'Not too sure about the complaints I'm hearing. I have to wonder if its a case of instant gratification?
I can't begin to tell you of the kind of junk I drug home...to fix. Seats that needed 2 blankets to sit on, if you didn't want a broken coil worming its way up your backside, windows that would not either roll up and stay up or would roll down. Doors that you had to either climb through a window or go through the passenger door (or backdoor - my first "hot rod" was 4-door Fairlane). Rusted fenders, rusted roof (also dented from local kids using the roof, hood and trunk as a trampoline)...I or actually my best friend and I would drag these POS junkers home and get them running, one way or another.
I'm not trying to hurt anyones feelings, but I can't help but think kids are turning their nose up at stuff they can afford - then complain about not being able to "anything". What they want is fully finished car for free or just enough that they can brag about the "steal" they got from some low life, who didn't know the value of what he had.
Well, wake up Cinderfella - with constant information, available everywhere - even backwoods hermits know what is popular and have a fairly (if not exaggerated) idea of how much its worth. My advice is either lower your standards or save your money. The internet and e-bay has changed everything. If you are doing all your treasure hunting on the South Side of town or cruising through the "mall adjacent" Slick Sam car dealer and cell phone office - you will get ripped off. You will have to get out and actually look for cars not wait for one to be dropped in your lap.
Maybe it boils down to not being stupid enough to take on a hopeless, un-salvageable project..., then making it work against all odds and all those friends that ridiculed your efforts. I remember working all summer, saving my meager money to buy a factory 4-barrel manifold, Then spend days and nights working with a hand file to port match it to the heads. My mom and litle brothers would come out in the back yard and laugh, asking why I was wasting my time on that old car. When I finally got it running, I could also hear my Lil' brother bring his friends by and tell them how he helped his brother put that car together. To this day, when I go by to visit him and his wife, the conversations sooner or later come back to that car ... maybe we raised a generation of kids that are too smart?
There are cars out there, at least once or twice a month i see, on these pages, some guy that found a decent project car at a decent price - maybe it wasn't running, had 4 flat tires and needed body panels, but like they say, if you want rabbit stew, first find a rabbit, it gets easier after that.
Note: I
do have to say I realize that the "code enforcement" folks and changes in neighbors and neighborhoods make it difficult or impossible to keep an inoperable car in the driveway for months, years as you build it but if there is a real desire, you can find a way.
