WHY do you love Muscle Cars and HOW do you afford your hobby?

[Cooter]

Well, I do ALOT of hustling to afford my hobby...I buy and sell parts, cars, etc. to afford to put money into cars..I also do ALOT of side work although @37 it's beginning to take it's toll now...I find myself growing tired of listening to how someone gets me to do all the work to their car only to hear that they only have half or less of the money now that it's finished...Paint jobs are the worst..While it may take me a few years to get to where some are in a minute, I can honestly say at a car show or cruise night that I DID IT...The "Buy it now" guys who just Armour-All tires and fill it up with gas can't do that....There is something to be said for someone who has had to "Pay their dues" in this hobby for me...I'm not at all interested in the guy that just bought  that Hemi Challenger R/T done, I'm after the old, ratty, Primered Dodge with the Supercharger poking through the hood and torn, ripped, seats and no carpet, with a busted windshield cause he/she doesn't have the money to get everything fixed right away...The first thing I ask someone at a car show is "What did you do to it?" This is to find out if they have had to "Pay their dues" as well...I spent 2 1/2 years on the General Lee and another 5 years on Christine...All that time I had to keep the "Sell it!" feelings at bay, the "WTF did I get myself into" feelings at bay...It takes a Real committment to do that and I'm the first to commend anybody who has "Paid their dues"......

[mikesbbody]

I'm into it because Muscle car's are Bad Ass! Bad guy's drive Charger's  Muscle car's are a By gone era of when things use to be awesome. Now, your lucky to smoke the tires on most modern cars when you hit the gas and as for Torque...Forget about it! I just get such a high whenever I get to drive my Charger if someone doesn't get it then I wont bother explaining (you either get it or you don't) I cant really afford the hobby I just do the best I can over time.
I don't have a high paying job but I don't have a family to support either 

[Charger440RDN]

I have loved chargers since i was 4 years old and I used to watch Dukes of Hazzard on friday nights. The charger is the first car i ever liked and decided to draw pictures of as a kid. That show is what got me hooked on liking muscle and speed.
 
  I remember my dad took me to this car place in Tampa, FL when i was 6 and there were several General Lee's there for some reason. I got to sit behind the wheel of one, this had to be about 1983 and I knew that someday I would have to own one and the feeling has not changed, I'm still hunting for the right Charger to buy and I'm 33 years old  

[SFRT]

1960's musclecars represent the pinnacle of american bad-assedness. I was a teenager in California in the 70's and it was a paradise of cheap cars. I had my share, and never stopped loving them.



I dont drink, do drugs or buy expensive clothes and jewelry. No debts, no kids.  My wife supports the car and bike thing 110%. makes it a lot easier.I pay all the bills, set aside X for savings and household needs and the rest is for the cars and bikes. no arguments, no hassles. I currently have a 2 year budget laid out for building the drag car and putting the final polish on the Charger. This allows me to

1. focus
2. if I need the REALLY nicer part, I know if I just wait a little longer I can get it.

[Brock Samson]

 BTW:
here's one of my favorite threads that deal with the subject, and i think will make for some good reading...

  "how and why you got your first charger"   
  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,10109.0.html

[Tilar]

Hey all,

If you just skipped to the end, go back, I mention naked college chicks!

Thanks all!

Ok, I went back and read it twice and I'm still looking for the naked college chicks!    


All joking aside,  I've had 3 or 4 Chargers and more Dusters than I can count. All of them were cheap by todays standards. The most I've ever paid for one was the one I have now. When I was 29 I paid $400 for it looking like this, It was back in 1986:




My son is now 3 years older than I was when I bought it and it still looks the same. Life just got in the way of restoring it until now.

I'm just a 19 year old living in a 52 year old body. I get to do at 52 what I could not afford to do at 19.

Life is good, but remember it took me 52 years to get here. 

Same here, I feel like I did then but it's sure a different face looking back at me in the mirror than it was back then. 

[400/6/PAC]

I think for us older Guy's and Gal's, We love them because that's what We grew up with.
For a lot of us, What We consider an old muscle car was what We learned to drive in, and in many cases, was our first car.
As for the money, You have to give up any other hobbies or fun activity for the next few years.
I basically sat in My garage for six years working on the car.
Wow, this just made Me realize, I'm an old man with no life.

