Projects Building your hot rod or custom

I made a part number list and saved it to my laptop.
When I worked at a pro shop, we kept a file on every car built with a parts list. Just for the reason you mentioned.

 

I keep a general running tab in my head that may or may not be accurate. But it really doesn't matter how much I've spent on my project cars because I have no interest in selling them. I do have a parts list for my 289 in the Fairlane but not for Plymouth.
As far as money goes I look at it this way some people spend money in bars, big vacations or new cars every year I throw it at my projects when I can, I enjoy it.

 

I have some but I don't ever want to know how much money I have spent on something I enjoy, I've been to Vegas and I know how much I spent and it makes me sick, at least with the cars I know I'm having fun.

 

I really tried to keep a list of how much I spent on my car but when I look it over, there are things on there that are not on the car. The Plan B moments, that seemed like a good idea at the time. The Chev 6 water pump with its homemade riser that was too tall that was replaced with a regular water pump that I loaned out to someone to fit on their car and didn't get back before I replaced it with a chrome water pump. Do they belong on the list or not?

 

Exactly what Jim said!!

 

I never have kept track of cost on any cars until I built the '49 Ford for Bonneville. I kept track of all I spent mostly for my own benefit and curiosity. I tracked costs up to the time that I took it to the salt and ran it the first time. I quit tracking after that. I even told my wife what it cost and she said she was surprised and figured it was a lot more.

 

Around 1970 I was watching an episode of "The Rebel" on TV and Johnny Yuma said ignorance is bliss. I had never heard that before but thought there was never a truer statement.

I think that applies to how much money I have spent on a project car. I am sure I don't want to know.

 

On every car we have done we start a file and my wife uses an old check register and logs every items cost. At the end we know exactly what it cost for the build and have all the info in the file as well on parts along with wiring diagrams etc.. Have done it this way for at least 25 years. When I consider building a new car, I pull one of the files to guesstimate the cost of next one plus maybe15-20% due to inflation etc. Usually not too far off. Have done this with a dozen 40's at least.

 

I believe life is a business and keep records on alot of items. I use it for ordering repair parts, etc. Every project I do has a spreadsheet with totals and in the last 10 years, a daily log of activities. Each project has a manila envelope of all the receipts for it, auto or household. My memory isn't real good anymore so having access to information makes my life easier. After you do a few projects, you know what to expect. I plan to spend the amount necessary to complete a project. In the planning stage, I decide what components to use to try and avoid do overs or changes that leave a pile of unused parts to get rid of. My method isn't fool proof but without it I would have more mistakes.

 

I not only keep the receipts but maintain a "journal" for all four of my vehicles (3 OT) I go through them every so often and tally them. The "jouranl" is a reference tuning, modifications etc.

 

First thing I do is destroy receipts so wife can't find um! I don't wanna know, then I'm not lying when questioned about how much I've been spending.... Lol

 

Knowing how much takes a lot of the fun out. it’s only worth so much anyway.
building stuff is entertainment
Work on a 7 figure custom that brings half that at BJ. The owner just laughs and builds another one.

 

I bought cars and got no info with them and it was frustrating to figure out what the prior owner did, not really part of the fun to me.

Back to my point is that the receipts are part of the history, especially for hot rods that are an assemblage of parts. DMV in my state wants to see where the parts came from on a new build. As far as any future owners appreciation of the materials saved I cannot assess that, I like to have the reciepts, owners manual, etc. When I bought my Dodge panel the sales receipt to me was signed by the man who picked it up at the factory in 1953. Maybe that is not worth much to some, but to me it is an irreplaceable part of the truck’s history.

It is interesting that people don’t care what was spent, but certainly want top dollar when they want to sell.

 

I didn't think much about cost as a teen,I made $ by a number of odd ways,but not really much.
Had a little $,that $ was not in how to get car parts ideas,other then small stuff.
Hunting junked cars in the woods n weeds,strip off needed stuff. Plus ask when old car was in a parked spot,were it had been a very long time,so ask owner of land about it.
At times that cost ,was really fun anyway.
Made trades,did work on other club members cars for parts they had stuff like that.
No way I could guess at $ cost of my first hot rod build, but it took near 3 years before my hot rod ran in 1959.
The next car,but not built from parts ,in 1960 was $75 old Henry J, with blown tranny ,got a junkyard tranny for $15.

 

I keep records of parts/invoices in a file. More than once I've been able to go back and find an invoice to replace a part. I have been asked "where did you get that "part" and what does it cost ? When I, our my wife, sells this F1 the new owner will receive a listing of all parts. I use the cost of building projects, not my labor, to set a value for sale, appraisal and insurance.

