm still not done....

guess it don't really matter......ain't buildin it to resale and retire....even if Barrett Jackson does call

 

i brag because its not much i heebed someone for their parts but how the majority of the car was hand built by yours truly. built not bought. i don't brag about the cost of tools to make my parts unless i built the tool.

 

so its cheating if a family member gives you a car? what if it wasn't family who gave ya the car? my friend's ex gave me her car. so far i have made money on my car bought a frame with a bed attached to it, sold the bed for $50 more then what i payed for it, got the car for free, got another car for free that donated wheels and interior, sold the wheels for $150, still have the original frame, its slowly donating bits of steel for other projects, but then again i have had the car for a good part of 5 years and still haven't got the body on the frame, and the frame has donated the gas tank and a crossmember for my other project, that one i only have about $500 into the van but it cost damn near $2k to get it with hotels gas etc etc, does that count? lol its a bunch of grey areas in all of this..