Anyone tired of this ???

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grassy

grassy

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Almost ready to give up MOPAR mags...it goes like this....a guy has a bug for a mopar so he buys a POS that he finds in a field or where ever....it is not for dragging but impressing his buds....a body shop brings it back to life, someone else paints it, a Ray Burton engine goes in( must be worth an extra inch) it yada yada...the article reads like a free advertisement for 15 companies..and buddy sure is proud of it at car shows...actually, the companies that build it for him should be proud...or actually , buddy should be proud of writing a check...believe it or not, many folks actually do that to buy a car... oh, and the you see this car in at least 2 more MOPAR mags with a different slant..all within an issue or two.

What impresses me is the guy/girl/family at home doing as much as possible to resurrect / restore or mod a car..they may not do everything to the car but their hands are all over it...it may not be perfect but that impresses me so much more than the car above..

The MOPAR mags whine that no one sends in the "real" restos or they cannot find them.

I say that they should actually look for these stories...even maybe set a reporter to troll this site....I am so motivated to get going on the kids car ( even painting) just from what I have been watching folks building their rides with the help of other members here... I am impressed...

OK, that is my opinion..what the hell do I know..I like playing with cars..


Grassy
 
I quit buying Mopar mags decades ago for anything other than to peruse the advertisements to see what is new out there.
 
Not everyone has mechanical skills.

I have friends from all over the spectrum when it comes to what they can and can't do to their cars, but I do get sick of the tv celeb's getting all kinds of notoriety because they just jumped into the world of mopars and wrote a check for an ungodly amount of money for a high dollar hemi custom job with certain mopar rags chomping at the bit and eager to rub elbows and exchange greasy tongue kisses with them over and over again until every mag has their own personal, vaselated write up.....yeah I feel ya.

I guess all in all it stimulates the economy but it sure is fun to poke fun at the high dollar, instant hero's.
 
Wow.

I am one of those guys that would do that. I don't have the time, knowledge, or skill to bring a car back from the dead. I just bought an almost all original slant six '71 Duster a couple of months ago. Have I had to do anything to it? Nope. Am I proud of it? You bet.

You can bet when I buy myself another Duster or a Demon, it's going to be completely done or someone else will be putting their blood, sweat, and tears into it to make it how I want it. Will I be proud even though all I did was write a check? You can bet on it!
 
The ads are good..sometimes...recommends from here better..

We grew up lower , middle class...no money but had three squares a day and we were pushed. We had cars but there were to go from a to b. Mechanics were not pushed but scouts, music, voluntairing and I dragged my *** through school with loans and ended up with a business degree...then unimployed.. Mom and dad told me that if I wanted something, I probably would have to do it myself..oddly enough, my future wife had the same lectures.. I had no mechanical ability.

My first car play car ( I had a 12 year old '71 datsun 510 as my 'real" car) had holes big enough that I could throw cats through..due to my accident I had to sell it 29 years later..that car took me lots of places....good times were had but it didn't look "perfect" but got it's share of looks (and girls :>). Got married, after 7 years relized that the only way we ever could afford a home was to build it..we took a 10 week, 2 hours a night, communicity collage course and read a bunch of books and did research....we build 90% of the house ..not foundation nor shingling...it has a 12, 12 pitch..I hate hights..neither my wife nor I had really built anything before...we bought the duster for the kids..rust free thank goodness...raining so hard here now we cannot do anything...I have a girly,girl and an athlete that have never done a rebuild before. I cannot do too much because of my dissability. If "****" really happens, we can seek help but they will be doing that majority of work..if they want it, they will have to work for it.

I mention this because of the mechanical skills comment..not sure if I have them but I truly believe that if you do some research, stick your head down and push forward , ask questions....even dumb (and endure the ridicule as a newbie does) ones as members here have witnessed, and want to do it, it may not happen over night but it will get done..maybe not perfect the first time but better with practice...I have failures...my Organic Lawn care co was an absolute flop...the market research was wrong...

We live in an area that is beyond our income but we push, learn and do....and when we look back, we are proud no matter what some folks say..

Ability is learned as long as able bodied, I guess.

I appologize for my passion but to achieve and appreciate you gotta do it yourself. Lastly, if I really wanted to and we changed our priorities (hoping to retire within 5 years) I could go out a blow 35,000 on a car for the kids...however...we were driving to do chinise last night after my two kids recent sport / dance achievements and we drove by a dealership that sold muscle cars and said...let's sell the duster and buy ya that..."no" was out of their mouth before I had a chance to finish.."anyone can buy a car...ours will be ours".

I don't mind being flamed but I see so many kids w/o a work ethic and an air of entitlement...I worry about of future generations..

Oh, and being long winded as well :)

Grassy
 
I grew up with little in the funds department and even today I still scrape by month to month so I was always taught to take pride in doing things yourself.

I have had the duster for 2 years but I can say that I have done almost every last thing to it all by myself. I would take a 3 year project that I had to scrape by to finish and do it all by myself....over..... busting out a check book for a 30,000 car that is done.

there is just no fun in that....no sense of pride....your just driving someone elses work.

