Non car people be like

[68BabyBlue]

why do you have so many ?

In case one breaks down.

Why don’t you just get a new car ?

Why don’t you just shut up

Not that I really have that many cars compared to others, but I still get asked that, and the other question “Why don’t you get a new car”

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In the late 90s, I owned, at the same time, a '66 Imperial, a '79 Cadillac Seville, a '91 Turbo Stealth R/T, a '96 Toyota Camry (wife's daily), and the flagship, a 1960 Chrysler 300F that was my weekend toy. Always working on the Imperial and the Caddy, drove the Stealth when they were down. I got the why don't you buy a new car question all the time, and replied that I was cheap, which was true. I had a hard time defending the story when someone who knew me saw the 300F for the first time.

 

[DeltaV]

When are you going to be done?
Are you done yet?
Your almost done huh?

Another one is:
Can you work on my car?

 

[Cranky]

why do you have so many ?

In case one breaks down.

Why don’t you just get a new car ?

Why don’t you just shut up

Not that I really have that many cars compared to others, but I still get asked that, and the other question “Why don’t you get a new car”

View attachment 1776063

I got the same questions asked.....my main reply was 'I didn't want to have a car payment' and that usually shut them up.

That me in trouble. I needed to change the rear main seal and front cover gasket on my gtx. Well
It’s easier to remove the engine, and if the engine is out and that far apart….why not put a bigger cam in it. Just mind blowing to non car people. What was wrong with the cam in it? Nothing, I just didn’t like it

Or the car never got put back together! Have one like that now that's been apart for way too long. Life got in the way too many times and now I'm old....

Them: Why do you have so many cars? You can't drive them all at once.

Me: How many pairs of socks do you own?

My reply was 'how many pairs of shoes do you have'....and that usually shut them up.

In the late 90s, I owned, at the same time, a '66 Imperial, a '79 Cadillac Seville, a '91 Turbo Stealth R/T, a '96 Toyota Camry (wife's daily), and the flagship, a 1960 Chrysler 300F that was my weekend toy. Always working on the Imperial and the Caddy, drove the Stealth when they were down. I got the why don't you buy a new car question all the time, and replied that I was cheap, which was true. I had a hard time defending the story when someone who knew me saw the 300F for the first time.

LOL!! Had 12 cars at one time....5 were in the garage, 2 were on the driveway 'wings', 2 beside the garage and 3 behind it. Whenever someone that didn't know me all too well came over and saw the ones sitting outside they would as me why I didn't have them inside the garage. C'mon in and I'll show you why lol. Their jaws usually dropped some and then more when I opened the back overhead door. My sister was the worse one. Told her that she had all of her plants and stuff to tend to (the inside of her house looked like a show house...OCD was in play imo) and look at and my cars was my therapy that I could drive and play with!

 

[Cranky]

Another one is:
Can you work on my car?

I got that too!! My answer was generally no....cause I was too busy working on other people's stuff lol. Their look was of bewilderment but usually I would say that to the ones that belittled me for having so many cars.

 

[chargervert]

Mopars are NEVER DONE!

 

[Cranky]

Mopars are NEVER DONE!

Had a 66 Mustang Fastback that I put together.....even though it was pretty much done, it still needed some body and paint work but the paint on it wasn't all that bad. Most of my cars were done 'enough' to suit me and some even had working AC! That's important where I live.

 

[eldubb440]

Mopars are NEVER DONE!

you need to focus, Grasshopper

 

[themechanic]

Mopars are NEVER DONE!

I saw a personalized license plate that read, "NVRDONE".

 

[Cranky]

I saw a personalized license plate that read, "NVRDONE".

Imo, most are never done. There was always something that I wanted to do different....

 

[themechanic]

I'm pretty content with my Coronet and 23 Challenger.

 

[71RRHI]

I was at a family get together, my sister inlaw, started talking to me about her late 80's Toyota truck. Telling me it was something special that everybody wants, I was polite and listend. Then she said since I like working on old cars, would I want to restore it for her and she pay for all the parts. I simply said NO, turned around and walked away.

 

[Rishi]

I was at a family get together, my sister inlaw, started talking to me about her late 80's Toyota truck. Telling me it was something special that everybody wants, I was polite and listend. Then she said since I like working on old cars, would I want to restore it for her and she pay for all the parts. I simply said NO, turned around and walked away.

My motivation to restore comes from love. Love easily distracted by the love of a woman, but I digress. If I don't love the car, I got no motivation to restore it. But that love can drive me to do some oddball things, like spending over an hour to clean this upper control arm and ball joint top. I was doing the brakes, and the backing plate took minutes to clean, but years of hardened grease and dirt around the ball joint grease zerk took well over an hour to clean off. I even recognized some red dirt from a driveway 20 years prior. If that's not love... it's a sickness. I may need a therapist.

