Projects The car you just had to have and you ended up disliking it

Gary (GMAN) made a comment on another thread that struck a chord with me and reminded me of a similar car building experience.

I will let him tell his story but mine is almost the same,basically the I have to have it car is different.

We were at a big show (NSRA Columbus) and happened to see a 39 Ford convertible and fell instantly in love with the style,top up or down it was gorgeous and I made up my mind that day that was my next build.

We we got home I put my 1940 Ford DeLuxe sedan up for sale,I had owned this car a long time and it was as straight as a string and black paint that had absolutely no distortion in a image when looking down the side...it was a extremely nice car and built traditional.but I had to have a convertible.

The car sold quick as I had already had several guys wanting it.

I spent several months l0oking for a suitable car to build to no avail so I decided to go with a glass Gibbon body 39 with a lift of top.

I built the car with a dropped axle,sbc,automatic,PW and it turned out nice,but I hated it before it was finished but drove it for a couple years and the sent it down the road,Racinman and I did some trading and he had a running car and I had a builder deuce and I couldn't have been happier. HRP

 

In high school in the fifties, I had a nice original '36 Ford tudor slantback. That car started a longtime lust for a '36 3-window with a full race Merc, a '39 transmission, hydraulic brakes, and a rumble seat (with the requisite roll-down rear window). Forty years later I was able to realize my dream and built the exact car I wanted. I ended up with a real nice lookin' car that was very cramped inside, ran strong, and regularly trashed the drive train. I finally sold it to a local guy who made me the proverbial "offer I couldn't refuse". I suppose I could have upgraded the drive train and done something about the cramped interior, but then it wouldn't have been the car I had desired for 40 years. When I had my car, I ran into a guy who had the same car, except it had a Lexus drive train and a $20,000 interior. I wouldn't have even considered an even trade.

I didn't really "dislike" the car, but was extremely disappointed in how everything turned out. Funny thing is that I have never regretted selling it.

 

Danny,
What was it that you didn't like about the '39 you built?

 

have a rat rod style 31 bantam coupe. all old (mostly) 46 flathead al. heads 2 twos etc. won 1st at the only car show I went to ( local) can`t see sitting around doing nothing but jawing all day. looks very good but a major pain in the butt to drive. I`ll never chop the top on a car again. I`m going to find someone with a gasser to horsetrade. I`m going to stick with my first love drag racing

 

Danny,your question is so easy for me as I'll never forget the 62 Bullet Bird I bought years ago..Worst car of my life time and I have owned many.. before and after.

 

I had one like that. I always lusted after a 1964 Galaxie XL convertible since they came out new when I was in high school. A school mate had one and it was love at first sight.
Well a few years back I found one and bought it. It was beautiful but needed a few refinements. I got it all fixed up to my liking and started driving it. It was HUGE. It drove nice for a big car but to me it was just too large for my liking. And being bald made me realize that convertibles are not for the folically challenged. I ended up selling it for what I had in it. No more big 60s cars for me, they look nice but no longer my style.

 

In 1970 I bought a 62 Corvette, worst POS I've ever owned, squeaked, rattled, front suspension was what GM used in 1949, handled terrible, fit and finish was lousy!

 

sorta. My O/T small-block S10. I knew going in that I just don't like pick-up trucks, PERIOD. But I need one, like it or not, sometimes I gotta haul stuff that just wont fit in a trunk. As PU trucks go, its not bad, but its still a PU truck, and I don't feel "right" in it, never have. Hard to see out of, more "vehicle" behind you than in front, shitty weight distribution, plows like an Oshkosh, ect.

