What is Happening to our Hobby ?

[chargerdon]

I don't keep receipts. If I approached my hobbies like an accountant...I wouldn't have any hobbies.

I don't try to justify the cost of bringing home a limit of walleye either..... Because I know it would be cheaper to just go out for dinner at a nice restaurant.

So true...yet, Few of us have unlimited monetary resources, so the price of restoration is a huge concern.   However, when i read that a guy is "restoring" a classic car i always wonder what that means.   If it is simply taking the car to a restoration shop, and paying whatever it takes, then your better off buying a restored car.    If it means, carting it to a transmission shop, and engine shop, and body shop, and upholstery shop, and a painters...then again, your more involved, but, again its probably less expensive to simply buy a car that has already been restored.

IF on the other hand you do "most" of the work yourself, then, now you have a true hobby, and if your really CAREFUL with your parts purchases, then, you can restore a car to nice "show driver" for a few thousand dollars.   I have done two cars that way, first was a 66 Dodge Charger...   Did all of the work myself with the exception of the final paint job.   Still because its a very low interest car i probably even without any labor charges should have bought a finished product.    I still have that car simply because it would be very hard to sell for anything north of $10-12 K.   Then i bought a 74 Challenger...  I overhauled its 904 myself in my garage, did all of the body work, including shooting the epoxy and 2k primers and blocking it down to be "ready" to paint.   Primers cost me around $500 Then, payed $2,000 to a professional painter..  and that included the Sherwin Williams FC7 paint and clear coat, and some cut and buffing where needed.    In total i paid $5,000 for the car originally, put into it around, $7,000 in parts for the windshields, carpeting, console, battery, tires, body repair panels, and materials.  Then $2,000 for the painter and that totals around $14,000.   I think the car is worth around $25K so in this case i made out well for my own labor...which i estimate to be between 400-500 hours (im not that fast...lol).

And no it isn't for sale, unless someone would offer me silly money for it...say $35,000. 

[Flatdad]

Don't restore it, just make it run & drive safely. That's also the answer to the question about those other cars not worth restoring.

I'm in this hobby because I like the cars, not because I like money.

[dodj]

So true...yet, Few of us have unlimited monetary resources

True. That's why I only have one old car. It's all I can afford to keep....and go fishing...and target shooting etc. If I gave off the impression of unlimited resources - it was unintended.
I picked up my '73 in 1985. Swapped a rifle for it. Because I can only spend so much on the car hobby per year...I'm STILL working on it. lol

[jt4406]

         

             

Code Select Expand

.I'm in this hobby because I like the cars, not because I like money.

DING DING DING DING !!!!!

      Best 14 words spoken in this entire thread!! Exactly how it should be! Flippers and profiteers have fubared the hobby. (Sorry, just my humble opinion) 

[tparker]

I might be a bit different. I love and enjoy muscle cars, obviously Mopars in particular. Though I have a hard time saying it's a hobby. The post above was talking about what it means to restore a car. I did almost ALL the work. Serious body work, painting. reupholstering (to include the vinyl top this spring), wiring, breaks, fuel line, etc. I don't have a machine shop at the ready so I do have to send it out. For a couple extra bucks he will assemble it so i am going to cheat and have him do it. But I have no problem doing it myself. I will drop the motor in and hook up the exhaust and change out the rear end etc. But I don't consider it a hobby. When I am done, I am going to drive it and hopefully only tweak it.

A hobby to me is something you do for the sake of doing it. I will probably never rebuild another muscle car. It's way too fricken expensive due to other people jumping into the hobby and jacking up the prices. I play guitar for the sake of playing guitar. I buy them for the same reason. I will continue. But my goal is to drive and enjoy my car. Maybe that is my hobby. Driving my mopar in Sunny California.

Just some thoughts while wasting a couple minutes before a meeting.

[340challconvert]

Most of what has been said here is exactly the way I feel.  Too expensive to buy one in decent or restored condition and the only way to make it work is to do a lot of the work yourself. Paying for mechanical, body and paint work is off the charts.

I was a decent mechanic back in the day and did the mechanical work my self.  Was never a body man. My mechanical skills, though 40 years old still serve me well. 

I am teaching myself to mig weld currently in order to install the trunk floor and patch the body as best I can. I am aiming for a driver car that I can enjoy. Luckily, I bought some NOS parts way back when they were available in the early 1980's. This saves me some some money.

I am also thinking of buying a compressor and spray equipment and either create a paint booth in my garage and spray the car myself.  I also thought about renting a paint booth at a local shop on a week end to spray the car when it is ready. 

It is a love for the car that keeps me going (owned it since 1979)  Just hope my health holds up; it is time consuming to do a job correctly and I am getting older. So far so good.
Can't see paying someone more money then the car is worth when finished. JMO 

[js27]

It is nice so many of you jumped in and expressed your feelings about your car and our hobby. It is nice to see so many different way of looking at things and what you get back in return. Many of you got off topic but still had some good input. I guess to each their own as they say. Some people have the means to write the checks and some people have the skills to do it all themselves and most of us fall somewhere in between. We all seem to agree on the cost today are outrageous. Yes you can not make money on these cars unless you score a mid to high six figure car for cheap. Then spending 50-100 grand on a resto is okay. As I said in my original post I was NOT looking to flip this car. I have never bought a car to flip it. I bought and restore my 67 GTX and kept it for 27 years and bought and restored my 70 R/T Vert and kept it for 22 years. If I didn't suffer a massive heart attack I would still have both cars. I just wanted something to tinker with and when I came across this Dart my heart went pitter patter and felt I should save this car like I save all my other ones. I am still considering it but have not decided yet. My original question was I wondered about how many cars would rot away because it is to expensive to restore them. I know there will always be people who will buy these cars  with good intentions and then find out they can not afford to restore them  or do not have the time or knowledge to finish them. Lets face it a lot of members here probably got there cars because some else bailed out on their projects.
JS27

[PLUM72]

Lets face it a lot of members here probably got there cars because some else bailed out on their projects.
JS27

If you're in the market for a collector car "what is stated above" may save you lots of money.