Features Are You More a "Builder" or "Driver"

Builder 90%. Enjoy the challenge and possible options for design. Supposed to keep my mind young and alert? When I start a project someone always puts a for sale sign on it. Then asks if I’m going to keep this one?

 

I thought I was a driver, but now after I've 'finished' 3 cars, I get bored and want to sell them shortly after I'm done working on them, so I guess I'm a builder?

 

^^^^^My wife says that's what me tinkering in the shop is supposed to do.

At last....something I really enjoy that's even good for me?! How good is that!

Lynn

 

I’ve tried my hand at building. I found out I’m not a “finisher”.

 

Never finished one, so it is the build I enjoy, right up to the point it needs to be wired, then I sell it. Bodywork done and paint ready is my goal. Finding and flipping stuff is a great joy as well.

 

I guess I built them so I could drive them. I tend to keep my old beaters a long time and use most on a regular basis. Just an old guy who drives his old cars.

After my son and I finished building his ‘38 Dodge pickup, as we were driving down the highway, he remarked how cool it was driving something he built.

Hot rodding, to me, has been building what I want. Driving is appreciating what I have.

 

I like the driving. I do enjoy the hunt of finding all the parts that I need for a project. Once I tear it apart it seems to stop at that point.

 

You need a third choice builder/racer.

When I modify or build for increased performance something I want to test it.

I made several modifications to my 53 Chevy.

Someone had already put a stock 261 truck 6 in it, My father and I put Fentons and built a dual exhaust (from Stainless Steel Milk line out of a dairy barn),vintage Edelbrock dual carb set up, and a vintage dual point conversion.

Next was a complete engine rebuild. Machine work, Isky C-4 cam (solid lift). This was followed by changing over to open drive with a late fifties Corvette 3 speed with a N.O.S. Hurst shifter (That my dad bought for a late model project that he sold be for he finished it.) and a 1959 or 1960 Chevy rear that I change over to parallels. I have rebuilt 3:70 Posi third member (1957 P case) for it.

I owned drove the car for ten years (I still own it, it is currently resting and it will never be for sale) but there is no where locally to test the modifications. The closest drag strip is an hour and half away.

I find just driving around on the street boring, I to drive 60 miles round trip everyday work to home the last thing I want to do on the weekend is more driving, and I can't stand car shows.

I want to build a car and test it's performance and my driving skills, which is why I have returned to my families roots and I am building a Model A for vintage oval track racing (all period correct/hand build parts modern safety) with the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds.

 

So the majority of us are in it for the build (75%+), we like traditional builds/styling, but not crazy about driving them.
We mock "street rodders" with all the latest and greatest gadgetry (heated/cooled seats, a/c, a/t, p/s, pdb, cc, FI, IFS, etc.), but maybe they got it right with all of their modern updates, if it makes it enjoyable to drive and gets them behind the wheel.
I've heard the term, when people speak of their passions.."this is my church", could very well be as we do seem to be hypocritical.
Not wishing to offend (I'm in this group to), just making an observation..
Am, and always will be that "traditional car guy", but with a "late model" that gets driven 95% of the time.

 

I love the aspects of both. Had my first sedan for 22 years before I sold it. Still got a kick in the ass and a smile on my face every time I'd fire it up and take off. My coupe is the same way. Something about going down the road in a car you built.

 

Here in the great white north it's a seasonal thing somewhat like a few guys said. We ain't able to drive our cars 6 months of the year so you either build/maintenance or you exit the hobby through the winter. I love building and fabbing for sure but I do enjoy the summer months when I need a break from that and then yes lots of driving.

 

When I was young I was an enthusiastic builder and driver, one project car after another plus working on my buddies rides. As the years rolled on and with marriage and children, for the last 3 decades about all automotive I accomplished is to be a enthusiastic parts Collector.
But I am not complaining, Now I have the parts, health good enough and the dream build is still alive.
And if I never get it together, it really doesn’t matter because I certainly have enjoyed the ‘ride’.

 

More of a hoarder, shop visitor and picture taker, but hope to change that soon. Put my avatar on the road back in high school, spent more time building than driving, but enjoyed both, still have it and a few more beside. Weather is breaking, maybe this will be the year.

 

Yea, I gotta straddle the line on this one. Much as I say I hate winter, I really enjoy the enforced downtime for fix, upgrade, maintenance projects. But the best part for me about owning collector cars in Minnesota are the first drives in spring, cars seem to be so much fun to drive again after a long winter's slumber. Love the long, meandering Mn / Sconney country drives during the summer. Melancholy time when fall comes, and it's time to park them.

 

I guess a similar poll would have to be taken on a "street rodder" forum to see if their cars are actually driven a substantial amount.

Lynn

 

My problem has become neither. I do enjoy driving my truck, but it has become far to easy to just leave the shop doors locked and just go to and from in my little beater car.

