Is it worth it

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1973dusterkid said:
17
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Would itbeetter off starting with a 72 down duster or a demon (non 340) but a 318 car.
I do not want to start with a 340 car becuse I am not going to restore it to original.
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ok you're not gonna like this reply. but we have all been there and opinions will vary....



at 17 years old i say no its not worth it for you to be keeping the car and fixing it up.. it cost way too damn much money to be playing with these rust buckets. we all have dreams of what we want one of these cars to look like when done. but reality is the money to get it there is just nuts. at 17 what are you making? close to min wage? hell you can probably barley keep gas in the thing...

my advice to you is, sell the car. buy something more on the maintenance free side that is a lot better on gas. finish your education, get established in a job, travel and see the country, save,save and save money then find a car to play with. looking back i really wish that is what i would have done.. the money i wasted on my cars was just nuts. and that was back when you could get a spotless dart for $800 and every junk yard in the area had 30 abodies laying around. but i was 17 and knew everything. didn't listen. lol.
 
abodyjoe said:
ok you're not gonna like this reply. but we have all been there and opinions will vary....



at 17 years old i say no its not worth it for you to be keeping the car and fixing it up.. it cost way too damn much money to be playing with these rust buckets. we all have dreams of what we want one of these cars to look like when done. but reality is the money to get it there is just nuts. at 17 what are you making? close to min wage? hell you can probably barley keep gas in the thing...

my advice to you is, sell the car. buy something more on the maintenance free side that is a lot better on gas. finish your education, get established in a job, travel and see the country, save,save and save money then find a car to play with. looking back i really wish that is what i would have done.. the money i wasted on my cars was just nuts. and that was back when you could get a spotless dart for $800 and every junk yard in the area had 30 abodies laying around. but i was 17 and knew everything. didn't listen. lol.
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Holy Crap... you too???

Good Advice!
 
abodyjoe said:
ok you're not gonna like this reply. but we have all been there and opinions will vary....



at 17 years old i say no its not worth it for you to be keeping the car and fixing it up.. it cost way too damn much money to be playing with these rust buckets. we all have dreams of what we want one of these cars to look like when done. but reality is the money to get it there is just nuts. at 17 what are you making? close to min wage? hell you can probably barley keep gas in the thing...

my advice to you is, sell the car. buy something more on the maintenance free side that is a lot better on gas. finish your education, get established in a job, travel and see the country, save,save and save money then find a car to play with. looking back i really wish that is what i would have done.. the money i wasted on my cars was just nuts. and that was back when you could get a spotless dart for $800 and every junk yard in the area had 30 abodies laying around. but i was 17 and knew everything. didn't listen. lol.
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You know i have to say . I dont agree wiith you . No disrespect ment here . But when i was growning up . theres so much to get a kid introuble thes days . There was not a day in school that i didnt see drugs I didnt see knifes /guns . Now when your out under a car you aint doing durgs or gettinginto trouble . It turned out i made only one true friend outta school and that was chuck i call him my brother . We Spent are nights In a shop or in a drive way with are feet hanging out of a car/truck . No telling what would have come from us if are dads and moms didnt let us . Yup ive smoked pot yup i drank like a fish for a year . But cars and famliy and that one friend helped me pull though it all . Ive been sober 6 years now . Is it woth it yes i think so . Now if your trying to do a show car not really but for what me and my brother chuck did hell ya . Do it to drive it ! We took things and made them rock for what little money we had did we make money when we sold them why hell no . Joe i think you have got alittle hard in you age bud . You never know he my be like me I dont want to see the world . I have no need or want to i would like to go see a few members . But cars is what makes me want to do that . What i want to do is stay home and work on my Barracuda . But being as messed up my body is i cant do that right now . Cars are my life . If tey are his life then hell yes do it . If there not rethink your plan bud
 
Dart_Doctor said:
You know i have to say . I dont agree wiith you . No disrespect ment here . But when i was growning up . theres so much to get a kid introuble thes days . There was not a day in school that i didnt see drugs I didnt see knifes /guns . Now when your out under a car you aint doing durgs or gettinginto trouble . It turned out i made only one true friend outta school and that was chuck i call him my brother . We Spent are nights In a shop or in a drive way with are feet hanging out of a car/truck . No telling what would have come from us if are dads and moms didnt let us . Yup ive smoked pot yup i drank like a fish for a year . But cars and famliy and that one friend helped me pull though it all . Ive been sober 6 years now . Is it woth it yes i think so . Now if your trying to do a show car not really but for what me and my brother chuck did hell ya . Do it to drive it ! We took things and made them rock for what little money we had did we make money when we sold them why hell no . Joe i think you have got alittle hard in you age bud . You never know he my be like me I dont want to see the world . I have no need or want to i would like to go see a few members . But cars is what makes me want to do that . What i want to do is stay home and work on my Barracuda . But being as messed up my body is i cant do that right now . Cars are my life . If tey are his life then hell yes do it . If there not rethink your plan bud
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like i said opinions may vary.

