Projects How do you fund your project cars?

Male prostitute. Hey! Don't judge!

 

Always had rental property. Flats, duplexes, apartment buildings, and some commercial. My rule of thumb was to let somebody else pay for my hobbies. Through the years my renters have been very generous. They supported my lifestyle, which included racing, hotrods, motorcycles, traveling and Colts. Now days the few I have left are paying for my Easy Eagle.

 

I sell stuff to you guys ...

 

I do a little consulting work since I retired. I try to keep about half of what I make for the car project. Other than that I just bought parts as I had money. I've been putting a Model A hot rod together for about 12 years. It is almost ready for the road, but still a work in progress. It's almost ready to really start body work.

 

Thats a cool ride!

 

I had an engineering degree but was on salary so I got no extra pay for overtime and hardly got any compensating time. Last job I worked quit in June and had 6 weeks of comp time coming. Got none and had to fight like hell to get vacation time I was owed Paid for race car from savings my wife had put away.

 

I have a partner in my car addiction. We built 2 Pro Rally cars together before we both retired sharing the expenses. Sold them both at a loss but no longer money pits. The third car is the 62 Rambler SW in the avatar. We finance out of pocket. We have understanding wives.
Nick

 

Probably been said...Know what you're buying. Shop around at swap meets, ebay, HAMB. before you buy anything.

 

Since I retired I have found that I still get calls from old customers, with the pandemic they cannot find anyone to
do their remodeling, so I have done enough work on the side to buy whatever I needed for the next step on my truck.
I put half of anything I make in to savings so the better half and I can travel so she is happy with this also. She still
has several years till retirement so this keeps me out of her hair, either I am working or am out in the garage.

 

I always had a least one job, worked my way up the ladder then retired with 43 years at the same place. After I retired I took in a few restoration projects from select clients. The proceeds from those jobs plus the fact that I do almost everything in house and have my hand in everything that is done elsewhere (paint, interior) allowed me to build my cars and bikes.

 

now retired
worked for 55 years,paid cash for our home
have a very supportive wife who worked many years in Reality
would ring her and ask for $5000 for parts and it would be on the table when I got home
no questions asked
we have been blessed and have had many trips to USA

 

People pass away and leave me money...

 

I look at the ground when I walk...

 

If I sell one of my finished cars and I'm flush with cash, I can build another within 2 years. If I have to pay for it along the way, it takes me 5 years.

 

Duh! My wife busts her ass to take care of me! just kidding, these filthy hands fund my life. Firehouse money goes to household bills, same as her hospital check. Bodyshop money pays to play the game.

 

I kind of know what different things are worth at tag sales, swap meets and the local Sunday flea market, buy right try to flip quickly. A $25.00 item sells quicker than a $100.00 item, volume is the key.

Bob

 

After raising 3 kids on my own, I learned to be very thrifty.

Worked a regular job, then worked nites and weekends in my shop to help raise them, now they're grown I have, after many years, cut back my many hours in my shop and use that money for my toys.

But since the covid deal its been tight working out my shop.

Lots of searching ebay, garage sales etc to find needed items. Build what parts and tools I can.

 

Won't be much help for you now, but I've always had a full time job that paid the household bills. Then, until I opened my welding shop, I'd always had a side job the funded the Hot Rods. In addition, I bought and sold a lot of cars, and even more car parts over the years.

Once I opened the welding shop, my wife and I set up a bill paying split. Between the two of us, each puts part of our income into the house fund, an emergency fund, a vacation fund and retirement. We live very frugally. Any money left after that was for personal use. Mine goes into a car fund. Over the years, after I built that 1st hot rod, when ever I get the urge to build something else, I'll but a project (usually in really bad shape, I am a welder) and I get started on if from the car fund. As the new project gets road worthy, the old ride gets sold, and all the money goes back into the car fund. Up until the last couple of years, there has only ever been one project and one driver hot rod. When the project becomes the driver, the old driver goes away. Everything changed with the Plymouth coupe. The truck I was driving got killed in a wreck. I replaced it with a different truck I bought cheap., and was able to but the replacement truck, and build the coupe with the insurance money from the totaled truck. The coupe worked out so well, I've been driving it for 10 years, and the car fund kept building. I decided I needed to build a new shop truck. It was going to be my last project, so I spent a lot of money on it. Upon completion, I discovered I didn't fit in it real well, so I bought a later version truck with a larger cab. By the time I had a good share of the parts I needed to build the "new" truck, the car fund was pretty broke. Then I sold the other truck and got most of the money I'd spent back. That has funded this truck that is nearly finished, and the car fund is nearly broke again. Stuff has gotten a lot more expensive in the last couple of years.

