Why so many cars ending up like this

Ok so here is my experience with my car. There are a lot of places were I could have walked away.

2003
-bought the car "as is" off a guy.
-I had very little experience with V8s
-Engine died 2 weeks after (a chunk of one of the piston made a mess of things)
-I didn't even have my drivers licence but I really wanted that car.

2003-2005
- spent most of my money on an engine and trans rebuild
- spent some more on a bunch of little things

2005
-Car ran for a few months, then I hit a steep driveway going way too fast. Car started to make a very bad sound. so It sat until I could get some time and money to work on it. (This was before I was a member here)

2006-2011
-School got harder so less time was spent on the car.
-Since it was sitting there I kept thinking about cool parts I could add "While im at it"
-A 1/4 window replacement turned into "take out all the interior"
-look at the rust on the floorboards "better take care of that"


2012-2014
-Car finally started to get put back together (got a lot of help from you guys and gals)
-New parts started to be installed
-Car is now running but still needs to a lot to be road worthy.

All in all, since 2003 I have driven my car on a daily driver bases for maybe 3-4 months. But damn when it was running it was fun as hell! Now I hope to have some more fun later on.

summery:
1) "While im at it" is very dangerous and can snowball if not calmly thought about.
2) Buying parts is the easiest part sometimes
3) "The guys on tv did it in one weekend" for me that means 2-3 weekends.
4) Set small goals! I remember being very overwhelmed to the point of not wanting to work on my car a few times. The key is to have small goals and to just get your *** out there and work on it. For me if I have a small breakfast, go outside and put my classic rock on. Then I can be out there all day.

After a big breakfast a nap sounds better then laying on cold dirt.

Ohh and all this while hearing my dad say "You could have bought a new car with all the money you have spent on that thing!"

Yeah but how many people have a classic car? And look at the stuff I have learned!