[Cooter]

I guess I'll answer the second part of this question I missed some how..


I guess the reason I love the old skool Musclecars is that when I was coming of age in the small town of Nelson County Va, All the older guys AND some of the gals drove older cars even for them...They all were LOUD, some had "Things" stickin' up through the hood, and almost all of 'em were at the local Dairy Isle on Friday and Sat. nights...Two of these cars were constantly street racing one another..My best friend in HS had a cousin named Bruce, who had a 1967 Plymouth Satellite..It was a factory 383-4speed car. He would go back and forth between 4-speed and auto..
The other was a guy named James, who had a 1970 Chevy El-camino with a 402 which was built by Bruce's brother...Hence the rivalry...My best friend and I couldn't wait to go down to the local hangout and watch 'em line 'em up...

Bruce would win one night, then the next weekend James would win and so on....One night a Blue '68 Charger R/T showed up and nobody had seen the car before...Dude never got out of it, just sat there eating...
Of course Bruce and James were thinkin' the same thing we were...
It didn't take long for the inevidable to happen...Yep, Bruce pulled out onto the asphalt, along with James and they made a pass...Bruce won...Then as Bruce was coming back, That Blue R/T pulled out in the road......You could hear a pin drop...I was thinkin' "Oh man! dude must be crazy".....Well, when the flagman dropped his hands, Bruce and the Charger were off..The Charger pulled about 3 lengths ahead and then left and never came back....Bruce pulled in and ask'd "Where'd he go?"
Nobody new who it was or even what was in it..We've never seen the car since...This was what I thought of when I heard Brute Horsepower and Torque..I can't look at a 650 HP Honda the same way for whatever reason... Another quick story bout my automechanics teacher in HS's Roadrunner...

I lost my father in 1985 at the age of 13 and never had a "Cool" father figure till I met Mike Gray..He was a "Cool" guy..He liked the LOUD cars..
I had just bought a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere II..He was helping me build it..I ask'd him about a story i had heard from some of the locals about a certain '68 RoadRunner with a 4-speed being turned a loose in the town of Lovingston  @ midnight one night and if it was true....
He laughed and looked at the teacher's aid guy, then they both smiled...
He began to tell the story...He had just finished building a 383 with twin fours and a 4-speed..He wanted to try it out, so he pulls out in main street lovingston and in his words, "Wound it up till the pistons swapped holes and popped the clutch"...The car was loud with open headers and was sideways for most of the 1/8 mile or so he traveled....After gettin' back to the garage, the local police showed up and knocked on the door..They ask'd him if he'd been "out" in this car..... He said "Nope" just got it together...LOL...

[Charger440RDN]

The era i grew up in which is the 1980's and 1990's had some really crappy cars, the muscle car era was long dead so a lot of kids my age never even talked about muscle cars or knew what one was. So if you see anybody under 34 interested in muscle cars it is kind of a small miracle when you consider the crap that we see on the roads everyday.
 
Although I believe that the new challenger & Camaro and the mustang might get kids back interested in muscle again, otherwise HOW WILL THEY KNOW WHAT MUSCLE IS? WHY WILL KIDS CARE? unless they have parents to teach them, they won't care.   Sorry I'm getting off topic but i just wanted to rant 

[Mr.Woolery]

I came from a different "car guy" background than musclecar enthusiasts.  My Dad used to be a "gentleman racer" who roadraced back in the 50's/60's...only he was one of the guys who took the "lighter is better" approach.  He raced small displacement lightweight cars (ie, Abarth 750's, Fiats, etc).  He took great pleasure in racing his small cars against the larger musclecars on the road racing circuit.  As a result, he tended to discourage any interest I would show for the "heavy" cars as he would put it.  The car I learned to drive in was a small, 3-cylinder 40hp econobox...a Chevy Sprint (progenitor to the Geo Metro).  Not exactly an enthusiasts car, but I DID learn to drive properly in it, practicing all the racing techniques my Dad taught me to eke every last drop of performance out of that wheezy little car.