About 10 years ago, we became debt free. The only bills we have are utility, food, taxes, and entertainment. After we retired, we pretty much replaced our income. The amount I can put into the car fund these days is more limited then it used to be. but occasionally I'll still do a small easy project for someone, and that goes into the car fund.


Now that I too am on the fixed income, after seeing how expensive building a project has become, I suspect my building days are pretty much at an end. I have pretty much nothing left in my parts stash, so another build would require buying everything. It looks like I'm going to spend the rest on my days enjoying the two hot rods I currently have. Gene

 

I don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t play golf……
Worked hard for too long……
and having a dutch heritage probably helps……
My wife doesn’t seem to mind what I spend on cars……

 

Was brought up stone broke poor. Learned early on to work hard, pay as you go and save. Never tried to keep up with the "Joneses". It paid off in the long run.

 

Thought I could get some extra project cash by sending the wife out "hookin"
She came home with $21...
I said "who's the cheap bastard that gave you the dollar?"
She said "All of them"

 

Dual income, no kids.

I work for a multi-billion-dollar corporation as an engineer. The wife is in real estate.

We have zero debt, of any kind.

 

Hopes and dreams my friend....hopes and dreams

 

I always saved up for my projects, putting the money in a separate savings account as I had a teenager and a mortgage company to support, so it might take awhile. If I had to use a credit card to buy something, I would make sure I had the money to cover the bill first. Never went into debt for any of my projects!

 

I did whatever it took, digging ditches on the weekend, pulling overtime shifts, selling shit, trading favours, whatever it took. I grew up without, used to read the magazines, wanted a car bad, borrowed money from a friend to buy my first project, never took and still don't use house money to fund my hobby, just depends on how bad you want it.

 

We are both retired and do pretty well from pensions, SS, savings, etc. I learned from my dad many years ago that if I didn't have the money in my pocket then I did not need it. House payments were the exception.

Fast forward 60 years and the advice still holds true and it saved me from a lot of aggravation.

 

Back during my working years, we had 5 kids at home, so overtime was the only money I had to invest in car parts, and not always all of that OT was available. So patience, and used car parts bargains were a necessity to build my projects.
Been retired for over a decade now, and all the kids have been on their own for 20-25 years. So funding them isn't as tough as before. But after decades of being thrifty, and patient, I still can't build a car without scrounging, and trying to find big bargains where I can on parts. So my builds generally set record lows when comparing my costs to my friends builds. Old habits are tough to break. But some I don't want to break either!

 

Think long and hard about every decision you make, lol.
This applies to life and cars.
Don't put yourself in a position to not be able to afford it, don't keep up with the Jones's, don't get sucked into a material lifestyle, watch where your money goes.
On the car side, seriously budget every dime you will spend, put it on paper, before you impulse buy that project car. Lots of times its better to wait for the next one and save a little more now, to save a lot more in the long run.
I cut my losses on a recent project because there was no way to build it cheaper than buying a finished one. I would have been further ahead spending twice as much at the beginning than spend three times as much down the road.

When it was time to get serious about finishing my model A, I quit every hobby that was non-car related and sold everything that wasn't relative to finishing that car and I buckled down and made it happen.
I spent every evening and weekend in the garage, building stuff I couldn't afford to buy. Pretty much anything I couldn't do myself I went without.

If you want it bad enough, you will find a way.

 

I take this machine out and grind up tree stumps....which basically ends up as a hole in the ground..


Then I go home and dump the money down this moneypit

I keep trying to fill holes in my life...