Just a thought

[Yves Thaens]

Hi,

Don't know if this belongs here, if not, just delete it.

Recently I have been looking at this 87 convertible. She looks good, is intact, numbers match, mileage ok etc... Price is right ..... but the one thing missing is ... i just have not convinced my wife in buying her ... she keeps on nagging about the gasprice (which is very, very high here), taxes i will have to pay, my 79 that is not ready etc :-).....hm maybe she's right.

Well, I have a 79 body off project here that I'm working on for 8 years now, and after seeing this example I was thinking that maybe it would have been better to buy one that was ok from the start and not do a body off. Not that I'm going to give up on her,oh no, but after 8 long years you just want to drive a Corvette.......really bad :-)
Call it the Corvette blues :-)

Yves

[lyndon sharpton]

Re: Just a thought

you can never have to many corvettes, I would go for it.

[rick spears]

Re: Just a thought

dang! 8 years? i can't imagine....i have been working on my body off 73coupe for 9months straight now, and i am starting to climb the walls! fortunately, i am only several weeks away from completing it, and going for that first test drive! i can't wait!

[Larry P.]

Re: Just a thought

After 7 years I just got my 60 on the road. I got impatient about 3 years ago and after looking at a 96 I realized I could drive a corvette everyday for the same money that most of my friends spend on there SUV's or whatever. I ended up with a 99. If your gonna spend 20 or 30K on a car, you should get what you want.

After 7 years on the 60, when I drive it, it's very easy to forget the long hours and frustrations. The joy of driving something that you built yourself is not able to be explained. You must do it. don't give up.
Go for both and you won't be sorry.
LP

[Rob M.]

Re: Just a thought

Hi Yves,

I drive a Vette on a daily basis and currently pay $7.98/gallon here in the Netherlands so don't talk about expensive gas prices in the States please ;-)

greetings,
Rob.

[Klaus Friedrich #33362]

Re: Just a thought

Hi Yves,

I did it the other way with my 69 convertible. I own it now for 10 years and I'm still working on it, but I drove it every year. This years work are the seats.

If you like to see a picture of the frame-off period take a look to:
www.vetteran.com

Good luck with your project and I hope we'll meet some day!

Klaus Friedrich
Germany
#33362

[Larry S.]

Re: Just a thought

My suggestion would be pass on the new car,find some one with a 79 to take you for a ride in to remind you of why you started the frame off. then get your butt in gear and finish off the 79.

I would clean the garage,take an inventory of what part you have and what parts you need,take the time to sit down and draw up an action plan on what needs to be done on the car and when its going to be done. Order the parts you needs and follow your action plan.

Youll be suprized how much work you can get done in a weekend if you just apply yourself.

If after your done drawing up your action plan and you have an outline of the entire scope of the project and it looks like too much work for you,or above your skill level.Then I would suggest selling the 79 and using the money from the sale of the car to purchase a car you can drive. the C4's and the C5's seem to be selling quite affourdable now.

Good Luck

[Eugene B.]

Re: Just a thought

Gents,
It's sad to hear of these lingering restoration projects. After all, life is short and death is long!

We must get these cars on the road and enjoy them before we die and someone else either drives around a car that we spent 1000 hours restoring or a widow sells as a basket case for 20 cents on the dollar.

A friend of mine in MO has been working on his '65 for 18 years. I've been working on my '65 for two years and hope to have it running by Labor Day.

Let's all get busier and finish the car we started, drive it as much as possible, clean out the garage, and vow never to undertake another one of these projects.

Good Corvetting to all,
Gene

[Grant M.]

Re: Just a thought

Yves,

You've gotten some good advice, particularly from Larry about cleaning up the garage and taking stock of what needs to be done and developing an action plan. There are lots of "bargain" cars out there for sale by people in your situation: they've started a complete restoration project but lost interest/motivation along the way and as time goes by the "project" looks more and more overwhelming.

I was (fortunate?) to be in a different situation when I bought my (more or less "basket case") 65 convertible. The previous owner had basically taken the car apart (and hadn't been very good about packaging/labelling fasteners!!!). It needed some bodywork for minor damage, paint, engine rebuild and then complete re-assembly. I bought the car in April, and being in the military, I was being posted across the country in July. In order to have the car moved at government expense it had to be licensed and driveable, so I had four months to get it to that stage. Faced with that deadline I had little choice but to work literally day and night (every spare hour from 7 am until midnight most nights) in between work commitments (flying duties which gave me some extra days-off at times).

Suffice to say I "made it", but it wasn't as much "fun" as it could have been. Even so, I took the odd day or weekend away from the project to go to Seattle or Vancouver (but used such trips as well to pick up needed parts!).

