It’s almost too easy to get in over your head when starting on a big build, revival or restoration project, especially when you try to get it all finished in one huge chunk.
But, if you start simple, work within a set of guidelines that that keep the project on track to meet your vision, and then take breaks when you reach certain benchmarks or plateaus it can be a really enjoyable journey that anyone can manage.
Here’s how we pace our projects and why we do things that may not be obvious to the casual observer.
#classiccar #musclecar #revival #project #dodge #charger #paint #mopar
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Blew my 72 GMC apart like that, took me 5 1/2 years to finish it and I had to rent a storage space to store parts, I had to buy a ton of shelving to keep things somewhat organized so I could work on it. It gets to the point where you have too much stuff in your garage and you can’t even work.
Nope
I was fixing up a 2000 solara for a daily and it is funny because thats exactly how people reacted to seeing the process. I was getting it to be clean and functional, not a full off restoration show car.
Another thing too is when you do all that work even something as simple as the exterior screws getting that rust in them will get to you, I used all stainless steel hardware on the exterior.
NOW YOU TELL ME!!!! Ha ha. Good advice, I'm 3 years into my retirement project and have fallen into some of the traps. I did have a plan, sort of, I get most of my part from salvage yard and avoid high priced non essentials. I will listen to your advice and start marking plateaus. My project is a 2002 Ford Ranger step side on a 2007 Crown Vic police. It's running and driving but does not looked "loved". That is my new plateau. Thanks
I feel blessed to not have the bug for a show car, It seems like a never ending curse for people I know with "show cars".
He literally said it's single stage paint on the episode you saw the tape on it I believe?
This is so VERY true!
First thing you do after buying a (project) car: look over the necessary parts (brakes, engine, brakes, suspension, brakes, steering, brakes, transmission and brakes. Fix them to make the car safe to drive. Especially brakes are important there. Oh, don’t forget to check the wiring. And brakes, start with the brakes.
Then, drive. Drive it. Drive it at least one season. Get the feel for the car. How does it drive? How does it respond? What does it do for you? if anything, what are you missing / what don’t you like? But most of all: enjoy it! Drive it to enjoy it!
We’ve just finished a project car (Mopar by the way) and it’s 100% original, lots of patina and worn non-essential parts. The list of things to do is already two pages long, but we’re driving the car almost every day. Every ride until now got the list to grow but we still enjoy it and most of the things on the list aren’t really important anyway.
What ever happened to the Jeep cheap home engine rebuild series??? I'd like to see that one. Was interested in that.
That is exactly what I'm trying to teach my kids my daily driver is finally getting to where I want it 3 years later,
If I don't use it and drive it it's useless to me
Normally I would use this space for a Chrysler joke but, I have my eye on a 40 Plymouth. It makes me smile.
Step one; prepare a clean space to protect it from deteriorating any more.
Step two; clean up all loose tools and trade off any extra parts not for the job.
Step three; go over all the maintenance details of my daily driver.
Step four; if I’m still smiling after the prep work, find the project that brings the smile.
Smiling is the secret.
Waking up in a van, in a field, hungover, to the sound of top fuel dragsters. I miss my younger days
(I hope Bodyman Ron's family is doing better, btw, he's heen a real good guy.) Also I think that 'Boulevard Black' you chose should manage to look pretty sharp. Though I do love those Chargers best all nice and with the interior and all, that takes either more preserving or doing than this. (I did a model of one, nice shiny white, black interior with off-white seats I lavished a lot of attention to detail on, etc, even bought chrome foil I never got to putting on. (Also I managed to lose the back window glass in a move so the project was tabled for parts when my fakery didn't hold. 🙂 )
Oh, also I know all about plateaus. Most of my life my project has also had to be my daily, or near daily, so I even try to break up upgrades into things that can be done without being off the road long, especially if it's a hike to the parts store.
