How long have you been working on your project?? My wife thinks I am taking too long. Do you think eight years and still counting is excessive ?? I searched for a thread but could not find one. Regards, Twobit
Depends what your building and how your building it. You have any pictures? I guess it also depends on how much free time and money you have.
I've only been working on my wagon for about 2 years now,it's come along way since I got it << (avatar) but I know it's gonna take along time to get it finished.
I've been on my O/T project for a couple years (no end in site), but only about a year on my '41 and hope to have it finished in another 6 months. If your project is really involved and moneys tight then 8 years isn't out of the question IMO.
i usually spend too much time on my own projects , my `28 tudor was 7 years and my `36 coupe was almost 9...that was due to time/money/space issues. on other people's cars it goes a lot faster , usually do 2-3 cars a year..but that is what i'm paid to do, and about all i do . my current personal project i hope to have done in a couple years...that may be asking a lot
in my case the question reads "How long have you not been working on your project?" 5-10 hours a week for 8 years would be one hell of a project, 40 hours a year and your wife (and my wife) might be right. give up your wife, computer and TV and get your ass out to the shop dammit!! Oh me? I just came back to the house for breakfast, yeah that's it................Jim
No I have had mine 10 years now the last 4 I have been entertaining my children and using the bed of my project truck to house the misc. kid toys lawn care equipment ect..
I dont consider a car ever done. Maybe 8 years to get it on th road may be long to some but as others have said, its all about the almighty $$ and time. I was working on my 28 RPU for three years and only got it half done before the financial position I was in forced its sale. The Gasser I'm doing now has been in the works since about 1985 on paper and in various stages of work since 99. I cant see it finished soon either. Doc.
I try & not drag my feet w/ a build. Once I decide to start- it's balls to the wall until done. The last big project was my 55. It was a rotissere build-every nut & bolt frame off build. Body stripped to bare metal, powdercoated frame etc etc etc. Start to finish was 16 months. That was every evening till the wee hours & every weekend. I'd loose interest if it took years to build but that's me.
does trying to get the project you're working on going count??/i've spent over 13 years getting my topolino project started...but have only been "working on it" for 9 weeks at this time,,that's when i brought the frame, my second part home..my first part was a Fiat emblem i bought 4 1/2 years ago,,my wife thought i was crazy..buying a emblem for the car when you don't even have...told her ya gotta start somewhere............
the fastest i have ever done a car was 150 days..that was a `32 ford roaster. with a brookville body , a so-cal chassis , painter and uhpolstery guy lined up and money not a problem things can go fast
What is the rush? My Lyndwood rail restoration is 19 years old and the 1930 Roadster project started with a body I found in 1962.
I can drive mine and I do when I get the chance, but it still needs some small stuff (me to pick out the color). I guess it depends on what your definition of "done" is.
I bought mine on 9/8/01 and though it's taking awhile it is getting done and I'm not 25K in credit card debts which was my other alternative if I wasa going to blast through it. I have a video of my then 5 year old standing with her head through the glassless front windshield proclaiming "it's going to take him years and years". Smart kid.
Which one??? With family, kids, business...time is tight. Bought a driver so I could enjoy it while I'm working on my rod and now I'm working on it! It's a sickness I tell ya!
I know builders of quality turnkey 32 roadsters and coupes that can assemble one in about 100 days or less. Yes they are glass, but they are really done well, professionally built, professional stitching, quality fabrics, the whole nine yards. Not cheap, usually $35 - $45K but well worth it. If you are in a big hurry, go buy one to play with until you can finish a build. Or just build and don't rush. Rushing usually ends up with something going wrong or someone getting hurt. Both of mine have been completed about 10 years, but neither are finished.
Hell yeah, I have never been a dime in debt for a car build. I see it as 'I only have it if I have the money for it' hate to be in debt and wont go there ever again. I did for one of my old bikes (O/T 996 Ducati) felt like shit the whole two years I had to pay it off.
It takes me about 1,000 hours to build a car. That's 6 months of 40 hour weeks. I usually take a year, so that is about 20 hours a week. If you spread it over 8 years, you are not working on the car many hours a year. Lots of down time, which is not a criticism. It's a hobby, each person should go at it the way they most enjoy the project or as money permits.
I've had this one for 35 years. Been done a couple times for diff reasons. ( Drags etc) This time around took 8 yrs....mainly because of bodyman not finishing, so I had too.
Well, since I received the "longest time unfinished" award (??) at the Unfinished Nationals a few years ago I would have to say a long time. Contributions to the slow build include moving several times, no real place to work on it for many years, a shortage of spendable cash and for several years it served as my daily driver racking up a lot of hard miles. and hotrod burnout contributed to the slowdown for a few years. I went from participating in 25 + rod trots a year to making it to one or two and this year none. Some times a guy just needs a while to go and do and explore other things no matter what his hobby tends to be.
Tell her 'getting the car done' is not always that important. It's just something to take your mind off of things. For some, wrenching on a car can give equal or more satisfaction than driving it.
I did a 32 roadster for my wife over a winter, I could do no wrong..... Thats how you can take the time on your project.
I have done other projects along the way but have been working off and on for 7 years on my 54 plymouth wagon which has gone through several changes along the way and now is a sedan delivery...just got it out of paint and heading down the final stretch though I am too broke now to do a complete interior
It depends. I restored a Vette in less than a year, but I was a kid living at home and all my money went into the car. Now I'm married, my '32 took 3 years just using overtime money. My wife complained it was taking too long. She asked why and I said I was out of money. She said, "Take it out of the bank". I told her the car would get built with overtime money or it won't get built.
8 years? does this project run? My last project was driven and raced. When it broke I went bigger and badder. Then sold it upon final completion. The 37 will be a rolling chassis by December and by April running and at Del Mar Good Guys. Not rushing it but I kinda got this wild hair and the nothing else to distract me. IE no other cars to worry about.
My last project was very involved and expensive, it took me 7 1/2 years. The project I am currently woking on is a restoration with extensive rust and I estimate 3 to 4 years. No time is too long as long as it is done right. Who wants to rush something and look at it when it is completed knowing it was a halsf-assed job!
I am into my project for 13 years now. Started in High School, knowing nothing and have learned a lot! As mentioned before in other posts, time, space, money, school, family and friends all dictate the rate of progress. If I look at only what I have accomplished on my car in the last 13 years I would feel like a complete failure, but I was busy with some other shit. Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. Don't get down, just try and make some progress everyday. I am trying to wrap mine up, less interior, by January 2010. This is when my wife finishes her Master's Degree and about the time we want to start having kids. Set an attainable goal and shoot for that, just don't quit working or it will never get done.
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