How old are you?

[wmhjr]

Turn 50(ish) in a month. Have 2 kids, youngest is in 2nd year of (friggin expensive) college. Expect to retire long after I'm in a grave.

[grenade inspector]

just turned 23, just bought my first house. I don't have a lot of money but, aside from the mortgage I don't have any debt. I also do everything I can and a couple things that should be left to the pros myself.

[srh3trinity]

31 and in my last year of residency. After five years of college, four years of Med school and three years of residency and possibly another year of fellowship, I have become very disciplined in saving and the idea of delayed gratification. I have bought the car andhave very slowly bought parts. I moonlight a lot and my wife has a good paying job. We are expecting our first child so money is being redirected to that (gladly). The reason you don't see a build thread from me is that I haven't made much progress. All in good time.

[85GPLEf41]

30, 2 jobs, school loan, finally got my house last year, 1 kid who i pay support on and i hardly ever see...awesome girlfriend who doesn't question how i spend my time or money as long as the bills are paid of course and she get's some quality time as well. After having my G body Grand Prix for over 12 years i am finally starting to put a little bit of money into it.I have given up on having the latest and greatest in technology, vehicles, attire, etc etc. Just learning to be happy with what i have. I may not be able to buy or do everything that i want to my ride or even in life in general but it's all good!

[rockytopper]

I'm at the half way mark its all down hill now.

[Tom Welch]

48, married 25 yrs, 3 sons, oldest in USMC, 2 younger ones still at home/college, I've helped build several cars but only 1 of my own. I now have the means to build what I want and I am doing just that, at my own shop, too. Thank God, I can finally do it my way.

[Scott Parkhurst]

44 til November, one 4 yr-old daughter, maybe one more baby next yr. Didn't get married til 37! Lots and lots of girlfriends before then...heh heh...Spent my 20s and most of my 30s living at the beach in SoCal building cool cars and working at awesome engine shops and then Popular Hot Rodding/Engine Masters magazines. Now I'm a happy husband/Daddy in the Midwest. Life has been a lot of fun so far. I was building 2 P-T cars (a '65 GTO clone and the wagon to tow it) but I'm having so much fun with the wagon that I sold the GTO project. I'll stick with it for awhile.

[64impala]

29 in the Air Force. All I can say is it takes time! MONEY! more time and patience, lots of it. It can get very discouraging but push through the build process and it will pay of in the end. Good friends always help as well. Good luck! Im doing a frame off on my 64 impala in a 1 car garage. Its been in work for 5 years and the chassis, suspension, and floor pans are all done. Now time for body work.

[Bigblue73]

44 here. Three kids, 14,11 and 6. Working wife with a great job. I work for an employee that challenges me to create new products. Hence my working relationship with Hurst and may new venture with LED lights. I save a bunch and allow about 3 grand per year to go into my car. One thing to note is the market is changing rapidly and what was once not there - is now( I'm a Mopar guy and we always have to wait). Take it slow and have fun.

[chevnut55]

38 today. builkt my own stuff by myself with help from no one and painted, bought and sold other cars to be able to build my collection. devorce and a kid hurt the wallet but put stuff on hold and thing of them as worthless in times you need $$$ so you will not sell and never be able to replace it later.

[Vicinity]

21

No House

2 Cars (951 is the other car)

[Throttle]

32 yrs old

I restore/repair/restomod vehicles for a living and do all my own work other then the motor building and interior. The only debt I have right now is my garage I just built. I wouldn't say I have a great paying job, but it gets the bills paid and I have some left over to put in the Camaro every month. I built my own house on property that I own, so that is a plus also.

[NJSPEEDER]

Please clarify, is this related to my birth year or how old I frequently get accused of acting?

-Tim

[absintheisfun]

34 here.

My wife and I have zero debt and the project is just now getting started (for real this time! lol).

We worked like dogs for the last 10 years to pay off ALL of our debt and put away a decent rainy day fund. As a result, we quit our jobs and restarted new careers in fields we love. I'm an GMC Technician and my Wife works with animal behavior problems. We aren't making a whole lot of money right now, but enough to cover the bills.