I mean, when I really did over my Duster it was cause I was stalled waiting for my friend with the hoisting gear and extra hands to come back from a trip for the summer. So I did do all the interior details to the extent I had donor parts and supplies to do. And of course I had to redo the floors for the manual swap, which involved taking the trans tunnel from the donor car and then doing that all nice, at least under the JC Whitney hot rod style pressed-for your-car carpet. (I miss that. I could have 60''s carpet type in my 70's car all formed up. (I mostly de-browned the original interior. All black but kept the off-white seating and the fake wood trim. Imagine the days when your 200 donor car came with a pretty pristine Tuff Wheel and the brown Hurst shifter ball, kids. I had plenty to do that summer despite pretty much Bohemian poverty. 🙂 )
But plateaus. You can do that one replace-while-upgrading at a time, too, to some degrees.
You have calmed me down and put it all back in to perspective. This will be my go-to whenever I get overwhelmed on my '57. Thanx!
Glad you responded to that comment. I was wondering the same things. I felt like why do all that body work with Ron to not do the little things. Your work would have been good enough. All good though I totally get the reasoning and I’m with ya! My projects are similar!
Your car, your choice. If you choose to take something to a certain place and run out time, money, interest or need to continue this is YOUR choice. Let's not let perfection interfere with good.
I get a lot out of your channel. You have revealed solutions that used to be a mystery. THANK YOU
My '67 Val is sunburnt with bad chrome, dents in the hubcaps and all that.
And I'll be happy when it's got a hot 318. It's gotta smoke those polished garage kept cars. That is true happiness.
Thank you uncle Tony, finally I understand why I feel that I’m not moving forward with my thing. I see where I’m and where I want it to be and nothing in the middle and is holding me back. This solves my problem.
So many cars are turned into piles of parts because some guy is going to "cherry it out". Been guilty of it myself, rip it all down to do it "right" then run out of money, time or whatever and it ends in a pile of rusty parts.
Doing a car "right" these days is thousands of dollars, (or hours if you DIY) in the end you got a nice car you're afraid to pull out of the garage. Know a guy now that's selling two cars he's got over 100k stuck into because they sit in his climate controlled garage under covers all the time. He wants a driver now, something he can actually enjoy and not worry about.
Bottle Rocket needs a black and white paint job with center caps…
Yeah, I have always built cars this way. Also had several with primer and scratch filler on them, haha. Building a 62 C10 pick up now Patina is staying on it.
So true.
Tony, you have eloquently provided the best advice and explanation for undertaking and COMPLETING a project. Some people take on projects with the finished product in their vision and are impatient to reach that . I think that is the result of people not fully understanding the drain on resources involved. and/or having significant funding at the ready . I am of your age and your description of 'life back them' rings true. Mates and I played with cars that were our daily drivers. We needed them to get to work, take girls on dates, road trips etc. The builds were gradual but followed the path of where we each were heading with our cars. Along the journey and when ready, we would all accumulate at whoever 's car was being done and hook into the work overr a weekend or holiday period etc. We did it because a) we were mates working on cars, b) we had fun, c) we needed their help when it was "our turn" and , importantly d) the car was needed again as the daily driver asap. And…. they all got finished to the intended final result and we had a whole bunch of fun along the way. Great days. You have a great attitude Tony and your advice and support is priceless. What you say does " make sense" . You rock man. 🙂
this is why i drive a low mileage 30 year old f-150 I hate car payments and I don't want it to be perfect just functional and reliable. yes eventually I will make it a lot nicer but i'm in no rush to get there. I'm focused on investments and growing my future to be able to relax one day and enjoy my life. I'm not gonna stretch myself out so thin that i'm a slave to my things.
don't strive for perfection cuz you'll always be disapointed. be happy with what you have and keep your goals realistic and enjoy the journey!
