Projects I am I the only person who enjoys working (doing maintenance) on their car?

I don't mind the maintenance so much; it's fixing my mistakes that irritates the hell out of me.

 

Not as much as I once did. I'd rather just get in one and drive it anymore.

 

I don't mind maintenance on the hot rods , not so much on the late model daily drivers . I retired in April after 45 years as an auto and light truck mechanic , was pretty burned out on late model work .

 

Thats where I am at these days as an auto tech for 38 years. I love working on the drag coupe however.

 

I know how you feel mad mikey , hope you and the coupe are all healed up now .

 

Thanks. We are both doing fine. The coupe is faster then ever, way faster then me.

 

Man, I can really relate to that!

 

I'm great at building, but once it's built, I really suck at doing the maintenance. The "run it til it's completely broke" attitude has bit me in the ass more than once. I've tried to change...but at this age, probably ain't happening.

 

Actually this is one of the considerations of my current build, doing maintenance. I find it relaxing if it is easy to achieve. That means the bits are accessible and I don't need a double jointed elbow and have to remove items to do a simple task.

 

I love the build, and enjoy doing maintenance. What I hate is breakdowns. Anything unscheduled usually happens at the worst possible time, so it's just an irritant.

 

Weld a receiver hitch on the back of that rig and you can put a variety of things in it. Including a trailer ball for backing/ pulling trailers!






Bones

 

I enjoy it all so far, just don’t seem to do any of it as much as I would like or need to. And, I have learned that the breakdowns just become part of the adventure and good story.

 

I have had a couple breakdowns at the time they were not fun but looking back at them they are some of the best memories I have. Fellow car people stopping to see if I needed help, I have stopped to help old car people who have had trouble. Some of those breakdowns have turned into friendships.

I hear the stories my dad talks about barn storming all over NY state with his Late Model and people he helped racecar, working all night to rebuild an engine getting it back in the car, then having someone strapped in the car on the trailer breaking in the cam on the way to the races. and other similar stories.
Now I am sure those were not fun at the time but now 50 years on the are some of the best most fun memories he and his friends have.

Already have the pieces made, I haven't gotten that far yet.

 

Is this just random driving, daily driving or to and from an event? I can count twice in my life someone pulled over to help me on the side of the road.

 

This is the reason I drive the old Power Wagon daily and owe the 32 and a couple old Harley ‘s . I can work on them , no computers and get the satisfaction of knowing I’m keeping apart of real American alive . Stuff build by an American laborer trying to feed and raise his family .

 

I don’t mind doing maintenance but I hate fixing it when it’s broke (unless I’m trying to squeeze a bit more power and find it).

 

My motivation currently ebbs and flows with the workload and I wonder if I'll ever get on top of all the little jobs that pop up from time to time.
My 35 tub is currently on the hoist after a brake /steering rebuild, I can't get it to the wheel aligners until I bleed the brakes. Now I need to replace a leaky header gasket on my 64 FE Fairlane and I'm not doing it on the shop floor and will use the hoist, however it's being used.
Once these are done my 46 Olds body should be home from the paint shop and it'll ready for drop onto the frame. The maintenance/build cycle seems to be never ending!

 

Once it’s drivable, I’m done!

 

For me it's never finished. I am always looking for improvements. Not just in the car but also in my work.

When I am doing maintenance I look at some of my early fab. work on my car when and find ways to refine what I have done or flat out change it.

For me fixing mistake is part of it and how you learn, some of my best improvements have come from fixing mistakes.

A few times I have built brackets that didn't work, in the process of taking the off and rebuilding them I have found ways to improve my fab skills, building things faster more efficiently, much lighter etc....

 

I still do the maintenance/repairs on my hobby and daily drivers. I do not enjoy it much anymore as the fun of has left the building for me, it's just work now but being retired I need something to keep myself busy and like many I have more time than money, I hope LOL. I have the shop/tools/some skills though it takes me forever to get things done, I do "Git R Dun". I am a DIY guy all my life, ran my business, a racing hobby 20+ years, carnut since my beginning and the self satisfaction/pride factor still is important to me. I am finishing off with 2 OT hobby cars that just require routine maintenance, keeping polished, enjoy driving them, that's my deal now and still have one project to finish, restoration of my Dad's midget racer that I drove back in the day, the start of a great 21 year adventure. It seems just keeping up with home, hobbies, life in general is plenty for me now and I waste too much time here on the HAMB but I enjoy it. I worked hard, played hard, no regrets, did make a decision to slow down some when I retired which has worked well for me.

 

Working on my cars is the only thing that keeps me going. I just can't sit down and croak. I can't stay out of the garage. It's in my blood. I really enjoy making something out of nothing and am always inventing, rescuing what others consider junk, cleaning up cool stuff I've found and putting it to use.
Putting a car together now is getting a bit difficult. I have two oldies to get back on the road and if I can get that done I will be happy.

 

If you asked me to drive 5 miles to the store i would lay on the floor an cry after 48 yrs of driving truck but nobody gets near enough to my babys to lay a wrench on one they keep me abynormal !

 

I still do all mine on our 56 but at 77 it is taking its toll. Getting it up on jack stands even for an oil/filter change has become a chore once a year. It usually gets a complete wipe down at the same time front to back.

 

20 years ago I bought a Backyard Buddy at a Goodguys show. Makes maintaining the cars easy for an 80 year old! I’m always finding little things to fix, replace or upgrade.

 

I really enjoy cuttin and grinding and welding...and getting the wheels pointing straight enough to go down the road is pretty fun too....

Driving them...well that's a different story...

MikeC