How to afford a hot rod on a regular guy's income.

BTW, how much is a "regular guy's" income?

 

Haha, that's a good question. I would consider 25-35k a year a regular guys income, but that's because I'm at the low end of that range. Some might think 70-100k is a regular guys income. Just depends where you are standing.

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Some places, 70-100k is worth about what 25-35k is worth

I moved a few miles out to the burbs, stopped renting, stopped living off takeout & started making my morning coffee. A couple months of that and my house is painted, my shop is halfway functional, & I have a project car going.

 

All good advise in the thread. I've discovered that I have to do damn near everything myself to support our family and expect to have anything left at the end of the month for car stuff. "Working" at all of this is essentially my "second job". It's a lot of work to stay on course.

An easy $200-$300 per mo. can be saved by brown bagging your lunch to work.

Another $200+ by "boycotting" 7-11 and Starbucks;

$5 for a cup of coffee. Observe a 7-11 first thing in the AM. You'll see construction workers, etc. buying coffee, breakfast, red bull, 2 packs of cigs and lunch items for later in the day- $15-$20 every morning. Then to boot, they'll be back at 3:00 in the afternoon for a 12 pack, chips, beef jerky, etc. Another $15-$20. $200 a WEEK!


Another $200+ by not living on fast food or dining out.

Treat yourself once in awhile, but hell, I know family's that routinely drop $60-$100 on dinner every Friday night (and think nothing of standing out front for an hour+ for a table!).

All the above is for the most part laziness. Some of these folks work O/T or a second job-all to pay for this! Or they're forever living deep in dept on credit cards and only making minimum monthly payments.

Plan your major purchases in advance. Wait for items such as appliances, clothing, furniture to go on sale. Bought our dining set slightly used for about 1/4 of new price.

Do your own maintenance, repairs and improvements around the house. Yard work, tree trimming, etc. Learn how to do a minor repair to the washer, dryer, unclog your own drains, etc.

Then there's high living-drinking, smoking, expensive sporting events, concerts, vacations...

 

I usually catch up in about December and put my bonus check in the savings account. I do everything that I can to hold on to it until April 14, when I promptly send the whole thing to DC.

I start again on April 15.

 

simple solution,,,,,just answer one of those emails that want you to send your info to and help them get that million dollars into the USA..INSTANT RICHES,,,Not

 

The OP has given a good outline to saving in general his reason was to build/buy a hotrod. but this is not the only reason to live with-in your means, borrowing against next weeks paycheck maybe the way the world wants you to live, but its no life.


Theres 2 ways to have more money, make more or spend less. its just that simple.

Godspeed
MrC.

 

I, like a lot of people am struggling to get by..... In main part due to my wifes medical illnesses. The way Im getting my car built is by building a car for a friend that has 2 jobs but no time to work on his car. He provides me with the parts I need for the cars and I build his car. I hope to have them both done at the same time.... Wish me luck

 

Most of your expenses are monthly, mortgage, car payment, utilities, along with money set aside each month for insurance, tax payments, and other expenses. I budget my expenses based on 24 paychecks per year (two per month) when in actuality I get 26. There will be two months out of the year (sometimes three) where you'll get three paychecks a month. I use that third paycheck as my mad money, and one just happens to be coming this Friday!

 

So do you want to buy one hot oldsmobile engine and a B&M hydro to go behind it?

 

i mean, if it works for you and you are familiar with it then great. And, admittedly, Gm's tbi system is rock solid dependable---one of my daily drivers has it with over 300K on the orig fuel pump/injectors. But my concern, among other things, about that system is what if the fuel pump goes? Now you have to take the tank down etc. With a conventional small block replacing the pump is a $20, 15 min. affair and easy/quick to diagnose.

 

It helps to plan ahead.....$20.00 per week stashed in a rat hole fund ends up to be $1,000.00 in a year. In a few years you will have some bucks to work with, IF YOU DO NOT DIP INTO IT! Dip into it and you are back to square one.

$40.00 =$2000.00

$100.00= $5000.00

 

In 1972, I had waited long enough. I had to have a truck. I was building a '27 Highboy, and needed something I could use!
Found an F100, a '55, had been a nice truck, but then was stolen and stripped. Got it for $60, windows broken, engine/tranny gone, no wheels, no tailgate.
Customer gave me a 12K mile Chevy LT with flat cam; bought a $20 Powerglide, set it in and welded in a tube mount.
Bought some '50 Merc wheels, ($20 for 4 at Roman Tire) and 2) 1.85 X 15 and 2) 2.35 X 15 slightly used tires...$60, also Roman tire.
Spent $100 on brake line tubing, fuel line tubing, trans cooler, radiator hoses and Buick cable throttle & pedal.
Swap meet headers $20, I was in business!
Previous owner's registration card was in glove box, called him and he was happy someone got it to fix it. Sent me the signed pink slip! Big breasted girlfriend got it registered at San Jose DMV, by a friendly senior gentleman who drooled all the way thru the process...
I had a truck now, friends were offering parts and engines just to haul them off!
It became my shop truck, support vehicle (Old time drags, Baylands for a few years)
and took my lovely young wife on our honeymoon 34 years ago.
Now we take it to the drags, and everybody thinks it's sooo cherry!
My wife jokingly says, "Now we have to 'style' in the Support Vehicle!"

Save some money: Buy a cheap pre-smog truck! It might even be HAMB friendly.

