18 years owned...driven 4 months??? Ugh.

...what I've come to realize (too late) is that with any project, life WILL get in the way. Wife/GF, kids, moving, jobs, all may conspire against you and something else will jump up and bite you in the ass. Last summer I got a 12 year project finally running for the first time, went to drive it and it had no reverse....crap. A surprise tranny rebuild nearly killed me.....
The other boogeyman is that over the long term your tastes can change and you can go through, frames, engines, willy-nilly......

 

Check your PMs

 

Thank you everyone. Makes feel like I'm not the only one!

Anybody got a free engine/trans/frame????? Come you know you love me!

 

well i have had a few take me some time but i gotta say 18yrs is a bit long..lol i just got done with my wifes ot 67 impala.didnt hardly work on my stuff for over 2 yrs. just enough to keep my cars runnin and stoppin. now im backed up big time.ive got to build a trike that my wife bought me for chritmas and a few other cars. my problem now besides my health is which one do i really want. because i know if it takes me 2 3 yrs to build one ill not live long enough to drive the damn thing!ive got a bunch of projects that i really want to see done but ive decided to sell them and just pick the one i think i can get done the fastest.anyone need a project that lives by me. come on over ill be glad to fix you up with something to build...lol really!

 

Well my before he died, little brother told me I should be riding a tractor with my legs . Its just a damn shame you have to give up your christmas present.

 

Another reason low buck "unfinished" hot rods are popular, dont sweat the small stuff and you are driving the car and having fun pretty quick. I used to be able to build a finished in and out car in a year before life got busy, now it takes a year to do one without finished paint or interior. I wont live forever so no sense having a car sit just because it doesnt have new chrome to match the brand new paint job.

 

well put, Too many of us have changed horses in the middle of the stream so many times our feet never get dry.

I've got enough parts both new and old in the garage and sheds to build three trucks that were bought for the 48 and then not used for one reason or another. I just drug a roof with an electric sunroof that I just had to have about 15 years ago when I planned on putting one in the stretched cab of the 48. It's now in the scrap pile waiting to be hauled off for a bit of spare change.

One of the main reasons I joined the HAMB was that I was flat tired of building something that was viewed as obsolete or outdated as soon as I hit the road with it. Buy a set of trick wheels and before you make a payment on them they are already outdated. Those hot lick polished aluminum V belt pulley setup was obsolete because just after it came via UPS they came out with a serpertine setup to replace it.

Now I just worry about finding a full set of the wheels I want that are good enough to sandblast and paint and if I should spring for having my pulleys chromed or just paint them. My rides will hopefully be about 90% timeless and I won't have to worry about them being "out of date".

 

Bought the truck in my avatar in 87. Drove it daily for two years and parked it because of handling issues. Finally got around to starting on it 5 years ago. Had to stall the project when my house burned and my mother passed. Back at it now and dealing with niggling issue as they arrive. Had hoped to have it up last summer but, 2 surgeries and other life stuff got in the way. Shooting for next summer now. I have only changed my mind on the power plant once. Decided to sell the free 460 and C6 I was given and rebuild the 289 and C4 that came in it when I bought it.

 

Thanks for making me feel better about my progress...

 

All you need is a single donar car cheap for all that. When I built my COE the donar car was a '70 Deville for $50 - just had to get it running in the little old lady's back yard. A buddy drove it home with chuncks of tire flying off on the freeway. Got the 472ci, 400 turbo, power brake assembly, red leather seat etc from it. Then sold the hulk for scrap and got $25 back.

Drove the COE when completed for probably the same few months then sold it to my Uncle. And the same 18 years later got it back last August. Guess what - that 472 Cad engine still runs just the same - no smoking or anything after sitting all those years. Took a little more to get it running this time. Story link in my sig.

At least you kept it for all this time - now pick a course - stick tuit - and build it again.

 

Inhereted my Dad's 56 Vette he purchased new. He had it for a year and sold it in 57. It made its way through 5 owners before he found it again , bought it back and gave it to me when I was 17 for a graduation gift. It only has 42,726 miles and needed everything but a body off. I dove into it 110% in 1986 and was halted with the " you should do it this way, or you should do ________ because I gave you that car" I told him in 1987 that i would finish it when he passes. He is still alive and the car sits, my pride is too thick to see whats right or wrong. In the meantime, I bought, restored completely , drove for the next summer and sold a 55 wagon in 13 months. Just 2 examples of one guys garage.

 

I built my A 70/71/72. Drove it during the summers of 72/73, parked it in Oct 73. Finally in Aug 07 it was back on the road. So, that makes 33 years 10 months as garage art. Tom

 

Don't complain, at least you've still got your car - there are plenty of guys who aren't that lucky.
When you're ready, I'm sure you'll get it goin' just the way you want.
Cheers.

