How old are you?

[brownz]

The reason that im asking is I alsways see a ton of progress on the car in the project section. Im 26 years old and just bought my first home and dont understand how people build such high end cars? High paying jobs? debt???

Just something me a my friend were talking about and would like to know

[ModernMuseum]

A whopping 27. I also just bought my first home around the same time that I started my project.

I think, for most people, it's a combination of decent salary, debt and priorities. People allocate funds differently and come from a variety of backgrounds. Also, I think a lot of people save money by doing their own work. The people that pay to have a lot of work done by the big companies have to be pulling in some serious cash to pull off their top notch projects.

[chops101]

Brandon I have a son your age named Brandon.
I can assure you when I was your age, it was all I could do to pay mortgage, car payments, pampers, utilities, student loans and grocery store.
Not until my kids got somewhat older did I have the disposable income to start doing the Harleys, drum kits, and recreational cars. Hang tight your time will come.

[Nessumsar]

24 here.

[Bryce]

I am 27. My wife and I both work. We have ZERO debt, except for our house.



I do all my own work on the car. It was also my first car. It has been a combination of many smaller projects.

[Taylor1969]

31... bought a house last year and the car has been around for about 5. I work really hard at work and am fortunate enough to have a little money to support my hobby. I wish I had a little more time to devote to the car, but I try to maintain the balance of spending time with my wife, the car while keeping food on the table.

[brownz]

I am 27. My wife and I both work. We have ZERO debt, except for our house.

I do all my own work on the car. It was also my first car. It has been a combination of many smaller projects.

Im in the same boat. I own a 2006 2500 4x4 silverado, a 2010 honda civic si sedan and all the debt I have is my house no credit cards student loan or anything. and I do all my own work on my camaro. even though its a slow process.

I must thank my parents for letting me live at home for free and pay my car off in less then a year to buy my house lol

[thomasmoto]

Well I'm knockin on 50's door and I agree with what was said earlier. If this is really important to you and you are willing and able to give it your all you can advance and succeed. My daughter is a college senior this year and I'm looking forward to that being over, but it really is just priorities. We try not to poop away money, but it still happens at times. Most of the owners of the cars you are talking about eat, sleep and breath them everyday. I do, it's more of a way of life than a hobby. My car still would probably not be considered to be in the class of vehicle that you are talking about, but I enjoy it and I usually only get to go to 1 or 2 of the events that are held every year. I talk to lots of people that go from 1 to the next. I sure can't do that, much as I would like to. Just can't afford the money or the time. There is a fair number of people that are retired now or sold their business's and have those means. I was surprised of how many of those were on the Hot Rod Power Tour this year. As Greg said before, if you keep this as your passion and have patience I believe it will come around for you too. I'm hoping to retire in 5-10 years and having my car in much better shape and be able to participate in more of these events. Also I can tell you this. Meet, find, and befriend as many people as you can that share your passion. Seek out sucessful people, not just the guy down the street that just plays with his hot rod now and then, but the kind of people that are truly making this work. They will help you in ways you might not otherwise think of. Cause just like everything else in life, it's not so much how much you know, but who you know. Go, if you can work it out, to SEMA at least once. I've gone 3 times and met many of the "movers and shakers" in the industry and the more they see your face around and talk to you the easier it is to make great contacts. They have some kind of group that is targeting the "younger" folks in the industry and their whole purpose is to help each other. Sorry i can't recall what it was called. My daughter met Christy Edelbrock, Chip Foose, and a whole host of others there and they were excited to have young people coming into the industry. Just keep your eyes on the target.

[dontlifttoshift]

31....now I feel old.

This is what I do. I fabricate hot rods for a living so parts discounts and the ability to do all my own work save for paint and upholstery make it easier. We have no hobbies other than this (which is enough, between car shows and autocross we keep plenty busy) so all the spare money goes into cars. My wife is a badass and loves the cars so that helps, and she's an accountant, too. Also my daily is a beater s10, I always drive beaters because I would rather spend time and money on the hot rod.

Donny

[thomasmoto]

Yep having a willing spouse is mucho important too.

[evostilo]

Me three, my girl is super cool with my car addiction/obsession.

I also look for deals online,CL,E-bay have actualy save me tons.