 

This thread speaks volumes to me. 32, married with 2 kids. No car payments or debt besides a house. We live off of one income. Ive been working on a hotrod for the last 4 years. Its been in a driveable state but never finished. I run with a group of guys who make considerably more money than me, have nicer cars (and hotrods) than me, and seem to build something new every year. It gets hard to watch sometimes, but I just keep working and saving what I can to put into the car. Hell, it may be another 4 years before I get to make any monumental change to it, but as long as I can take it out and roll the tires off of it - its worth having.

 

Do not worry about what others have or what they are doing.
There will ALWAYS be someone around with more $$$ and more toys.

Work at your own pace as time and $$$ allows. After all it is supposed to be a HOBBY.

Screw the other folks and their standards and opinions ...
Make yourself happy.

.

 

I participated in an outdoor car show this past weekend and met quite a few guys like you. They had worked hard and saved until they had a nice ride. That's all it takes. They were just like me.

I used to be a dreamer and the cars I dreamed about were never going to be in my world. That's what kept me out of the hobby. After 30 something years, I woke up and realized that all I had to do was save my money and then, use that money the right way and NOT be in a hurry.

It's easy to sit back and pout at the friends who have the nice stuff, but a person has to pull up the boot straps and get a plan. That plan calls for hard work, saving money and NOT being in a hurry.

We get a thread like this one every other month and it comes off as a whiner thread because it sounds like the person is giving up or is disillusioned. Stop dreaming and complaining or looking for the quick fix. There is NO quick fix. Work hard, save your money and build something. Don't expect it to be done in 3 weeks. This isn't "American Hotrod"!

 

Hey Sambo, how'd you get rid of the brand new car? Did you sell it outright or did you sell it to a dealer? I'm kind of in a situation where I ended up stuck with a car payment (long drawn out story) and I want out of it.

 

I have supported my car hobby in the past by buying and selling cars and parts. It takes a little money up front to start but if you buy stuff at the right price you can do well when you flip it. I have also bought several OT cars(fox body Mustangs) and parted them out for a really good profit. Just takes time but if you want to make money there is always a way. You just need to be creative. CTJ

 

Easy, don't get married.

 

Some of the you-pick yards here pull the tanks to drain them. As long as your tank is good, it's just a matter of going and looking for a sender and pump that's in decent shape. $25 or so for all of it. Worst case the senders are on eBay for around $100. Not cheap, but you'll only ever replace it once. Pain in the ass, yes, if you drop the tank.

If you want to be lazy, you could cut a hole in the floor over the tank and open it up to do the replacement - go to the other you-pick yard and sawzall out a bigger piece of the same floor to put over it and they'll hit you like $10 for the piece. Then if you did ever have to do it again it's easy access.

Edit: Come to think of this I remember reading about an Escalade factory TSB that told you to do exactly that, cut a hole to service the pump and sending unit, GM even sent out panels to go in place of the cut out hole.

 

I'm hearing ya....34, married with 2 kids and another on the way !! My advice would be to get rid of the credit card, best thing we ever did. Now we only spend money if it's ours to spend. We live off one income, and am lucky enough to have a project of my own. I save, and when I have enough for the next part I get it. I went one step further than the OP and sold my car ($10k worth) to get my project started. I save all of the running costs that I would be throwing away and put it into my hot rod fund. I ride my bike to work, and we get by with only one car !!!! I know that when my car is on the road it will be a sweet (or is that sweat) satisfaction.

 

Spend only what you have in your wallet. Stay away from credit cards and car payments, make your lunch everyday, eat your meals at home and if you want it bad enough you will figure out a way to budget, save and eventually have the cash to buy it.

 

What works for me:

I used the Dave Ramsey approach and got myself out of debt first; I owe on my house and that is it.

I got there by sacrificing buying stuff on impulse, not using credit cards to make purchases; if I don't have the money in the bank I don't buy it. Save, save, save.

Plan what you want to do and stick with the plan more importantly. I have most of the parts I need and everything will come together when I get back, all because I had a plan and stuck to it. I've done without things I have wanted but not really needed, saved the ducats and I'm close to achieving my goal.

The rest will come soon enough, by the time I am back the collection will be complete and it will be elbow grease and determination after that. I expect the payoff to be what I wanted.

 

1. be oldfashioned also with the girls...party like an animal and enjoy all the girls you can get BEFORE you're married. WHEN you're married keep her...that saves more than one hot rod!!

2. just spend money you have...

3. if you do 1. and 2. enjoy your hot rod!!

 

My plan of attack was no credit cards, save for ANYTHING you buy, drive a used car (my 94 Crown vic was had for $1600, 79,000 miles) Comfortable house, large garage. Save save save

 

Im building my model ''a'' as a student. found out i have to bye the parts i can aford when i can. started with a frame (1929 model a with title) and then found an engine (1931 banger) then it was the body, the axels i got with the engine. used about 3000$ now..


- Kjell Elias 16 years old from norway

 

So true..... And hair styling products, and tatooes
for a couple thousands. Its all about prioritys

 

Hey Elias,
that is the way to go!!! good luck - what a great project and way better than spending all the money at the pub. Specially with your beer prizes!!!

 

I am still kind of concerned as to what a regular guy actually is.

I have made good money and not so good money in my lifetime and always considered myeslf to be a regular guy.

 

If you really want a hot rod, you'll find a way.