Features How do you do it long time owners???

I have never been i a situation where i have had to sell one to get another.Most of my junk is finished enough to drive so their never finished.I enjoy the hunt for parts and build process more than finishing to show quality.Im happy with odd stuff so i havent had the need to spend lots of cash to get the popular stuff.

 

I think if you have reached the pinnacle of a hot rod , muscle car or whatever in your definition you may end up keeping longer than average. Be it a 32 Ford, 55 Chevy or what you think perfection is.

 

It's hard to believe that I've had my car over 14 years now. 5-6 years ago I got sick of car shows and there weren't that many people who simply wanted to drive.

I was going to park it in the garage the majority of time.......sell it......or what I did. Take a chop saw to it and make it a street/strip car. Those are never finished. It should finally see the track next year. There are always plenty of guys there that want to drive.

 

I have 2 keepers everything else just comes and goes.

 

< The 12th car I've ever owned... I don't like change, just for the sake of change.

 

I've had about 35 cars over the years. the two I have today I've had forever it seems, bought one in 1976 and the other around 1987 or so.

I'd say the reason I've had my 61 dodge so long is there are just not enough people in the world like me with a good eye for beauty and elegance. regular people just don't own 1961 Dodges. I had it listed on the Auto Trader for 6 months several years ago. no takers. only one person came and looked at it, and offered me $1500.00 when I was asking $4500.00.... it's a running driving 20 footer with original paint.

if I had more money and more space I would still own most if not all of the old cars I have owned.

 

Over the years when a new project (or stage) of my car or truck is going to be attempted I have usually invited my friends to come over and help me. Same thing when my friends are working on their projects I go over and help them. So lots of times years later when looking at "stages" of the project I remember good times with my buddies, especially when it involves going to a salvage yard to pick up parts- which may lead to going to a bar -etc... A example is looking at the bed floor of my F100, it reminds me of a friend coming over on a beautiful June day. He brought over his router and stand and we routered out the boards. I think those type of memories sort of endear you to the vehicle...

 

I get attached to things. Like my wife and kids, dog, and my coupe. Did sell my 68 Camaro last year but purely because of various factors including I had lost the attachment to it once my coupe was complete which i built from the ground up. Would like to do a 32 5 window or a 34 3 window and a buddy was asking me if i would sell the coupe to finance. simple answer was no. Still have my 56 Chevy that my Dad gave to me when i turned 16. Grew up going to drive in movies in the back seat of that car. Can't replace those memories!

 

There Are Certain Automobile Designs That I Will Always Like So I Just Stay With It...

 

The first rod magazine I picked up at the grocery store when I quit looking at the toys had a feature on Willys gassers. I was forever hooked. A few years later ('64) I found a '36 coupe at a classmate's house and bought it for $75. Another classmate sold me a 331 hemi, another a '54 Hydramatic, got the hemi/hydro adaptor for my HS graduation present. Never crossed my mind to replace it. Still my favorite car.

 

In September 1971 I bought the 40 Dodge Sedan originally to use as a parts car for the Coupe I had had since 1969 & as all 15yr olds do I had pulled the coupe apart......the Sedan got mechanically restored but after attending the 1st Oz Street Rod Nats in 1973 I decided to hotrod the sedan and its had the 318 Poly in it since mid 1973, attached pic shows both the disassembled Coupe and the Sedan on its first tentative drive around the block with the Poly and a recent pic at a local run..............I've just come back from taking the car for its annual registration check with a local mechanic, passed with flying colours..........so all good........and I'll be taking it for a drive this sunday as our club is having our monthly BBQ at a riverside sailing club, about 150km each way, enough to clean out the cobwebs in both the car & me..............so after 49 yrs I still enjoy the drive...........andyd

 

Have had this one for 20+ years, bought it from the original family, has 82k miles, original seat covers.
425hp 409" 4 speed car. Ugly-ish brown patina that I'm leaving alone. Very fun car.

 

Thank you !

 

Im thinking that was champagne gold metallic , hard to get a good match when new ( er)

 

The ones I have left are either the ones I always wanted or I have had them so long I don't have the heart to sell them. My 64 Marauder is my newest But I have wanted one since 1964 when I built a model of one when I was nine. I have had it almost 3 years, but my best friend had it for fifteen and was going to leave it to me. But I guess he thought he was living to long or something because he handed me the title and said enjoy! lol Needless to say its a keeper ! Chucks the big brother I never had. The rest of them have been around for the last 20 to 32 years unless you include the 79 Pinto my late father in law left me 22 years ago, its been in the family since 1979! lol Larry

 

Larry you need to bring that Marauder to the Fall Out Drags next year so I can give you a good birthday spanking with the Shaker.

