Projects How Long Has It Taken You......

Frame completely dismantled, new floor, all upholstery, body work, paint, engine and install glass all done by yours truly, 2400 hrs. Yes, I did keep track of all my time. That is over a year of working 8 hrs day 5 days a week. I loved it.

I'm not keeping track of the hours I am putting in on my T but it will be much less hours.

Fourdy

 

I built my 28 sedan in 4 years I started ONLY with the back 1/2 and no frame
from the doors forward are from another car.

 

The first restoration of my Scout took 4 ish years. I drove it for a year, broke the trans twice and gave up. The second build took 2 years and I am waiting patiently for a house and garage so I can bring it out of storage.

 

As everyone said in one way or another there are a lot of variables involved. Including but not limited to. Type of car that you are building, conditon of the car you started with, amount of time per day,week, Month or year that you get to work on it. Cash avaiilable to work on it. How high getting the car done is on your priority list in your life.

For some life gets in the way with job demands, family demands and other interests. I love my cars but also get a lot of pleasure out of my sailboat and plan to spend a lot more hours out on it this year. The truck will get done when it gets done and so be it. Right now my screwed up work schedule doesn't allow much time for the hotrods or boats but I'm not that far away from having plenty of time to do both.

The main thing I have found out over the past 40 years is that when working on your hotrod becomes work rather then fun it's time to take a break from it until it becomes fun again. My truck was never the way I wanted it in the past because it seemed that I was always pushing towards a deadline and then so burned out that I never went back and took care of the little things I missed in that thrash to the deadline.
This time it is no deadlines and it will be done when it's done.

 

I bought the body back in winter of 2000-2001. collected parts until 2 years ago. Should be driving it in a month or two. I try to keep focused but lots of things keep getting the way, life for one. Car shows are another. I would say 2 - 3 years for one person, if you leave somethings to do after you get it running. I have a thread that records my build to date...Check it out...

 

From a fully stock Model A to a fully traditional roadster, with no prior experience, in just over two years. Only working on weekends in my mom's back driveway. I would have been done sooner had it not rained so much.

 

That's gotta be a nice feeling to nail it first time out! Beautiful car!

 

2 years and 9 months from this


To this

 

I'm thinking I have around 1500 hours into mine, maybe a bit more. It was a basket case 6 years ago, on the road in 2009, and has been getting worked on in the winter months ever since. How much of that time could have been saved if I already knew what I was doing instead of trying to learn? Probably 100 hours into trying to salvage fenders that were beyond my skill levels. 100 hours of other assorted body work that I wound up doing again after I learned a little more about welding techniques. Paint that I ultimately did over again. I'm not sure though, I don't think they ever get truly finished.

 

I started my project 3-years ago. I'm building an American Graffiti "Inspired" 1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe. I started with absolutely nothing. Bought a perimeter frame (already welded), built a rolling chassis, a 350 SBC crate motor & 700R4 transmission, purchased a fiberglass body, and so on. The car is currently being painted, then final assembly, interior, test driving etc. By the time it's all done, I'll have about 3-1/2 to 4 years in the project. That's working on it "part-time" (weekends, evenings, etc.) If your interested, I've got build photos posted under my "albums" section on my profile page.

 

There can't be a standard as someone without kids and a family might speed alot more time on a project per month then someone who finds its important to eat dinner with their kids, read them a story and put them to bed. Some might have 20+ hours just in one weekend and others might not even be able to do that in one months time. What the alotted time you can spare at least do alittle something so that you feel your working on something.

 

I have to thank Vern Tardel & Mike Bishop for printing that instruction manual. It was a great starting off point to my new love affair with hot rods.

 

I average 2-3 years but money dictates the amount of time.I'm working on one now that will take alot longer( no money).

 

I traded a 57 Chev hardtop for a 38 Chev coupe basket case in the mid 70's, finally got it on the road in the late 70's, put about 20K miles on it then parked it in the mid 80's (don't even ask why-it had new paint and interior a couple of years before). Several years ago I pulled the engine and installed a MII suspension, built and old style 327 and then remarried a couple of years ago and got tied up on some other projects (house and landscaping) and picked up the 49 you can see to the left. Now it is getting my time to either fix or finish all the work that hadn't been done. Did I get the record for longest project --- 35 plus years???

 

1 ) My 32 Ford roadster took 10 years.

I started with just a 32 frame ... and then hunted down all the body parts/panels. Then built the roadster. Finding the Henry Ford original built parts and paying for them was a big part of the delay.

2 ) My 32 Ford 3W coupe ... took 4 years.

I started with a fairly complete 32 Ford.
Barn fresh ...



