How much work to be considered 100% owner built

Is this a matter of ego or a matter of truth?
For those with the need to boast"100%", don't confuse work you actually did with YOUR hands only and work that was not. There's nothing wrong with being honest.

 

110% is the new 100%....every coach on TV says they give me 110% well most jocks....

100% is 100%

 

I don't mind giving credit to anyone that helped me. I know my skill set and my limitations (whether it be with certain tools or know-how). I've learned so much by being present during some of the farmed-out work. I can do A LOT more than I could before.

I'd like to believe I've had some of the best do work on my car. When people check out the work, I gladly tell with hopes that they get more work out of it.

Really why does the 100% thing matter? When it comes to my coupe, the frame was built by Ionia, the chop by Salt Flats Speed Shop, the engine will be eventually built by McTim and the interior someone else (Fat Lucky???). I haven't even considered paint, plating, etc. That'll put me pretty low on the % of work done and I'll still have put in my fair share. Would I love to have the knowledge to do it all, sure, but my expertise lays elsewhere and those skills sure aren't tipped toward getting my coupe to be what I want it to be.

 

I built mine.... 100%? Well I did the frame, the suspension, the body work, the interior, the wireing, the glass, made my own hood and trunk lid, built the top, pretty much did everything, I didn't have anyone come in to do anything as far as fabrication is concerned, but I had help from some friends, you know holding stuff, bleeding brakes, heavy lifting and such. To say I built it 100% would be to discredit the friends and family that helped out. If anyone asks if I did it all myself I just say " pretty much ".
And I'm 100% sure most of us who build our own cars would say the same thing.........pretty much!

 

Funny! I built about 75% of a customers car. One night at the local car show I saw him talking to another guy so I walked up behind him and waited for him to finish his conversation. What I heard in that few minutes at first really pissed me off. He told this guy exactly how he did this and that. Of course I did it all and he would come by and occasionally watch. When he turned and saw me I thought he had seen a ghost. Ya know, as far as I'm concerned he paid me well for the work I did on his car and if he want to claim he did it all it's good with me. Who knows what reality is to others. I can honestly say I have a Model A that I have done everything to... every single mod has been done by me. It was my first car and I am now 56 years old... It is about 3/4 the way through a build that I started in 1975. And it isn't anything special! who cares if you built it 100%? heck I'm in the business and I'm thinking about hiring someone to finish it! How messed up is that?

 

I am glad to tell people that Jorge Lopez did my upholstery, Metro Brake did the exhaust work, a glass shop cut all the new glass and the chrome shop did the plating work.

What I like to tell people is that we (my son and I) did all the rest (disassembly, cleaning, repair, reassembly, glass installation, body work, paint, drivetrain conversion and wiring, etc.) with an occassional bit of help from my wife and a few friends. The thing I am proudest of is that it was a father/son project and I got hundreds of hours of shop time with my boy. THAT is what matters most to me!

 

Well, I was going to say something a bit controversial but decided that it may step on the toes of some of the most vocal exponents of the build it yourself or you can't have a hot rod brigade.

There may be three guys if that many on the HAMB who have the capabilities to build a first class car from the bare sticks of tubing laying on the shop floor up though a finished shiny painted, professional quality upholstered vehicle that he did all the work including machine work on the engine himself. I'm damned well not one of them.

To many 100% owner built means that the car never left the owner's garage from start to finish. He/she may have done the mods and fab on the frame, assembled the chassis with new or replacement parts, replaced all of the rusted out panels on the body and prepped and painted it himself. Even going so far as to assemble the engine after the main pieces had been to the machine shop for the machining. Then do the wiring with a kit or rolls of wire and drag out the old Singer to stitch up the interior.

My question is WHY is it so frigging important to some of the guys on here that cars have to be owner built or else? Let one of the vocal owner built brigade explain that one so the rest of us understand it. Aren't some of those guys the same ones who push the "patina" thing because they don't know squat about body and paint work and expound on the merits of the "Mexican blanket interior" because they can't sew along with having wrecking yard engines under the hood because they can't rebuild and engine. But they did 100% of the work on the car themselves or so they say.

In the mean time when I get the body as close to perfect as I can on my truck I"ll take it down to the kid in town who is a wizz with a paint gun and have him shoot the paint. Then I'll load it up and haul it to the glass shop to have the glass done and then off to the local guy on the other side of town who just happens to be able to do the interior just the way I want it done. If you want to beat me up for not doing it all myself so be it.

