I love that car! I've seen it in person a couple times, and I always thought it was rad. Good to know you're keeping it!
Here are a few of your own words to read back through if you ever get up the nerve to pansy out again... read close, because you wrote it. Are you fing kidding me? Sell it for something running? WHat, like another POS daily driver? Your dream car man. Sorry, but you asked to be slapped around. Now, in reality, try a couple things next time you get frustrated: 1. Use the 1 bolt per day rule. Do ONE THING per day. It doesn't matter how small the task. I have put grungy clothes on, driven to my storage unit and back just to take one bellhousing bolt out, or get the wires out of the way.... or whatever. No matter how mundane the task.... make it a goal. 2. Take what you can inside. Take the wheels in and polish them in front of the toob. Maybe you can get the kids involved! 3. Don't fuck around with again.
Glendale watch this and imagine your car is Mickey! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MEQ0eBDPzY&feature=related
Dont get discouraged about it. It took me 6 years to get my coupe back together. When I lost interest I would pick up a project that needed little work, fix it up then flip it for more cash for the coupe. It never crossed my mind to sell it. Just find something else to do for a short time and then you can get back to it.
It's taken my 6+ years to get my '50 Plymouth on the road... I started it when my oldest son was 2.5 and my youngest son was a newborn. I thought many times over the years wtf am I doing this for... spending time away from my kids... I wound up putting the car together in 10 minute increments, as I passed through the garage on the way to work. It sucked to not be able to commit to days thrashing in the garage, but that was rarely an option with my kids. When my kids got older though, they started to want to help out in little ways, and now when I mention getting rid of the car, they won't let me. Now, the time I spent tinkering with them on the car is priceless to me. The maiden voyage will forever be etched in my mind, me and my two sons running around the block without fenders or glass... One of my long term goals for the car was to drive it to the Buried Belvedere event in Tulsa. I never thought it would really happen, it was such a long shot. My oldest son and I made the trip, 3300 miles in the Plymouth down old route 66 from Idaho to Oklahoma. The trip made all the effort on the car worth it in ways I never imagined. I decided that I will do a road trip with one of my boys every year from now on, at least until they don't want to have anything to do with me... Keep the car, you won't regret it. Pete
Don't do it unless you are flat broke and on food stamps. You will regret it. I have been working on my current project for 13 years and know how you feel. Project before that took me 15 years. Hang in there.
thats exactly why ill NEVER buy another "modern" car. its quite pointless (to me anyway). i only buy cars that GAIN in value now. i figure even if i have to fix something every month, im still gonna make out like a bbandit when i sell!
Stick with it and get it on the road. You will be sorry if you sell or trade it. Once it's gone it's gone. Maybe just cover it up and wait a while before you do anything you will regret later. Good luck.
good thread, ive been lacking motivation too lately, i know i need to get alot done, i plan a day and then when the day comes i set up, then i just sit around smoking cigarettes and drinking bourbon and nothing happens. ive done the car up before and know the light at the end of the tunnel is a good one, i just havent had the motivation lately, hopefully i will get back into it soon, its almost taken 4 years and i still have alot more to go and its just a old holden 4 door station wagon.
Im glad to see your keeping it! If your car needs a radiator and an electric fan to be driveable, then focus on that. Go thru the garage and see whats not nailed down you can live without, or replace when you have a little more green, sell it, and get the rad and fan......list it here, in the paper, or on eBay, you'd be surprised at what sells..... or put a post on here, "looking" for rad and fan free cheep or trade for (insert what you have here), if you can live without brand new stuff, I got a couple electric fans hangin in the garage from newer cars I aint usin, Id ship one to ya for postage, maybe someone has a rad lying around and maybe they'd do the same.....were rodders damn it, we improvise, we fabricate, and we stick together. Either way you did the right thing....you asked before you acted. I have bought, sold and traded cars since I was 17, and there are a few I really regret selling. I have 4 kids, 1 in college, and when I sold the GTO, they were as disappointed as I was..I sold it 3 times and bought it back everytime(Thank GOD I had the chance)..and actually still own it today(I was lucky to get it back the last time). I traded my Willys project, for a 55 Star Chief driver(BUT, it was a car I liked), to me that was a good trade, and I drive the HECK out of it, rain, snow, it doesnt matter....but I also have a 64 Catalina project, and my 16yr old son is starting into the hobby, and I wanted to help him with his 53 chevy trk project(another reason for me to trade the project for a driver) . Im lucky in the fact that I have a very understanding fiance(but, I can relate as my X-wife and several past girl friends didnt), infact last year I bought her a 58 Stude, and Im hoping to have it driveable for her by late spring, but she grew up around old cars, so like I said Im lucky. If you sell it you will regret it, and like someone already said, shes pretty rare, you may not find another, and if you do, it probably wont be cheep. If you do decide to trade it or sell it, make sure its for something "you" like, always ask more than you want, cause you can always drop, and if you trade, remember why your car is on the market in the first place......dont trade it for something that needs as much work or more, always look at the trade and figure what you think it will take to finish it, both time and money, then triple it! because parts dont get any cheaper as time rolls on.
“Even the most childish blows will topple the might oak” Don’t know who said that but they were right. Set really small goals, like order or search for your next part. If you have body work just sand a 2 ft by two foot areas and walk away. Pick you next spot etc. Pick 15 minutes to be outside, but stick to it and walk away. Don’t know how old your kids are but put them on and take a picture, create a memory with them even if you don’t work on it. Don’t trade one problem for another, if it is your dream car hang on to it
I think that what has been said about forming habits is true. Finish it. I'm working on a 1934 ford p.u. and I know where your at. If you don't finish it, your wife/kids might not be so understanding on the next project. Some people do all their own wrenching, but.... if you have to pay a shop a little, it's not a sin. Making lists is good. I tape them on the car. People have told me that it is hard to remember where you stopped working on the project the last time. "KEEP IT" Driving it will be so much sweeter.
+1 here...get ya a piece of paper and write every little step that needs done and hang it on the wall in the garage. Then pick the free stuff or easy stuff or stuff that needs done first and spend a couple of hours out there instead of watching American Idol...as you finish one task cross it off with a fat sharpie....when you start seeing two or three things crossed off in an evening that will be motivation to get some more done. Without a list it is too easy to get bogged down and lose track of what gets finished and what needs done. Also , when ya need money there is always Craigslist ...sell some junk and make a few bucks. As for the radiator...figure out what dimensions you can use,which side the inlet and outlets are on...draw pictures and hit up pick n pull on half price weekend. I'm sure you can find something that will work...fab some brackets and be on the road! Another suggestion is to make your list,have EVERYTHING you need handy and see if you can arrange some kind of HAMBthrash (OK I didn't get Ryans permission to call it that ) I'm sure you could get a half dozen people to Sac for a few hours on a weekend or a Friday nite...amazing what a few motivated people can get done in a day!
The Jalopy Journal
