I guess how much money you spend restoring your car - any car - depends on
how much disposable income you have, and let's face it, some have more of it
to spend than others. Issues? I don't see no stinkin' issues. I can see
worse things to blow your money on - like drugs or booze or gambling or . .
.
I don't think that Andrew has restored a car before, if he had he may have
had a better idea of how much of his hard earned $$$$$$ would be going into
his project. I remember he did a posting a while back that said 'whatever
you think it will cost double it.' I experienced that more than 20 years ago
and a British magazine did a very funny story about that fact in the early
80s that had me rolling on the floor. You're lucky if your calculations are
off by only twice the amount. You live and learn and always ask questions.
To be fair to Andrew I don't think he nor anyone else could have realized
all the things that were wrong with his car unfortunately. I guess that goes
into the 'shit happens' category and that category can be expensive.
At least Andrew swallowed the bullet and did finish the restoration no
matter how much of his hard earned money went out the door. You see too many
resto projects for sale as the owners realized they were way in over their
head in terms of $$$$ and maybe time. Currently there is a mid 60s small
block Buick sitting on my engine builders shop floor because the guy ran out
of money to finish his project.
It was interesting to see the photo updates of his car and it made me a bit
jealous to see what was done to it - especially the extensive preparation of
the body - but I would have liked to have assembled it myself though. I plan
to do just that on my newest project, a 66 MGB. Mine won't be stock as is
Andrew's, but it will be 'my' car and I can do as I please. And if you saw
my Roadster it is anything but stock.
I will say something my dad always said to me - IT'S JUST A CAR and shit can
happen. A 240Z I restored was stolen, hit and then hit much harder and was
totalled a few years later. I spent a lot of time and blood on that car and
it was a bummer. My Roadster was also stolen and damaged but I did
reassemble Humpty Dumpty.
Finally, I really don't care what Andrew spent as long as it wasn't coming
out of my pocket and neither should it be the concern to any of us. Car
restorations can become a life of their own.
Mike
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