 

Now that is a good point, my wife has helped me work on more cars than I can count so I can't say I have built very many cars over the years.

Mr48 Chev,
I am a big turn your own wrenches type. I do know that I would much rather that some of the fellas step away from the garage after seeing some of what gets pushed out the door, but I am still a big turn your own wrenches type of a guy.

I believe that a car is a direct reflection of the fella that built it. But knowing that a lot of fellas should keep their desk jobs makes me lean in this direction, know your limitations. I do believe this while one may not be a builder does not mean that one should just drop the car off and then come back in 6 months or a year and see what got built. Your shop owner should no doubt guive rtecommendations but the final word needs to fall on whomever is paying the bills. If someone is not capable that is not a crime or a point of shame but one should be actively involved in the building process.

I have a friend that is not a good mechanic nor painter etc. I do a lot of his mechanical work but when it comes time to screw his car together he is right there doing what he can to get the job done. He is also right there every step of the way showing just exactly how he wants it done. He is an active part of the building process ans when the car is done it is recognizable as one of his cars. That is the way that it should be.

 

Each of my cars I do more and more as my level of experience/skills improve.

I don't care what % a person does,but have more respect when a person does actually work on a car rather than just buys it and doesn't even know what's in it.

I believe it's a good thing though when a person knows their limits, and has things done,rather than turn out bad work just to do it themselves.

If others didn't have work done, a lot of you guys wouldn't be in business.

Don't even want to start on those that trailer a t-bucket cross country in an enclosed trailer behind a motorhome and expect long distance award!!!

I hate shows BTW and prefer driving to & from work and just cruising....

 

Touching every nut on your car has to count for somthing

 

Does it count if you touch your own while you're at it?

I'd also think you better be one bad MoFo to lift a whole body and do the other really heavy stuff w/out a helping hand.

Still, even if I build my own (which I do) I'm sort of left out in the "home built" venue. And I'm even at home doing it!!

 

I seldom show and seldom have a show quality car. My cars are usually daily drivers.

But here is an example of knowing your limitations. I can stitch up some hydes, I learned from one of my girl friends father's in high school. That said I don't do as good a job as I can buy from a professional stitcher. I would rather pay that done, it just makes good sense to me.

 

We (my pops and I) have built cars from the ground up, starting with making the tube frame to shooting the paint. Mainly because we couldn't afford to have someone else help us and my dad ran his own bodyshop (besides being a Farmer) Plus most of our car club members were 45 minutes or more away from us. The other guys in our club used to all band together to build a car from the ground up each guy specializing in an area. One guy was outstanding with interior, another guy was one of the best painters I have ever seen, my pops could do anything with steal and lead. We would go to them to help sometimes but veru seldom did they come to us, simply because between my dad, mom & myself we could get the jub done on a nice driver. Many or the cars were built by the "club" so were the cars 100 % "owner " built, no, but who cares. When we would show up at car shows and guys would start talking to non club memebers they would say "Denny helped me with the frame, Phil helped me with the body, Dell built my trans, and so on and so on. I always thought that was so cool. Members helping members. Some of the guys in the club had other memebers build there cars for them but they really didn't get the full effect of being part of the club.

 

When people ask me if I built my car myself, I tell them I did all the shit that doesn't work good.

Oh wait...I did the install on an overkill stereo system. That works ok. Well sometimes.

 

I did all of this on many cars. Polished my own stainless but didn't chrome my own bumpers. But in all honesty I never did build a car from the ground up. Ford and GM did that.
Also when our last son got interested in helping we worked together. I still call that 100% home built. In fact the times he helped were the best car building times of my life.
We've also bought cars basically done. The yeller Ford is one. But I never leave anything alone. Even customized a class "A" motorhome.
Just doing part of the work is a great thing for anyone.
I've seen a paint color I liked and asked the guy who was saying he built his car 100% what color and type it is. All he could say was "RED" !!!
Some think writing checks is building it themselves!

As for the initial question by the poster, who cares, you didn't build it!

 

I've never heard anyone say:

"Yeah. I built 67% of her myself."

