Pressure to get car done

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wawarnick said:
I have taken up the manta of David Frieberger "Don't get it right, get it running" or Lucky Costa "Good enough for now". Hoping to get the 340 fired in a week or two on the run stand and get it in the Dart so I can cruise this summer.
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My wife always asked about my car. It wasn’t running when we first started dating and I was always over there working on it. It was 3 years before she got to go for a ride in it. Coming up on 5 years now and it’s only issue is it overheats. Hopefully it will be back on the road this summer.

I think a lot of folks just make excuses when the reality is we have other priorities in life. My wife snd family come first. The Dart isn’t going anywhere and it’s not going to leave me if I don’t show it love. There is nothing wrong with that.

On the flip side I spent a long time with just zero motivation to work on the car. I could have had it done before we were married but I just didn’t want to. I’ll always love cars but there are certainly highs and lows.
 
My Wife asks no questions, I tell her no lies! She knew when she married me, some 41 years ago, that I spent more time lying under cars than wimmin!
 
I bought my 70 Barracuda vert in 2017.... I finally stripped it to a shell last year, and it still sits on the chassis jig I built for it with other projects ahead of it. At some point I will "finish" those projects, and really get started on it. Any day now.... lol. I have almost everything I need to do the work and what I don't have isn't holding me up. My wife thinks I put things in the way in purpose, and maybe I do. It's a big project that I don't want to screw up. Most of the metal will get replaced... it's daunting. I've even considered selling it to get something that's less challenging but I know for a fact I would regret it. So, between family/wife/work/projects, I will inch towards a point at which it's just family/wife/work and the project will be only the Cuda... any day now...
 
All of the things stated in the OP are-

completely the wrong attitude.

I mean if you never work on the car, that's one thing, but if you occasionally do something when you have time, or have regular time set aside, that completely negates naysayers. My "three month"- pull and paint the engine turned in to a two year- might as well blast and paint the engine compartment... and replace the freeze plugs...and blast and paint the K frame... and clean up the wiring harness...and rebuild and paint the brake booster...and replace the front brake lines...and convert to DOT 5...and.....

Working on a car can also be therapy, no matter what state it is in.
OTOH, sometimes you (or at least me) have to force yourself to either "get ONE thing done today" or "spend at least ONE HOUR on the car today".

Who cares what people at shows say? I don't even enter shows unless they are free or a small charity donation.
IMO having an old car is not about anyone else. It's about me having a cool old car. If you like it- great.

If your wife constantly questions you, perhaps you need to have a heart to heart about it.
If that fails or if she considers it an unnecessary financial burden...
I hate to say it, but you may have the wrong wife.
 
The buyer is picking up my 64 Belvedere more door this weekend, driving from Ne.to Tx. He wants a CHEAP and solid driver. He has a barn full of over restored trophy cars. I have seen this thousands of time over the decades.
But if a guy wants a perfect oem restored trophy car that will never be driven, then........
 
For people who aren't into these kinds of hobbies you have to explain it's not like fixing something that's broken. You're rebuilding a whole bunch of things that are not up to your personal standards of what they should be and you're enjoying the process.

I'm also in the camp though that you need to get it running and THEN get it "right". I know for myself during the periods of time I had my Duster apart and not running it was very hard to find motivation to restore or modify any parts of it. But now when I take it for a drive I remember "oh damn I really need to do this and that and the other thing". Plus I never gave a damn about what other people think of my car. I appreciate compliments but I drive it and wrench on it for me. A lot of my car buddies think classics are about looking cool, saying things like "that would be neat to drive an old car like that and get noticed a lot." Dude you're completely missing the point lmao that's the last thing I care about!

@YY1 hit the nail on the head. If your loved ones are questioning your hobby in a negative light then you need to fix that ASAP. Having doubts about what makes you happy because of other people's criticisms will cripple you over time.
 
My second wife completely had me convinced there was no way I was ever going to get married again, after I divorced her she completely took it out of me that was a fact..
10 years ago I had a girlfriend who I talked to about the 72 duster I used to have and I reminisced about liking it.. I told her the only thing I didn't have was the four speed... She said how much would one cost these days? I said 1500 to 2 Grand (at the time) probably get me something I could start with... A couple days later she came home from work and handed me an envelope so go get your car... I opened the envelope and it had $2,500 in it!...
I found one a few weeks later a couple hours away and we drove to go look at it. I paid $1,750 for it not running and we rented a one-way U-Haul trailer and small truck and she followed me home..
When we got home she said you're going to put a four on the floor correct?..
I found a guy selling a four speed about two and a half hours away up in Washington, but I had to work so she took the $800 and drove up to Washington and the guy put the four speed in the back of her car and she drove back home and brought it to me....
We'll be celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary at the end of August...
No I don't have to explain my hobby...
 
I told everyone when i got my car that it would take years for me to get it going... my hope this year is just to get it running/movable on it's own
 
I said once (ha many times), the reason there are so many projects out there for sale, ALL took apart in boxes with have the stuff missing....is a guy needs a project to build over "how"many years, decades and a decent old Mopar driver he can drive when the urge hits. Motivation!

Yea life gets in the way, and some people are not "results" oriented, they are anal retentive perfectionists that are never happy with their results.

Guy looked at my paint/body work one day and pointed out a couple of flaws. I said yea I will drive it and it will never stay perfect IF it was to begin with. He said he could not live with that attitude. Then I said I did the body/paint and it did not cost me $6-10,000 and I can easily go back and fix those couple of minute flaws. Then I asked what was he driving???? and who painted it??????
 