 

My first car, when I was 16 y.o. I saw a 64 Suburban parked on the side of the road with a for sale sign in the window. I stopped and checked it out, it was cheep, maybe a couple hundred bucks, and for whatever reason I just had to have it. I told my dad about it, and he went with me to go check it out, and he wasn't pleased at all. He pointed out the body rot all around the bottom, which I didn't really understand what it was or why that was bad. He pointed out that the engine was tired and would need rings, I didn't care. I just had to have it. So I paid the man the cash and drove it home happy as a pig in sh!t, parked it in the garage and there it sat for well over a year as I slowly worked on it every chance I got. I spent every dime I got on that damned thing. Dad and I did an in-frame overhaul on the engine, my first real engine rebuild bigger than a Briggs and Stratton or a Yamaha 175. I did learn a lot working on that thing, but I never really got it to the point where it was usable, I eventually got tired of the whole thing and ended up driving it down to the local Dodge dealership and trading it in on a used 71 Charge SE. It was a big lesson to me, the old man knew a lot more than I gave him credit for.

 

For me, it wasn't dislike, it was more of a love/hate relationship. I developed a Jaguar fetish for a while (specifically, XJS coupes) and while I loved the idea of the car (and when everything was 'right' it was great), the reality fell far short of the ideal.

I still love Jag suspensions, but the bizarre mix of old/new tech on these things will drive you crazy.... And the shittiest wiring ever...

 

Chevy II Nova. No matter how much I upgraded the suspension, at the end of the day it was still a cheap car.

 

I'm happy to say this has never happened to me.
I've liked every car I've owned.
I've got the opposite story with an English truck I own.
Always thought they were as ugly as sin, but after driving it, I found I love it, regardless of its looks.

I can say I've had this problem with food, haha.
Looks nice, but once you bite into it......

 

Back in the late 70's I bought a nice looking but troubled 57 Chevy Hardtop. Loved looking at it but it handled terribly , had electrical problems and I ended up replacing the engine. I had it about 3 years I think and it sat in the shop most of the time. When I finally got fed up with the electrical glitches I put it up for sale. The night before I sold it I went out to the shop to start it up and it wouldn't start (again). So I went under the dash and cut some electrical tape away form the loom to find a bunch of wires melted together. I wish I would have checked down there much earlier.......

I worked late into the night and patched up the wiring. Now everything electrical worked great....... The buyer came the next day and got an excellent deal on the car. I lost a few grand on the car. I still like looking at the 57 Chevy's but have never been tempted to buy another.

 

I had built a 54 Dodge pickup. It was a great truck, drove very nice, my wife and I really liked it, but after 5 years of driving the motor was getting tired. I found a 39 Plymouth business coupe. I just had to have it. It was an AZ car, the very best body on a hot rod I ever had, and it was cheap! To buy it, I would have to sell the 54.
I got enough out of the 54 to buy the coupe, and have some cash for some needed upgrades. That was about the time my love for the 39 started to drop. Everything I did with that car was a struggle! Nothing worked the 1st or 2nd time, everything cost more money. This was my 3rd ground up build, but is was worse then the first 2 put together! After we finally got it on the road, it was unreliable, usually nothing big, but it seemed as though I always had to mess with something before I could drive it home. The car didn't have any power, and it got poor gas mileage to boot. It was hot, or cold inside. I so so sick of trying to do anything that might make it better, because it was always a battle.
Then, I blew up the motor in my work truck. I had to sell the 39 so I could put a motor in the coupe. (Not really, but it was a good excuse!) Someone showed up with cash and the coupe went away! It didn't go very far, its still in this area. The guy that bought it has had to have a bunch of stuff redone (even stuff he had done needed to be redone, nothing has changed.) He did get the car painted, and its really sharp, but he won't drive it over 40-50 miles because he says its unreliable! I really don't miss that car at all, but I wish I would have put a new motor in that 54 pickup! Gene

 

Speaking of British cars: I bought a really early 1958 Austin Healey Sprite. The yanks call it a Bugeye and the Brits call it a Frogeye. Anyway I decided that I was going to restore it to Concours standards and off I went. The really early Bugeyes had a bunch of different stuff that the later ones did not. The big difference is that the really early '58s had a 9 snap top to attach the top to the windshield much like the TR3s. The windshield frame was chrome and much thinner than the later models.