not for nothing but there has always been and always will be plenty of things out there to do and get in trouble. i used to see kids snorting whatever the hell it was right in homeroom when i was in HS. drugs and booze have been around forever. if your gonna get in trouble your gonna do it if your working on cars or not. thats just the way it is.


hard in my older age? not at all.. just pointing out the reality of it.. 17 years old messing with this junk is no where near like it was years ago. the prices of this stuff is just stupid money these days. in my opinion it just isn't worth strapping yourself at 17 years old playing with this stuff..

now if it was something newer that was cheaper and more plentiful thats a different story. i'm not saying not to be into cars at all, i just think messing with rusty old mopars at 17 making close to min. wage is a losing battle.


like i said i wish someone would have talked me out of the car stuff at that age. you don't know how glad i am that my 17 year old isn't into these mopars.. he has a cherokee. he is into it, wants to do a few things to it which cool i guess (i would rather him save more money but hey he is 17, he can be stupid for a little longer. we all were). those things are so damn cheap, the parts are everywhere,new parts are cheap as hell...while i'd rather him just drive the damn thing rather then mess with a nice truck they are actually affordable like mopars were when i was a kit. an added bonus is that its computer controlled and he can and will learn how to work on all that stuff. if your gonna mess with cars i would advise to mess with computer controlled stuff. thats where things are at now. those skills are what will save you money down the road. i mean seriously, i doubt he will over own a car with a carb as a daily driver so i would rather him learn how to fix stuff he will own now and down the road..
 
It is a hobby. Treat it as such. Set up a "car budget", and do what you can afford. When I was younger, a lot of people raged on me about what I spent on my cars. We sat down and figured it out. Most of them spent more money on their hobbies, then I did on my cars. How much is spent on Golf, Bowling, Shooting Range, stopping at the local bar for a "quick one" after work, etc. What about all that fishing gear. I think you get the idea. My wife does not have a problem with my cars. My "normal" income is for household expenses. Overtime, and "side jobs" is car money. She knows where I am when working on the cars. I am not out getting drunk, doing drugs, or chasing other women (though at my age that would probably kill me).
 
People that are in it for the money have said they would only restore Hemi cars.
True or not and that aside, my "opinon" is that I would not buy someone elses' hot rod.
(Unless the price was very attractive)
You really don't know what you are getting.
If you are going to build a driver do it however it is easy for you.
For example, if you have a good body, go with that over a "more desirable" rust bucket.
 
It used to really bother me how much I had to spend to restore my car or to buy the things I wanted for it. Then I thought about it. We spend our money all the time on MISERABLE investments - you don't get a penny back from that $60 you and wife dropped on dinner out, not a penny back from the $120 spend to go to a ball game and you never see anything back from your cell phone bill. And that $40,000 SUV is going to be pretty much worthless 20 years from now.

It doesn't matter how much money you spend on your vintage car. If you get a sense of accomplishment from working on it, continual enjoyment from driving it and makes you friends on FABO, then it's a pretty darn good investment in my book.

:cheers:
 
i say if you dont have the money to fix it...still keep it ....it dont eat and if you have somewhere you can keep it.

if you have it there the money will come for it...money comes and goes even if slowly.
if you keep it...your priorties will reflect how bad you want it .....when i was younger i wanted the old car so i never partied or drank....how much does that cost? i have seen ppl spend hundreds a weekend on booze and parties.....if thats what you want then thats cool too.....but if you keep the car your going to have to be honest with yourself as whats really important.

i even streamlined my hobbies down to the car hobby so free up resources for it. while other girls were buying expensive clothes and the latest phones.......heres Rani with cheaper wal-mart clothes or i made my own mostly and no phone LOL

i knew what i wanted and nothing was going to stop me and no one was going to take it from me and now looking back it mega paid off bcoz now i have a car collection from years of hounding. Most of my friends drank, got pregnant and did whatever and now really have nothing to show for the time. i am so greatful now i had the cars to have a real goal to shoot for and i saved myself and stayed out of trouble. So what im saying is believe it or not that car can be your best friend in more ways than one and you may not see that clearly until much later .....but i say keep it if you can....once its gone its gone....its easy to say "i will get another one later" but thats not gaurenteed.
 
when you do some thing like this you have to set a budget, not that you are going to hold to but to guild you along your joury. if you are going to do a car than do it for the love not the return. some day i am hopping to replace the one i sold and build it the way i want it
 
1973dusterkid said:
17
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Take it from us older guys... I'm 38 and may others are older and wiser than me.....

Don't even start in a hobby like cars if you are concerned even the least bit about the money it will take and being able to recoup what you have into it. It will drive you nuts and you will not end up with what you want...

