jamie,
as a child i was told paitience was a virtue. as a child i had little
paitience. what i am going to share with you is how i go about restoring
one of my pet projects. as it is said in these parts "money comes hard and
goes easy" and here is no exception. if you are in a hurry you have a
problem, but if you have the paitience you can have evrything in life you
want and more! i highly reccomend that you make a wish list for your car.
and as you can afford the parts on your list you order them as you can
afford to. stash the parts away untill you have bought and paid for what
you believe is what you are going to need for your specific project. and
then you start the project! there will always be bits and pieces that you
have overlooked along the way. my point is that you buy evrything you
believe you will need that are the big pieces . this method works very
well as you have all the major components when you start the project.
nothing bogs down a great project more than getting half way and realising
that you need a bunch of pieces and have to stop mid stream untill you can
get more money saved to be able to continue. for instance, if you
choose to restore the body shell. get evrything you are going to need for
the metal work. do the metal work and have it painted(to protect it from
getting any surface rust) . at this point you will have a great portion
of the car completed and seeing an end to all your desires not far off.
but if you dismantled the car and had it partially cut apart and had to let
it sit for a long time you might loose enthusiasm for the project seeing it
sitting with no visible progress to help keep your enthusiasm up and going.
always remember to have a holiday and special ocassion list for significant
others and family members to buy little bits for your project as gifts!
and shop swap meets like a man posessed for bargans on the bits and pieces
you need . also remember to find a vendor with whom you can establish a
personal relationship with. you might be able to strike a deal on bulk
purchases getting a extra few percent discount. you never know! living by
list prices in catalogs is attimes very depressing. there are deals out
there! hunt them down! try this for an example! find a local brit. car
club. offer to allow your car be used for a welding tech. session! you
might be able to have some of the work done for near free and others might
be able to gain some education atthe same time you get closer to your goal.
if there is a will there is a way! go for it!
set short term goals that are attainable and never loose sight of the end
goal.
best wishes !
chuck.
with this plan i can produce a car (nice car) evry few years! it works as
long as you make it work for you!..............c.
----- Original Message -----
From <BritishCarMan at aol.com>
To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 6:54 AM
Subject: Body panels for my Sprite
> Hey list. I figured up the cost of all the body panels I will need to
restore
> the body on my Sprite minus the bonnet. Through VB it will run just under
> $650.00. The bonnet from Chris will be $50.00. So all together I am
looking
> at around $700.00. Next problem is finding a good bodyman to do the work
for
> a fair price. The only other option is to strip the body of any good body
> panels (not very many) and junk the rest and find another early MK II
Sprite
> that doesn't require such extensive work. I would rather not junk this car
> but I still don't know the full extent of repairs needed or the projected
> cost of such repairs to make a intelligent decision. If someone in the
> Janesville, Wisconsin area has some body knowledge and would care to help
me
> look everything over I would be most appreciative. I am just not prepared
to
> sink several thousands of dollars into this car, mainly because I can't
> afford to spend that kind of money.
>
> Jamie
> 1962 AH Sprite MK II (restoration at stand still)
> 1979 Trans Am (back on the road again)
> Web site links: <A
HREF="http://www.angelfire.com/fl2/darkside/mycar.html";>Welcome to my
british car site</A>
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