After 9 years, 3 trips to England to find stuff at autojumbles (swap meets) and more than a few tankards of ale I had the car judged in Piqua, OH in 2001. I think it was 992 points out of 1,000 and was awarded the Gold level by the Austin Healey Club of America. It was, and may still be, the only gold level concourse Bugeye with the 9 snap windshield.

As I was standing at the event while people were taking pictures of the car and me I decided that I had to get rid of the car. I sold it within three weeks after I got back and it went to a lawyer in Chicago. It had 11 miles on it. He and his wife still have the car and spend a lot of time telling people how they restored the car.

Sorry it is gone? You ever had a boil on your butt? Were you sorry that it went away?

 

wbrw32 - what was it about the 62 Bullet Bird that you disliked? I ask because I have a buddy on the hunt for a classic car and a 61 is on the top of his list.


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Ugh. Sunbeam Alpine. Fell in love with the thing and got it cheap, which was a clear warning. Broken rod. Found a wreck and swapped engines. Kinda zippy, but the charging system was slow torture--I think it worked properly for all of 10 minutes during the year I owned it. Doubled down on my mistake by bailing it out of impound. Should have let the city keep it.

 

Yep. Back in the 90's I was doing a lot of work on customs, chop tops, sectioning, that type of stuff. Started hanging out with some of my customers at the shows that featured more of the custom then hot rod thing like PASO or Los Banos. A friend had this good looking 54 Ford, lowered, Buick trim, Chevy grill ect. It had actually been the KKOA give away car a few years earlier. I ended up doing some trading for it, thought I wanted a custom and start participating with these guys. Hated it, it was slow, scrapped up every driveway, plus even though it was pretty it was a mechanical pos. Couldn't bring myself to rebuild the drivetrain so I got rid of it and got a 52 Ford coupe, radioused the wheel wells, put a hot Olds engine in it, much more my style. Learned my lesson, I'm a hot rod/ drag racer type of guy, low and slow is not for me.

 

'57 Chevy hardtop, worst mechanical device ever, hate 'em to this day.

 

Two of them! Actually bought for the wife, two different C4 Corvettes, a 84 and a 86. 84 was a hurry up buy, I didn't look it over as good as I should have, it had been ran hard and put up wet, wiring was butchered, tv cable was tied to the carb and nowhere near where it was supposed to be on adjustment. After I spent several dollars trying to fix all the screw ups, the transmission quit going into od, I cut my losses and sold it, actually making a few dollars.
Second one, an 86, seemed to be a pretty good car. Checked it out good before I bought it, didn't find any major screw ups. Drove it for 6 months, then it started going down hill. Dropped a valve, upon inspection I found out the self aligning rockers were worn out and slipped off the valve, causing the keeper to come out. No big deal, had the heads reworked, new stainless valves, added guide plates and roller rockers. Ran great.....for a little while. Then I played the fuel injection game, replace all sensors, 3 fuel pumps, injectors, you name it. If it would crank, it would run, sometimes it was a week before it would crank. New ignition module, wires, cap, plugs. Nothing helped. Got tired of fooling with it, traded it on a 88 Firebird Formula for her. So far, she's happy with it.

 

My 27 roadster pickup, had a T bucket I built as my first hot rod, ran it five years, heat score all five years, loved that car, sold it in a fit of anger after my last pullover. Twenty years later, remembered all the good times, bought an unfinished 27 T, finished it, on the road last summer, immediately hated it, got sunburned, windburned, it's cramped, windy, noisy, unpleasant all around. It handles like a race car, goes like a slug, 4 cyl 2.3 ranger power, hard to get engine-tranny parts, but I persevered and put 2000 miles on it till the tranny failed, a C3. More money, but by now......the car was kinda neat, got tons of attention, maybe.......so, spent this winter refining it, absolutely looking forward to the coming year so I can put big miles on it going to far away places, I love the thing?

