Pete
Well you wanted a reality check so here it is ...Please understand
I am NOT trying to discourage you or anyone else, but interject
a serious dose of reality to what is on the table here.. Serious
restoration projects belong in the hands of the very experienced
if not a professional restoration specialist.. The rest of us need
to stay with in our capabilities as to not get discouraged enough
to trash the project and give up
You statement about
>Now I have to say up front that I have almost no experience working on
>old trucks. But this seems like it could be a pretty good place to >start
>learning the hard way. If I go for it and develop regrets, I can >always
>sell it again. If I don't go for it and develop regrets, I'll >be SOL.
Kinda says it all .. The "hard way" sounds Ok until you get
entrenched in it.. Then it becomes very easy to get very
discouraged and you wind up dumping the problem project for
about half of what you have in it..You need to assess with
yourself and be VERY honest as to Do I have :
1 A place to put it and work on it. That I can afford to
tie up the space for a number of YEARS. Such projects
always take 2 - 3 times longer and 2 -3 time more money
than originally planned .. I too hate to see grand ol girls
go to rot but the reality is it takes a pickup truck full
of $100.00 bills and a lifetime to bring something that
far gone back to life.. Add in the the wife and kids
miss daddy and the weekend you planned to work on the
truck is pre-planned by the lady of the house for some
thing else, guess who wins that discussion ??
2 The tools to do the work or am I going to become VERY
popular with the local Sears, NAPA and Snap-ON dealer ?
IE more drain on the budget ..
3 All the time in the world to putz with this puppy
learn what make it tick and chase down the parts.
you will spend 3 times as much time chasing down
tough to get parts as you will working on it. Add
the small fortune to buy the maintence manuals and
specialty parts catalogs ... More unexpected drain
on the budget.
4 Am willing to farm out to others at premium rates the
work I can't do or worse, to fix what I thought I could
do and screwed it up. this happens MORE than you planned on
5 You have all this time and money tied up into this
project which is not even half way done and you stumble
into a super deal for a vehicle for short money that is
fairly complete, running, stops and needs cosmetics to
complete and you can't touch it because all your budget
is tied into the money pit project...
The other nightmare to the above is life gets in the way of
such projects IE the money you were saving towards the new
bumpa de bump now needs to buy a new washing machine cause
your current one died
Worse, (excuse me ladies) than penis envy, you see your MV buddies
all riding around in their machines at umpteen events over the
summer while your still (as we called it in High School) a car
suck wana be, bumming rides with them and having to listen to
"when you gonna get that beast of yours running?".. You go back
home, open the garage and stare at the metal beast ..One of two
things happen.. You kick it and hang the for sale sign out OR
you get over determined .. Live in the garage never see the lady
or the kids. Live your life over a metal obsession .. Thats
living ??
Further food for thought, we are not talking a rare truck that
is worth making a "government" project out of right ?? Time &
money .. The government has lots of both , Do you ??
I have personally experienced all the above in the last 30 some
thing years of building Drag cars, street machines, and now
Mil vehicles.. I have bought the lost interest projects of
others at prices far less that their value cause they wanted
out or lost their storage or a hundred and one other reasons
And I only take on the project I know I have the tools and
talent to do the work necessary to get it going.. The only
exception may be the 41 fire engine I have outside .. but
thats another story ..
The reason I say this is I already have my staff car and a M38A1
jeep to take to events .. I can afford to have the fire engine
be a long term project since I have active toys to use.. To make
a long term project your one and only is a mistake ..
So after thinking about it if you say NO to just one of the
above 5 questions I strongly suggest you find something more
complete and in better condition to start.. Something that
can be put on the road in dependable running condition in
6 months or less (the golden rule of thumb for project vehicles).
Believe me you will get a grand education in just doing that
and maintaining it ...
Oh ya rule number ONE and always .. If it ain't fun your doing
something VERY wrong .. FIX IT !!! and have fun
Bob B
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:37 PDT