We are now in the autumn of well… autumn.
The leaves are definitely brown and the skies are a nice shade of gray, so if you are not California Dreamin’, then dream about a winter car project.
Then make solid plans once you purchase a car project. And by car, we also mean truck because here at MSCC, we do not discriminate when it comes to old iron.
We love ’em all.
There is one very rigid first rule of your game plan that should not ever change: think about your game plan.
Do NOT get out the tool box and start ripping asunder what Detroit joined together in the sanctity of a factory union many years ago. Hypothetically, in a world without legal consequences, any car guy that takes this approach should be rendered unconscious with a very sturdy lug wrench before he creates yet another man-made disaster.
The only thing gained from a foolhardy dismantlement of a car is a garage filled with anonymous parts that can be collected into a bin and labeled “miscellaneous junk” at a garage sale.
This is a Humpty Dumpty-after-the-fall approach to a car project and will have exactly the same degree of re-assembly success for any idiots that choose this very perilous path. You have to fight the urge to dismantle a project (with no game plan) with as much enthusiasm as you fight the urge to watch any TV show that has New Jersey and a shore in the title. It’s just plain common sense in both cases.
The key to a successful car project is to take a 360- degree view of the task. The endless circle will be an intimidating list that will be longer than an Italian opera- and much less fun at times during the start to finish phase. Then you have to assemble a personal inventory of your strengths and weaknesses.
Accordingly, if your biggest strength is unbridled enthusiasm, forget it- that will get beaten out of you very early in the game. You will have to find a better reason why you should be involved in the salvation of a vehicle from motoring’s golden past.
You have to bring more to the game when it comes to car projects and it begins with some basic skills and a boatload of patience. Car projects will take longer and cost a sizable portion of your sanity after you begin your adventure.
Murphy’s Law (Whatever can go wrong will go wrong) will be a law that you will never be able to break-no matter how hard you try and no matter how many times you appeal it to the Supreme Court on grounds of pain and suffering.
This is the life you have chosen and you, my friend, may have found your “winter of discontent”, and it is not just another boring line in a Shakespeare snore-fest. It may be the prevailing mood of your lovely bride this winter and the cold front may last all season.
But when spring comes, likely several springs later, you may be able to hit the road in a blast from the past and wonder out loud…
“Why didn’t I get the pros to do this job”? “I could have had the damn car on the road years ago.”
Jim Sutherland
More completed car and truck stories at https://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/
Copyright 2011
