I go through this every time I build a car.I have found that if you leave it a while you usually get fired up again and get at it.Also, what the guys said about cleaning all the shit up in the garage and clearing the bench etc, helps a lot even pushing the car outside and repainting the walls/floor can reboot the project.The one thing that works for me very well is turning the car around in the garage so it sits totally different and this usually sets the old juices aflowin`again. On the subject of not seeing a project through to the end,I would make a list of every job that needs doing, right down to the last detail, then work your way through the list and tick off each job only when it is done 100%,otherwise you`ll flit from one job to another,finish none, see no progress and get pissed off and sell it on.Also have a plan and stick to it. Finally, go round to your best mates house and let him remind you of all the stuff you told him when he felt this way about his project!
ive been thinking of the car all day. although i havent lost interest in it yet, i have a lot of interest in it now. ive been thinking of things to do to it, changing things i dont like. as in, shock mounts. gotta clean those up this weekend. the ones i made look like hell, and have been bugging me for a few weeks now. so saturday mornin, they are gone! thanks for the replys guys. trey
drawing your car is a BIG one. i sketched out my pontiac this fall and got its current concept on paper. it looks good even with four doors. i have also started drawing all kinds of stuff, that helps, gets you creative and excited. reading the HAMB helps, and just DOING stuff helps. i have found, as i am learning my way here, that at first, your timidity makes it rough to attempt anything. it takes alot of gumption sometimes, like when i torched the freakin rear end out of my pontiac and put a coil sprung buick rear in it. that did alot to give me courage about doing things and not worrying about screwing up. i've done pretty well so far. that and looking forward to different steps coming up. i am dying to get started doing some slight body mods i have planned.
1. Buy another POS that I really want to build motivates me to get to work on the current POS so I can get the first one driving 2. Go to the Kontinentals Day of the Drags. Been psyched ever since Saturday. Worked all day Sunday, last night, tonite on my engine for the 32. Tomorrow night its put on the heads, etc, button it up with intake Thursday nite hopefully put it in the car Saturday. Nothing like spending the day with a bunch of great folks with cool cars to motivate me to get off my ass so I can have a decent car to drive
I lost interest, so I asked her to move out. Then I opened a beer and started reading the HAMB. I'm hoping to be more motivated now.
I went thru the same feelings earlier this year. put the car aside for two months and went and did other things that interested me.. still hung out with my car buddies but just didn't play with mine.. One day the urge was back and I have a renewed level of interest... It happens
I had the same problem this summer. I had no fun in working on my cars, so I did a break and did some other shit for 2 1/2 month and now I'am back and working on my cars with new fun and ideas.
go sit with the mrs for five minutes & realise how good i got it in the workshop! works every time unless she has a mate over then i'll sit for ten minutes!
evolve the ideas you already have, set higher standards, try to make plans a schedule on how and when you will achive this and that.. re think colors, wheel combos, what to do with engine. maybe to keep the ideas alive and always updating and setting higher standards could help make it feel new all the time
Go see a car buddy you haven't seen for a while to see how he's coming along. Looking at his and listening to him explain what he's done will give you ideas and fire you up.
Smokinjoe has it right, go out and help your friends and it will rub off on you.I know I have this problem and that seems to work for me.--TV
Don't Quit When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you must, but don't quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don't give up though the pace seems slow You may succeed with another blow. Success is failure turned inside out--- The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell just how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--- It's when things seem worst that you must not quit. ......Anonymous
usually hits me about this time of year , hard to get motivated when the temps dip below ZERO, mostly read magazines and the HAMB for insperation, I seem to keep stepping up to a better car, so I try to sell off the first car to invest $$$ in the new one.I am at three versions now, If they don't sell whole- they are parts and I dig out the torches- parts is parts and that means $$$ and easier to sell em as parts than whole and make more in the end,some I make money on- some I lose, The red 57 belair for example was for sale for months at $2500 complete , no takers so I gutted it and stripped to the inth, as it stands now that it is sold , I almost tripled that $2500 (on a $800 car),got everything I needed for my 56 and still have parts left, but no matter, my newest ride gets what it needs.
This has happened to me a few times, but more often than not, I get frustrated with a project. Best medicine I've found is a cool group of guys in my car club twisting my arm and making me either finish, or figure out the problem, and get the vehicle on the road. No better feeling in the world than driving that project for the first time!
Hack - i need to paint a frog on a few things as a reminder of that story - that is the pretty good motivational story. You wouldnt believe the people telling me to forget about using that Buick motor. I let my truck sit and sit and then by meeting a guy that actually finishes projects I got motivated to start and now i should be firing that pig up this weekend
Fat Hack is the Tom Robbins of the HAMB. Right now I'm getting mighty sick of block sanding the '54 Chevy, but last night I worked on it until 11.30 p.m. This is in a car port with one lousy light mind you. I was watching television until 9.00 p.m and I thought, "what the fuck am I accomplishing sitting in front of the idiot box?" And I got up and went outside. Okay the car's not done but it's 2 1/2 hours closer. Dr J's ideas are very sound, and Fat Hack's story is very inspirational. What did the one frog say to the other frog whilst they were 69ing? He said "We DO taste like chicken." But the other frog didn't hear because it was deaf.
The Jalopy Journal