I’m doing something similar with my daily driver 2001 Grand Marquis. I’m not painting it hot rod black or anything. I plan on keeping the original color. It does have bondo spots and blemishes. My coworker has a 2000s Lincoln Continental that is “under construction”. Gray primer and red putty all over it with trim missing. It was a $500 car. I have visions for my car, but I gotta focus on fixing what’s broken first. Even if I don’t make it as far as I want, I’ll be grateful to have some things done with it. It’s a journey.
If our friend really has done a lot of restoration work, he would also know that trim doesn't just come off and go back onto old cars. You take all the trim off for a quick paint job and half of it won't make it back on due to warping, broken pegs, etc. It expands a project way beyond its intended scope.
Sooooo true!
For the guys that are doing this part time, in their garage or back yard, this is the best way I believe.
I'm working on a 66 Valiant station wagon….picked it up 8 years ago and drove it the first 2 years repairing what needed to be done, exhaust, tune up front end work, etc. And LOVED using it!
We put around 10k miles on it and started blowing oil out of the breather, so time for a rebuild.
This time around it's taking care of the rot areas in the floors and other areas. Planning on getting the engine compartment, inner fenders, floors, and hopefully some of the front sheetmetal in final paint. Engine is completely rebuilt and converted it to a factory AC car and manual 4 speed…… our next plateau. Fingers crossed, back on the road in August.
Next year hopefully we can finish all the bodywork and get the interior done.
This is the only way we would be able to do this taking into consideration time and finances!
Keep up the great work UTG!
Great point…"one step @ a time"…!…for the working mans build…!….way to go U.T…..!
Is that a 64? Dart next to the gasser plymouth ?
It only takes extra hours to strive for perfection.
Cut corners and your project will be mediocre at best forever.
It is actually scary how much sense Tony makes…
Summit racing sells hotrod flats I painted my 1970 Valiant red it dang near looks spot on match the mopar rally red that was the factory color so there is more options other than Black
More great thoughts as usual ….this is a video I needed to hear with my project right now! Thanks for doing your channel keep up the great work.
For me, this plateau as you call it, is my goal. I have not desire for pristine perfect body. My favorite cars are a bit roachy, clean but well used. Five foot thick clear coat, come on, now I can not use the car!
It'd be fuddles me why people can't let you do what you want to do and just enjoy your content your car your way
Makes sense to me Tony
Yup I know exactly what you're saying Uncle Tony.
I would love a car that looks good!! But!! You can’t drive it. You have so much money in it it’s no longer fun. A kid looks at it in a car show you have to worry about how much it costs to fix it. I don’t have the money like some of these guys have but I work on my own stuff and try my best to make it work. Some of these guys I meet don’t have a clue how it works or how it was done they just put the money down. I want to have fun with it put on the road and go put miles on it. Yeah you have to fix stuff. This is why you wanted a hot rod and not a show car. If it rains turn on the wipers and drive.
Great advice Uncle Tony. It's funny how the work in progress primer mobiles with nice rims and tires we used to drive are what people want more nowadays. As opposed to shiny garage queens they're afraid to scratch. Thanks again for the knowledge. You're a Hot Rod OG
I gotta say I felt the same way when I saw the masking tape on chrome. I'd still might remove a bit of it, given the amount of sanding done. However, I totally understand now, and Admit, I've been doing the same without realizing it. Plateaus. Yep. When I was younger, I only had one car. It had many short term Plateaus. When it did get painted, the shop that did the paint, had estimated 2-3 weeks, always turned into 2-3 months. Never failed. When I painted a second car myself, a week, turned into 3 weeks. I really don't have that time these days. Great video!
Remember Earl Scheib? That was always a plateu for better things down the road…I hear ya.
Not to mention then u have to buy/find clips that’ll surely break when removing chrome and trims..people have watched to many episodes of overhaulin and think this stuff just happens overnight… the more you strip off the car the more work it is to put back together
Perfect, Uncle Tony. Better to have a driving, running "project" than a never finished hangar queen. Not hard to get overwhelmed.
That's how I roll. Since 1970