You spend who know how many hours at car shows staring at cars looking for good ideas or in magazines and online. Then theres the time you spend in the mock up stage just looking at the lump of parts trying to figure out what looks best. Not to mention the mental staring done at night of all the cataloged info stuck in yer head. By the time I get my ride finished, I've got way more time invested in staring than I do in the actual build. Or at least thats just me...
When I first dreamed of starring in my hot rod, I had stars in my eyes. But nobody tells you that, along with the starring, comes the flashing flashbulbs of the hot rod papparazzi, the autograph seekers, and the never-ending stares from the little people.
It's when you DON'T spend all that time planning and builiding inyour head that you end up with a rolling puke-fest. If a made 50 cents/hour for all the planning I've done, I could build the car I've been planning.
When the car gets to the roller stage, make a point to roll it outside so you can view it from a distance. Sometimes what looks cool in the garage ain't all that great when seen in what will be the car's natural element. Take some pics as well. Low angle, get down on the driveway and shoot the pic. High angle, gives you a view as seen by spectators. Be prepared to learn that even if the car is most *****in' it's gonna have some angle it doesn't look all that great from. As a small example, imho, the dead-on rear view of Deuce higboy roadsters running tops has too much of a vertical component no matter how low the car is. That's where you need to add some horizontal style lines . . . such as full width nerf bar instead of little nerfs.
FLASHBULBS?!?! You are living in the past. I can respect that. There's a reason folks stare at you Mr Zenor. I'll let you muddle through the math.
for sure, I have logged some serious hours staring/planning/thinking/dreaming/mind-photoshopping/etc..
this is the part in building a car most dont know. look at any of the better high end cars and you see little brackets that seem sooo simple (when in front of you) but how much time and planning went into it???
I know that the staring part is crucial for makin it look right but com'on, sometimes I feel like I've got ocd or something! Oh well, whatever, I'm going back out to the garage to look at my car...
Oh man I thought I was the only one. I can catch myself just standing there for the longest imte staring. I'm glad I'm not the only one. I feel an ounce saner now.....or maybe I'm actually a pund insaner??? Damn hot rods.
HAHA yep....glad Im not alone here..... only difference is, right now its a shovelhead I am staring at instead of the T. Staring at the T is coming soon tho....
yes, i spend hours staring at em. usually concerned with some detail that is years away from completion. then you got the guys who apparantly take a glance at their **** while in a drunken stupor and say "good enough!" then get all pissed off when someone tries to tell them that a 50 chevy truck without fenders on a fad T frame with whitewall tires on crager SS wheels doens't look good, no matter how much Jaeger you drink.
and here i thought i was just lazy,but if ya'll knew the pile of car i was starin at,you'de understand.
Can't tell you how many times I looked at something over and over before suddenly slapping myself in the forehead and saying "Wow, that'll work great!" Also can't tell you how many times I thought I had a great idea and realized it had a huge problem...just from staring at it.
It is not all the staring that's got me, It's all the head shaking afterwards that drives me nuts. Not to mention all the staring the wife does at me staring at it. The dog just lays on its side and sleeps.
I got a kick out of the guy that had a meticulous 58 Chevy oval race car with some of the coolest little details. After talking to him for a while, he admitted to having a rocking chair in his garage. He'd spend hour upon hour just a-siittin' and a-rockin' staring at the car. Time well spent. Once I've got that permanent mental 3D picture in my head then I can build the car in my head while commuting.
I've got lay-z-boy recliners!!! you can only see the car from a certain angle from them though...not a big garage Zach
totally! i sat on a creeper seat in the shop yesterday for probably 3 hours just starring at the f-100, trying to decide my next move. i go at this stuff alone for the most part, the girlfriend helps out if i need a hand moving stuff around, sanding ect, but she doesnt have a lot of input. Once i am sure i dont know what the hell i'm doing i go in the house and stare at the HAMB for a couple more hours, get some ideas, pointers, tips, and stories, ect. then you must stare at parts catalogs for a couple more hours and your checkbook for a couple more (if you can get it away from the ol'lady). once your parts are ordered you must stare out the window for the UPS guy to show up at you door (unless your really excited and meet him in the street, then he stares at you). go back to shop with box of goodies and stare at the instructions for a while. once i've built up my confidence i go ahead and intall (or try to) the new parts and sit back and stare some more. repeat.
Guilty in the first degree. I have been on this car for just over two years and have made a few decissions that have been turned into stone and a few that were mud to be washed away from the begining of the thought. When ever I have a few minutes or so that I can hobble out to the Dodge House I make every effort to see if the Hot Rod elfs did something great while I was gone. So far no such luck. Overhaulin hasn't stole it yet so it looks like I will still be doing it all myself. I just wish I had started this one Ten years sooner and it would have been done by now.
The Jalopy Journal