 

For the past few cars I've kept a simple excel spreadsheet on my PC of actual costs incurred and supplier etc.

 

Same here , ocd can come in handy

 

I kept all the receipts for the red wagon. did not like what I seen, will never do it again (I keep them but will never had them up)

 

Those are receipts for "Car Repairs" and might be a deduction somewhere.

 

When beginning the build of my toy I was intent on keep record of all costs and also keeping a journal of the build. That was November of '94. It was finally road ready July of 2017, 23 years later. I did pretty good with the journal until around 2ooo and then slowly dropped that along with keeping all the receipts. My friend who helped me has a saying I'm pretty sure most of you know, "I'm afraid to go before my wife because when she sells my stuff it will be based on what I told her is cost".

 

I tell people,"Keep your receipt, but don't ever add them up." Might need one for a warranty down the road or parts number reference. And if you're selling the car you can show the huge pile to potential purchasers to justify your asking price.

 

I keep a seperate file with all receipts for my builds, this way I have part numbers & warranty papers all together in case I have to reference something. I also like to know how much I have in it should someone want it more than I do.

 

No receipts but I do tear the part# off all of the parts boxes and keep them in one of those big ziplock bags.

 

I keep a running ledger on my car with dates,part numbers,costs and venders for the when,what how much and where. I also note dates of service,changes in tuning and maintenance performed noting the mileage for a complete history of my ownership.
Just another anal feather in my cap of organization.

 

I Prefer Denial..It Is More Accurate....

 

I try to keep a log of what I spent and what it was on. I try to build as reasonable as possible. I dont keep receipts. I refer to my log book to see what parts have already been purchased and for the occasional total. Written logs can be "adjusted" where receipts tell the full truth

 

I'm in the "don't want to know group". Besides, most of my heaps will never pencil out financially, so keeping track would just be depressing. lol

 

I try to keep all receipts and part numbers in a Manila folder (what's a spreadsheet?)for the next owner. I don't tend to keep my stuff for long. On to the next one. That approach has come in handy several times regarding values and warranties. The wife knows and approves what I spend. I'm a lucky guy. But now that I'm retired, the spending has slowed accordingly but not the desire. I'm working on that.

 

OH Hell NO! I would never be able to sleep if I knew, and if I could it would be outside after the wife found out!

 

Hello,

As teenagers, money was scarce. But what money that was set aside for hot rods or build projects was written down and the actual receipts were kept in a box. Great filing back then. After the Willys Coupe build was getting its share of big time receipts, we gave up and did not care. We knew what money we had and planned accordingly for future purchases. Plus, if we sat down and read the totals, it would be sad, anyway to see the money just being spent on speed parts and necessary items for the build.

The only thing we had to do was to separate our purchases from our little speed shop business versus the regular stuff we bought for our own build. Part of the Willys build was going to be a speed shop expense, but not all of it. Then when we started selling stuff to our friends, we had to keep a separate account for tax purposes. It ended up a waste of time as we were not rolling into the big money savings or profits.

So, the time we spent saving the receipts for little stuff was useless. We did keep the big time stuff, like 4 American Racing Equipment 5 spoke wheels purchased to make a trade for a Dale Velzy balsawood surfboard. And a dual carb manifold for a 283 SBC motor we helped build, plus some chromed reversed wheels.

If we had continued our builds and business, with our names on the side panels, it would have been a complete tax write off for us. Whether it was another race car build or a creation for a customer or two.

Jnaki

We were small potatoes, but it helped us get parts for a dealer or better discount when we sourced out our purchases. The more we bought, the higher our rating for purchases was for a better discount. The profits were not large enough to warrant any tax refunds or especially a tax audit. It was a nice side business, with the majority of purchases for our own build.

When my wife and I were into rebuilding the 2nd 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery, the receipts started piling up. But again, they were worth saving just to be saving in a folder titled “1940 Sedan Delivery.” We liked the Sedan Delivery so much that it was important to see what we were spending with our limited budgets. There was no other reason to keep the receipts.

We were already keeping everything we spent on our home darkroom, supplies and partial Sedan Delivery registration for use on our photographic business. The camera purchases, developing home and photo store receipts were also kept. We did a lot of film work at home, so we were able to keep receipts for the business, including a tax write off for an office…darkroom+ supplies, bedroom/den. Any photo supplies or sales were automatically dropped into the folder “Photographic Works.”