 

[1STMP]

Even “car people” can’t comprehend the time and effort it takes to restore or rebuild an entire car. It comes as no surprise that non-enthusiasts don’t have a clue…

"Even “car people” can’t comprehend the time and effort it takes to restore or rebuild an entire car."

Pretty sure most do, but opt
to just getting 'er to looking
and running good. It's why
they pass up the rusted
hulks found in salvage yards
and look for something
that's within their means
and talents to restore.
I can't even begin to
justify the time, tools, work
space, knowledge, and
expense into building
something like this.

It ain't done yet after 23
years.
(P.S. The family never went
hungry, and all my bills are
paid) in spite of my
obsessions.

 

[Road Rat]

Try explaining the concept of, "while I'm here, I might as well go ahead and do this other thing" to a non-car guy.

Ah, the dreaded “mission creep”. You set out to fix or replace something and several others things need replaced or rebuilt in order to make yourself feel that it’s right. Its a sickness most of us car people have. Sometimes I envy the people that can just replace what they initially see wrong.

Yesterday I watched a guy replace wheel bearings on a Subaru on YouTube that was in the northeast. He put it back together with rotten ate up parts that I just couldn’t do myself. But he was a mechanic at a shop not working on his own car.

 

[Moparfiend]

Check this out. I posted this on another thread but not many have seen it.

 

[Hey-O]

Most of my old neighbors knew I was working on one thing or the other, they just watched. My new neighbors have only known my car as a running toy. They always stop me for a look. Some get it, some just smile, but even the old gal next door has gone for a ride with us. To some people, it's a trip back to a certain place and time.

 

[SlingLow]

Check this out. I posted this on another thread but not many have seen it.

It's got a hemi!

I kind of expected a tiny man to come out and drive it away. Cool video. Thanks @Moparfiend !

 

[Rebelrouser]

When are you going to be done?
Are you done yet?
Your almost done huh?

I don’t expect everyone to be car people. Nor do I expect everyone to be technically minded etc. But it drives me crazy that some people have no clue. No clue as to what passion is. No idea what craftsmanship is. No interest in actual asking how did you do this or that? What tool did this? How did you learn that?

Only are you almost done?

I can sit and have a beer with some of these folks and they have absolutely no passion or interest in much of anything.

I don’t get it. I’ve always been intrigued by the world around me and in school put down for asking so many questions. The people that stand out in my life are guys like Bill. He worked for my grandfather in the 60’s. He was responsible for keeping the factory equipment running. He showed me “stuff”. He had a rigid calendar and back then they were topless calendars! He was cool! My cousin Harry who used our garage for his old car that he would work on. It probably explains why I became an engineer.

I feel very alone in these feelings. You guys here get it. I read Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance years ago and am facinated by quality and craftsmanship. I like Adam Savage and totally relyto him. He addresses this stuff on his YouTube channel frequently.

Are you done yet? I swear the next time I hear this I might boil over…..

I agree, what most people don't get is that the process is more important than the finished project. One reason I like building race cars, you can always justify doing something new to the car. I often get bored with a vehicle that there is nothing left to work on.

 

[copper67sat]

Our first house had an oversized 1 1/2 car garage. I restored my Satellite in it and then that's were it was housed while the daily drivers sat in the driveway. Summer of '98 we bought a brand new '99 300M. Neighbor across the street couldn't understand why the 300 sat in the driveway while I kept "that old car" in the garage. I tried explaining that new car was fully insured and easy to repair/replace while the "old one" wasn't so needed the protection. They didn't get it. They also didn't understand why I needed so many cars - I peaked at 6 cars but could only keep 4 at that house since overnight street parking was not allowed. I didn't "need" them all but it's something I enjoy and it's my money, my choice so STFU.

Same neighbor would sometimes ask whether I would work on their cars. My answer was always that they couldn't afford my rates.

In contrast, the old widower that lived directly across would come over while I was working in the garage just to talk about cars. He didn't work on them but had a passion for them. He'd reminisce about how much he missed his 65 Riviera 425.

Even my stepdad who's a retired mechanic only sort of gets the restoration mentality. He wants to help me work on my cars when he and mom visit which is fine. He has a lot of experience working on both old and new and gives me great advice. However, he still mostly thinks in terms of shop work where you want to R&R parts as quickly as possible instead of remove, carefully inspect, clean, rebuild, repaint, clean up the surrounding areas, etc. before finally reassembling everything. It works out fine. He just gets impatient sometimes thinking it has to all be done in the week they're here.