I have heard pleanty of stories about people building cars in a matter of weeks, and to me as a novice this is amazing( my favourite was a 31 vicky completely restored in 4 weeks from a wreck ) ...but not realistic for most of us. So how long have you been building and what ? Also if you have any start and now pics.
Well I have been tinkering with my Willys for about 3 or 4 years now. It would have taken a couple of weekensds when i was young. I am under the gun now as I don't have anything to drive so I expect once I get after it I will be driving it in a couple of weeks. Counting the Willys I have finished 7 cars and trucks since I joined the HAMb, about half of them were my drivers. The others were or are high zoot cars not mine. I don't od it for a living I just know of I want to keep busy I have to work on someone else's car as I am not a wealthy man.
It seems like a car takes a 1000 hours to build average quality from frame to finish, give or take. How much you can compress that time into months or weeks varies person to person. For me, that's about a year. I've done 3 in the last 10 years, but they don't fit in this forum well.
I have been rebuilding my '62 Merc since July 2008. I pulled it out of a tree row were it had sat since 1975. Currently the chassis and driveline are complete, I am just finishing up plumbing. 95% of the sheetmetal work is also done. Hopefully the car will head to the painters in the next couple of months. Day 1: Early December. It all takes time, just got to stay at it.
Going on 6 or 7 years now but for about 5 of those years the car was located hundreds of miles away, so I only got to work on it for a week or two every year. I'm hoping to have it moving under it's own power this year, but it still looks like like shit and needs an interior.
I've had my '61 GMC since June of last year. Up until now I've only been focused on getting it running. I only get a saturday per weekend (weather permitting) and an hour or two here and there during the week to work on it. When you're a family guy with a full-time job it's going to take a while. After getting my truck running, I'm going to start to build a 283 for it and plan out the major stuff. I estimate it'll take up to 5 years to "finish" it. That's the way it goes for some folks...
The equipment available makes as much difference as time spent, fuly equipped heated shop makes things go a lot faster.
Haven't you ever watched TV. 30 mins or maybe an hour if its really nice. Lol. A crew of hands on, some back up, a purchaser, a parts chaser, bank roll all make it go faster. There's a synergy effect that happens with a group or pair that work well together. Having what you need on hand makes a world of difference. And if you fly solo, you need to remember these- 1 You'd be surprised at what you can get accomplished in 10 mins if you try. 2 10 min. job will take years to get accomplished if you don't work on it.
worked on my 49 dodge 3 window for 4 years on and off, stored it for 5 years after i seperated with the wife...on it again for about a year...
Ok then a prize...so who ever has been working the longest on a car/truck claims the title of "most persistent H.A.M.B builder".
Vicky You are so right about a 10 minute job. Motivation can be a big problem for some of us. Using myself as an example, if I am working on someone else's car I know that I have to go do it. On my own car it will always wait until tomorrow. I am more highly motivated today, not having any transportation is a good motivator. Here is something that is a show stopper for a lot of builds. Sometimes we get a stalled project. You get it done and you know it is ready to be a driver then the little things that the other fella didn't do right rear their ugly head. That is kind of where I am on my driver now, I have actually had it on the road, now I have to work the bugs out of it. Rework can be time consuming.
Big stall for me is when something isn't quite right but can't exactly put your finger on it. Usually kind of just like a dull static in the background that pisses me off. Maybe its the wrong parts, maybe it a choice made before I knew better, maybe its a mistake that requires rework, that kinda stuff makes me stall or stop until I can figure out what it is and deal with it. Generally the stall time period is 47 times longer than the fix time period. I had one truck that I was working on, all the body work was done and blowing down for first coat of primer. The body work started blowing off in chunks with the epoxy . Turned out it was a problem with the epoxy but that pissed me off so bad I couldn't even look at it for over a year. Stripped it, redid all the bodywork, got it sealed and stopped. I'm scared to paint it. Been that way for another 2 years just collecting dust in the corner.
I blew this original truck apart and built it back in slightly less than 6 months. 6 months later.. The wagon,, took a bit longer,,this is what it looked like when we pulled it out of the barn where it had sat since 1982,, And after 9 long years,,this is what it looks like now. HRP
I totally understand. My rear brakes are stuck. I have had the fronts apart and noticed that they didn't greas the hubs when they put them together. i am really afraid to look at the rears. I know that when I get into it it probably won't be that big a deal, but it is scary for some reason. Eventually you and I are going to bite the bullet and get it done. until then we'll just be worried about how bad it is going to be.
Mentaly? 30+ years ,gathering parts 2yrs. hopefully soon i'll be able to see some of my love in action
If you can read the date, that was quite a while ago and it still isn't finished. For me life got in the way along with just being tired of things not going the way I wanted with the truck. I'm not sure if it will ever be "done" but I hope to have it pretty close to being complete and finished by this time next year. That is if life doesn't get in the way again.
I spent 7 year's on a 55 chevy and have built car's for 50 year's. Maybe someday I will "Get a life" as my wife want's me to Do !!!
I did my 62 nova 2 on a christmass holiday weekend back in 78 or 79. Three days took out drive train built a small block and a 4 speed installed and driving. Had more ambition back then and more chemical influence maybe cant remember. Now my chevelle has been going on for a wile now had it running once hell even drove the bonniville salt flats and ran the car had a blast. Then I let my son drive it to school and throwed the alt belt a burned down the engine. Now I did get an engine in it and started building some headers got three tubes done and now it set again. I have this guilty feeling when I work on mine and not my customers cars.
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