The theory is that if you do what you love, the money will come. So far, so good.

If you stress about making money, it takes away from the time you would otherwise use to enjoy everything else. We burned our wick at both ends because we had an end in sight. Looking back, it was a good decision, but at the time it royally sucked!

As for the project-learning from research and trial and error. very, very little has been done outside my home garage.

[SRD art]

38 today. builkt my own stuff by myself with help from no one and painted, bought and sold other cars to be able to build my collection. devorce and a kid hurt the wallet but put stuff on hold and thing of them as worthless in times you need $$$ so you will not sell and never be able to replace it later.

happy b-day!

[lnirenberg]

59, 32 yrs married (to the same wife), 3 kids, 1 spectacular grandbaby & down to only 5 cars including daily drivers. Would already be retired and spending all my leisure time with family and cars but as long as my 87 yr old dad and business partner comes in the office 3 days a week I will keep working. Not much time to work on my cars so I get my vicarious thrills by designing the builds myself and then resort to throwing money at it, mostly well spent. Taking welding class to bone up (at a local art studio vs trade school with a very eclectic group and flaky but highly skilled instructor) and once retired will work on more skill sets so I can be more hands on with projects and ramp up my time at the track. All my guy friends are car guys which outside of our mutual passion for cars is a much more heterogeneous group than wife and my couples friends. My wife appreciates the beauty of the various cars I own/have owned but not a car person. Key to our long marriage—she is never surprised when something new shows up in the drive and she never asks how much I spend on them.

[BADNBLK]

30 about to get married, and my first kid on the way. Got 3 houses, some debt, but not serious. Feel about normal with most of my friends. Wish I had more to put towards the Camaro, ut we all know how that goes.

[MichaelUser]

46 married with 2 great kids, son 11 (got a used XR80 for his b-day), daughter 8 (little soccer star). Time is not on my side lately. Projects are second to sports, but hey kids are first for now. My son does want the Duster done so he can drive it. Very cool. My daughter wants the buggy ready for the desert season this winter cool too! No major bills, no car payments but I do want a new car to drive to work daily. My modded Cummins is getting a little old to drive everyday. I just can't get around paying $45k for a new Boss Stang. Speaking of which I work in the automotive aftermarket in sales for aFe Power. Things are great!

[DarkBuddha]

First, I totally understand where the OP is coming from... it's downright perplexing how folks can build such awesome cars sometimes. But I'm gonna tell you, age probably has very little to do with it specifically. I'm 38 and I'm no better off than any 27 year old with a new house and young kids and mediocre income. In fact, right now I have no income to speak of. But even before, when I had a decent job, my Mustang project was slow going... so slow that it's now 10 years since we started and it's still not done. And I'm not talking about some crazy high end super killer pro-touring build either... just an old school, very budget oriented restomod (no Cobra brakes, no rack and pinion, no trick a arms, no fancy name brand "gotta haves"). In fact, because the Mustang was such slow going, I got another car that I could make bits of progress on while driving it (my XR4TI), and it's been a super budget car too.

The fact is that building any car to any level is a product of basically 3 things... time, money, and skill. The more that you have of any of those gives you more ability to the get a car built quicker (and better, and to a higher level), but if you don't have a bunch of any of them, the car just ends up finished on a lower level. But none of that matters, the point is to build it to whatever level you can and be happy to have it. There's always more/faster/better, but something is better than nothing.

[stage2ROUSH]

going to hit the big 5.0 as of August 16, ( yep the day Elvis left the building for the very last time)NO KIDS !! 4 dogs, that we adore !!! and I'm more than man enough to say that !! my wife and I have been married 19 yrs in october, but..... been together 29 yrs, and she is my love, my rock, and everything to me!!!!!we still want to ( and we will) build a REAL PT car but as of now our 05 mustang GT does just fine !! how have we done it ?? not selfish at ALL !!! . p.s., if we hit the powerball tommorrow night, watch out, one NASTY project coming your way !!!