The Standard Dilemma-The cars, then the family came-How long do I hold out?

[mopars4life]

Thought I would solicit some opinions.  I really don't want to part with any of them but it may be a long time before I can get to them realistically.  Is it practical to hold onto them because the market is bad, they are all in need of resto and I know I will never be able to afford them again when I get older and wish I still had them (that's all ready happened with a few that I parted with).  Here's my story...
It's been a long road for me and my Mopars.  My 1st one from high school still hasn't been redone although I have most parts for it-it's got a lot of rust -71 Demon special ordered with many 340 options but a 318 car hemi orange.  Of course before I could get to that car and was still collecting parts-I had always wanted a 69 Charger R/T.  My boss at the shop I worked at hooked me up with someone who had an H code 4 speed car -nicely optioned but again a lot of rust-but anumbers matching car.  It needs rear frame rails and patches in the front rails in addition to all the normal outer metal these cars need.  Then because I am so addicted to these cars, I went to look at a 73 charger and passed on it, but the guys son had a stripped 69 R/T charger that had had parts robbed off of it but had interesting options/lack of options.   It had been exposed to the elements for some time.   It was a non vinyl top car, stripe delete, console shifted  automatic car (no drivetrain was with it).  It was rusty in the back end and missing a lot of parts but I allready had a lot of extra parts that came with the first 69 that I could use for it.  Now I have all three, and a few young kids after being married and no room to start working.  We are trying to move to a new place with more room.  My plan now is to keep selling extra parts that I will not realistically need, keep the cars and hope in the next few years to start on the demon and let the chargers wait their turn. 
Anyone else been in this situation and kept or get rid of their cars?   Just thought I would run this by everyone here. 

[Ghoste]

I still deal with it all the time.

[SFRT]

pick one of the three cars to keep. get rid of the other cars and everything that doesnt go one the car you keep. work on it 1 day a week no matter what until its done.

in a couple of years you will have an awesome car instead of a yard full of rusting things under tarps.

[Charger1973]

I agree.  Keep one and let the rest go...  The money you make from the other 2 will go a long ways towards fixing the one you keep.  I had to do the same thing, and I like only having one to worry about...  and I finally got a garage to keep it in so im no longer worried about the elements either.  It will sit until I get time/money to finish it. 

[mopars4life]

Appreciate the advice-none are out in the elements-they are all inside, that's why there's no room.  As soon as we can move and have a bigger place, storage shouldn't be the issue.  It's the holding on that's got me wondering. I'd love to have a father son project when my son is older and my 1st car is hopefully done.  I had only planned to work on one at a time-I know better than to try and restore them at the same time.  I wanted to keep the other chargers for later on-at least that was the plan.

[General_01]

I would say that you need to keep one and sell the rest, or sell them all and look for one car that does not need as much work as these do. I had a '69 General replica and a '71 Charger Super Bee and my wife has a '79 Corvette. We have two girls, age 12 and 11. I sold my General this year for just this reason. And they were all drivers. I just knew that realistically, I would never be able to do anything but keep the status quo with these cars. I sold the General and am fixing up the Bee now. I had a 383 bored and stroked to a 496. I am working on the engine bay now and then dropping the new motor in. I will then start saving up so in a couple years I can get the Bee repainted. It is good enough as a driver now, but down the road I would like it nicer. You have to look at your earning potential realistically and decide what you will be able to do. And don't say "if I win the lottery I will be able to fix them up". It won't happen. And even if it does, you will be able to buy already restored cars that have rarer options.

That is what I did and why and my  on the subject. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[SFRT]

I have a friend that has piled up over 20 'awesome' cars over the years in various states and a mountain of parts. of all those maybe 2 are driveable, and he pays a fortune in storage. they are all 'someday when I fix it' and a good 20 years later they are all just falling apart. he will NEVER get any of them together. and some of them could be amazing. It's to the point his wife is ready to divorce him...and last week, he bought another heap.

get it down to 1 man...

[mopars4life]

I've seen those with the yards full of cars and parts-I am not that crazy or obsessed.  I've also known a lot of guys who get rid of cars that they had searched for for quite some time only to try and find a replacement much later with a much higher price tag-most I know regret making that decision.  I can store all that I have until I can move (hopefully soon) while continuing to eliminate excess I thought maybe to just hold on to the chargers while I start on the Demon.  They won't be hurting anything if they are in inside dry storage and I have the space (which is a prerequisite) of the new house.  They will just sit and wait their turn or be sold if things don't progress or my plans change down the road.  That was my logic for keeping the status quo.  All my local mopar buddies pretty much agree with the philosophy-they've seen the place and the cars.  I wanted to tap into a much larger audience here on the board and I appreciate everyones    The wife is pretty understanding and sees that I have some sort of game plan and am atleast going through parts to clear up some space for the time being.  We'll see how things go down the road. 

[terrible one]

Unless you are hurting for the money, space, etc. why not keep all of them and wait like you said? It would be cool to have projects for you and your kids to do. You can sell at anytime, so don't do so until you HAVE to in my opinion. However, is having all three keeping you from getting the work done on any of them? With that, I might consider selling off one of the Chargers.

[darkfiire5000]

I know the feeling I wanna buy some parts for my 68 charger and things at home aren't to good either. So I have decided to sell my 1949 chevy deluxe 2 door sedan.

