If you can't afford it right now, side line it. I was buying a lot of parts, shit got tough financially last year, so I had to sell a lot of parts. I'm eternally grateful I had those parts to sell though because if it was cash it would have been long gone. Here's a great quote from the movie 'Blow': “Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again. But life goes on”<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
What is your passion? If it is cars, history, clothes etc, then one finds a way to deal with everyday life. Many times I've had to help a friend in my life. we're talking some big dough here! But when I had needed something in the past they were there for me as well. I've always had certain cars in mind when I was on the hunt, sometimes I just couldn't sleep, Heck I do that still . If you want something bad enough, you wil figure out a way to get it (legally I hope). I remember being 18 when rods like Rusto Racer (E-B32) were on the local streets of Pasadena The CA Kid was back in TC and Jakes 34 was always parked out in front of Goody's. I said "I'm going to get on of those before I'm 30". Talking to those guys you'd think that the ol tin was all dried up. I looked and found what I wanted, sold/swapped a couple of cars that are now worth a small fortune . Ended up with my 1st 34 3W when I was just 23. You want ta talk a learning experience, Hot Rods will do that! Every one was/is different. Trends, tastes and financial situations change. The most recent car I built was kinda ok cost wise. Chassis from the HAMB locally,Body parts collected over time then made into a body, wheels/tires, came up as a deal. The engine was a take out of a pals car that I just did the minimum, have had it 22yrs. Junkyard trans. swapmeet S&W's. Milner coupe style steering wheel=free. cheap oil based enamel paint=because that's what I can afford. The car's a blast to drive, It's not w/o headaches,but it makes it all worth it getting behind the wheel and just becoming a part of it. So just focus and it all will come into clear view.
No, but as long as the necessities are covered, wife and I figure what's left is fair game...for either of us. She's always been very supporting of my hobbies, and often it is her suggesting me getting something. Yup, she's a keeper. Right now I have no car to spend on, and money is VERY tight...but if the right vehicle came along the problem would not be spending the money if it was there, it would be where to put the vehicler...LOL.
I'm not against cards at all - I just don't use them for my cars. It becomes way to easy just to buy what I want when i want it. I have my fair share of plastic cluttering up my wallet, probably some other peoples shares as well.
I totally agree. I paid for my drill press with points. I fear, however, that paying the balance each month is not what the majority do.
I suppose for a lot of us, we didn't have the money when we were young. Now we have the bucks and time, but lack the body to do everything.
I really enjoy the process of wheeling and dealing to get most of the stuff I need, very few car related items get bought at retail besides paint, some tools, etc. I love trading, selling on CL to buy stuff I need on CL, swap meets, to my wife and I, going on a car hunt or hitting a swap meet are a great holiday. Finding a treasure and driving it 1500 miles home, stopping to fix leaks and zip tie things back together, that's half the fun of the whole project.
Best way to have money to play is keep your pecker in your pants starting when you are a teenager or get a vasectomy around age 16 then you won't have to pay out lawyer fees for a divorce or child support or alimony and you can put it towards your cars.Always remember "one man's junk is another man's treasure" you can always scrounge parts and sell them to fund your project.
Well, this one I had to weigh in on. I walked past my Coupe unfinished, started and stopped on it many times, in my attached (1) car garage for 34 Years, while I was working multiple jobs, paying off the Mortgage, and (2) College Tuitions. Still went to every Car Show/Swap meet I could, gathering stuff for all those years, but still lookin' at it, covered up with boxes, lawn furniture, bicycles, sports equipment, etc. Finally, in my 50's I was able to get started with a tremendous assist from all my Penna. buddies. Even at that, I eventually ran out of $, and you know who came to the rescue, the Son who I did all the Sports stuff with, and took care of College for, who said "Dad, Finish your car, whatever you need in Cash, I got your back!" And, that's how it got done. It makes every drive in it, that much sweeter!!!
