Do you ever fall "out of love" with your ride during the build?

So I'm close to being done with phase 1 of my 50 Chevy, which is the most complex. Phase 2 would begin next year, welding in patch panels and such. I feel like the car is over the hump, and the rest of it should be down hill from here. Now that I'm at this point, it's almost like I'm not feeling it with the car anymore. It's not that I don't like it, but it's just kinda "meh" nowadays.

I attribute part of it to getting on this 57 Buick kick that's been simmering and is now boiling over the past week or so, so I don't know if it's just a passing thing now that I'm looking for a new toy or not.

Have any of you gone through this, and if so, what was the outcome or what did you do about it? Get rid of the ride? Keep it?

 

Usually at that point I get rid of them. Not because Im lazy, just because I get bored. The shoebox I have now has made me hit that point a few times, but I dont want anything more than this car (unless I had way more money) so Ive gotten over the humps and as of now, I love it more than ever.

 

Project "hopping" happens when the old build is wearing you down, IMO. Thinking about a different project feels more promising and fun, rather than the nasty one you are working on.

Can you tell I have been through this.....and,.. many times?

 

Seek counseling first, then a seperation, if feeling persist, get a divorce err different car.

 

Yes, I'm there now because I basically haven't laid a hand on my '67SS/RS 496 BB/M-20/3.31 posi car in probably 6.5 years.

I've probably got two long weekends of details to get it on the road, but I just got burnt out crawling under it when I restified it with full poly everywhere, then SFC's, different front and rear springs, and my front and rear, "pdqCBB", 13" front and 11.75" disc brake conversion.

(Fronts have big single piston '69/Van type calipers on homemade caliper brackets that I designed. A cardboard template copy of the front caliper bracket is FREE if anybody wants one. just PM me. I've sent copies all over everywhere through the years.)..

Not to mention my new Pony-car 17" "Bullitt" rims! Suckers to me are the PRETTIEST rims I've ever seen!

I gotta get back to her and if I don't before I retire, I will then!

pdq67

 

That's why people cheat.



.....with other cars I mean, of course.

 

Ha! You're dead on. It's kind of like a needy friend who used to be cool, but now bugs you about every little thing. I don't have a garage or a lift, so I do all my work out in my driveway....rain, snow, or shine. I put the engine/trans in when it was snowing last year! Just yesterday, I noticed a trans fluid leak because somehow it was burning off on the exhaust pipe. Turns out that one of the bolts was loose on the pan because the threads were worn.....so I had to crawl underneath the car to just replace ONE friggin bolt. I was so pissed. I was like "Haven't we been over this? Why couldn't you have pissed yer fluid out while I was under there doing major work one of any number of times prior to now?"

The other weird thing....I only lack reconnecting the brake lights and turn signals (original owner used the SAME color wire for everything :/ ) then I'll have it on the road.....it's like getting to the Promised Land, then thinking "BFD". So close that I just don't care at the moment. I hope it's a phase.

 

I always keep another little project around...I pulled the 429 out of my caddy this summer to do a rear main seal (got tired of leaving oil slicks everywhere, lol) and wound up replacing pretty much everthing motor related other than head gaskets.....got to a point where i wanted to roll it out of the garage and crack a beer while i watched it burn. I dig old honda twins so i have a cheapo hardtail bobber project that i'd work on until i missed working on the caddy.

 

I got that sinking feeling as soon as HotRodTim delivered my 60 year old ride one rainy Friday night at 11:00pm. As soon as I saw it, the thrill vanished because "just having to fix some rocker rust" turned out to be much more rust than the rocker. Now that the car is completely apart, that nagging feeling about another non-project ride is on my mind.

 

See if you can snatch the pebble from my hand Grasshopper ,........ (A little Kung Fu lingo for ya there,...) Click below,... If you dare !

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=463424

 

i got into my 54 hot and heavy last year and made a lot of progress. then i stepped back and realized how much more i had to do and got overwhelmed. haven touched it since march. then i started several other projects that i never finished. and today i just sold the last of 4 cars that got i the way since march. so now the plan is to continue work on the 54. well see.

 

I with you man after getting f--ked over for 4 yrs. by the body shop. I now find thing gone missing. I'm just tired of the BS. Things that were suppose to work don't . It could become a barn find for someone at this point. i've been painfully reassembling it but I don't give a crap about it.

 

Just think of yourself like "cool hand Luke" eating them 50 eggs, before you know it you will be done.

 

Just remember, unless it's a turn-key purchase, that next project that has you thinking will ALSO require a ton of work. Stay with it, finish her up.

 

I get a kick out of starting with the rustiest unfixable crap and going from there. The downside is I feel like I get caught in a rut of cutting, welding, cutting, making, welding...over and over forever. I moved a year ago and have a lot more space now, so I have been trying to have a few cars going on at the same time. Right now I'm doing a '49 Merc for a friend, and started cutting a 79 Olds 98 apart to the floors/frame to slide under my '51 coupe. Although it's kinda the same thing, being in different aspects at the same time with different cars keeps it fresh. Im in the put back together stage with the 49, but still in the destruction stage with the 51 haha.

