Car guys come in many forms so the term isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept.
That’s just one of the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle known as a car guy.
Here’s a MyStar guide to decide whether you have all the pieces to the car guy jigsaw puzzle.
Jerry Sutherland
The first puzzle piece is found when you decide to live in the past. If you don’t live in the past—skip the rest of this article. You have to live in the past because no logical person would pass on the advantages of today’s technology for yesterday’s technology.
Why would you reject a computer-controlled 2024 Honda CR-V for the outdated and simple technology of an old Buick? The new Honda will practically drive itself; it has twice the power, and it will burn a fraction of the gas.
If you question any of this non-logic, you’re missing a big chunk of the car guy jigsaw puzzle because the old car hobby is a world where logic goes to die.
The next piece of the puzzle is wild optimism.
You need truckloads of optimism to be a car guy. That rusty hulk your wife hated on sight makes no sense to her, so you’ll swim upstream from the first day you bought it. You’re going to need that same wild optimism to get through the doubters and the complications of a nasty project.
Basic skills are another chunk of the car guy puzzle.
If you’re like me, you only have basic skills so you can do simple tasks like swap engines, minor troubleshooting, body tear-downs and every dirty job in the car guy universe like sanding and scraping crap off frames.
If you’re lucky, you’ll know a lot more than me, but any knowledge is another big chunk of the car guy jigsaw puzzle—plus you’ll learn on the job if you start at zero knowledge. Or you end up with a bargain basement project car for sale.
Patience is one more chunk in the car guy jigsaw puzzle.
You’re going to go down some brutal roads on your car project journey—from dealing with sketchy parts guys; to blown engines; to nasty, soul-sucking, bodywork outcomes. You’ll face them all but treat them as mere speed bumps because you can get by any setbacks with patience—and a skilled car buddy.
Negotiation skills are yet another piece of the puzzle.
You’ll also do a lot of negotiating because old parts or projects are like platinum bars in the eyes of a seller. Your negotiating skills will make the difference between a second mortgage or a divorce.
Back in the 90s, I talked a banker into doubling a loan I had on a project car that was in 1000 pieces in my garage. The car was worth 25% of what I’d borrowed to that point because it was torn apart–but I sold him on the value of a completed car by showing him a few appraisal guides. It came down to blind faith, but if he didn’t buy in, I was looking at five years of payments on a thousand bucks worth of parts.
It worked out—refer back to the second piece of this jigsaw puzzle (wild optimism).
The final piece of the puzzle is simple—take your old car on giant road trips.
This is where living in the past, wild optimism, basic skills, patience and negotiation skills come together. If you don’t make your car a road warrior after you’ve invested all that time and money, then you’ve climbed Mount Everest to within 30 feet of the summit and said, “Guys, I’m good–the view is pretty good here–go ahead without me”.
In other words, you didn’t finish the jigsaw puzzle.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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