Built vs. Bought

[69wannabe]

If you build it you know what you have. You buy it you know only what you are told

This is very true, anybody can feed you a line of crap and say everything is brand new on the car!! Guy recently bought a 69 mustang and called me with engine problem's. Said it ran ok but was noisy. Kinda sounded like valve train trouble but it was hard to tell. He was told it was completely rebuilt 351W. I got talked into pulling it apart and it had a pretty new eddy performer intake and a new distributor and someone had put a new timing chain set in it which the bolt holding the top gear to the cam had fallen out and that wound up being the noise and that also explains the electric fuel pump that looked like it was thrown on it since the cam bolt actually holds the fuel pump eccentric tight. The rest of the engine had never been apart. Still had 69 on the main bearings with the fomoco logo on them. He never told me what he paid for the car but he now has about 3 more grand in an engine overhaul and the bill is still climbing. At this point I wouldn't want to try and build another car myself and would rather by a nice one but be careful what people tell you especially what they can't prove and what you can't see. So many crook's out there these days trying to sell a $15,000 car as a 30,000 car.

[myk]

I don't have very good mechanical skills, but it is amazing how much you can still do yourself, it is just time consuming. I did get help painting my car, because I couldn't believe how expensive it was to pay someone. No one is going to mistake my paint job for a professional paint job, but it is i good enough for a driver and I am not afraid to drive it anywhere.

All that being said next time I think I am going to buy a car done and pay $30K for something someone has $70K into.

3X

Friend and I painted my car in a garage.  No way it'll ever be a show car but the cost to get a show quality paint job is worth more than I make in a year.  We do what we can, and be thankful for what we have.  If someone has a problem with what we do, well....they're the one with the problem, not us...

[hatersaurusrex]

I don't have very good mechanical skills, but it is amazing how much you can still do yourself, it is just time consuming. I did get help painting my car, because I couldn't believe how expensive it was to pay someone. No one is going to mistake my paint job for a professional paint job, but it is i good enough for a driver and I am not afraid to drive it anywhere.

All that being said next time I think I am going to buy a car done and pay $30K for something someone has $70K into.

3X

Friend and I painted my car in a garage.  No way it'll ever be a show car but the cost to get a show quality paint job is worth more than I make in a year.  We do what we can, and be thankful for what we have.  If someone has a problem with what we do, well....they're the one with the problem, not us...

Dude if your goal is to drive it (and you obviously do) then a show quality paint job is a waste of money and you'll always be flipping worried about scratching it, hitting rocks on the highway, etc.   I'm building a driver - a very fast one.  I want to mash the right pedal and see how hard it makes me smile.   Everything else is just academics and snobby posturing to me.

Have a show quality low-numbers/matching car that's perfect and lives on a trailer?  That's great - I bet I'll have more fun beating on my crappy hemi XP car than you will staring at your true Hemi Daytona in the garage at 1AM.   Although staring at them is really fun too

[myk]

Lol, I have to wonder if my outlook would change if I had a car with a more desired pedigree.  I dunno.  It's easier to just worry about my own path...

[Mike DC]

 

There is room in this hobby for all types of builds.  I'm glad there are perfect show-quality cars being preserved, and I'm glad there are 318 VIN cars with crate Hemis getting the crap beat out of them on public roads. 

[303 Mopar]

There is room in this hobby for all types of builds.  I'm glad there are perfect show-quality cars being preserved, and I'm glad there are 318 VIN cars with crate Hemis getting the crap beat out of them on public roads. 

  Everyone has their own personal goals, budget, and purpose.  The common thing is among all of us is that we love these cars!