Projects Be Honest with yourself : Do You care if it ever runs?

No way. I'll get it running and then work on it or sell it.

 

I just like having a project. I like taking something and making it better. I'm no longer in a rush to slap plates on only to be immediately subjected to tailgating 16 year old girls, dodging blind little old ladies, and warding off the occasional dipshit in a Honda Civic that thinks every old car is looking for a drag race. You know what it's like in Connecticut

 

if i cant drive it, i sure as hell aint gonna work on it. i use to like the build now im older i just want to drive them , i dont enjoy the build like i use to. young guns, just wait. you will understand what im saying in the yrs to come.

 

MOOSE223,is on the money... As mutch as I love looking at my raspy main rod,the best feeling for me is to go out and pound it around. Been doing just that with my 32 3w since 1973. Fix it, Pound it, Break it...3 built up 283`s,brake rebuilds,couple 4spd synco redo`s,multiple rear ends. NUTHIN beats bangin gears and gettin` rubber 1960`s style. A real hot rod is never finished.I do have a few static displays myself,but if it don`t run it ain`t no fun!

 

Maybe You Can Ask This Guy

 

Damn.....I am constantly checking mine to make sure it still runs....I tear it apart an change something up every winter....just can't seem to leave it alone.

 

I have had the 56 in my avatar since 96 and its been in running condition for maybe 5 years. Only needs exhaust,headliner and door panels finished and has been that way for 5 years or so. And I have never driven it except from back yard to front yard. It doesn't bother me in the least that I don't drive it. I don't like driving that much because I do it for a living. We are all different. You don't have to understand everyone's choices, just respect them.

 

I finally finished installing new lighting in the garage and doing some new wiring, now I'm afraid to turn the breaker on. I'm gonna get my brother to come look at it first, he's a contracter. I HATE electrical. Its about the only thing I do that I dont really feel like I understand what I am doing, just blindly following directions. That feeling really scares me.

 

Okay with the thought that it will never run! "OH HELL NO!" just like Gabriel Iglesias would say it!
When I build my Chevrolet for the first time in 1995 it took me 7 months to get it on the road! Yes it wasn't finished in any stretch of the imagination, but it have been on the road for every season for the past 16 years leaving dust clouds behind her on the local dirt roads.
Isn't life grand?

Klaus

 

I hear ya Bob, I love the hunt for the parts and mocking stuff up but when it gets close to done I loose interest, it's time to move on and start the hunt over again. As you know I pretty much keep building the same type car over and over I just love the old modifieds. I've tried buying finished cars just so I'd have one to drive but that didn't do it for me, it was fun driving but I'd much rather be hunting that next build I've been dreaming up.

 

I got it together and running and drove it for a year, then tore it apart and did the fit & finish and interior and painted it two winters ago. Get it running and driving, finish it after you're happy with the way it runs. That way you don't have to worry about having to tear into it after it's all done and painted. That's the way I've always done it, and always will.

 

Don't matter to me,,,got one on the road already,,it's just something to keep me out of the boozecans and brothels. Got a bud who has been working on a 52 chev for 25 years,,think he just tinkers with it for an excuse to get out to the shop,,have a puff and a tumbler of single malt



This one will get priority

 

I'm with you brother.....I dont care.

of course i'd like it to work and get used, but i love the decision making process about every aspect of the build.

if it stays a beautiful ornament then so be it.

 

Projects Be Honest with yourself : Do You care if it ever runs?

Yes, I do. I want it all; the experience of building it and the experience of driving it.

Why stop the fun half way?

 

Just like Disneyland
They left one turret roof at the rear of Snow White's Castle un-gilded, because Walt said that Disneyland will never be "finished".

 

I believe Mox Miller could relate to you on that.

 

I wouldn't do it if it would not run. To me there is not much point in perfection in a project that ends up as an endless project. I enjoy my old rides and a big part of the satisfaction only comes through the refinements that come because I drive them and make improvements based on performance.

There are few feelings more satisfying than driving something you built.

Build it - Drive it.

 

excuse number 84; the guys on the hamb said it is ok not to finish. git-er-done!

 

yes I care, I wish I had more time in the day so after working, doing what I need to do at home, spending time with my family, etc, I could put in more work on my car because all I want to do is drive it. I enjoy getting things done on it, but I will enjoy it so much more when I am driving it

 

Being that I am not too sharp at reading a post, and then understanding the plainly written words... I went to post #84

BUT, I like post 84:

Ted, I was ready to park my current build back into the dead zone storage area a few days ago, because I could not get it to ride decent. I finally got it right, late today. Driving it around the lot, I was so happy because this is the first time it actually feels like a car. I am going into high gear now, maybe get er done for summer.

 

I've lowered the bar, or just acceped reality that a running car is so far in the future I may not be alive when it happens. For now the goal is a finished body in primer. If and when that happens I'll buy some frame rails.

 

Three years ago I would have said "Yes I care. What's the point if it will never run?".

Two years ago tomorrow, I was on my back in a hospital, unable to move to any extent, waiting on spinal surgery that had a 50/50 chance of giving me some relief or formalizing my quadriplegic state.

Two weeks ago I drove for the first time in over 2 years

Two hours ago I was scouring pics of a $500 1956 Buick Special 2 door, in pieces, that is for sale locally. I'd never be able to finish it working mostly from a wheel chair...and affording to make anything of it is even less likely.

Right now I'd love to have it or some other project car, just to have something to fiddle with...running be damned.

 

don't look at it as a big project. look at it as a lot of small projects, keep at it, and soon you will only have a couple small projects.

 

Lowering the bar is good for most of us here. Not too many builders can do it as fast as Temper Mental or Thunderbirdesq. Too much pressure leads to burn-out, or give-up.

Yes, concentrate on building the shell, so that it actually looks like a body, not just shelf art. It will build your motivation...and then... Social Security will kick in and some of us can maybe buy some decent parts for a change

 

^^^^^ So True! Fight the battles...=Win the War!
Also- heard this from someone older than myself,which I follow-
pennies make dimes. A lil at a time. Look at a little picture,not the whole thing.
You can make it happen!

 

I loved building my car. Kinda missed it when it got drivable and legal. But, when the end of work comes, my mind is focused on getting home and driving my T. Starting a project, no matter what it was, and not finishing, is not in my blood. It took a while to set in, but finishing is it's own reward.

 

The best part of finishing a car is that you get to start another one.

By the way, a car is really "finished" until the odometer shows 10,000.

 

YES! Project car after project car bought not running and sold not running. I had enough of that finaly. No more non running cars

 

I try to work on my projects as much a possible but it seems when mother's day comes aka pay day i have to pay this mother f$%ker and this mother F#@ker and i'm left with very little to send on my projects

 

My cars have always been long-term (10-15 yrs) projects. Yet the goal was always to see them as runners. It would be difficult to not see them as complete in the future. But if the best you can do is move them a little closer to the goal of making them runners again ... I'm good.