Another straggler followed me home!
And that's where you're missing the point. Most of our clients do shows yes but most of out clients are return business and I happen to know a lot of them are also just as enthusiastic about this sorta thing as you and I. They have numerous cars, they do drive them and sometimes they drive them hard. "We" built them is a statement many of my clients can say. We work with everyone. I won't go into our clientele but we have everyone from music people, business owners, to ma and pa who did everything that they could at home and are looking for help to finish. As I've said, we, as in my family, only work on American vehicles. It's what we know. I don't think we've ever done a concours restoration here. Now, the other shop my father retired from and who brought me on as a consultant is a whole other level of clientele. Yes, they are the .1% who can afford such luxuries, and they are luxuries, but we will never see those people in our shop. Most our builds are under 20k, we have a separate shop on grounds for our higher level stuff, we don't mix the two. We do enough business at both to sustain but it is highly skewed towards budget builds.
I just hate the sentiment that putting in quality time and money on body and paint is seen as luxury or for show cars only. Imagine if BMW started stating quality bodywork and paint is an added cost, a luxury cost.
Now, me, I love this homebrew ****. I love seeing people innovate and expand their learning. What I don't agree with is anti-sentiment against the time that goes into quality work.
I just read your two posts in their entirety.
An excellent read, i must say.
Perhaps you could embrace a new perspective.
This hobby has many facets and many different opinions on how to build and enjoy a car.
That being said, i honestly do appreciate the work and the skill (money aside) that it takes to do a high end quality restoration as well as the time it takes to do it right.
I have a close friend that has restored high end Mopars and i consider him one of the best if not the best that i have ever seen especially at the body prep and paint portion.
He is a skilled craftsman for sure with a humble disposition. His knowledge is immense and has roughly 45 years of experience. We're talking $100,000 Hemi cars that have made it in the magazines, won awards, etc.
To put this into perspective, i personally do not have the skills, facility, tools, or money to do a quality restoration.
However, i sincerely respect the people that do.
I am a journeyman welder/fabricator and a heavy duty mechanic/millright by trade and now learning industrial robotics. So i know a bit.
This is where i think you are missing the point here.
Who doesn't want a beautifully painted and restored car?
I sure do!
As a matter of fact, years ago i had one of those.
I worked two jobs and dedicated over 2 years to restoring this car, and it was beautiful when it was finished.
Then it came to me after a period of time that it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. (On the fun scale).
Worrying about weather conditions, storage, depreciation, you know the routine.
Yes, it was awesome to own and drive.
I grew up in an era when these cars were new or nearly new, and people had a lot of fun with them with bolt-ons, drag racing, and generally running the **** out of them.
The fit and finish on them from the factory was mediocre at best. Let's be honest.
Just like the new cars of today, the company was in the business of making money first, and image and quality were secondary to profits.
Yes, they do want return customers and love to steal buyers from other brands, but it's all a game to them. Always has been, always will be.
With your experience in marketing etc. you obviously understand this concept well.
For example, Chrysler only built Hemi cars for the image and their real goal was to sell a boatload of 318 and slant 6 cars to the general public.
To keep this in perspective, the vast majority of us on this site are common working stiffs that appreciate the high end or medium end car builds whether it be Mopars, Fords, G.M.s, Aston Martin, Porsche, etc. etc. etc.
Some of us are true enthusiasts that want to save cars and build them to our liking so we can drive them in all weather situations on a low budget.
A lot of the cars that fall under that category are the cheaper and considered uncollectable A-Bodies that you see on this site.
So, what's wrong if someone wants to learn how to do body work and paint themselves, as well as building an engine, installing a refurbished interior that's not perfect, rebuilding the suspension etc.?
Not all of us have deep pockets so we can simply write a check and get someone to ''restore'' a car for them and call it their own...........
There's no reason to belittle or undermine anyone about their efforts and their thoughts/dreams/enthusiasm.
I find that most of the fun is with rolling up your sleeves and jumping into a project, and learn as you go.
As i sit here and type this, it is raining on my P.O.S. '74 Dart Sport 360 4 speed car with substandard paint and i don't care.
If i chose to take it for a drive, i could jump right in it and visit George across town and drive on a gravel road in the rain to get there and not worry about resale, stains, rock chips, etc. and have fun there and have fun back.
It's because i built it to drive it, no more, no less. I'm a true enthusiast in the literal sense.
Final thought, how many of your customers could make that statement?
Could you?
Maybe give it a few years..............