Im 27 and on my 5th show car started young, but still live at home LOL

[SickSpeedMonte]

Just turned 25 here, today is actually the 1 year anniversary of when I bought my first house. You don't see any fast progress from my car in the projects section here though. I know where you are coming from. I am lucky enough to have a great job doing what I love that pays well, and I kinda like having to pace myself in a way. If I had tons of disposable income to throw at my car and get it done, I don't think I'd have as much fun building it. To make it worse, I bought a forcloseure (mild case, no worries) that needs a little bit of work. Replacing carpet, sprucing up the pool, going to be buying a pellet stove before too long, etc etc.

Would it be nice to have a ton of money for tools and shop equipment? Absofreakinlutely! But in reality, I'd use that to pay off student loans :(

Right now, I'm working on some really labor intensive projects that (ideally) don't cost too much money. I'm making a mold from scratch for a 'glass console, and modifying the dash into a mold for a 'glass dash. I spend just enough money on my car to keep me sane for now. Except when sicmonte offers up a forged small block at an insane price... couldn't pass on that :D

[pokey64]

29. No kids yet. Only debt we have is our house (less than 50% owing on it). Spent the last 8 years super commited to work. This has been great for our finances but a pretty boring life. I make good money but we're also frugal. We save up to buy nice things and don't waste money on "crap". Bought my wife's Camaro last year so we'd have a hobby to enjoy. It came with some "gremlins" that we're cleaning up. It's been expensive but we've never gone outside of our means. Paid a shop to do the motor/trans swap but I did the rear end, suspension, brakes, AC, and stereo myself. Hope to have it wrapped up soon so we get to enjoy the rest of the Summer with it. I've got my Impala to work on next which was my first car. I'm sure kids will slow the hobby down eventually but I don't see it ever going away.

[Randy67]

Bunch a young ones, I just turned 43 Sunday. Now get off my lawn..... JK

[sik68]

I'm 27 and spend only my disposable income, and I set very modest goals for the progress of the car. Of course, "modest" is a relative term here on pt.com

[carguy502]

27. Married with no kids for a couple of years and no house (houses in LA are still stupid expensive) with no debt. Wife is supportive, but the workplace is not there. Lame.

[rickpaw]

34 here. No debt other than the house. Wife & 2 kids. Did all the work on the car myself except for final paint/engine work, and looking for deals on ebay, cl, for sale section so I was able to keep the cost down.

[Motorcitydak]

24, have a pretty well paying job, just bought my own house last year and spend 2-300 on the car every month. I do all my own work and that helps a lot. I don't have much other debt tho, just the house payment and a car payment. I ride a motorcycle a lot which keeps my fuel bills down a little and its also fun as hell.

[SRD art]

Sorry a little long winded but I think it's worth the read. I turned 41 this year, happily married for 15 years with 4 kids ages from 13 to 3. Bought our first home about 6 years ago. Some small debt but not like most people. Daily drivers are older cars and we live on a budget because my business is seasonal- We don't have a lot of nice new things like the latest and greatest 60" TV, Ipods for everyone, etc. We shop at Walmart for $20 jeans instead of $200 at the mall and use coupons and buy from the sale ads at the grocery store. My wife and I do date night every Friday but we quit spending $40-50 a pop like we used to before we had kids. Now we have a fun time trying to keep it under $15 each week. You'd be surprised how much you can do on that little of $. I'm now back in school in a street rod program so that I can put 25+ years working on cars along with my design experience and new fabricating skills to work in a shop for some steady year round income to better prepare for retirement.

With my path in life family needs are first so I've had to become more resourceful in building my cars. I've always wondered what it'd be like to be able to spend $80,000 restoring a muscle car or $150,000 on a show car. Before becoming a designer I worked in a shop restoring muscle cars and one day had a great revelation that really taught me something. I was doing a few things on a client's restored 70 Challenger T/A to get it ready to sell. As I was wrapping it up I took a good look at the car. I compared it to my 11 second street/strip Nova and realized that the Challenger was really just another car built in the 70's and was no different than my car. It could easily sit next to the Challenger at a car show or cruise night and no one would know I only have about $12K in my Nova. The Challenger sold on ebay for $120K the week after we worked on it. My point being that you don't have to spend $100,000 + on a car for it to be cool. A lot of times a car or part has "perceived" value that's just as much as real value. My Nova's goal was to build a 10 footer that goes fast in a straight line. The wagon is a different story. The majority of the $'s going where it will count the most- the suspension, and second to that is appearance. When the dust settles I think I'll have roughly $8000-$10,000 in the whole car start to finish. If I had $200,000 in savings to blow on toys would I? Probably so. But that's what Hot Rodding is all about, building what you can with what you got.