[mopars4life]

Terrible One-thanks for the words of encouragement-right now I am not hurting to sell the cars.  If I sell the parts that need to go, I'll have a little more room.  I still won't be able to get the demon torn down until I move though.  I don't think that big block chargers are going to get any cheaper or easier to find (even though prices are down now)-granted mine aren't in good shape, I look forward to resurrecting them when the time comes.   

[Tilar]

I have to agree with Terrible One on this one. I've sold a number of "I'll get to them one day" cars, and now I'm to the point that I wish I had a couple of those back. One day you'll be about retirement age and start thinking about what all you can do after you retire. Of course the Father/Son project is worth it's weight in gold. You'll enjoy and be proud of anything you build with him so be sure you have one that you know he'll enjoy and have an interest in.

[69charger2002]

well i have an opinion. and it's changed over the years. now granted this is on a tad bit larger scale, but the rule still applies. just over 2 years ago around this time.. i had 38 chargers at one time.. i had 5 that ran, and only 2 that i could literally hop in and drive.. and one of those needed a little work.. i sold off almost all my project/parts cars.. when the market was good which is a difference.. but then i replaced all that with 7-8 nice ones.. like i said.. larger scale, same rule. i don't regret it for a bit.. there are a couple cars which i may regret someday, but as for now, it is awesome to be able to go to the garage, check the oil and antifreeze, and fire one up and go anywhere i want. i used to think keeping projects around forever was not that bad of an idea.. but i'm already 31 now and feel old.. started collecting at 21.. i didn't want to be one of those that blinks and is 60 years old and never enjoyed an old mopar.. you only live once.. why not enjoy a mopar every day of your life, rather than stare at project cars. in closing, based on what you said each of the cars need.. unless the demon is super sentimental.. i'd consider selling 2 or even all 3 and carefully buy one finished or closely finished car that you can ENJOY. and if you can afford to buy or keep 1 other project for "later" then do that too. just my $.02. staring at a few pretty cool relic mopars is nice, but NOTHING compares to driving them.

[mopars4life]

69charger-
I was wondering if you'd weigh in on the subject-since you've gone through quite a few chargers.  You bring up a few valid points.  I would love to have something to hop in and drive now.  PRoblem is with three infants time is limited.  The market is bad now, the cars I have were once bad ass and could be again.  I couldn't buy anything that would be sufficient with what the cars would fetch now, so I hope that by eliminating excess parts and moving soon (hopefully) I can have room to work and not just store!   THe demon is the only one I start and it's mostly to move out of the garage to get stuff or bring another car in to work on.  YOu're about the same age as me and I started at age 17, and I'd love to say I stuck through with the project.  I've had some real good buddies who have been real encouraging over the years to keep the faith and keep the dreams alive.  Only time will tell.

[Finn]

Might want to talk to the local college/highschool and see if you can work out a deal. They get to use your cars for say an autobody/welding class and you get the end result aka free body work. I remember reading about a guy that did something of the sort a few years ago. If you don't have show car expectations this might be a bad way to go. Dunno if legally its still possible though....

[dodgecharger-fan]

I think you have things in check.

None of your cars is taking anything away from your family.
Your family is supportive. Your wife isn't unhappy about not being able to park in the garage, I hope.

I'd keep them and as SFRT said, set aside some time to work on the current project.

That leaves space as your biggest challenge. Hopefully, you can address that with the move, but don't let a lack of car storage keep you from an otherwise perfect house (but then it wouldn't be perfect, then would it....  ).
In the right place, you could get away with a temporary garage for some stuff. Done right, the contents would be safe from the elements and you'd have room to work. Of course, that depends on the location and lot of the new house... and these things are cheap right now - a 20X7 is going for $299 at Canadian Tire up here. I'll be there are better deals, too. It's not the ideal solution, but it can be made to work for a while.
But maybe the "perfect" house will leave room for building a shop. When i say "room" I mean physically and financially. I know I could move out of the city and buy up a huge step in terms of land and still have money left over from the sale of the place I'm in now, but that just doesn't fit the needs of my family at the moment. Maybe it could for you.
I'd try to avoid renting storage if I could. For me, it's just money that could be spent on the project(s) and then there's the whole inconvenience of going to get what you need when you need it. It just does not compute in my head. And I like to keep my stuff close.
Winter storage of completed cars - different story all together and I think I'll have to do that this year.

[v21hemicharger]

Here's my  .  I would start on the Demon restoring all of the little things, like wiring harness, interior pieces, small underhood parts, pedals etc.  Start a little fund $50-250 a month and stay with in it.  Don't buy any new parts, but as you restore the little things, make a good list of whats needed from vendors to complete those items.  Keep a coffee can in the car and any extra from your budget goes in there.  Have at least one night a week where you spend 3-4 hours. working on the parts.  Clean up the areas where they came off and bolt them back in place w/ clean or restored hardware.  This will do several things, give you some time away from the kids wife and in the zone(get your wife to spend a few hours doing something she likes also), get you doing something fun, not take up too much space, not make you broke.  When you have all the little things restored, you can take them off and start the paint nightmare.  Take the coffee can and buy some parts and when you get it painted you have a nice car.