I invested in myself first, borrowed money and got an education and the result is a job with a comfortable salary, I paid off the student loans first, and now we (wife did the same thing) live well within our means and save for the future. Day to day we do not worry about money, we are certainly not wealthy, upper middle class at best. But still we have a "fun money" system, every paycheck we take out $100 each to spend no questions asked on what we want, at the end of the year it is something like $2500 each, that is a reasonable budget even on a small salary. Hell a new car payment would be much, much worse. But I would feel that if you cannot put $2500 to it each year the lack of progress will be defeating. Start with a driver, and drive it, fix/upgrade when necessary/extra cash is available. If it is not fun, get out now.
What's that saying "sweat costs nothing"? I'm working around all the jobs that cost money and doing the ones that just rely on my elbow grease. Keeping an eye on low bid epay auctions and picking up a bargain when I can and squirrelling small amounts for the bigger stuff. But I ain't building a show car either
That's what I did. I work at a Ford dealer from 730ish to 600 every day, 8-5 every 3rd Saturday. I also have a 6 year old and a wife that are more important to me than anything else on the planet, and my other hobby is old-time stick 'n covering model airplanes. I found the Hawk mostly done, but it needed some front end work, shocks, brakes, carb, etc. I did some myself, some with help, and I drive my car every weekend, and some during the week. She still needs a-frame bushings, a better exhaust, and a couple of other things, but I don't think I could have bult a car of any type for what i have in the Stude, plus it's saved me some time, while still teaching me things I should have learned a long time ago. Cash
I bought my truck(1948 kb1 International) 35 years ago and drove it untill Oct. of last year with the stock running gear Knowing when I retired I would make the nesisary changes for even more fun(350hp 350 and a 9"). Little did I know that 2 weeks after retirement I come on a deal and aquire a 31 A running frame and a 1927 t coupe. I guess I have my work cut out for me now. I spent 40 years working 10 hr days 6 days a week in the construction Ind. Now I have a haed time filling the day with taking care of a farm and my projects, but I'll keep on trying. I knew there would be getting to the truck some day---Ya I know some day I;m going to fix it up was a true statment.HaHa
It's never the right time. I just scrounged $300 for a loom and now her Toyota shits itself ( thought they didn't do that?). All my dough gone. Carry on regardless..
Its all about the budget. Do you want $10,000.00 worth of paint and bodywork, or will black primer do? Most people get so hung up on this. People will walk past that paint to look at a well detailed rod. Its just as fun in primer!
I run on that exact philosophy. The bills and family come first and if I have a few spare bucks the truck gets a part. One can build a pretty nice car by just being prudent on how he/she spends the money that they spend. 1. Price shop all major pieces that are bought new or used. Know what the going price is for certain parts before you go look at that type of part. The Craigslist cool parts peddlers seem to be asking stiff prices for stuff like nine inch Ford rear ends around here but a guy might still buy a crusty car or truck with a similar rear end for half the asking price and then sell off the rest of the car so the rear end is free. That running, driving 3/4 ton pickup that's for sale cheap might have the exact engine and trans you want and you can make a trailer out of the back half of the frame and box that you can sell for more than you paid for the truck. I lost track of how many of those trailers I built in the last 30 years but I still see one that I built every once in a while being towed down the road. 2.Know when to buy new and when to buy used planning on rebuilding the part. You aren't saving money when you buy a used part and then spend the price of a new one having it rebuilt. 3. Have some cash stashed so that when bargains come up you can snatch them up. That set of 15x7 American five spokes that the kid down the street is pulling off that 69 Chevelle he just bought so he can stick 20's on it might not be worth a lot to him as he thinks they are obsolete wheels. Or that set of wheels that you spot at the aluminum recyclers when you take the Bud cans in to cash them in might just be bought by the pound if you talk to the right guy. \ 4. Don't spend a ton of money on a car that will never be worth anywhere near what you spend on it. On Makes, models and body styles that will never bring a lot of money spend what you do spend wisely and don't get carried away. A simple doner car engine, nice but not outlandish paint an interior and you have a car that can be driven and have a lot of fun and can still be sold or traded without loosing your shirt in the process.
