Projects Am I the only one that's honest enough to say........

Well, I have been cleaning up the shop and I still have another hour or two until I'm finished, I'm wore out and gonna eat dinner and go back out and finish up, I'll be ready for the club meeting tomorrow night.

I still dream about the next ground up build and I am as passionate about hot rods as I ever was but like everyone else the fire is there but my get up and go got up and went! HRP

 

I hear you! sometimes you need to just get in the Hot Rod and drive like you were 16 and remember the good old days and old flames. Don't tell the wife!

 

Mark, Brenda is the old flame. HRP

 

As the Book says,” Gettin Old Is Not For Wimps “ (Almost 72 Myself)

 

I'm talking about my wife!

 

I built this in 2010 for a customer, the car was a total pos. It took me 1800 hundred hours to get it painted and the body assembled enough to put the glass and molding on. Ì worked on it last week and took care of a shit list that didn't amount to much more than tweeking a few things, squirting some oil and shaking my head thinking I must have been nuck'n futs.

 

"Don't let the old man in" Toby Keith

 

Looks good! That has to be worth something.

 

Ill get in on this complain train, except I'm not really complaining. I just bought a 34 5W coupe couple months ago, wanted one my entire life, so pulled the trigger, what a dumb ass move. Ive got my 31 coupe that I do something to every day, and the 65 Ranchero gasser that I race once a month, , but shop is only a 2 car, with a lift. Why I bought a 34 with no place to build it was just dumb, so I guess my complaint is that I made a dumb ass decision. I still enjoy working in my shop and helping others with their cars and I damn sure pay for it some days. Im 71 and it really is more difficult to bend and pull but I don't do it for 8 hours, 3 to 5 is more my speed these days. Regardless, Im going to keep at it till I can't, a mans got to have a project I say. Now, mowing and weed whacking every 5 or 6 days really sucks but that has to be done as well. It all goes away when hit a .001 light or drop the clutch on the coupe and spin that sideoiler...hell yeah...

 

Buying a lift is the best investment/motivator for this hobby.
I hate working on the floor.
Now if they invented lift arms that lined themselves up.

 

69. I need about 4 cords of fire wood to get me through the winter in my shop. I worked all day today bending over with a chainsaw cutting fallen Ash trees into the proper lengths. Sweated my ass off. I think my back is broke, (Again). At supper time I looked at that stack and wondered what in the hell I had been doing all day. There were a lot more breaks than there used to be. That 4 cords is going to take a lot longer than it used to. I ain't selling my junk yet.

 

I just made a bracket to hold my Weber linkage parts that go on my 153 chevy banger and I thought it was a blessing to be able to still get at it!! I've been working on this one man modified for 12 years off an on and I hope to live long enough to feel it under me and hope it runs straight and gets my76 year old heart a pumping !! Ijust started a Miller wanbe using a27 chrysler tube axle and a set of cut down27 Buick rails ?? I'll never see the final but my brain needs to keep solving future problems ! Don't quit! Picasso was painting the day he died!! onward! rottonron

 

Well I’m 73 didn’t retire until I was 72 but have worked a bit since. I always had a full time job plus a side business. My wife and I both thought it would be very difficult for me to retire. However that has not been the case some days I have that extra cup of coffee and ease into the day other days go do something. We stay pretty busy doing things we couldn’t do while working and also have been traveling. I’m actually looking for another car project not long term but something to complete in 12 to 18 months.

Have some bad knees and hip but try to be active. My doctor always says get some exercise and you will feel better which I thought was bs because I was always doing something. But he was right, take a walk, get outside and concentrate on what you can do and not what you cannot do. The first step out the door is the longest. It’s a lot easier to sit in the recliner and turn on the TV but even a short walk will make you feel better physically and mentally and give you a better attitude about everything including cars.

 

I've been wrenching on STUFF since my DAD got me started 50 odd years ago. In 2014 I got run over by a hit and run driver while at work and got pretty F'd up from it, just skated by deaths door. That kind of changed my whole outlook on my cars and all the other things that I thought were so important. I sold my 36 Ford that i thought I would have forever, will eventually give my 36 Chevy to my son, "SONOFAMITCH", and narrowed it all down to one more build, the "SAW MILL SPECIAL" 1925 Dodge MODIFIED. If I don't get it done, oh well, I've 2 little grand daughters, a wife and 4 kids that I've got to get the most out of before it all comes to the end. I don't mean to imply that everyone should have the same outlook but this is why I'm slow'in down. Mitch.

 

I resemble most of the comments above. I've been thinking about selling off one project that is down the list and using the money on the 48.

 

Hey you WIMPS "SUCK IT UP" & go get something done ,even if it is watching the wind blow. I do that quite a bit lately. Stand by.