 

My cars are part of who I am.
I'll be somewhere and someone will come up to me and ask '' Aren't you the guy with the '57 Pontiac, or the Firebird, and more recently the '32 with the Hemi?''
They are an extension of my likes in cars, my taste in how I built them, they're part of my identity.
KK

 

Up north, when you only get your car on the road 5-6 months of the year. After a long winter , getting out on the road again, is a whole new experience.

 

James. I will gladly chase the Shakers taillights all the way down the track just so we can drink beer, eat brats and bullshit after words! But I am not into the "Spanking thing" lol Larry

 

So true. I have had several cars I should have hung on to, but got tired of them or gave up on them or something else came along and caught my eye. Had to get rid of one to get another too many times. Had a 27 T Tudor, a 36 pickup, a 38 Chrysler Royal coupe, a 47-8 Ford long door coupe. Never got beyond rollers with any of them. Lack of skills, lack of money, lack of time all contributed to each one being sold or traded. My wide interest level didn’t help, either. Jumped from pre 48 stuff to mid 60’s stuff and back again. In all honesty though, I learned something from each one, and carried that information to the next one with big dreams, big ideas, slowly improving skills and skimpy budgets. Still wish I’d kept the 38 Chrysler, but the rust repair was too much for me. Same with the 47-8 coupe, was just more work than I could do.

But as I aged, I got smarter, more skilled, learned how to manage money better, and above all else, learned to be patient. When I traded into the Lincoln, I knew it was going to take a while to correct the screwups done to it. I didn’t care, it was as close to what I had really wanted all the time, I was willing to take that time. And when I finally got it going, I enjoyed it for two years before it was time to tear it apart and make it mine. Been down around three years now, but I’m in no hurry. It’s not going anywhere. It’s my keeper.

 

I just keep taking the same one apart, making changes and put it together again only to either wear it out or take it apart an make more changes. My 48 has never since I first bought it in March of 1973 even though it has been painted twice. Way too many freaking years of "it would be cool if". and too many miss steps. I have worn it out 3 times in the years I actually drove it because I drove it most of the time it was together. It's had 4 engines in that time including 194 Chevy II six, 283, 350 and back to a 250 six. Six transmissions and five rear axles. Hopefully this go around will be the last and I'll have time to drive it around the county With a road trip to Central Texas first on the list.

 

bought a 33 Ford 3 window coup in 1962---sold it 2010.....was given a 1948 Int, kb1 shortbed in 1979----still have it.....Married my wife in 1972----I think she kept me...….live in a house bought in 1980......landline phone still works....retired after 50 years in the same union......acquired a 1946 Ford Business coup a couple years ago and will be keeping it till the end.

 

I fell in love with a Hot Rod Coupe that was channeled 8-10" and powered by a dual quad engine that I never knew what it was when I was 10 (54 years ago). I built allot of cars year after year until the day that I was able to build my own coupe, 30 years ago, I still love it and I have majorly changed it 2 times, but I still drive it all the time.
I think one has to figure out what car or truck that makes you passionate, and once you do you have a good chance of it being a keeper. One of my best friends bought a 72 Nova when we were in high school and has been driving it and racing it ever since then, 48 years.

 

How do we do it? Most of us are broke and don't have the money to swap out projects constantly, kids, house, wives, mortgages and family stuff take their toll.
I scrounged, borrowed, did whatever I could to build a 23 T bucket, glass car, made it handle like a porsche killer that it was, but after 42 cop stops and five years of constant heat, I grew tired of the attention and sold it. As it drove away, I knew I'd made a big mistake, tracked it through 4 owners, all the way to Red Deer Alberta where it disappeared, never to see the light of day since.
I built mary, my 36 ford pickup, out of everything I could find, if it didn't fit, I made it fit, when I didn't have money, I found another way and three years later, she drove out my shop door with a vow that she'll leave my possession when I'm no longer here. It is not a car to me, it is literally a part of me, my art, my sculpture, my creation, it belongs to me and me alone, it does not belong to anyone else in my family......yet, although they get to drive it. When seen at shows or cruises, those who know it also know I'm in the area, it is distinctly mine. In twenty years, it has never broke, never let me down, got big miles, it fits me so well I never get tired from hours in the seat, and I know every nut and bolt in her. How could I sell something I put so much sweat equity in?

 

Dang tuff question. Have had a 5 car list of keepers for a long time. Always had a few cars since I graduated from high school. Yes I've sold one to finance another but I also bought my first house at 19 yrs old by my self - needing a roof over the head ya know. Anyway in the years that followed I have and sale a dozen or so cars up until the late 80's when I was going to move out of state. A few I managed to hold onto which became the 5 but I've sold and bought some 30 cars since the 90's.....still hold on to one or two or three or....from those early days because they are what I like and always will. But still buying better cars and those on that bucket list.......