I don't get butthurt, I just ask "Where's yours" when anyone gives me crap. lol. Usually humbles them.
 
Usually the people who complain or nag you about something don’t understand the true scope of the project. If they did understand, they probably wouldn’t be asking the question in the first place. Some folks who keep asking either don’t listen (if you’ve already explained to them) or just like to frustrate you each time by asking (even if they know the answer).
 
I will say, I am lucky in that my wife wants me to finish my car as much as I do. Never been a problem. In my case, I married well.
 
Cuda416 said:
I don't get butthurt, I just ask "Where's yours" when anyone gives me crap. lol. Usually humbles them.
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That and "have you done your own body and paint before or did you just pay someone?"

Only shows I take my Duster to are local cars & coffee type stuff. I prefer racing events, track days etc a lot more, it's a totally different crowd of people. All that matters there is having a good time and some friendly competition, anyone with a big mouth has to prove it on the track and as with many things in life the ones who are truly skilled are often the most humble. Maybe if I buy or build a show-quality resto at some point I'll try out a show but I still find them very boring.
 
H22A4 said:
Usually the people who complain or nag you about something don’t understand the true scope of the project. If they did understand, they probably wouldn’t be asking the question in the first place. Some folks who keep asking either don’t listen (if you’ve already explained to them) or just like to frustrate you each time by asking (even if they know the answer).
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Yeah, i tell them that i am LITERALLY removing every single bolt on this car and rebuilding everything.... and they don't get what that entails. although i am hoping to not have to pull my dash
 
MopaR&D said:
That and "have you done your own body and paint before or did you just pay someone?"

Only shows I take my Duster to are local cars & coffee type stuff. I prefer racing events, track days etc a lot more, it's a totally different crowd of people. All that matters there is having a good time and some friendly competition, anyone with a big mouth has to prove it on the track and as with many things in life the ones who are truly skilled are often the most humble. Maybe if I buy or build a show-quality resto at some point I'll try out a show but I still find them very boring.
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haaha when they see my car there is no question that i did the paint myself :)
 
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Icetech said:
haaha when they see my car there is no question that i did the pain myself :)
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Lol nice, I for one respect that way more than someone who paid a shop to do it even if it's far from perfect. In fact if I see a killer paint job I'll ask who did it and seek them out as they're the one that deserves the credit!
 
MopaR&D said:
Lol nice, I for one respect that way more than someone who paid a shop to do it even if it's far from perfect. In fact if I see a killer paint job I'll ask who did it and seek them out as they're the one that deserves the credit!
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Well.. i have had killer paint jobs... i don't want to worry bout knicks and **** again... i like that now if i get a scratch... oh nooesss... shrug... my car is still in original paint, i'm just going to try to match paint the patches i did
 
When I retired, I was a little lost, I put an ad in the media offering to help people "stuck" on their project cars .
Holy Crap, there were quite few, I found that people come across something beyond their skill, get frustrated and lose the motivation .
I'd go walk around the car kicking tires, find out what they needed, and arrange to comeback with tools I needed .
Before I left, I'd ask to see what they had new, - I'd pick out something shiny, and go and put it on the car, I'd hand something else shiny, point to other stuff, and ask to have that done before I returned.
It got their blood pumping, we overcame whatever was the difficulty, plus more.
We got maybe 8 cars on the road over a coupla years, - AND motivated me to finish my own .

Go install something shiny, then something else, stuck on something, go sand some bodywork, yak on here, - we'll get you going .
Hope it helps .
 
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inertia said:
When I retired, I was a little lost, I put an ad in the media offering to help people "stuck" on their project cars .
Holy Crap, there were quite few, I found that people come across something beyond their skill, get frustrated and lose the motivation .
I'd go walk around the car kicking tires, find out what they needed, and arrange to comeback with tools I needed .
Before I left, I'd ask to see what they had new, - I'd pick out something shiny, and go and put it on the car, I'd hand something else shiny, point to other stuff, and ask to have that done before I returned.
It got their blood pumping, we overcame whatever was the difficulty, plus more.
We got maybe 8 cars on the road over a coupla years, - AND motivated me to finish my own .

Go install something shiny, then something, stuck on something, yak on here, - we'll get you going .
Hope it helps .
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It can be overwhelming.... when i started taking my car apart i actually panicked a bit... which i have never had happen before. I just keep taking 1 bite at a time. When i was younger i didn't seem to worry bout anything now i just expect the worst every time
 
inertia said:
When I retired, I was a little lost, I put an ad in the media offering to help people "stuck" on their project cars .
Holy Crap, there were quite few, I found that people come across something beyond their skill, get frustrated and lose the motivation .
I'd go walk around the car kicking tires, find out what they needed, and arrange to comeback with tools I needed .
Before I left, I'd ask to see what they had new, - I'd pick out something shiny, and go and put it on the car, I'd hand something else shiny, point to other stuff, and ask to have that done before I returned.
It got their blood pumping, we overcame whatever was the difficulty, plus more.
We got maybe 8 cars on the road over a coupla years, - AND motivated me to finish my own .

Go install something shiny, then something, stuck on something, yak on here, - we'll get you going .
Hope it helps .
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That's good advice. Sometimes it's not about being motivated as it is just getting something done and keeping the ball rolling. Eventually, it usually motivates ......
 
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