a couple things that have worked for me: 1 start a savings account separate from wife and not attached to online banking 2 attach a keep the change program at bank so every time wife spends money with debit card, change goes to car account 3 all side jobs hustle $ goes to car account 4 swapped company lease vehicle to monthly vehicle expense check that goes right to car $ [ and now i drive my collection ] 5 resist family pressure to buy fishing boat
if you gotta ask likely not,,and one thing for sure do not use credit ever for luxuries and that is exactly how I classify a hotrod or any automobile. Right up there with buying a rolex on credit
The big question is. How bad do you want it? Those that say they like hotrods and would someday like to own one and never do have not got a strong enough passion. I have never believed hotrodding is something where you wake up one day and decide your going to do, your born to be involved, its something you already know right from a young age, if thats you, you will have a hotrod, wether you build it or buy it is irrelevant, you must first have a strong enough passion, the difference between owners and dreamers, owners have more passion. I have loved hotrods my whole life, I can't explain why, read my first magazine at 10, owned my first car at 16, it was a 50 ford, have had several cars since, my current one I have owned for the past 15 years and will never sell as it has a significant place in Australian hotrod history, and believe it or not I am also now at 52 building my first, a Brookville 32 roadster, see the reason I never built the others was either circumstances didn't allow also admittedly a lack of skills, so I bought and owned them instead, always made some changes and did my own work where I could. The last few years I have developed an uncontrolable desire to build, I decided after all these years of owning something someone else built its high time i had a crack myself, so I sold a very nice Aussie monaro to get the ball rolling, and with our dollar being so high I spent it all in your country to get all the parts I need to form the foundation of what I want. Is the project going to mess with my head? damn straight it is, it will be the biggest learning experience of my life, the thing that will see it through will be the desire to stay focused of the picture I have in my head of the finished car, and if I go to my grave with acheiveing that one thing I'll die a happy man, no matter what the cost. So if your passion or desire to own a rod or custom is strong enough it will happen, because we always find a way to get the things we really want in life, and when we're dead, its then too late and it don't matter anymore. One life, just go for it.
Me to on all counts !!! I 've done 20 or so for me[complete] and 5 for other guys the same, and i have earned enough money, by the "grace of God go i"! as keith urban sings it.I was born a lucky guy. bob
This is me !!! You my man are on the same track as i have followed all my life.I built a wood go-cart and motor powerd bicycle. Several mini-bikes.Thats how it started for me.It is in a mans soul i believe!But it takes very good woman to keep it there .Which i have bob
I've had fat times financially and lean times. The frame-off build of my 54 tudor has taken forever because it tends to move very slowly when there's no money (I'm the sole breadwinner for our family of 5). Its 6 year build is almost done though and it's gonna be well worth it. However...I've always found a way to have an old car to drive, even when things were really tight. I usually do that by finding something cheap for my daily driver. You gotta get back and forth to work....so you might as well do it in an antique. For example, when I was teaching high school, I bought an OT Plymouth Valiant 4 door for $300. Absolutely perfect body and interior but it had a seized-up slant six. I found a good running slant six on Craigslist for $150, swapped it out and had a running Valiant for less than $500. Then as finances permitted, I hopped up the engine and worked any and all bugs out of it. It wasn't a deuce with a built flatty, but it was a HELL OF A LOT OF FUN working on that slant motor...those things are just cool. A city maintenance crew creamed it with a front end loader and I used the money to get a 66 F100...another cheap daily driver. Point is, you can go all in, like I've done with my 54, and have to wait sometimes as money allows or you can go cheap and find a 4 door something-or-other and drive it as is. Or do what I've done and do both.
I'm in the boat right with ya!!! If your married and she is not exactly on the same page as you "car fix" then you gotta compromise! I've always had a car to tinker on and the wifey and I have had plenty of "talks" about time away from her and the kids because I'm out working on a car! Point I'm gett'n at is, find something cheap enough that you can have fun with and don't rush it! There will ALWAYS be a deal somewhere on parts, wheels, motors... Try to save up a chunk of change before you look for stuff. That way if you find a great deal on something, you'll already have cash towards it!
The Jalopy Journal
