Projects Ever bought a project thinking this will be easy?

Slowly getting there, collecting parts for the brake upgrades now.

 

I think that ever increasing standards and the phenomenon of “project creep” or the “while I’m at it”’s make a lot of projects that would have been an easy project when you were fresher to the hobby a bigger project now.

20 year old you would have got it running and said “I can’t se the rusted rockers from he drivers seat”

20 year old you may have seen the worn out sway bar bushing while you were doing brake shoes and said “gonna pretend I didn’t see that”

2018 you may not.

And so an easy project snow balls

 

Project for sale. "All the hard work is done"! (Just needs brakes, steering, wiring, body mounted, glass installed, exhaust etc...)

 

Just call me "Mr. Rose-Colored Glasses". I tend to buy semi-built cars with the idea of finishing them up my own way rather than starting from scratch. I look for "good bones"...but usually find "rotted flesh" along with it. My latest project (see my avitar) is no exception. I intend to do a "re-build" thread on it once I get it somewhat organized. So far it's looking like the pile of "throw-it-away" parts is going to be bigger than the "save-it-and-use-it-again" pile. We'll see...

 

No. If it was easy, it wouldn't be called a Project.

 

I knew a girl like that some years back.

 

Yeah...EVERY TIME! ...So often, in fact: I named my feral cat MURPHY!

 

Dave...This Cad just looks like you! (your work, meaning) From the soft yellow to the Cad wires, stance, window tint and gold trim, I wince at having sold MY black '53 in '64... Your time spent looks to be well worth it. Bet it surprises you with 'drive-ability'.

 

Don’t know if I am the only one. However, every time I take over someone else’s car/ project, I cant believe how much extra or useless wire I end up removing. If 18” is required, apparently 6 ‘ is better. On a recent 56 Nomad my friends and adult car kids couldn’t believe the box of excess and or wires not being used anymore. Maybe I just like to look under the dash or engine bay and see a snake pit. Getting too okd



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Ha! Wiring...Years ago I rewired a car. Shortly after I was done, I thought of something I wanted to add, so I had to add wires to my finished harness. A few months after that, I discovered something else I wanted to add, so more wires were installed in the harness. I think I did that at least a couple more times before that car went away.
The next car I rewired, I added extra wires, just in case, and I was happy I did.
I've been adding extra wired ever since, even though the last 3-4 projects I never added any more things needing wiring, but everything now gets extra wires added into the harnesses.

I also remember having to replace light sockets or other electrical devices and finding the existing wires to be too shore to splice onto. About the time I started adding extra wires for the just in case, I also started adding an extra 6" in length, you know, just in case I needed to replace something...Old habits die hard! Gene

 

For the most part all the projects out there are ez..... just time consuming!

 

They are old cars, Gas, Oil, Water, Motor Honey as needed and go ridin' around. No one in the 40's 50's took their cars apart, they put in a Hopped Up Mill and RODE! There were no "Projects" there were cool old cars. JW

 

The story of my life. LMAO

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These cars were not 60 or more years old in the 40s and 50s. Most were less then 10 years old. You can't treat a 60 year old car like you can a 10 year old car. The 60 year old car probably needs more stuff repaired, hence they are projects.
Not many people would be taking a 10 year old car apart, even in these days. Gene

 

Not so much me thinking it would be easy, but more like convincing my wife it would be easy even though I know it’s a full on project.

 

Every dang time! "I'll have this thing on the road in a couple of weeks". Two months, thousands of dollars and more grey hair later I'm still trying to get it "on the road".

 

I've learned to start a project with zero expectations. That way I'm not disappointed.

 

I'm well acquainted with rose colored glasses and luckily I can see when I don't have the wherewithal to do the job properly anymore... I've moved along more unfinished projects than I care to admit. I do have my eyes on just one more.... to replace the one I had near thirty years ago. And "rose colored glasses" or not, I have seen the bad parts of it up close and the good still outweighs the bad in my book, although I am weak for that particular car. At least it already runs....

 

so true

 

Doing a stock restoration is easy, everything fits as planned,,sort of. Modifying a old vehicle strains the remaining brain cells. Nothing fits, exhaust is always in the way. Why not use cable steering shaft as on boats?

 

Hello,
I saw a cool looking and outstanding sounding, 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery coming up the driveway of the local drive-in restaurant parking lot back in the high school days. Of course, many thoughts ran through my teenage mind. We were teenagers with many skills and a need for all kinds of action. It would take on sports, drag racing, hot rod builds, and the cool sport that no one had any inclination about at the time, (except for my 8 stitches in my lip)…surfing.

The hot rod/drag racing end was being covered and kept us busy. But, the other sport, surfing was beginning to be the mainstream thoughts during school. Sure, we had flames and scallops on our Pee Chee notebooks, and Hot Rod Magazines stuffed inside for a quick glance during classes. But, no one could draw waves or surfers riding waves with any skill at all. Stick figures riding waves, were the mode of the day.