My automotive enthusiasm continued to grow and I ended up becoming involved in autocrossing, road racing, HPDE's, restoring, and modifying small lightweight sports cars.  This enthusiasm eventually overflowed from the "automotive genre" I'd been raised within, and I started to branch out to see what other kinds of cool cars were out there.

I found that there was a wide, wide world of automotive awesomeness out there to be enjoyed.  I'd already had three remarkable (within their genres) cars in my mini "collection" by this time, but found that their focus was a bit too narrow (all were small 2 passenger, lightweight sports cars).  I wanted my next car to be something completely different.  Considering the economy and my enthusiasm for the hobby, I decided I was in a good position to get involved in the musclecar genre.  It was funny to see my Dad's reaction--he thought I was bonkers.  
However, it made sense to go in this direction because I'd been spending a lot of time enjoying musclecars and hot rods from afar (attending car shows, etc) without having actually owned one yet.  The choice was a fairly easy one, too.  I'd been really attracted to the designs found in the 3rd gen B body cars (Charger/Roadrunner), and their prices made them quite attainable as a nice project car, too.

So I went looking and found myself a nice '71 Charger project car.  it'll take years to finish considering my means and abilities, but that's all part of the fun.  My last restomod project took 5 years (I built a custom Miata) and the result was worth the hard work--it gets lots of positive attention at the car shows from people you wouldn't expect to appreciate this kind of car (ie: hotrodders, track junkies, and classic car enthusiasts).  I'm looking forward to having that same fun, long term project car experience with my Charger.  I'm finding that, so far, the Charger is almost laughably simple to work on compared to my previous projects, which makes this project pure fun.  It's like working on a Radio Flyer wagon!  The Charger currently runs and is nearly streetable...so the near to mid term plans are to make it into a "work in progress" street rod.  The final product years from now will be something really nice.

How can I afford it?  I can't say that I'm rich, I just have a regular guy kind of job.  I think the secret is in the pace--you save money for the car here and there and do little projects along the way.  Baby steps.  It might take years, but so long as you enjoy the journey, the project stays fun.  With that philosophy, I've been able to completely restomod a custom car, build airplanes (real ones), and even save up to buy an exotic collectible car. 

I try to spend at least a few minutes a day on each of my projects, even if it's just a little thing.  I also set aside a few bucks here and there each paycheck.  Eventually those little steps add up to something bigger.  At the moment, I'm working on a pair of '71 R/T doors.  It'll probably be months before they end up on the car, but eventually they'll get there.  Just keep pluggin' away...

[TylerCharger69]

I can afford it???

[tab73]

I think right now who can afford it?? I saved tips and scrimped for over a year to buy my charger to start fixing up. The way i look at it is.... it does not cost me a penny for it to sit in my garage! I can buy a part here and there and do anything that I can myself. I know I will have to really save long and hard for the big things but isnt that what makes it so so nice when you finally get something new for it!

[69rtse4spd]

Fell in love with the body style when my brother had three 69 Chargers. I was around age 10 [be 50 in OCT.} still love them. Frist car is a 69 S.E.{still have it], two other 69 S.E.s & a 70. Collected cars & from day one & became a tool & die maker, working for G.M. Do alot of my owne stuff, but will farm out or trade for some stuff [not getting any younger]. You have to have a hobby be it two wheel or four wheels or two legged, it all cost money. It is only paper and if you can not have fun with it, why work for it.  

[DavidSL]

Some great stories, and thanks for the additional links, been reading through them with great interest!

My ultimate goal is to own a car I love looking at, love driving, and can just hop in and out whenever I want. I'm not looking to 'restore' a car and then sell it on for profit, I'm looking for a car I can keep and fall in love with. Of course, it will be a normal kind of love, not some weird auto-sexual thing... 

The Charger and the Challenger are my cars of choice. Which one largely depends on what I decide when I have the money - I've kindly been told of a Challenger that could be available but I just don't have the money for it yet. Basically, if I get Charger I know exactly what I want to do to it - the same with the Challenger. The Challenger is a little simpler - I want the 'Vanishing Point' car, basically. I want to replicate it, but I don't want a clone. I have a feeling that's gonna be tough.

But I'm still new to this 'hobby'. I have always been in love with the muscle cars - and just classic cars in general I suppose - but those V8s are what make the decision easier. I live in a place where we just don't see them, except at car shows (which I must start going to!). So it'd be nice to be 'different' and turn up events with a car that people stop and ask questions about.