Build a car that reflects what you want as you can afford to get what you want.... If you are never concerned with the return on the dollars spent then you will end up with a great car that you absolutely love and will keep and pass on to your kids some day... trust me, we've all spent 1000's on cars that we couldn't sell for the price of the parts... But we do it because we love the hobby and the cars.
 
abodyjoe said:
like i said opinions may vary.

not for nothing but there has always been and always will be plenty of things out there to do and get in trouble. i used to see kids snorting whatever the hell it was right in homeroom when i was in HS. drugs and booze have been around forever. if your gonna get in trouble your gonna do it if your working on cars or not. thats just the way it is.


hard in my older age? not at all.. just pointing out the reality of it.. 17 years old messing with this junk is no where near like it was years ago. the prices of this stuff is just stupid money these days. in my opinion it just isn't worth strapping yourself at 17 years old playing with this stuff..

now if it was something newer that was cheaper and more plentiful thats a different story. i'm not saying not to be into cars at all, i just think messing with rusty old mopars at 17 making close to min. wage is a losing battle.


like i said i wish someone would have talked me out of the car stuff at that age. you don't know how glad i am that my 17 year old isn't into these mopars.. he has a cherokee. he is into it, wants to do a few things to it which cool i guess (i would rather him save more money but hey he is 17, he can be stupid for a little longer. we all were). those things are so damn cheap, the parts are everywhere,new parts are cheap as hell...while i'd rather him just drive the damn thing rather then mess with a nice truck they are actually affordable like mopars were when i was a kit. an added bonus is that its computer controlled and he can and will learn how to work on all that stuff. if your gonna mess with cars i would advise to mess with computer controlled stuff. thats where things are at now. those skills are what will save you money down the road. i mean seriously, i doubt he will over own a car with a carb as a daily driver so i would rather him learn how to fix stuff he will own now and down the road..
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Yes i agree i steped away from the 60s for a few years But i didnt sell my stuff off I just stock piled it back lol I have a gin really steped back from messing with them now money and body aint there right now so the car sets . Heres what i was messing with when money was tite and i needed a riide from point a to b and not have to work on it inles i wanted to . Parts are cheap and all over the place i had 3 parts trucks all 3 was got for free just to get them out the peps yards .
 

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i would keep it and build it if i was you. As for making money on them, i never intended to sell any of my mopars (most have been A bodies) but i have always sold them for alot more than i put into them. This only happened because i wait and make sure i get killer deals on everything. i have already been offered 3500 twice on my current duster and only have about 2000 in it counting the cost of the car. if you do a complete restore yes you wont get back what it would take but making a good daily driver i believe you can re-cope your cost if you are patient and buy parts wisely. like you i also dont plan on selling mine even though way too many people have asked it gets annoying but just shows you have a cool car lol.
 
demon34071 said:
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Don't even start in a hobby like cars if you are concerned even the least bit about the money it will take and being able to recoup what you have into it. It will drive you nuts and you will not end up with what you want...

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I disagree with the strict interpetation of that statement.

If you do the work yourself, do it tastefull and have some consideration of resale you can minimize the dollars put in versus the dollars from re-sale.

At only 17 years old if you stick with this hobby, this WILL NOT BE YOUR ONLY MOPAR. There is a good chance you will want to sell your car at some time. And I bet you will think it is worth more than it is and you WILL BE DISSAPOINTED.

I can show you examples even on the internet of people your age that built a car, said they'd never sell it, and now are bummed what they can't sell it for. A 70 Duster that was on the cover of Mopar Muscle comes to mind.

Get knowledgable in the hobby first. And make wise decisions.

At 17 years old I looked for a Mopar for my first car. Even in 1987 I knew about build sheets, numbers matching motors, body stamps, and data tag decoding. I bought a non running '71 Challenger 383 auto R/T with numbers motor, build sheet and fender tag. It took me two years, but I got a car that had good docs.

Looking back I should have got a running car. My younger brother at 16 bought a numbers 70 Mach I Mustang grabber blue. Much better purchase at a first car since it was running.

The advice I got from one of the very early people in the Mopar musclecar hobby was to the start with the best groundwork possible.

Also, you can do a lot to the car you have now appearance wise for little money.
 
Heres a couple things to think about. What are your mechanical abilities? And what does the car need, and do you have the skills to do it, or know someone that can help? Build it how you want, but avoid building it to the latest fad, because if you ever sell it, it will be harder to sell if it is done in a fad that was ten years ago. Or build it as you go, get it running and driving and work on it over time, although I would recomend a different order than we used to take back in the day, brakes and tires were secondary to getting it running.
 
:cheers:
abodyjoe said:
I wouldn't mind building a Dakota.
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I had 1000 bucks if that in the truck when i sold it Looking like that well it had a better bumper no dint I would not mind doing anuther one agin . there nice trucks fun to drive and will step out when you want it even with the 3.9 lol
 
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