I sold a 1940 Ford coupe ... which help the the build process ... and I had a decent supply of 32 parts and experience to help cut down the build time. I was also retired while the 3W was going together ... so I had plenty of time and decent supply of ca$h to make the build go quicker.

 

I bought my Thames in -81 and drove it for a month in original condition,
boooooring, so I took it apart and then it all stopped. Separation from girlfriend and moving around made it hard to work on the car. Working as a custom painter I found out that working twelve hours a day left no time for the car, neither did my new family. After I built our house and garage I finally could get the car home and work some on it, but lack of time and money put the project on hold again. To shorten the story, during the thirty years I've had the car, I maybe have nine or ten months of work done.
The new chassie is done, modifications on body are done, got the motor and trans for it and now it's just a lot of time consuming lead spreading and fitting of parts before paint. I need something to do when I retire.

 

Started gathering parts before I had a garage, 7 years later I had a roll around mockup, another year frame was done & had some body pieces, year later resurrected flathead was coupled up & started, partial body made. Once it fired & ran through the woods on it's own, 6 weeks to liscense plate. Best medicine for a rod project is to start the motor, then it's get the hell outta the way! Paint & brushes, foam & vynl, glass frames & windows, wire solder & shrink, all a blurrr

 

I started just over 5 years ago with a flatty that ran and a bear model A frame.Worked on it one night a week sometimes 2 and weekends when I could.Doing the wiring now,it won't be done(form what I understand they are never done) but should be driving it this spring.

 

I have almost 33 years in on a '42 chevy. Hell... It has been at the media blasters shop for about 7. Started the project for a friend. He went to law school and his parents said the car had to go. I took it over for myself. Money was tight so everytime I saw something I wanted for the car, I had to save to get it. By the time I was able to afford that part. It was out dated. This went on for a while. Other projects popped up and put it on the back burner. I keep telling myself to go pick it up and get on it. It is a rust free coupe. Chubby Chassis front end under it with a 4-link 9 inch in the rear.. Someday.....................................

 

I have a job and 2 kids. It took me 4 1/2 years from this:




To this:



Pete

 

Elapsed time for a completion is not a good measure of productive effort spent. I would guess one thousand to three thousand hours may be typical for a hot rod building effort. It just depends on too many factors to be able to be specific. A kustom can have as many hours as you are willing to spend, and it is easy to spend many more hours on a rod than just 3000, depending on detail desired.

This last eight months, I probably spent 700+ hours in a very minor rebuild of a 1929 closed cab: new motor, instruments, new relocated gas tank, new steering wheel and box, new turn signals, full rewiring, new bed box, new knobs, tonneau cover. Just changing/making everything I did not like, but only repaint was splash aprons and radiator shell. ...just a lot of things that took time to do as I wanted it. When this car was first built 18 years ago, it probably had less that 2000 hours in it. I just wanted to get it done and I did not have as much personal time to spend on getting everything just as I wanted.

Elapsed time to build a car is pretty much a personal thing.

 

9 months, full-time for the T-Bird. However, noone in their right mind would ever admit a project is "finished".....that way, the wife can't tell you to "sell it!"

 

I work on the running gear when I get time at my home garage,,,,work Friday nites on the body at a buddy's body shop...
Got about 3 and 1/2 years in on it. This is what it looks like now

 

my avatar took 32 days my 36 3 window will take a life time...

 

Bought this 3 years ago


took it all apart the first winter, and started gatering up parts and a plan on where i wanted to go.
dont have a thick wallet, and im rasing a family,I work like 40 to 55 hrs a week at my job, only really have some weekends to work on it, and life gets in the way, so do vacations and trying to not be a cave dweller..but ive gotten this far in 3 years


its not the time...its the journey, and the people you meet along the way..its supposed to be fun......right?

 

Reason I asked is because I over heard a guy joking to people that "our" builder is taking 2 years to build his car, and 2 years seemed about right to me, on a ground up kustom. But like everything, when it comes to cars, and kustoms I have to ask the good folks of HAMB for their experiences.. These cars are going to be the death of me...

 

Are they ever really finished.

 

Back in the early 60s my 48 ford coupe took about 2 years. In the 70s my 31 tudor took about 6 years. I have been working on my 53 ford since 1988 off and on. I sometimes wonder if it will ever get done.

 

8 Months. frame swap, motor swap, air suspension, new interior and paint.

 

Wow, I just looked back to the other posts, I cant work on one for more than a year. If it take me that long, I'm building the wrong car. Ive got a 70 volksrod that im doing a ground up and the same on a 53 merc and a 63 lincoln and i havent even started on them but they must be done by Nov.