 

At 78, I have a lot on my plate and cars are not at the top of the list. Sold off a number of cars in the past five years. The Zipper roadster and the ‘29 CCPU are always ready to go and keeping them up and running is about all I want to do when it comes to cars. Purchasing a four post lift was the best thing I ever did.

 

I lose all desire to work on my old car when it’s hot and humid out, and my shop has a/c. As soon as it gets cool out..my attitude changes drastically. I know I’m odd, but it’s the truth.

 

It's funny you mention that bob as I seemed to felt a lot of hot wind as you were berating us. I have to admit I should suck it up and get my ass motivated though.

 

When you get it figured out how to do this please let us know!

 

I get in a zone when I'm really doing something that I call progress. Today I was assembling an engine (for my '48 coupe or maybe something else?) that I just got back from the machine shop. It wasn't work. It was enjoyable. It's probably been 14 or 15 years since I assembled an engine so I took it slow and at the end of the day, even though it's not all assembled, I felt I had accomplished something toward my ultimate goal. BTW, I'll be 67 in less than a month and rather than dwell on (negative) things I just keep moving along and enjoy the day, hoping to accomplish something worthwhile.

Lynn

 

A new '19 California Special in race red with a 6-speed and a 460 hp quad cammer motor....

 

Just retired at 69 a month ago... figure that I've got a long ways to go and a short time to get there on a couple of projects so am keeping busy on them. First time I've ever been able to concentrate on the '40 in 49 years so am making the most of it.

 

Getting fat could be the cause of your hip and knee problem. not judging just saying.

 

Just turned 70, still working ( by choice ) have to go to the H.A.M.B. s in Joplin to
get motivated again ! Trouble is it only lasts a couple of days and my motivation doesn't
last much longer !! But I'll keep collecting parts !!

 

I'm relating too much to what you're saying! My last battle with cancer has slowed me down quite a bit and has made me change my thinking on what I want to get done for my wife before I am no longer able to. It hurts me because my grandson wants me to get my 58 done so we can enjoy riding in it together along with my great grandkids. Hopefully I can get my current projects done enough to get back to work on it to at least get it running and driveable so we can get some time in it cruising! It will be his one day and it will mean more to him and his kids if we can have some shared memories in it.

 

Time is my enemy. I only get Saturday to do homeowners stuff and work on my car if there is any time left. The most of the rest of the time I’m in this damn truck. Just like now, sitting in TN, waiting on my 10 hour break to be over in the morning so I can go unload and then drive back to Tuscaloosa to load back to unfold somewhere Friday morning. I used to be able to stay home a few hours every day, but since they went to making us run the electronic babysitters, I have to do it all legal by the book.

Just turned 60 this year, hoping to be able to semi retire at 62 and work 2-3 days a week for a while. Then I might find some of that time that escapes me now. But the stamina isn’t what it used to be, 4-5 hours in the shop and I’m done, used to work all day and half the night and still feel like playing with the wife, doesn’t work that way anymore. Heat kills me, cold kills me, spring and fall aren’t long enough! But I ain’t giving up yet! As long as I can grip a wrench, I’m gonna be trying to work on something.

 

It's ALL based on the very simple concept of saying, "All my get up and go, got up and went". Everything and anything else, just helps to reinforce that. As long as TIME allows, I will get it done! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

No, you're not the only one. Health issues are a deterrent as aging takes its toll along with the increasing costs of building a hot rod and changing life priorities and circumstances.
Plus, there are fewer and fewer "junk yards" from which to find parts if your into cars of the 30's up thru the 60's. Building a car is very expensive as old cars have become a big business, unlike 1963 when I bought my running 40 Ford for $400.
Interest also fades as your peer group passes on, sells their cars and parts or just plain loses the passion.
Hopefully, being the last man standing isn't an omen. So, enjoy every mile for as long as possible. Do what you can for as long as you can. I am 76.
Gee, this sounds so ominous.

 

When I retired I intended to be working in the shop in the mornings, then decide what to do in the afternoons.
We have a swing on our front porch, my wife likes to sit on the swing and drink her coffee in the mornings. Most days I'm finding it pretty easy to sit on the swing with her. All is good until about 10 am when the sun gets around the side of the house and the swing is in the sun, it gets pretty hot sitting there in the sun. So lately, I sit on the swing until about 10, then I wonder out to the shop to do something constructive, or I turn on the fan and the radio and sit in the chair and look at the mess. If I'm actually doing something constructive, I may be in the shop until 3-4 pm, then I'm done for the day.

I have a "new" truck project that I'm working on very slowly. A the rate I'm working on it at, its going to take a few years, unless I really pick up the pace. I'm really enjoying driving the 48 coupe and the 39 pickup much better then I'm liking working on the new project, so that isn't helping with the new project, or cleaning up the shop. Gene