 

I came from a completely different mind set then most. I was into dirt track stock car racing. I grew up knowing I was going to own, drive, and work on them. I worked towards that goal all through high school and got a job at the best repair shop gas station in town. I got married at 19, and had that 1st race car late that summer. Race cars were the goal, so street cars were something to drive to work, or pull the race car trailer. In the class we raced in, one car making it though the whole season was a long term car. We had a few that made it into the 3rd season, but it would have been pretty rough.
As far as street cars, I had a descent ride for my wife & kids to ride in, but what I drove was usually a cheap pile of junk, I went through a lot of cars. Given the time period, muscle cars were pretty cheap. My abilities landed me a really well paying job as factory maintenance in a union factory, so I usually had money. I funded my racing habit from buying cars, selling cars or car parts, and working on cars at night after work The process netted me a few pretty nice street cars, a few I kept a year or two, but there was always the next car and money to be made in the transaction.
After I got out of racing, I started building some nice street machines, but after a few years, the guys that thought thoser muscle cars I was building should all be perfectly restored, I looked for an old car to build.
My 1st old car was a 35 Dodge sedan. It was a pile of rust with a title, it didn't take long to discover I was in over my head. It took a few years to gain the knowledge and equipment to get that one on the road. Once on the road, I continued to refine it. We put over 66,000 miles on that car in 7 years. I grew really tired of it. There were things I just didn't like, and the 2 door sedan body was working on me, it wasn't what I wanted. I found a 54 Dodge pickup I built while we were driving the 35. When the truck was road worthy, I sold the 35. A couple years later, I saw a 39 Plymouth coupe I just had to have. The 54 pickup went down the road to get the 39. The 39 wasn't a very cooperative car, it always needed a lot of attention. After a couple years, I found another truck, my 50 Dodge 4x4, and when it was road worthy, the 39 went away. That truck turned out to be a great work truck, but it was pretty impractical to be much of a show truck, and at about 10 mpg, it wasn't cheap to drive when the gas prices skyrocketed.
I got this brilliant idea to build a street car that looked like the old coupes I used to watch on our local track when I was a kid. I had a good chassis, and chased down a 48 Plymouth coupe body. The body was really rusty, we are talking rust holes in the roof even The goal was to build a quick and dirty old circle track looking car, and that body fit the bill perfectly. We figured maybe we could drive it a couple summers before it was another passing fad. I started with a roll cage on the chassis, but once the body was in place, I banged my head on the roll cage 3 times in the same day, and I cut it out. About that time the 50 4x4 got totaled. I had to buy a work truck, but had a little cash left over to put towards the 48 coupe. The 48 got slammed together. The 50 was wrecked in Oct, and the 48 was on the road in April, as soon as the snow was off the ground. The 48 coupe was a work in process, but we were driving it. The dumb thing actually drove really nice. It has a V6 with a 5 speed, and was actually fun to drive, got pretty good gas mileage, and it rode pretty nice as well. We drove it a lot. When we stopped someplace, people always wanted to tell us stories about a friend or relative that used to have an old race car. The car was just fun, and it worked so well, very reliable. After a couple years of driving it, We decided to take it on a trip. The next year we took it on vacation again, and the next year we took it on vacation again! After 8 summers on the road, some of the stuff I didn't bother to do when I built the car needed to be done if we were going to keep driving it. My wife suggested I repair it, she likes the car.

That's how this one has hung around for 10 years, it turned out to be a fun, reliable driver that drove and rode nicely. I suspect it will be around a while longer. Gene

 

^Paragraphs are our friend, my friend...

 

I have ones for over 30 years 1932 5w,1932 cabriolet and OT 1968 bronco and are the ones I keep and drive . I believe some things are the chase or hunt and no emotional attachment can go down the road . It’s just fun putting them together out of parts and watching someone else enjoy it

 

I've owned a bunch of cars over the years, but my '57 Ford has been a mainstay for me for a long time. I got it when I was 17, and I'm 36 now, so 18+ years of ownership and counting. Weird to think that over the course of my life I've owned it longer than I haven't. I guess the key for me was owning a car where I really liked the design, over the years developing an attachment to the car, and always having something to do on it, so while it's virtually always been on the road, it's never been "done". Sort of a perpetual project. Truth is, I have gotten bored of it, which is why I wound up buying a couple other cars to sort of take its place as the main classics to be driven and used. But like anything, I'm sure I'll eventually get back to it. I don't see any point in selling, the money isn't going to change my life. But I'd probably miss the car if I sold it.

Sort of like my collection of guitars. My Gretsch 6120W is my favorite, go-to electric. But every once in a while it's nice to pull out one I haven't played in a while. I played my Strat the other day for the first time in probably 2 years.

 

In away I don't remember those years slipping away so fast. In another "keeping the candles lit" does not seem to be a challenge since there is always something to fix or upgrade. Owned my "Heapster" 45 years now. My youngest daughter has her eye on it. I told her it is hers............when I'm done with it!