History How many years did it take to build your current car or truck?

I never have finished a car.Never have wanted a show car,only a driver-their more fun!

 

My 31 - 15 month re-due.

 

From this...


To this...


In just under a year and a half.
It was a big task and consumed all my spare time.

 

I read in Hemmings a while back that the average time to restore/redo a car was 3 years. According to that I likely have more projects then I can finish in my lifetime.

 

10 years and will be on the road this year

 

Seven years and counting. Losing some time now due to some health problems. Hope to be back at it soon. D

 

I'm still driving my first hotrod! Sometimes in the same spots as when I first drove it!.
Depending on how its added up,hummm,longway or short? Well had to read a lot of hotrod an custom mag's,build a lot of modelcar kits to form my taste. Look at lots of cars I thought I liked in the 1950s.[maybe shouldn't count]. Then the big hunt! Find enough free or real close too free,parts that may become something.
Took about 2 ,1/2 years as a teen in the late 1950s of finding an putting parts together, too actully get a running rod by 1959 to drive to highschool. Then over the years upkeep/rebuilding it between having fun. The last restore/rebuild took the most time,now in my 70's took 3 years. I got side tracked so to say racing many other cars an building for others as well.

 

Usually only a couple of years by past experiences. 4yrs for my OT 66 Fairlane convertible and it was a ground up resto and RHD conversion, then my 85 Thunderbird languished for a year after RHD conversion and repaint then 5yrs for my 35 Chevy with family, work and other commitments.
Damn over 10yrs now on the 46 Olds; divorce and settlement, workplace injuries etc etc. This is the year to finish it I say!

 

5 years, but I was unemployed/underemployed for most of that time. I know for most of you it would have been a weekend job!!

As purchased:



Now, on the road 12 years this August:

 

Depends on when you start counting. This coupe was taken completely apart in the 70s for restoration. Not much happened for four decades. Once work commenced, Dad put it together and got it on the road in 21 days.

 

Little over a year, 1,400 hours.

 

Spring 2009 until June 2016 to get it where I can drive it

 

15 years for avatar car.

Still working on the Merc.
Last driven Dec. 29, 1994.

 

My Dad and I got the 3 window in 1972 , when I was 15. Been on and off the road, probably a dozen times since then. Blew my 301" in 1976, built the current 1960, 294" in 1978-1979. Put in new all steel floors about then. '34 Terraplane fenders, then no fenders, now '36 spare cover fenders for the last 20 years or so. Rebuilt the '61 T-10 a couple times.... Are they ever done??

439903.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:21 PM

 

14 months from a ragged shell to driving.
To this photo about 5 years.
Hoping that year six gets it more or less finished.

That first year was 12 hour days, driving an hour to the shop and working all night during the week. I hammered in a good 35-40 hours every single week.

I've been driving it and changing/updating it since then. The finishing slows down when you can go for a drive, but that seems to keep with the idea of how these cars where put together back then.

 

Bought in July 1974, working on it in fits and starts since then. Son will graduate from college in May, so hope to free up a little money there. Big things to do: Engine, driveshaft, fuel tank, radiator, glass, paint, just enough upholstery to sit on, roof and the titling process.

 

It's always depended on time, money, and having enough room to work...

1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe - 15-1/2 years start to finish.
1930 Ford Sport Coupe - 29 years, it's never been on the road, will sell soon!
1940 Ford Deluxe Tudor - bought 1/2 finished, completed in 2 years.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Bought my 47 in 81. Do the math

 

Still building it, although it has not been off the road, save for waiting for a part or two to come back from the machine shop, and that was 4-5 days per, max.

 

I've owned my O/T for 7 years & have been working on it ever since I bought it.
2 years ago a good friend & I did a frame on resto./rebuild which took about 12-14 months, give or take a day or two.
This officially is the first car I've ever finished complete.
All the others have been works in progress.

 

Five months

 

53 Henry J by studebaker eric posted Feb 6, 2012 at 12:33 PM

33 years. 3 different directions, not enough money at one time to make. a major step. It was bone stock when i started

 

Do these things ever get 100% completed?
Reckon I will be working on mine for a long time.
Trouble is sometimes we get em burning gas, then we wanna drive am more than finish em...

 

Mine are all over the place time wise.

My black 52 f1 took a year to be mechanically done and in primer... Drove it for a few years like that then tore it apart and replaced a lot of the body with nicer stuff and painted it. Which took another year.

My green 52 f1 4x4 I built in 3 -4 months but I needed a 4x4 for winter and worked on it amost every night after work.

My hotrod coupe took me 7 years to get,on the road...though I didn't touch it for 3-4 of those years ...one year was while painting my black 52. Another was replacing windows and siding my house. And another year or more was spent on 3 of my other cars that weren't total frame offs.

My problem is i usually tend to work on 4 or more projects at the same time....I'm not very smart.

 

Yup, been there we sometimes need to switch projects to get things going and to keep the women happy...

 

Some long builds and a few fast ones. HRP

 

When I bought the body from Ravon in 1995 How it looks after 20 years of slow work and 5 moves.

 

Looks great to me. HRP

 

Thanks.

 

Started the avatar Jan. 20, 2001. Mockup close to being done. Have most of the pieces for a '27 turtledeck TBucket as well. Got them in 2013 (I think!). Done a bit to the frame and rear end and put together a front spring but only have single car garage. Have time now with recently becoming retired, but money is the big holdup currently. Regards, Dave.