built vs bought....
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To me, i see no shame in buying a car that was someones project. If you do it right you can get a car for like 20% of what just the parts cost. Nevermind time and labor. My next car will probably be someones unfinished project.
A friend of mine just bought a really clean, freshly painted notcback with a big inch windsor in it for less than what the motor would cost to build. He will still go thru the car and change what he dosent like, so does that make him less of a car guy... nope, just makes him a little smarter if you ask me
A friend of mine just bought a really clean, freshly painted notcback with a big inch windsor in it for less than what the motor would cost to build. He will still go thru the car and change what he dosent like, so does that make him less of a car guy... nope, just makes him a little smarter if you ask me
I guess by some of your opinions, I'm not a car guy....wierd.
I think it comes down, like someone already mentioned, to money and time. If you have a lot of one and not much of the other, whether you like it or not, the only way to be a car guy is to use the remaining resource that you have.
I love wrenching and building things myself. I enjoyed the opportunity to do so when I built my '92 H/C/I combo, transmission installation, bolt ons, etc.... pretty minor stuff by most mechanic standards, but enough to get that feeling of pride for putting it together myself. That was my first build. Now, I work 70 hours per week, my car stays in a different country, and I've moved 7 times since I blew up the last combo including 2 separate deployments. I make pretty good money though, and despite my addiction to my mustang, I've managed to put aside for retirement/rainy days quite a bit. So, aside from a little tuning, and a lot of thinking, I've done very little of the work and have paid for most of it. If I hadn't paid for it, then I wouldn't own a built car of any kind. Oh well. I'm not going to lose any sleep about it. Instead, I'll continue to try to shape that mustang into the car I want, whether I get the chance to turn the wrenches again one day or I have to keep paying someone else to.
Chris
I think it comes down, like someone already mentioned, to money and time. If you have a lot of one and not much of the other, whether you like it or not, the only way to be a car guy is to use the remaining resource that you have.
I love wrenching and building things myself. I enjoyed the opportunity to do so when I built my '92 H/C/I combo, transmission installation, bolt ons, etc.... pretty minor stuff by most mechanic standards, but enough to get that feeling of pride for putting it together myself. That was my first build. Now, I work 70 hours per week, my car stays in a different country, and I've moved 7 times since I blew up the last combo including 2 separate deployments. I make pretty good money though, and despite my addiction to my mustang, I've managed to put aside for retirement/rainy days quite a bit. So, aside from a little tuning, and a lot of thinking, I've done very little of the work and have paid for most of it. If I hadn't paid for it, then I wouldn't own a built car of any kind. Oh well. I'm not going to lose any sleep about it. Instead, I'll continue to try to shape that mustang into the car I want, whether I get the chance to turn the wrenches again one day or I have to keep paying someone else to.
Chris
That's like owning a motorcycle, and a pedal bike. It might be a really cool, expensive pedal bike, but you'll never really ride it again, will you?
i can see the point in doing it... and i personaly would probably do it. its more of the guys who buy that car thats already fast then take it to a shop to have everything done from spark plugs to oil changes and start talking to you about his 9 second notch back he built from the ground up.i mean c'mon if you build a car like that what the
am i doing your god damn spark plugs! its THOSE type that irk the hell out of me
fiveohwblow
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Ha, I think you're a special case, Chris. We all know you'd be spinning the wrenches yourself if you were able.
- Dec 19, 2010
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Seems like you and I debated this one a while back in a thread about homebuilt engines where someone declared any engine built at home is going to fall to pieces. LOL..
Common sense would dictate you're doing it right, Chris, because you're working within your means to reach a goal. There are always going to be constraints, be it time, money, or knowledge/ability. I 'm quite sure the guys who are losing the respect from true car guys here are the ones who have time and money, but fail to pursue the knowledge/ability aspect, which sadly is the easiest to aquire of the three catagories...
Basicly, kid with wealthy parents or young yuppy with tons of cash and free time pays speed shop to build a killer car, so they can be car guy poser=FAIL...
A soldier/serviceman on duty in Europe doesn't strike me as the above type. NOW, when you get out come back to the states, you'd better get some grease under your fingernails!
Every time I've crawled under my car lately I've thought "crap I'm getting to old and fat to do this"... But I can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on something I have the knowledge, ability and time to do!
thats where i wanted to i go with this thread...
are there some very smart 03 cobra owners? hell yes! ive learned a lot from some of them. but the norm for them is young guy lots of money and they pay a shop to do EVERYTHING then they act like they know EVERYTHING
I know that I am not near as smart as I was when I was 21, hell at that time I was invisible and bulletproof as well..............how I l0ng for those days again
- Dec 19, 2010
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I know that I am not near as smart as I was when I was 21, hell at that time I was invisible and bulletproof as well..............how I l0ng for those days again
I think sometimes that can run clear up to 29 and beyond, depending on the individual...
Thus the tag line in my signature that says: "you don't have 30 years of experience, you have 1 year of experience 30 times". ( as I call them an idiot under my breath as the "know it all" walks away )
This post just brought up an ugly memory. Usually, i have thick skin, but there was a guy when i was in high school whose dad paid a shop to do all the work on his son's car. They'd come to a local meet my buddies and I used to frequent and strut around like the head roosters. You could tell they just regurgitated what the mechanics told them and it used to make me SO mad.
I have very, very small part of me that wants to find that dude when my car runs and show him how it's done.
darthcual
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LOL, I think everyone went to H.S. with that guy. Our guy like that's dad owned the Ford Dealership in town. The best part for me was, at 18 yrs old with a min wage after school job to buy parts I handed his ass to him!
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