 

Thank you for a serious answer to a serious question, thats all I wanted. You know kinda an example of the traditional opinion of what would be considered 100% or whatever. But of course I have to go through 20 other fucking stupid ass replies to try to find a decent reply....I wish if someone had nothing constructive to add to a thread they would just read it and move on, I could really do without the "I dont give a rats ass" type of shit, grow the fuck up, dont worry about your post count and be a wroth while member and try to offer something constructive to this place...Jim

 

LOL, Yea thats not something you would hear either is it!

Like my car, itwas sitting in a field with no suspension under it and the floor were about gone init, I pulled it out, did the floors, inner rockers, outer rockers, chopped it, I have done all the boday work, welding, I have done the stainless, I am polishing it now, (already burnt up one buffer) I will be doing my own paint when the time comes, I have done some wiring, I am doing my engine now also, so I dont know what percentage it is but I have done alot of the work, whatever it is , the damn thing is built by me for me, and it will be my mess when it is done for better or worse. Jim

 

you answered your own question, 100%

 

You have heard someone say I built it myself though, even if they did 67% of the work.

I thnk at the end of the day it really doesn't matter what the percentage is as long as the fella leaves his mark on it.

 

Jim, you have the right idea. The older I get the less I do now. And many people have no place to weld, paint, or do major engine building. Sometimes a friend or shop can do it faster and better so why not take advantage. Everyone can't or doesn't want to tackle an interior or paint. Doing what a guy can do is what's important.
Even buying a finished car and enjoying it is fun. The main thing is getting involved. Too many listen to other builders or wanna be builders and start fibbing about their own builds. Next thing ya know they are believing their own stories. Still, who cares if the car looks nice?

 

Okay, I apologize. You're right, I probably shouldn't reply to a thread if I don't have something constructive to add, but "How much work to be considered 100% owner built?" seemed like a rather inane question to me.

In the end, a nice car is a nice car. I don't care who built it. The only guy that cares is the guy trying to make the 100% claim, and usually he's lying. In my experience, guys who could (or have) built 100%, wouldn't need to make that claim. It would be enough knowing that they did it. That being said, it sounds like you are doing a high percentage of your own work and I have to respect that.

 

I'll be doing everything but the machine work on the flatty on my coupster I'd say you can call it 100percent built by yourself even if someone else has done things like that where few people have the equipment at there disposal. Now if you didn't do the body work paint ect.. I think you would be lying if you said it was 100 percent built by you. But it don't matter as long as your happy with the end result.

 

If you start with a car and a pile of parts and do all the work yourself that is 100% owner built in my book.

It would also be OK to call it owner built if you assembled the car in your garage, and acknowledged the work of Elmer's Machine Shop who built the motor, Floyd who painted it (after you did the bodywork) and Sunrise Upholstery who reupholstered the seats that you installed.

It is NOT ok to claim others work as your own, although it is too common. I don't know what it is but people who would not steal your wallet can justify stealing your work and good name. Maybe they think the work is "theirs" since they paid for it. Well the fruit of the labor may be bought and sold but credit should be given when it is due.

 

I did everything on the A in my avatar except the paint. I don't know where that fits in. I didn't have the space at the time to paint it properly.

 

It's a tricky question. Nobody doubts Ed Roth built the custom cars he is credited with. Even though Joe Henning or Ed Newton may have designed them, Dirty Doug Kenney did most of the sculpturing of the body, Fritz Voigt built the motor and Larry Watson did the paint job.

It was still a Roth creation.

Many custom cars have a sign board giving credit to those who helped build it.

 

I've done 100% of all the work I wanted to do on all the cars I have ever owned. I've even done some work to my cars I didn't want to do, so that makes it 110%.

 

By the way, here is the car I am talking about. Jim

 

Even guys like Barris or Starbird can not clain "100%" of a build. THAT should answer your question.

 

With my '35 phaeton, I did the chassis and panel beating, installed the engine, trans and suspension and brakes; reconditioned all the mechanicals and did all the fabrication; fit finish and preparation, strip down and final assembly etc.
I didn't do the final coat of paint but did all the preparation and rubbing down. I left the wiring and trim to someone that knew what they were doing, better than me stuffing it up. I claim it as an owner built car. I could account for every cut, scratch, burn and blister during the build. Have been driving it for over 6yrs and it has never let me down. I could get in it and drive to the other side of the country if I had to and could afford it. I know it's 100% reliable and safe.
Now going back and doing it all over again with the '46 sedanette.