BUT to each his own, I know some people don't have the time,skill,patience or know how to pull it off on their own.

and yes it does get pretty annoying seeing mags where its almost like an infomercial for all these different places that had a hand in, and going to car shows where the guy is saying yeah look what I did to my car when what he should be saying is "look what I HAD DONE TO my car".

same goes with friends.....they will take their vehicles in for oil changes,tune ups,performance mods and so on and so on but will try telling everyone that THEY did it or that they are a mechanic.....and it just kind of bugs me that some people cant tell it like it is.

If they told it like it is, It would not bother me nearly as much......its just that once in awhile you get the guy that paid to have someone make his car what it is but trys to make it sound like it was all him that did it and its like false advertisement.

I don't know ,rant over lol
 
I was more tired of all the advertisement. Thats why I stoped getting them. To many of the old. Hey this company gave us this part for free so were going to jerk them off now and were going to talk them up and not give them a bad review so they will give us more free stuff and advertisement money.
 
T-Fish said:
Will I be proud even though all I did was write a check? You can bet on it!
Click to expand...
The only thing I would be proud of is my ability to write a check. If you go back to the roots of the hotrod culture in the 40s and 50s (which our hobby is by most accounts, an extension of) the guys were coming up with stuff they built and fabricated themselves for the most part to make the cars go faster, race and set records. The aftermarket speed companies we get our parts from today were born in those days or have their heritage through acquisition and merger traced back to them. That's still what it's really all about.

The rest is just people with money to spend. :notworth:
 
I have always done all my own mechical work WITH limits. I've never had the ability to do body/ paint, and now my health prevents that, and is starting to prevent more. The 273 / TF just came out Sat, and I was completely exhausted


So I have no problem with someone who "had a car done," BUT DO NOT stand next to your "everybody built" your car at a show and tell me "I restored it." Yeah, you wrote the check, that's what.
 
Mopar Mags I have maybe 4 from the 70`s never could afford them. We were pretty poor.
I had to learn from what I seen around town. Every car I have or have had I worked on my self. It would have been nice to write a check and not have had to bust my knuckles I think. NOT (I like to say I did it though)
But I would have not learned anything.

FABO is like a Mag to me I have not been here long but I have read and re-read the same articles many times. I have learned a lot. This is my new favorite place to hang out at. Hope to become a member soon.

If you build it yourself you will know everything about it and have so much pride in yourself and be able to help others who will learn from you.
What do you do if it breaks on the side of the road. I may be able to fix it a check writer may not be able to. (he may only call a tow truck)
"Learn" to do it yourself knowledge is everything
Ridge
 
I have subs to the mags, but I just like looking at the perty pictures.....stuff to look at while in the crapper...LOL
 
I dont see anything wrong with having the ability to pay for someone else to build your car for you, not everybody has the hands on experience to do that . They may have all the same ideas. Should they be proud ? you bet. I would be. I dont have the money for some else to build my car. thats why me and my son are in this thing together. As my avitar states "his money my time"

Bob
 
only reasons I look at those mags are for the technical articles, like the Disc-o-vision disc brake conversion bible, or the DIY home porting, etc. Eye candy can be skipped unless it is for a view of a correct kickdown setup or front suspension pic. I even saw a mainstream Mopar rag disc brake article that had pretty new disks on a naked K member...trouble was that the Upper A arms were on backwards! Bumpers were on the wrong side....Whens "Consumer Reports" gonna do an article on retrofit fuel injection systems? I wont hold my breath....
 
the mags were cool in there time, but in my opinion this site and others like it are the latest and best thing since sliced bread. Magazines had good info but limited to the authors or other contributors.

this site has like 20,000 members - holy sh*t the info thats available to someone like myself - instead of hoping a mag covers a topic, you post a question/ask for help or whatever and get responses from all around the world - thanks FABO

forget the magazines at $7 a pop - support sites such as these instead - theres even political info, purty car pics, hot babes, etc......
 
My gripe is with the "Tech Articles" that are really just advertising disguised as a story. "This month we build a 'Low buck' engine with these heads Indy gave us for free..."
I like the old tech articles that told me how to do, not what to buy.
 
I may not do my work on my cars to other peoples standards but my car is finished enough to use as a daily driver. yea she has a few unfinished area's......so? I still drive it! both of em...the duster or the waggin
 
As someone who once ran his own restoration and build shop I can see things from the other point of view on this.

Very few of my customers were just the "cut the check type." Most of them had the money to cut the check, yes, otherwise I wouldn't have been doing the job, but for most it took a matter of time to have that money in the account for them to afford to cut the check. I was witness to many an argument between husband and wife about how much money it was going to take, what might have to be trimmed from the budget for such a build, and how long it would take for the customer to save that extra bit of money to be able to afford that extra amount of work the car needed that was hidden from the owners eyes.

Of those folks, most of them were having the car restored for sentimental purposes. Most of the cars were possessions of deceased or honored family members and the current owner wanted the car brought back in such a way as to relieve the memories of youth. A few were building the car of their dreams, the one that got away from when they were kids.

Most of them wanted...wanted...to build the car themselves, but after doing the necessary research on tools it would take, such as paint equipment, air tools, welder, rotisserie, etc, they realized that it would take that much more money to even start the job. Better to turn the job over to someone who'd already made the investment in tools and equipment.