When we were at the drive-in restaurant parking lot, this red/orange (parking lot lights made it look red/orange) sedan delivery came cruising through the lot, everyone glanced at the cool hot rod and its occupants. The finger pointing (no, not that one) started happening since no one had seen this sedan delivery before. The sound coming from the motor was inspiring. Wouldn’t that sedan delivery be the coolest driving down to the Huntington Beach Pier for some surf sessions or Peninsula cruising in Balboa during Easter Vacation?

Jnaki

These thoughts kept harping on me, so I made an offer to buy 40 sedan delivery. Come to find out, it had a 3 speed LaSalle transmission and a big 348 Chevy motor. Being familiar with our 348 Impala, this was a pure hot rod/surf wagon in the flesh.

After many negotiations and modifications, I was the owner of a 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery, but with a stock Flathead motor. The former owner needed the 348 for his next project, a race car for Lions Dragstrip.

Now, I really wanted the sedan delivery with the big motor, but plans were listed to make the changes necessary to have a “fast” and good looking hot rod/cruiser for the surf trips and sessions. Little did I know that it would cost money, that was getting awfully low, after this purchase. The new additions, a 283, dual quads, Howard Cam, and a slew of other go/look fast stuff was going to be next to impossible. Building something while going to high school everyday, was not going to be easy. Any modifications would have to be done on the weekends and then be ready for Monday morning school.

So, every big time modification was put on hold. I decided to just have fun going all over So Cal for surf trips and camping. The cruising would be done with both cars at different times and locations. Hear of a big time hot rod race challenge? Easter vacation in Balboa/Newport Beach? Break out the black 58 Impala. Going to San Diego to hit the new swell at Swami’s surf spot? A big surf movie at the nearby HS/college auditorium? The 40 Ford Sedan Delivery fit perfectly into this scene. Those custom add-ons could wait as too much fun and a low bank account dictated what was coming next.

p.s. What was the 58 Impala doing while I was driving around in this 40 sedan delivery? My mom usually drove it to the grocery store, going shopping, or visiting friends. Even though I had taught her to drive the 3 speed, she wanted an automatic transmission installed, so it called for a C&O Stick Hydro. (It was classic enough with her driving by herself, but when two old ladies were in the Impala going shopping, that was very cool. )

 

Yes I did.Was I wrong! LOL. Bruce.

 

I bought mine knowing it would be a lot of work, but maybe now it will be easier than I thought

 

Almost every time![emoji4]


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Hello,
When my wife and I bought our 2nd 40 Ford Sedan Delivery, we were in the middle of our last hot rod mod years. We were still twenty somethings and had the ability, funds and stamina of making our daily driver into a show quality daily driver. With what add-ons would this take? We had seen sedan deliveries from stock to full modified and also plenty of daily drivers. Our latest sedan delivery was modified to look like my first sedan delivery I had in high school. (red paint, black rims, smoothie hubcaps and beauty rings.)

The second sedan delivery had all of the necessary reliable daily driver set up stuff on it. (SBC, A/C, auto trans, full upholstery, etc) But, the more I saw other sedan deliveries and custom cars at the various shows, the more I wanted to change over stuff to make our sedan delivery better and faster. The high school looks were great, but we wanted a change. So, since I had owned a 58 Impala with Buick Skylark wheels, we were now on the hunt for a nice set of wires.

I had contacts from the old days to change over the hubs to Buick studs to fit the Skylark wire wheels. That was not a problem. A friend was making a kit for Airheart Disk Brakes to fit old Fords. So, that was on our list. Finally, something always caught my eye at car shows, those cool sedans and deliveries with a shiny independent, Jaguar rear ends. Following those cars down the road just made our day, with all that movement going on underneath. Those “shiny things” caught my wife’s eye all of the time.

So, we knew that last add on, would take quite some time to get, measure, install and drive. That was beyond my reach, mechanical experience, and location. So, it would have to be farmed out and the sedan delivery out of commission for some time. It was not a good thing for us. We were only a two car family.

The house we lived in was cool, but the work area for cars was an exposed car port. My wife did not want to share cars while the big time work was going on and we did not need another daily driver. (a 3rd car while the sedan delivery was getting a make over?) So, priorities began to crop up and things took a different turn.

Jnaki
Since those mods would take some time and the tear down/rebuild would put our second car out of commission for longer periods of time, we decided to hold off on those changeovers. The command from above was: … “Keep the 40 Sedan Delivery running well, with no other performance mods.” Keep it reliable as a daily driver and she was a happy camper with lots of rewards…beach trips, vacations, mountain cruises, etc.

So, it became our workhorse, daily driver, put on a lot of miles of cruising, and I reaped “outside rewards” for my efforts and understanding.

 

My 32 roadster, easy as pie project. Took 17 long years to the month. I will admit to driving it a few times between rounds with it and then wasting money and labor on bad ideas with it. I'm not that clever.