Breaking the task into manageable bits that can be completed in an evening or a weekend, so you can see real progress, will make it easier. Categorizing tasks like cleaning/re-painting suspension parts, or engine parts makes efficient use of time and also provides visible evidence of progress. The same is true of simply organizing the parts into restored/unrestored categories, the former growing while the latter diminishes.

As Gene says, the main thing is to get on with it. I would caution that if you buy the newer car, you'll tend to tinker with the "new toy" at the expense of finishing the original project, unless you park/store the new one with a promise to yourself not to touch it until the old car's finished. Human nature and summer weather being what they are, that's a tall order....

Good luck and enjoy!

grant

[Christopher R.]

Re: Just a thought

Buy it, if you can afford it and have the garage space to keep it.

1. If the price is really as good as you say it is, you should be able to resell it and get your money back if it doesn't work out for you.

2. Don't pay any attention to the price of gasoline because this car will not be used for regular transportation. The amount of miles (kilometers) you put on it will not be so much that the price of fuel is a significant factor.

3. The '87 has nothing to do with the '79. One's for driving. The other's for restoring.

4. 8 years and counting is nothing to restore a car. This is a hobby. You're supposed to enjoy it. Some people enjoy restoration so much that when they've finished with one project, they sell that car, and go out and buy another one in need of restoration. If you don't enjoy restoration, get rid of the '79.

But one has nothing to do with the other - 2 different aspects of the hobby - restoration and driving. Do what you enjoy.

[Tom B.]

Re: Just a thought

Well I may hold the record. I stripped my '59 in 1971 for a repaint. I found a lot of hidden problems but had the car near ready to spray in '81. Then I was moving and the car was going into storage so I decided not to paint it. A lot of life, a couple more moves and a couple mid years drivers passed by and now I'm planning my attack on this old car again. I have a shop just for my toys and I'm shooting for the '59's 50th anniversary. It will be ready. 34 years and counting isn't bad is it? You have to let those fiberglass repairs properly cure.

Tom

[Yves Thaens]

Re: Just a thought

Hi there again,

Nah, I'm not going to give up my 79 at the expense of the 87. I love to restore and work on cars to much, but sometimes i get fed up with restoring. And like someone once said to me, walk away when things get frustrated and come back later when it all clears up.

Seriously, I'm definatly considering the 87 though. I know there is a danger that I would start to neglect the other one, even if i kind of promised myself I would only drive it when the weather is good(which is not to often in Belgium) or I need a break from restoring
BTW : taxes here reach almost 2750 US$ for a non-oldtimer. So it pays to have it registred the only 3 months in the year when the weather is more or less Ok. How much harm could it do to my project in these 3 months ?
On the other hand this 87 is such a damn fine car, in much better shape than the 79 when i bought her. So like one of you said, it might just sell what i paid for her, in a couple of years that is.
In the mean time she could be a whole lott of fun when I get tired and need a break from restoring the 79. And that fun is still there even if gasprices reach 1,3 $/liter and taxes are 2750 $/year. That's just corvetting the European way (sad but true). The sound alone makes people turn heads here...All the rest is just my wife nagging... :-))

Thanks guys

Yves

[Larry S.]

Re: Just a thought

And like someone once said to me, walk away when things get frustrated and come back later when it all clears up.

Yves
I would highley suggest you disregard that advice.In restoring a car there are frustrating road blocks all thru out the restoration,and if you take a break each time you get frustrated youll end up on break more then actually working on the car.

Each time you take a break youll lose momentium.

Me personally enjoy building them more then driving them

Good luck with your new car.

[Chuck R.]

Re: Keep on digging Yves!

My 68 has been apart since 2000 and I finally this last winter completed the rolling chassis.

I know how you feel with the urge to get behind the wheel. This last weekend, I saw more C-2 and C-3 Vettes come out of the wood work I swear just to taunt me.

I just love guys who push action plans and goal setting. I guess I'm just not that organized with all those OTHER pesky items that always seem to get in the way like wife, kids, grand kids, elderly parents, honey do lists, and all the other tid bits that come out of the fog to de-rail Vette priorities.......Oh yeah, throw in earning a living too.

When I did the frame on resto of my 69, it took me from late summer into late spring of the following year. How could I have performed such a Herculean feet you ask? Well, I was foot loose and fancy free, poured all my free cash into the car and worked just about week night and weekend on it.

Amazing how life DO get in the way sometimes!

As long as I still have enough strength in the ole left leg to push the clutch when it's done, I really don't care how long it takes, IT'S ALL MINE.

Kinda like my Smith & Wesson, "From My Cold Dead Hands"