 

Agreed, why the stated "if".
Incorporating all of the creature comforts would lead a person to believe at least their intention is to put some serious behind the wheel time in though.
I don't belong to any "street rod forums" to find out, but would be interesting to see if they do.

 

I voted for driving instead of building. I love building, it is truly my getaway and I always plan to be building something, but I can drive my cars anywhere. Family functions, work, etc. Driving them takes away less time from my wife and 1 year old and still gives me the satisfaction of doing everyday stuff in an old car. I think the key is to always have a driver and a project, that way when you want to build you can and when you want to drive you can.

 

Hello,

My teenage years were to be the best builder of hot rods and motors in our area. We wanted to have a record setting hot rod under our eventual banner of Precision Racing Engines. Ever since my brother showed me the way to do the correct techniques in hot rod planning, building specifics and actually allowing me to build an SBC motor from a long block to completion, I was hooked.

Sure, driving was the top of the pyramid, but in order to get there, one had to build something to get you there. So, from a “go-fer” to a builder, welder, tuner and then eventually driver, the plan was set in motion for the both of us, as we started our hot rod adventures.

If it weren’t for my brother being older and getting his chance to drive his 51 Oldsmobile Sedan first, it would have been different. But, as it stood, he did things, learned and then taught me those techniques and as I learned, I got better at adjustments, sounds and a light touch in wrenching… no more Gorilla tactics on tightening nuts and bolts.

We had successes with our 58 Impala in our races and the rewards were a bunch of trophies. My brother got the fastest time of 98 mph. I got the quickest E.T. at 14.68. On the street, the accolades continued with good tuning, quick starts and power to keep ahead of the opponent in the other lane. Out teenage friends were impressed with what we had done so far. The accolades at the Friday night/Saturday night gatherings in our drive-in restaurant parking lot sessions were a lot of fun.


Jnaki


Everyone wants to be a top notch driver, but if you don’t have the hot rod or car to back up your skills, then it will be a long evening looking at some red brake lights in your windshield. Developing both is just as important as a single entity. But, it starts out as the old saying goes, “It is the carpenter, not the tool…”YRMV

 

I didn't read the responses yet but I think there should be more categories besides builder and driver.

yes, we got the builders here and the people that like driving them but you forgot about the dreamers that just let their stuff sit without touching them for years on end then it seems some of those dreamers turn into hoarders by accident because they keep buying them thinking what they could be turned into but 50 years later they realized they have more projects then they can get done with what time they have left.

then you have people that fit in all 4 categories. They like building them and driving them after they are done but they also have some in their stash they dreamed about getting done yet plus all the other on the backburner for standby just in case we live to 200. I think I fall into this category.

 

Since 1967, I have been driving antique Fords (only), no modern cars and if I drive it, I have to fix it first

 

I have to build everything for me before I can drive it, because I cannot afford to buy an already running car

 

Considering there are a LOT of guys on here who have been "building" the same car for 20+ years, are they builders? They sure as hell ain't drivers. Maybe they are dreamers & hoarders?

 

I enjoy the building. If it's a street car, I'm always tensed up watching for the one person that don't know how to drive to wreck my hard work!! I've had it happen 3 times already.

 

I was a Builder for many years, mostly Drag Racing. I'm turning 65 in May and starting to turn the page to Driver. Don't get me wrong, I love my time in the shop. For years I thrashed but now I tinker. It's still enjoyable just a slower pace. I have two current projects. Just told the Wife the next one I bring home will be a running car for the first time in my life.

 

I have not built that many cars as most of you have but I have enjoyed the builds I have done to suit my vision and for what I want to do with them once done - which is drive them.

So, I guess I really fall into both camps and cannot reside on one side or the other in this poll. However, if I were younger I think I would fall into the builder category but I would have to have one hot rod of my own to drive wherever and whenever I wanted to.

 

I'm a bit more builder (7/12ths) than a driver (5/12th) but a lot of that has to do with the local weather. It rains 7 months out of the year so driving is limited to 5 if you prefer staying dry. The wet months are for building...providing you have a garage or waterproof work area.

 

The thrill of the hunt, the passion of the build, and the joy of the drive.

 

Are You More a "Builder" or "Driver"

Yes...

 

Ive built for years but until I did the a coupe in 2020 I had never found what I was looking for . The coupe is the closest to my heart but it still has a few compromises . Just finished a rebuild on a buddies car and decided that these old bones and lungs aren't what they used to be, so decided after completing that to revamp the shed , clean it out, and make it a one car reserved spot for the coupe with the plan being no more full builds , just refine the coupe , iron out the compromise, and drive it when I can . However , with the price of fuel currently around £11 per gallon ( $14) in Scotland, driving is pretty costly at 18mpg. So if the car is in a good clean pleasant spot I can sit in it after tinkering and make suitable driving noises .