In summary- here's what I've learned over the years of building on a budget that has worked for me...

Be patient and be prepared. Good deals always come to those that wait. If you have a few $ set aside you can take advantage of those good deals when they come along.

Make friends. I have one friend that knows everyone. If I need a part he sends the word out for me and usually finds me decent used parts for super cheap or for trade. I have another friend that runs a rod shop. Met him by doing some project illustrations for him. Now if I need advice or insight on my project he's happy to give his opinion.

Network. Our local Utah Muscle Cars forum/ club is a pretty tight knit group. If someone is selling something on ebay or the classifieds, it always seems to get offered to club members first and/or at a discount over asking price. If anyone ever needs help working on a project there's always several volunteers ready to come over and give a hand. Paying for a couple pizzas is a lot better than $70/hour.

Shop around, be resourceful and do your homework when buying new parts. Example, if you want Flowmasters and you find out that Summit mufflers are really Flowmasters in a summit box for half the price, why not buy the Summit ones? Be wary of cheap Chinese crap that falls apart or didn't work right in the first place. Ask about products on forums or just do a google search, most answers to your questions are already posted. As I said do your homework. Another example- Recently I found a complete plastic dash cap for my 79 Cutlass wagon from a parts distributor for $250+ shipping and thought it was a great deal. Just to make sure, a little searching within about 30 minutes I found 3 other distributors that sold the same product, probably all 4 made in the same factory, and the least expensive was $169+ $30 shipping. Praise the internet.

Shop around part II. There's nothing wrong with buying good used parts or bought but never used parts on ebay, swap meets, junkyards, or asking the guy on the outskirts of town if he'd like to sell a few parts off the car in the weeds on the side of the house. Seriously, is there really any value in flashing an invoice in front of someone to show how much you have in the car unless you're selling it?? Clean brand new parts get dirty and abused just as quickly as used ones. Lots of people fail to plan and throw money at their projects and then decide to go a different direction. I see that all the time on ebay and the local car classifieds.

DIY. Most of my mechanical skills are self taught and friend taught hands on learning. I didn't know paint and body so now I'm in school for it. Many tech schools with auto programs have a paint your own car program or transmission or ...? classes in the evenings for community members. Anything I can't do myself I have networked and made enough friends along the way that I can get professional services for a discount or for trade.

Hire a designer. A small investment in a good project designer / illustrator will give you (or your builder) a visual road map to go off of. Folks like myself and others that do this for a living can help you see the vision of your car BEFORE it's done, and can save you a bunch of money avoiding mistakes or misunderstandings. You'll never end up with the "wrong" wheels or wrong paint colors/scheme etc. Guys like us study cars like some people play video games. A lot of us have had design school training so we can help you avoid an automotive "fasion faux pas" and can throw some ideas past you that you may not have thought of. A project illustration is also a great motivator for when you're so frustrated you want to bag the whole thing or for periods when the $ runs out or you get sidetracked. In the end you get to hang the illustration in the living room because your wife said no when you asked to park the car there.

And most important,
Plan and budget- "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Every section of my car has a set budget, such as suspension parts, interior, engine, etc. Since I have a set budget I can go to work researching the best bang for my buck in that area. I collect data by copying and pasting in a Word document, along with website addresses and dollar amounts. Along the way as I stumble across new ideas I can go back and adjust everything accordingly. When I've got everything laid out and see that everything is in the budget I buy a whole bunch of parts at one time. My wagon project is just about all mapped out so when school starts up again in about 3 weeks I can get right to work and I'll never waste time standing around wondering what to do next. Everyone should have a good large dry-erase board in the garage or at the shop that's filled with their game plan.

Hope my thoughts add something to the conversation.

[John Wright]

46, two kids 15 & 11, a working wife who pays for the kid's tuition to school and very little debt. Working towards no debt(hopefully in the not too distant future the one loan will be gone)