by "Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street." (demon-xanth)
Published 05/24/2017 at 09:37
by "Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street." (demon-xanth)
Published 05/24/2017 at 09:37
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STARS: 0
I’ve gotten to the point where I know I’ll never get to the body, and I think I got the gear oil leak fixed only to have the engine oil leaking. Or it might be both. The car isn’t getting better as I own it. I love Corvairs, but I really can’t keep up on a project car. Has anyone got to this point with their car and have some advice? I’m hoping to get $1500 for my running and driving car. I tried selling it last year for $3K and only got one person who was serious and spent the winter doing some work on it.
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
05/24/2017 at 09:43, STARS: 1
Commander Peter Quincy Taggart is my spirit animal.
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
05/24/2017 at 09:48, STARS: 2
Hmmm, I’m probably not the one to speak to about continuing working on cars that are beyond the point where things start braking, given that I’ve just spent a weekend repairing a hydraulic leak and a fair amount of welding on a 170k mile £256 non-turbo diesel Citroen BX.
Saying that, most of the cars I’ve bought have been from people who have spent a little while fixing their cars, but sold them on before they were finished. Most of the time I do a reasonable amount of work on them for a good week or so and then they’re good from then on with basic maintenance (or, at least, for another year).
I don’t exactly have many other commitments on my time though so I have a bit of a luxury of being able to chip away at fixing things.
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
05/24/2017 at 09:53, STARS: 0
I gave up when the Allroad’s air ride collapsed and it would be more to replace it than what I purchased the car for
"Nothing" (nothingatalluseful)
05/24/2017 at 10:48, STARS: 0
I’m very good on giving up on project cars. I usually get to the point where I’m 90% done mechanically, and 0% done on the body. That’s when I realize spending the money on body work is a tremendous expense because I don’t have the space, or skill, to do it to a level that I would like. I then replace the project car with another project in similar condition, and get to the same point 2 years down the road. I never learn, and each time I say “I’ll finish this one! Really!” That’s right up there with “I’ll keep this new vehicle until it’s paid off, really!” for me.
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
05/24/2017 at 11:18, STARS: 1
Is it possible just to walk away from the project for a bit? We all can get burned out when a project isn’t going right and is taking too much time.
A slightly ugly body can be a positive trait. It means you don’t worry about rock chips and small dings, so you’re not afraid to actually drive the car. Plus the dents and dings and faded paint add a lot of character to the looks. Get back to why you enjoy the car, which I assume is driving it instead of fixing it. (Unless there’s a lot of rust, that’s incredibly difficult to fix and doesn’t look good even in a rat rod styled car).
But if you’re planning on using the cash for a different project or need the space or are simply just so sick of working on it that you can’t enjoy the car anymore, might as well sell it. No sense in struggling through the pain if there’s no joy in the results.
"Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street." (demon-xanth)
05/24/2017 at 11:58, STARS: 0
In my case, I’ll likely get a non-project LM Corvair in a year that I can just drive instead of looking at and feeling like a louse.
"Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street." (demon-xanth)
05/24/2017 at 12:00, STARS: 0
The paint is literally peeling off to bare metal. In California, it was alright. But here, it’s just rusting. I’d rather have the space for one that doesn’t need work that I don’t really have time to get to. If I had the time, energy, and skills, it’d be done by now. For someone that can do paint it’s a very solid car for Virginia.
"Die-Trying" (die-trying)
05/24/2017 at 16:46, STARS: 0
i am definitely not the guy to give you good advice. i live down a mile and a half of dirt road. shiny paint means nothing to me. if a car leaks oil, great, it means there is still some in it. a lot of it comes down to whether you are driving the car to enjoy how the car drives, or whether you are just enjoying being seen driving the car. to me rough paint is great. it means that there is not much left there to hurt. i like straight sheet metal as much as the next guy. but if it is sloughing off paint, just throw some more on top to cover it for a while. you might ospho metal prep it.
yeah sometimes its easier to just buy a nicer example, but i have run into times when i let a truck go, that i was hard pressed to get anywhere near as nice of a starting point to work from, for what i had gotten for my nice running example.......
"1967ers - lover of dead auto marques" (1967ers)
05/25/2017 at 12:32, STARS: 0
That’s what really took my Corvair last week. There was simply never going to be time to do what I needed to do to make a real driver out of it. Hated letting it go and am already debating the next one, but it needed to go. It’s hard to justify the existence of a car you either don’t or can’t drive.
Price-setting was hard because I knew it meant more to me for its personal history than I could ever really get for it. I just looked around the area, set a number in my head and sat on it until I got it.