Anyway, thanks again, keep the replies coming - I'm really enjoying all these stories!! 

[mauve66]

Some great stories, and thanks for the additional links, been reading through them with great interest!

My ultimate goal is to own a car I love looking at, love driving, and can just hop in and out whenever I want. I'm not looking to 'restore' a car and then sell it on for profit, I'm looking for a car I can keep and fall in love with. Of course, it will be a normal kind of love, not some weird auto-sexual thing... 

The Charger and the Challenger are my cars of choice. Which one largely depends on what I decide when I have the money - I've kindly been told of a Challenger that could be available but I just don't have the money for it yet. Basically, if I get Charger I know exactly what I want to do to it - the same with the Challenger. The Challenger is a little simpler - I want the 'Vanishing Point' car, basically. I want to replicate it, but I don't want a clone. I have a feeling that's gonna be tough.

But I'm still new to this 'hobby'. I have always been in love with the muscle cars - and just classic cars in general I suppose - but those V8s are what make the decision easier. I live in a place where we just don't see them, except at car shows (which I must start going to!). So it'd be nice to be 'different' and turn up events with a car that people stop and ask questions about.


Anyway, thanks again, keep the replies coming - I'm really enjoying all these stories!! 

trust me, its always connected to sex, if you spend too much time or money on the car you won't get any sex

[elanmars]

I grew up in the early 80s when there were still some muscle left here and there. At a young age, I said to myself those are the kind of cars I want when I start driving, thinking in my small little brain that they'd be around just as easy as new cars! if only...I'm also a product of having seen the dukes of hazzard at a young, impressionable age and just seeing movies and tv shows from that time, I always thought the muscle cars looked the best. I liked the sound, the styling, the CHARACTER these cars have. Even old 4 door cars have a certain personality that's pretty much all lost in today's designs. I don't care that cars nowadays are more comfortable or "aero-dynamic", visually, most of them are quite dull to my eyes. This is coming from a guy who's majoring in photography, been drawing since an early age, so I got that art-sensibility thing.

as for affording...I don't know. I don't go out to eat much, I'm still in school. But I did collect star wars toys, comic books, video games for quite a while and that helped fund my purchase for the '73 I got (and its helped in all the work and things I've had to purchase for the '69). I loved the car-and wish I could have kept it but I can only afford one and have room for only one-I've always wanted a 68 or 69 more and the chance came up, so I took it. I sold the '73 for a bit more than I paid for it, got the '69 for a price I never thought would ever be realistic for a guy with my means. I still can't believe I have a '69 Charger...even though I got it at a great price, it's turned out to be more work than expected (I've seen cars in worse condition go for more), as it came with really shoddy body work and some mechanical things here and there done extremely poor. I haven't driven it in almost 2 months now, I'm still waiting on the body work and paint to be done, as I'm having a friend do it. I wish I had the time and space to learn and do it myself but I don't. I'm very busy with school and work and have a baby on the way. The car is coming along pretty nice, though it's taking quite a while and I'm getting very anxious about it.

My plan was to have it baby-ready before my baby arrives but that doesn't seem to be the case. I still have AC and sound deadener to worry about and as much as the 400 it's got in it kicks a WHOLE lot of ass, I'm going to turn it back to it's somewhat original, humble beginnings as a 318 down the road. I need the gas mileage and I've never been the kind of person to race or have a lead foot, I'm more of a cruiser type. I figure in a few years, maybe I can put in a 6.1 hemi or something. I've only been able to afford all this so far due to cutting corners, saving up, selling things, doing odd jobs here and there with photography. My car isn't going to be a show car, it's a daily driver, it's a little rough around the edges but it's solid and a bad-ass super driver of the asphalt seas.