 

Damn, you guys make me feel much better now ,I just been
gathering parts for the 55 for 8 years ,or maybe 9 or I guess I lost
track of time !!! On the other hand it does not eat or owe me
anything ,so I can still dream about how great it will be !!!!

 

see thread: Got It Running Today, Only Took 33 Years

 

In the mid 70's I picked up a basket case 38 Chevrolet coupe, put the pieces back together and swapped in a 350 four speed, did some body work, shot it with lacquer, but not very well. Later repainted it and it looked better, went to a couple of NSRA meets (OKC and the Twin Cities), put 20K miles on it then to save some money (to "please" my second wife) I quit driving it in about 1985. Never quit driving them. It sat until about 2005 when I pulled the motor, it was stuck, installed a MII and built an old style 327. I've been retired for over three years and it still ain't done but I am getting closer, maybe it is the journey, just want it done so the kids can haul my ashes to the bone yard

 

Just having the right car in the garage is a good thing, working on it is another good thing, driving it is the last good thing. Got an OT car I've had for about 6 yrs running finally. All the stuff you have to do comes first, then the stuff you need to do, and last is the stuff you want to do. At least thats how its always been for me. Like vtx1800 said "maybe its the journey". Damn, does this post sound like me???????? Not a philosopher, I'm somewhere just to the right of Atilla the Hun.

 

Sounds like my avitar pic. 15 yrs off and on

 

I'm just about finished with a T5 swap in my car. It took 6 months. Yeah, I know it should've taken a week, but I worked on it when I felt like it and it sat when I didn't. I enjoy the engineering that goes with thinking up your own parts as much a driving the finished project. I built my own hydraulic clutch stuff and just today finished machining my own shifter so it fits where I wanted it to instead of where the catalog part does. Progress is slow when your broke and have to make everything yourself!

 

Whats the hurry? I have had my 56 Chevy 16 years. Had it running/driving for 4 or 5 years but only driven it from the back to the front yard and then back to the back garage.Probably has about ¼ mile on it since finished. It doesn't bother me not to drive it. I know I can.

 

Ok, Dad brought the car in 1975, drove it round the block twice, then put it in the garage saying we will get to that later.

January 2000, we drag it out and start on it. It still isn't running, needs paint, interior, etc, and I still haven't even sat in the damn thing. at least you have got to drive yours once ...

 

Bought my coupe in 1966 as a wreck, put it together and drove it until 1979 when it came apart for new paint. Have been working on it since 2004 1$ at a time. Started the thing on my 68th birthday, if I live long enough it will be on the road by spring. Hang in there ,I have had enough problems to write a book.

 

feel the same way mine's been gathering parts for 10 now.....

 

Wow, my 6 years Ive put in my car doesnt sound so bad now. Id love to see this project thru, but there are times when I think Id just sell it so at least theres an end to the project, for me anyway.

 

Bought my 32 in the late 80's. Stock 4 banger, drove it a couple of years and decided it was time to "do something" with it. Parked it and started to take it apart but really didn't know which way to go so I just tinkered on it. About 5 years ago it finally came to me to keep the 4 banger and make an old style hot rod. I'm just now starting to put her back together the way I want with old original parts and with luck this spring I'll be pissing off the local police. Here is a pic of the car as she waited for me to get my act together.

 

I've had my 64 for 20 yrs. Its had four different engines,three styles of tranny's,three styles of wheels,three intake and carb combo's,two hoods,more valve covers than I can remember. I still don't drive it as much as I should. It seems like you never are satisfied! It's 60 in Indy today and I'm going for a drive in her to Paradise Road Rod And Custom open house. We need to enjoy em' more and work on them less.

 

My car started as a high school hot rod project back in 1958. My dad bought the car and tore it down and replaced the rotted out frame. That was has far as he got for the next forty two years. Like most people life got in the way.

Well in 2000 my mom got the cancer and my dad started working on it again. Partly for therapy and partly he realized he had to start working if he was going to finish it. He got the car on the road the year after my mom passed. It was still in very rough shape. There was no interior, very bad paint, holes in the sheet metal, but the flathead runs good. Then he got the cancer.

He was still trying to work on it but really did not have the energy or money. Near the end I bought the car to help him pay some major bills. Of course he kept the car till the end. That was in 2008 and now I am working on the project. Every year I make some progress. Maybe this winter I will put in an interior.

So this project is at 54 years and still going. My hope is my son takes on the endless project when I shuck this mortal coil.

 

<-------- 21 years, I drove it around the block Memorial day this year. As I type I have it apart again.

 

Going on 18 years, 3 engine changes and not driven yet. About 15 eight hour days would make it road worthy but can't get all that time together to do that. It saddens me it has taken so long but I delight in everyday of ownership! Press on my friend!