That, and I keep a folder with pics of the car so as I go along and add new ones, I see that it hasn't been just working on the same spot forever (like it feels in my mind) and it kind of reenergizes me. Hope some of this babble helps!

 

I have been working on my 55 for 13 years, Its been a love hate thing. Thought it was ready about three years ago, took it for the first drive, and the supposedly
rebuilt transmission (bought off of a friend of a friend) burned up. Just kind of got disgusted. Let it set for a while and then started again, but have not touched it for a couple months. Really kind of burnt out on it, but I took her apart so I will put her back together. Will she be gone after that? Who knows.I

 

focus!

 

I'm there now with my 45 truck I just want it gone tired of looking at it.... I'm just about done with it so maybe it will get better when I get to drive it who knows.

 

Ive done it, my dad does it, my brother does it, my friends... so on. Its difficult to remember how many cars Ive had. I get burned out too. I go weeks sometimes without working on it. Most of the time its cause of cash.

In a perfect world, money wouldnt be an object and I would buy the parts I needed, not have to go to work, and just build cars, bikes, pinstripe, paint, build a drag car for the local strip, build a race bike for bonneville. shit... the people who says theyre bored silly when they retire just dont have any hobbies! haha

Anyways, a few good points have been made. Another car looks cool, but itll be the same story. Just like, "That girl is hot, but somewhere, there a guy sick of listenin to her shit."

And, another project or hobby is always a great idea. When youre broke or bored, go weld something cool for your tool bench, or clean the shop. I go pinstripe some stuff or work on my motorcycle. I started a hardtail chopper bicycle project that is fun to mess with too. Ill ride it around at shows or swapmeets or at the saltflats.

Anyways, I think that alot of us have been there way too many times than we'd like to admit. I think the key for me has been, get something youve REALLY been wanting, not something close. If you want a 57 Buick, but its too much money, and you settle for a 57 Pontiac (or, whatever) that happens to be cheaper but needs work, youll lose interest.

 

Another question would be, what turned the project bad,for '68 and up Vette owners ( I have two '73's and a '69) it's the structural metal windshield/t-top frame rusted to ablivion an infliction they all seem to inherit.

 

this shit is hard work. if it was easy everyone would do it, it would'nt be cool any more, and we would all have to find something else to do. fantasizing about other cars is fine, but ya gotta finish what you start. you actually want to DRIVE something someday, right?

 

Try to do a little on your car every day. try to stay focused. Dont look at the overall amount of work ahead. If you have a road block with one system put it aside and move on to another part. take a break. sometimes covering with a car cover and not looking at at it everyday. The advice about building what you really want and not settling for something close works.


Ago

 

I've got two that I haven't touched in damn near 9 mos. One I was going to finish and give to my grandson and the other I was going to build for the wife and me. Hell, health is failing fast the last year and Doc says get in as much fishing as you can, so I guess I'll start looking to get rid of them so the wife won't have the problem when the time comes!! Grandson doesn't have any interest so that shot that to hell. RON

 

wtf ... I thought i was the only one . I retired at a young age and the projects are killin me. What i do is jump from one to another to kill the bored bug.
40 chevy .....my old hog.....
iam going to start a support group & will be posting shit on it.
the end

 

I have felt the same way. in the past 2 years I have gone through several cars that way. My latest was my 61 lark, but after i got it completly layed out on the ground i changed my mind and glad i kept with it. Im now painting it black and dont ever want to sell it, but of cousre it has a price tag.

 

55 Dude beat me to it..

Focus!

 

Yeah... I have more fun looking for parts than rebuilding or restoring them. I keep thinking about selling it but then I'd lose my ass and just start over on something else. If I'd ever find a decent quick change I could afford, then I'd be stoked and ready to start building.

 

it's hard to stay focused on a project if you don't divide the build into segments--otherwise it can be overwhelming---and gathering parts is, for me, by far the worst part of it all--HATE to go on parts runs---just stay focused and do a little as time and priorities allow--don't give up on a project unless you don't care for it anymore becuase the next one will have many issues as well-as others have already stated--hang in there

 

The trick is to get a kick-ass sound sytem for your shop and keep a fridge full of cold beer. Your buddies will hang around and ya'll will talk trash about how "cool it would look if...". Next thing ya know the sun's coming up, you realize you haven't had any sleep and you've got two hours before you're supposed to be at work.

 

I don't get bored or frustrated with the project itself that makes me want to get rid of it, it's having the dollars to feed it. Sometimes watching the prices on parts I need piss me off to the point I ask myself if hotrodding hasn't sold out. But then that makes the digging and deal searching more fun. Still though I catch myself all the time cruising Craigslist for a cheap new project to dream about. I always get remotivated though when I see my daughter climbing around in the bare cab. I use my kids as motivation for us to do cool stuff together as a fam. in the car I built by hand. I always find things that keep me going, like restoring a small part or doing at least something on it to show progress. Of course I don't know how some of yall can go 4,5,6 years on the same project. If I am not done in 3 years Im going to throw in the towel!