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16 years...

The first Mustang I resurrected I was stationed in Yuma on AD in 1998/99. It took me a year. It got stolen shortly after I finished it. I came across a '67 Coupe that I had 75% done (out of paint shop) when I stumbled across a '68 FB. I bought the FB (another shell car) in October of 2000 and drove it completely finished from Yuma to NC on a weekend the following February, roughly 4 months later..... and I also finished the Coupe during this time period... all while still on AD..... except for the month of January while I was on terminal leave.

Yes, I'm retired from the military now, but I still work a M-F 8-5 job.

My point is only this.... it will take you only as long as you let it to finish any project.
 
I will have owned my car for two years this April.

I've been driving it the whole time for the most part. It was off the road about a month when I torn the front end apart to replace the radiator support and fender apron. It was off the road another month or so when we pulled the old motor out, cleaned up the bay and put the new motor in.

Of course, shortly after the motor was in it was down the better part of another month for the wiring project from hell...I blame Mid...most of the time there was waiting on my wire harness, LOL!

With the floor pan / carpet replacement we did back in November '08... it was off the road for maybe 10 days but part of that was painting the roof to prevent some rust from getting out of hand.
 
I'm with Dave. I haven't figured out what takes people so long. I completely rebuilt my '66 in about 5 months and it became my daily driver for the next 8 or so years. This was with a rebuilt front end, rebuilt transmission, reuilt engine, most of the electrical replaced, etc., etc.

It did take me longer to build the '69 because we bought it as we were moving to the new house and didn't have any funds for a couple of years.
 
Life and a lack of funds got in my way for the last few years. Plus, we're trying to get rid of as much debt as quick as possible, so whatever extra cash I have gets sent off.
 
"daveSanborn" said:
The first Mustang I resurrected I was stationed in Yuma on AD in 1998/99. It took me a year. It got stolen shortly after I finished it. I came across a '67 Coupe that I had 75% done (out of paint shop) when I stumbled across a '68 FB. I bought the FB (another shell car) in October of 2000 and drove it completely finished from Yuma to NC on a weekend the following February, roughly 4 months later..... and I also finished the Coupe during this time period... all while still on AD..... except for the month of January while I was on terminal leave.

Yes, I'm retired from the military now, but I still work a M-F 8-5 job.

My point is only this.... it will take you only as long as you let it to finish any project.
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Holy crap! Are you sure you're in the right line of work?
 
"sigtauenus" said:
Holy crap! Are you sure you're in the right line of work?
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That is one of many things that has impressed the masses. Dave can do it all, and has done it all, knows it all, and most importantly gets it done. I wish that I knew what his secret is. Maybe it is motorboating, smoking and drinking beer. :craz fd
 
I got my Stang in 2004 also. I looked at a lot of "project" cars, but I bought a driver so that I wouldn't end up with a ten year project. The only good thing about winter is I have 6 months a year to tear apart and rebuild. Every winter I pick a project area and go to town(as long as the budget holds up). Then when summer comes I am back on the road. :ecit

There are times I wish I had a full rebuild just so it would look like I did something. Everything I have done so far doesn't show because it's all mechanicals. Now with the baby coming I'm glad I don't have a major project or it would never get done.
 
$$$$ or lack of it! That's what held me back. I bought my first Mustang (or car for that matter) when I was 15 and a Freshman in HS. It was a wrecked $500 beater. It took me almost 2 years on a HS budget to get all the bodywork done, paint it and fix the interior and minor mechanical stuff. I drove it as my daily driver until a few years out of HS. I spent every penny and every free minute building the most radical small block at the time. I even built a C4 with every trick in the book. It was such a PIA to drive after that, it became a weekend warrior until someone wanted it more than i did. I traded it for cash and the coupe I have now, bought a house, had a kid, got divorced, moved, remarried, more kids, moved some more, moved again but I tried to keep it drivable each time I had a project. I still haven't "finished" it and probably never will because there will always be more things I want to do than I can afford so it just takes time!!!
 
I would have loved to spend most of my time in the garage, but with little kids and little money I didn't get anywhere fast. I can see how alot of these cars get half done and then people loose interest.
 
My excuse was being young and dumb. Now that I'm old and wise, progress has been pretty rapid.
 
"FordDude" said:
That is one of many things that has impressed the masses. Dave can do it all, and has done it all, knows it all, and most importantly gets it done. I wish that I knew what his secret is. Maybe it is motorboating, smoking and drinking beer. :craz fd
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I hardly know it all. I turn to these forums for wisdom/advice just like everyone else does.

What has allowed me to be able start/finish project cars so quickly is the ability to "throw money at it" at a rapid pace. If I had to wait for funding there's no way the projects would be completed as fast as they were.
 
"daveSanborn" said:
If I had to wait for funding there's no way the projects would be completed as fast as they were.
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Ding, ding, ding...we have a winner. I would say that lack of funds holds most of us back. I know that the only way I could have completed my car faster would have been to take out a loan and I decided at the start I was not going that route.

At the same time, Deb got her Ph.D which was also paid for as we went. We poured all of our extra cash into both to avoid future debt and it paid off immensely! Now she has "The" job at the University research & extension dept and I dump her money into the track fund :pep

Works fer me.
 
Well after Dave's reply I'm not sure I want to own up to this but, bought mine in the fall of 84 at the age of fifteen and I've driven it about nine months out of 26 years. Had the car, collected the tools, bought the house, built the garage and the last year and a half has been some progress. I'm using you guys as motivation to keep on it.
 
Got mine 17 years ago. Drove it for about half of that (with it having various stages of up and down times)

My current plan is just to get it running again, and safe on the street, and not not show my crack on this website ever again. Those are my main plans.

Then in a few years when I have more free time (the 3 year old is a time sink. The 13 year old is self-maintaining, so I figure the 3 year old will less and less of a problem, and hopefully maybe a help) and a little more money(I hope!) I want to strip it down, blast it, and really do it right. But I don't have the time, skills, or money for that right now, and if I did try a full-shell-resto, I'd be in it for 10 more years. I want to do the full resto when my son is a bit older, and can hopefully be involved, even if it's little stuff at first, just so he learns how to do this stuff better and earlier than I did.
 
"AtlantaSteve" said:
Got mine 17 years ago. Drove it for about half of that (with it having various stages of up and down times)

My current plan is just to get it running again, and safe on the street, and not not show my crack on this website ever again. Those are my main plans.

Then in a few years when I have more free time (the 3 year old is a time sink. The 13 year old is self-maintaining, so I figure the 3 year old will less and less of a problem, and hopefully maybe a help) and a little more money(I hope!) I want to strip it down, blast it, and really do it right. But I don't have the time, skills, or money for that right now, and if I did try a full-shell-resto, I'd be in it for 10 more years. I want to do the full resto when my son is a bit older, and can hopefully be involved, even if it's little stuff at first, just so he learns how to do this stuff better and earlier than I did.
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Thanks for the warning that you will not be showing your crack again. :lol
 
"AtlantaSteve" said:
Just doing my best to keep the subscription numbers high around here :)
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Seems to be working Steve :amaz
 
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