 

I had to have a Vette in my life and ended up buying a 74 , T-tops , 350 auto . Nothing special power wise , it was a smog motor car . I enjoyed it for 5 years ,but had my fill .....wouldn't buy another one . I won't say I hated the car , it was what I could afford at the time , but the "wow factor " wore off for me after about a year .

 

Oh geeze ,,,really?
The story is in my signature!



On a side note,
One day along time ago I walked into the Harley shop and a guy was there trading in his brand new bike. He said he didn't like it, and was a bit besides himself over the whole thing. I asked him "why, what's wrong with it?" He said "well, did you ever absolutely have to have something and then when you get it you figure out that's not what you wanted?" I said "yep, but I married it"

 

I'd have to say....1961 Thunderbird.....I bought the car out of a field near Clayton, NM...moved 5 derelict cars (no wheels on any of them) and spent the day stepping in manure, and avoiding snakes and spiders!...dragging the car onto a flatbed trailer by a cable contraption & pulleys that would make most cringe now (didn't harm the car, but sure looked scary enough)

I had to have that car however (he only wanted $600 for it), and loved the fact that it was a convertible. There began the headaches! It had so much rust in places I couldn't see initially....rodents got into the interior in the worst of ways, and nothing was salvageable (although it had a tarp on it). Interior parts were a nightmare to find, as it had an odd color scheme, and VERY EXPENSIVE. The engine was sorta 'okay'....but the tranny was shot, and couldn't locate another one.....couldn't find bumpers, or fender skirts, or windshield (finally located used on in Montana junkyard) ...and forget about the hubcaps!!!....or the window motors (all were bad)....even the rear fender ''spears'' were a nightmare to locate elsewhere

***This was before the internet, and trying to locate anything was mostly remote junkyards, word of mouth, or parts stores 'offering' another store merchandise (that didn't go over too well I found out). It was a real headache, and I grew to really despise the car & my ambition equally...and it sat in my driveway for 2 years under a tarp before I had it removed, because nobody wanted a rust bucket with a mix match of parts from other vehicles that 'sorta' fit it.

I feel queasy about the 'blind' notions I had of myself mostly...it was totally 'my' fault for not checking more accurately, and I saw visions of grandeur with a unique design, wearing ray-ban sunglasses, and looking rather "dashing" in a long-bodied convertible....but reality was a wake-up call to my immaturity....big lessons are the hardest to swallow sometimes....and I still get a twinge of remorse seeing a really nice looking bullet bird, knowing the headaches that gone into it, and not getting the money back which was spent (usually). I love the car design still, but just not my best of choices car-wise to pursue....and never to enjoy the way I visioned it!

 

I bought a 1963 Nova 2 days after I turned 18, had to have it. When I was in junior high this same car sat in front of the guys house that was the parts manager for the local Chev garage. It was bright white, had came from Cali a few years before(so I was told, but it must have been a lot of years before). So a friend of mine had got the car in trade for a 4dr nova. So I bought it and also got a rusted out 65 SS Nova with it for parts. It actually drove good and ran perfect but being 18 it wasn't fast enough with the six in it. So I put the v8 stuff from the SS on it(mounts, drums, rear axle and interior). I hated the thing, it just really didn't drive like I thought it should(hate the original suspension). So when Heidts came out with the must II subframe for the early Nova I thought great that should make it drive good. So one thing leads to another and the car turns into a full blown rotisserie resto including new rear quarters, trunk floor drop offs, fixing the rear rails, 2 tone paint and on and on. I still have the interior in it from the 65 and decide I really want to keep it. So I buy new seat buns, carpet and door panels. I have the seats done in vinyl with cloth inserts. I spent gobs on having the chrome all done. I get this thing done, by the way I am now 53 years old. I drive the thing for a few days and realize how much I really dont care for the car even after all the rework. My gf loves driving it, so I don't know if I should keep it or get rid of it after all these years.