[DavidSL]

Like a lot of you, I'm pretty lucky in terms of my outgoing expenditure - I pretty much quit drinking a few months ago, I go out every week with my friends but we are all bar types, so I can pretty much get by on £10 a night (we all do rounds and there are a few of us, so it works out!  ). Ashamedly, but rather helpfully at the moment, I live at home, so I'm not throwing my money down the drain on rent (which is becoming alarmingly ridiculous). So I pay my way at home, but it works out a lot cheaper than moving out right now. With all that together, and hopefully getting a new job soon, saving enough to buy and start work on one of these cars is a realistic 2-year goal. That, of course, depends. I've seen Challengers in great condition for around $40000, and Chargers in great condition over here for around £17000, which is around $30000. I'm not yet decided on which I'd go for, it depends on what I find and where. Location is important in terms of what I spend, from the US the car may be cheaper, but the import tax and shipping is going to raise it somewhat.

I'm not going to let this get in the way of my life, but I take the same view as another poster said earlier - it's all just paper - if you can't have fun with it what's the point in working for it? Yes, other people are always going to be a factor - but for now, and whilst I can, I'm going to put every penny away so I can get this dream started. 

[Brock Samson]

 Good luck with your goals, but it's alot harder getting into these old muscle cars these days and especially outside the U.S. your gonna have to have a good plan and good paying job no matter what... I'd suggest you start with a decent runner because it sounds like you have neither the resources or ability to build a basket case up yourself.
So if you can get a running complete project car you can do stuff as it becomes possible.
BTW Dave, Living at home isn't a bad way to go, some people don't have homes. Appreciate it. 

[DavidSL]

Thanks Brock,

Yeah, my idea is to save AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE before I even start a serious search for the car of my dreams. At the moment I'm certainly looking around, but only to learn, get advice, and know where to look in the future. I'd be much more willing to spend that extra cash on a car that only really needs cosmetic changes - I'd quite happily buy a car in great shape if the body was all scratched up (just surface damage, obviously) if I knew I could quite easily get a new lick of body paint on there. I'm not looking to buy the perfect car - it can be the wrong colour, have the wrong engine in it, have wheels I don't like or an interior the colour of which I wouldn't even want to touch - so long as it runs, and runs well. Cosmetic changes I can deal with. That's the goal, anyway. I just know what I want car wise - either a '68/70 Charger, or a 1970 Challenger R/T.

Living at home isn't something that worries me, it's just when you reach 27, you kinda start feeling like you're outstaying your welcome... 

Still, a car like those around here would surely justify that in the end! 

[Chad L. Magee]

So, as I tell my kids:
Get the education first - then the job - then the wife - then the family - then the toys.

Very good advice, MagnumCharger.  I have the first two down now, but don't know if I will get to the rest for a long time yet. (OH wait, I skipped a few steps as I have my toys, they are just not restored yet ).....

    As for why do we love our cars?  I would respond that they are time machines in their own right, as they take us to trips back to our youth, even without turning a key.  I remember them as a kid being dirt cheap because they were just used cars that ate expensive gas like it was out of style.  Later on, they could be found in junkyards and hidden behind barns if you looked hard enough for a project to start from.  Nowdays, those areas have been mostly mined out, since people started to professionally hunt these cars as a profession, rather than a hobby.  While it is nice that the rich can afford to by restored cars, not everyone can, so there becomes a bit of a quest (which sometimes is more fun than working on the actual car) to find the next hidden gem to restore (and hopefully keep).  Being the oddball guy, the quest to find and track the rare ones keeps me in the game......

[Back N Black]

This is why we love muscle cars........because its not just a car.


JUST A CAR!
> From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a car,"
> or,"that's a lot of money for "just a car".
> They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the
> costs involved for "just a car." Some of my proudest moments have come
> about with "just a car."
> Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a car," but I did
> not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought
> about by "just a car", and in those days of darkness, the simple sound
> of "just a car" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.
> If you, too, think it's "just a car", then you will probably
> understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a
> promise."
> "Just a car" brings into my life the very essence of friendship,
> trust, and pure unbridled joy.
> "Just a car" brings out the compassion and patience that make me a
> better person.
> Because of "just a car" I will rise early, labour long weekends, and
look
> longingly to gearhead magazines.
> So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a car" but an embodiment
> of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the
> past, and the pure joy of the moment.
> "Just a car" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts
> away.
> I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a car"
> but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a
man."
> So the next time you hear the phrase "just a car" just smile, because
> they "just" don't understand.
>

[Ghoste]

Wow, right click-save. 

[68X426]