Ever feel like calling it quits from the hobby?

Ever feel like calling it quits from the hobby?
You know that feeling when it seems like your getting no where and spending too much money on the car? sometimes i feel like calling it quits and selling everything including my tools.

 

Nope.. never. Sometimes get frustrated with project.. but call it quits? I love the hobby too much and love being around old cars.. Man, what would I do with myself if I didn't have this? Shuffle board?

 

Things are bad and getting worse

Bottom line is guys like us need at least one of two things...

1. Time
2. Money

The unfortunate reality is that most of us spend all of #1 at a regular job to make enough #2 for our hobby.

The cost of having somebody else build your car requires alot of money. And if you want to build it yourself it requires alot alot alot alot alot alot of time... and most of us don't have much time or money once you start dealing with jobs, wives, families, responsibilities.

Even through all that bullshit...you gotta find a way to just be happy that you've got a hobby. Sometimes you've got time and money to get shit done...most times you don't.

But someday shit will get done, then you can spend your spare time and money riding around in a cool car.

 

sounds like you need a break from it for a while. do something else. you can't quit, if you are really into it. but, sometimes, a break to concentrate on a different project (not auto related), or just doing nothing, will find you missing the thing that you love.

 

Yes there are times I feel the same way but it usually passes pretty quickly.


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Thats why they make beer and cigars...

 

Yes I do. Now days it seems like people around here just buy rides and no-one builds their own stuff. If the engine quits they say they have to "call their mechanic" . Since the late 60s it's been a fun ride but I think it's about over.

Bob

 

If you consider old cars a hobby maybe it's time you take up a new hobby.

It always sounds cliche but for me building and driving hot rods are just part of my life,,I don't have a hobby. HRP

 

Yes.....when you get to the age of retirement you will take a serious look at your finances. I've done cars all of my adult life. I find more often than not that I just don't have the same enthusiasm that I once had. My other hobby is my hotair balloon. As you guys in aviation know it's very expensive. I can't afford both and I will not give up flying. So, the cars will go.

 

Someone's building the cars those people are buying. They're the ones who answered "no" to the question about calling it quits. If cars are in your blood, you can't quit.

Bob

 

HRP has it right. I don't ever want to quit--sometimes I tell 'em just have a Cat dig a hole and put me at the wheel and run me in........with a smile on my face. Funny tho, I don't think I'm kidding.

 

I'm 67, hotrodder ever since I picked up a "little book" in 1958. Back in the 80s I tried to quit what my bride calls my addiction. Actually went a few months without an old car, and just about broke my neck rubbernecking every time a nice old car went by. I quickly gave up and dove back in. Quittin' is not in the cards. Looks like I'm a lifer, and I am sure hoping there are hotrods and old rock & roll on the flip side.

I will add that projects can be frustrating, and there've been times when I got mad and walked away from any project work for a few days to even a couple of months. Eventually the project sucks me back in, and I'm on a high again.

 

Sometimes when you get to that point in a project it's best to just let it go and get something fresh without the bad memories and headaches attached, preferable something you can hop in and drive and have some fun with... but if you are a true gearhead it wont be long before you start tearing that one apart ;-)

 

Welllllllllllll, maybe I've had some moments . Look, there is absolutely NO way in hell I could pay outside labor for my old stuff. I've done trades and so on to get stuff done . scrubba

 

You know I've been struggling with this for a while, I have the time problem mostly. But two things help me. I spend most Saturday lunch with some great car guys, who do actually work on their junk, and are great at it. Just being around them keeps the spark going. If things are really bad I just get into one of the old cars and just drive somewhere. Did that this morning, just driving to work. Now that can be difficult if what you are working on is the only old car you got. In that case you just have to muscle through. The payoff will come.

 

When I was 5 years old and I new Ford from Chevy from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Plymouth</st1lace></st1:City>, etc. I was born in 1945; you do the math, and still have the old car bug. The love of old cars is an incurable disease.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

I just think you need a rest for a little while , so take it . Take a few weeks and you'll feel refreshed . It happens to more people than would care to admit it .

T

 

We all get tired or discouraged. I live in the middle of no where and a few days ago was driving along on our gravel road and met a '29 chopped and channeled Model A tudor sedan. I thought I was in the twilight zone. Never saw it before haven't since. Did I see it or.....? Who knows, I feel better now. And went back to work on my '30 coupe.

 

X2 It's not a hobby, it's a passion!

 

up! im just getting back into it after a 3 year break. It got to the point that the more money i spent, the more went wrong. I locked up my shop, and walked away, picked up another hobby, and went at it for the last 3 years, and then a few weeks ago, i got the itch, and have spent the last while converting the car to 12 volt, and fixing a bunch of little bits. I highly doubt its worth selling it (you probably wont get out of it what you got in, which is why i never sold mine when i really wanted to). Find something else to do for a while, and come back when you are ready! good luck!

 

i think everyone feels like sometimes, as said by others don't sell anything, just take some time off from it and do something else for a while and you will back at it in no time with a different attitude. some people or relatives will discourage us and say we are messing with junk and waisting money but that is just their opinion. as for me it would be hard to live with just owning plain modern cars.

 

You are so right about retirement and $$$, I thought I would be at a comfortible level to do so,now I am wondering if it will turn into a survival mode.
My advise , stay healthy and be wise with your money !

 

It's a lifestyle....
Just shake it up, if you don't have a ride running, get a buddy, go for a morning cruise to nowhere, get lost in the world for a few hours in a Hot Rod.....

 

Maybe it's this long winter that's got me down? I use propane to heat my garage but not too often since it creates condensation. And being that i work a seasonal construction job don't help either lol seems i always get this way at the end of winter/spring time Ha!
Maybe i should take a vacation and enjoy some r&r.

 

It's just a "hobby"? Something I can quit doing? I thought you could only die or get "beat out" of this club... I did not get the memo.

 

Maybe you need a better source of heat.

 

At 76 years old some times I wonder when the time comes that I can no longer see good enough to do my own work or am too old to get up off of the floor what I will do with myself until I die. I cannot see my self doing like my mother in law who goes to the senior center every day and plays cards or dominoes, I would be bored to death, but the day is coming.

 

I go back and forth between hot rods and building boats.Sold my last driver in '93,project car in '97,and just got back into a driver last year.

Oh yea,collecting parts for the next project has been ongoing though!!!

Right now, I'm converting the garage from plywood & sawdust (boats) back to rodding for a while

I did get burned out with shows a long time ago though....would rather build and drive them than pay $20-30 to sit in a chair and listen to how someone else would have done it different!

 

Mr. James, One of my friends who does a ton of work for me is 80. He is a retired machinist and knows more about hot rods that I ever will. I already dread the day that he calls it quits, but you can bet that I fully appreciate every second that I have to try to learn from him. Keep it up buddy

 

I'm the same way , I have my own business (carpenter) and get the same way because its seasonal . I thought about selling my rides and all the tools more than once but then I realized that once it's gone , it's gone and to try and replace everything I have would cost way to much. Hang in there the sun will soon (I hope) be back out and your attitude will change , I know it works that way for me.