 

OT vehicle, Bought a 82 Chevrolet Blazer K5 Cheyenne 4 wheel drive, new off the show room floor after taking it for a 5 mile test drive, Sharp looking, black, red interior, after market wheels tires, body lift, pin stripping, all the toys available at that time. My Trucks/Suvs were my Company vehicle used for delivery of smaller projects. Took it back after a few weeks and told service manager, it only gets 6 miles per gallon, (350/auto trans) responds that it was ordered w/ 4:10 gears to match the big wheels and tires on it and it's full time 4 wheel drive, did shift out like my previous trucks. Solution, manual locking hubs. (PIA, IMO) Now with hubs out, went to 8/9/10 mpg. The mpg was not the end of the deal, none of my trucks/SUVs back then were any good on mpg. Also IMO was not going to work as a tow vehicle for my racing deal. ( Did know guys that used them for towing) OK, my bad for not researching about Blazers, drove it through the winter, did not like the short wheelbase and rode like lumber wagon, worse than 1 ton trucks I have owned, so decided to sell it in spring, could not sell it private party, so I wholesaled it back to the dealer, lost about 6/8 grand in 6 months, without a doubt the dumbest car purchase of my entire life. As a rule of thumb, I don't make $$$ decisions with out some thought, researching, keep my emotions in check and to this day, I still wonder why my head was so far up my butt that day, another expensive lesson learned, I could write a book. LOL

 

Ha Ha, yeah, been there, done that too a couple times!
One I even sold my beloved 60K mile 69 Mach 1 to a used car lot for $600 (it was 1978) to buy my girl friend a diamond ring. Should of kept the Mustang, maybe I'd still have it!

 

As Danny stated I had to have a 32 Ford Downs bodied 32 Vicky, 350/350 combo, TCI chassis, power windows, digital dash, and A/C. To say I disliked the car would be an understatement. It wasn't a bad car, it eventually wound up being a featured car in Street Rodder magazine. It just wasn't my cup of tea. To this day I have no idea of what I was thinking. I couldn't wait until I sold it. That was the end of fiberglass cars for me. I've since been involved in Tri 5's and X frame Chevies to 1964.

Gary

 

For me it was a 1966 elcamino, 283 4 speed. My uncle had taken it in on some trade, knew it could be had for the right money. I was the one in the family that met the price.
It was a awesome car, all the rust and body work had been fixed, factory paint color applied, nice wheels and interior. It was a very fine example of that vintage car.
I am still amazed at the 283, in the winter time, you just touched the key and it fired right off and ran perfect with no choke connected. It was instantly ready to roll, it never sputtered or stumbled until it warmed up. Just touch the key and vAroom!
I have always been a truck guy, thought the elky would be a perfect hot rod for me ... I hated it, was to much like a car.
I actually sold it on payments to a bar owner just to get rid of it, he kept getting drunk and taking girls on vacation and never paid, so repossessed it and traded it in at a car lot on another truck to finally get rid of it.

I had a "would you save this" thread going recently about a parklane/ranchero It was because of my past dealings with the elcamino, I knew I would not be the one to save the ranchero.

 

The only one I just had to have that I shouldn't have bought is my currently non running 2000 daily driver that has either a blown head gasket or cracked head and is so frigging hard to work on most shops won't work on it.
One I had my doubts about a day later was the 55 Buick I bought in Seattle in 1966 for 75.00 off a car lot and had the engine start knocking later that night after some cruising around. I parked it at the bottom of the hill in Renton and walked back the three miles to my dad's house. Got up in the morning and we went down and got it and he drove it and I followed in his car. Halfway up the hill it looked like a bomb went off, the car lifted up a bit and smoke went everywhere.
Towed it home, pulled the intake and valley cover and there were pieces of rod and broken camshaft. A few days later I bought a 55 Buick Super sedan the size of a limo for 60.00, drove it back to my dads, pulled the engine and trans out of the special, stuck it in the trunk of Super, turned it around and pulled the engine out of the Super and stuck it in the Special and drove it to work on Monday Morning with no hood. Car turned out to be one of my favorite cars I ever had.