Most of them wanted...wanted...to build the car themselves, but when it came time for them to analyze their own skills they realized that they weren't restorers, they were market analysts, secretaries, doctors, whatever. They'd never held a ratchet in their hands before, let alone a welder stinger or a paint gun, and the way they wanted the car restored, to an exacting standard, was beyond the limited skills they had. Better to turn the job over to someone who'd already spent years honing his skills and was continuing to hone them.

Hard to find parts? Forget about it. I did this in the days before the widespread use of the internet. How easy is it come on here and look and search for that part and put the word out that you need it amongst thousands of members? I already had the contacts. One of my customers spent months trying to find the climate control sensor for his '66 Caddy. I made two phone calls and had it in my hand just a few days later.

There's any number of reasons to turn your build over to the "professional" or to buy a car already built and I've witnessed most of the reasons in my career of turning wrenches and laying in paint.

The owners were very proud of the job my old man, brother, and I did for them. We took pride in the fact that they were able to cruise and have fun in a car they'd dreamed about cruising in for years as it sat in the yard or in the barn waiting for the day they'd finally have enough money to bring it back to life.
 
i understand both sides but at the same time i grew up with lil to no money. my dad worked 1st shift and 3rd shift to pay the bills and a weekend job to support his hobby, the only real time i got to spend with him then was at the track or in the garage working on one of the mopars. so i learnt early on how to do it myself but if he would have had the money he would have paid someone to do some of the work so he could have watched me grow up a lil more
 
i always felt guilty when someone would compliment me on my Dart. I bought it in 93, and it had been repainted and the bumpers rechromed before I bought it. Up until 2 years ago when I pulled the engine all I had done to it was minor repairs,(replace master cylinder, convertible top cylinder and starter, and replace carpet). Have since had the machine work done on the engine, the heads gone through, I did assemble the engine myself, but will be leaving the paint to a body shop. I will be putting everything back together (front suspension, brake lines, etc) myself. Jusr hope I remember how it all goes back together.
 
I like the mag's for the ideas and sourcing parts but I dont enjoy the Hi-Dollar pro build articles. It doesn't bother me that guys write the check that's their gig. I could write the check but prefer to relive my youth by building my own cars. It helps keep me sane and is a productive way to spend my time. The big thing for me is to hone my skills a little more on each car. I will do it until I am too enfeebled to do it any more. If I was going to write the check, it would be for a new Chally with the classic pkg in b-5 blue and a 6 speed. Just my $00.02 worth:razz:
 
I buy all the Mopar rags plus Hot Rod, Car Craft and Popular Hot Rodding. Gotta maximize the reading time on the crapper. :pottytra: I don't mind seeing the mega-dollar checkbook builds. Gives me ideas sometimes.

Anyways, I don't care how another Mopar or any other classic car for that matter is saved - just as long as it's saved from the crusher or from rotting in the field. Write a check or use your own blood sweat and tears. Just get these cars back on the road where they belong. :burnout:


Wylde1.
 
I subscribe to more magazines than I can prudently admit to, including the 3 major Mopar titles. Of those only Mopar Action provides any useful technical info, Mopar Muscle has pretty pictures and MCG is just weird, but I read them all. Because I'm always on the lookout for new ideas or a better way of doing things, I probably spend the most time reading all brand or street rod mags. What gets really boring are all the restored stock muscle cars. I mean how many ways are there to restore a Hemi Cuda anyway?
Paint Dab & Chalk Mark Monthly is really dull and AAR should not stand Absolutely Anal Retentive!
 
DesertRat said:
I like the mag's for the ideas and sourcing parts but I dont enjoy the Hi-Dollar pro build articles. It doesn't bother me that guys write the check that's their gig. I could write the check but prefer to relive my youth by building my own cars. It helps keep me sane and is a productive way to spend my time. The big thing for me is to hone my skills a little more on each car. I will do it until I am too enfeebled to do it any more. If I was going to write the check, it would be for a new Chally with the classic pkg in b-5 blue and a 6 speed. Just my $00.02 worth:razz:
Click to expand...

Ditto, The only time I write a check is when Its time for a new daily driver,...Most of the builds are just way,way, way the hell outa my price range, I get a lot more satisfaction out of takin an idea or mod that someone else has done and puttin a personal touch on it,...and just who doesn't like spendin time in a boneyard or a swap meet on the rare day off,...If I have a serious question I'd just log on here anyway.
 
i know a guy that spent over $150,000 having a mopar built. he wanted to, and started to do a restomod himself and realized he didn't have the time, skills or desire. he's happy, the guy's who did the work are happy and the people who have seen it in person and magazines love it. not the way i would do it, but, so what...
 
my biggest gripe with not only Mopar mags,but the Chevy and Ford mags with the "repetitive" tech articles on the new Camaros,Mustangs,and Challengers!I dont hate the new Challenger,dont get me wrong,but does every Mopar mag have to have a 2011 Challenger build up,or a new Mustang Build on the Ford mags,or new Camaros on the Chevy mags?
 
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