[old66tiger]

I have had my car for 9 years and it is a rolling restoration. Every year it gets something new. 2 Years back, I pulled the body off the frame, blasted the underside and the frame, replaced all suspension and mounts and had the car going back down the road 3 months after it was lifted off. The top side needs paint yet, but that will be next year, or maybe the year after that.

[F ROCK]

1 year. worked at least 1 hour per day on car; usually more, but 1 hour per day is 365 hours per year. its disipline. you have to want it. my friends and family knew where i was gonna be; and that i needed an hour for myself. did everything myself (first timer), and without a garage. on rainy days i ordered parts and read books and was on this site.


bought a shell, stripped it down; replaced rusted out quarters, patched fenders; bought rebuilt350 cause it was cheap on craigslist; bought rebuilt t400 trans cause it was cheap on craigslist; washed with hot soapy water and painted everything i could; took it to maaco for the budget paint job and i was up and running. the inspection sticker from the previous owner was still valid. at that time total cost including the car was 5000$.

that was last year.
this year:
bought a 455 core and had rebuilt.
bought 12 bolt posi
preparing for that nice paint job this summer.

[Junkyard Dog]

Originally Posted by F ROCK

1 year. worked at least 1 hour per day on car; usually more, but 1 hour per day is 365 hours per year. its disipline. you have to want it. my friends and family knew where i was gonna be; and that i needed an hour for myself. did everything myself (first timer), and without a garage. on rainy days i ordered parts and read books and was on this site.


bought a shell, stripped it down; replaced rusted out quarters, patched fenders; bought rebuilt350 cause it was cheap on craigslist; bought rebuilt t400 trans cause it was cheap on craigslist; washed with hot soapy water and painted everything i could; took it to maaco for the budget paint job and i was up and running. the inspection sticker from the previous owner was still valid. at that time total cost including the car was 5000$.

that was last year.
this year:
bought a 455 core and had rebuilt.
bought 12 bolt posi
preparing for that nice paint job this summer.

That is an inspiring story!

[1970gpsj4speed]

best advise I got was to Not Let it sleep.You have to work on something /Anythng every single day .Even if it is cleaning a bolt .I worked about an hour or Two every nite to get things ready for the weekend .It took me 2 Yrs and 2 months to complete .It is very rewarding when done tho!

[Shiny]

I have pull-down stairs in the garage and guess who's car is under them?

So the joke at my house has been "I'll get the Christmas decorations down by December".

I think it took me 3 Decembers, but the car will back itself out of the garage now !!

I just had to take a job in another state, so one of my sons will back it out this year and the car will have to sit again.

For every step forward, it has been two back, but every small job finished on the car has been a learning experience and ended with a good feeling. It's the journey, right ??

I do know that without all the help from you on this forum, I'd still be doing acrobatics to get up in the attic.

[WaltD]

I got out of the Marines and bought my '67 LeMans convertable in 1985. The car got parked while I was "restoring" it. I started to get serious about getting it giong in 2007. I ran into some health problems while working on it, literally. I did some wheeling and dealing and made some money selling some other toys. Phil Riley in Martinsville, Indiana finished it for me. This car is just out of control! Phil does A++ work!
The answer to the question is 22 years!

[ITSBACK]

That is a beautiful car. Very impressive. Good luck with it and thanks for your service.
Bill

[carcrazy]

Five plus this year for my 67 GTO and can just now see the light! Lots of time and even more money!

[J.D.]

i bought my 70 conv. in 1990. several moves and other reasons kept me from getting started on it until 2000. then 5 years and a pile of cash and it was on the road. best before picture i have is of my bouvier (large dog) sleeping on the top of it. he went onto the car from the deck and took a nap in the sun !

[Pearlbluebird]

My first project only took me 6 months. I was laid off at the time putting 10 hour days at it. I was bitten hard by the bug. Almost cost me my mariage. Funny thing happened though. That same bug bit my wife and now she's as passionate.

[Mark C.]

6 years. Save some money, work a little bit, save some money......

Did all of the work my self. Except machine work. My family helped when needed.

First picture, dreaming what it would be like with all that power/torque in front of me.

2nd picture, couldn't of got the motor in without them.

[67whitetrashbird]

Thanks fellas.......It makes me feel good to know for every completed muscle car/hot rod on the road, there’s plenty more in a garage somewhere looking like mine. In my head I have about a 5-year plan to get it the way I want. At times I find my wife's empty Starbucks cups or my kids Capri Suns on my cars fender and throw them away with disgust, as if they are defacing some national landmark or something. I cant wait for the day when 530am rolls around and I start it up to go to work and wake up the neighborhood!

[glhs#116]

You know, all of these guys with the car off the road probably have perfect cars at the end of it. No arguing with that but there is an alternative:

My car was barely driveable when bought. Engine was about as strong as an anorexic mouse and third gear wouldn't hold at all. Lots of stuff was held together with string and/or stripped out.

I've been driving it almost daily since and fixing stuff as I go along. The upside is the joy of a car that gets better and better. The downside is constantly driving a car this still isn't quite right and/or makes embarrassing noises or signals. Currently, if I blast past someone at WOT they are left coughing in a cloud of blue smoke! Not so cool...

But I wouldn't give that up for three years of NOT driving the car.

Sam

[Mark C.]

Originally Posted by 67whitetrashbird

Thanks fellas.......It makes me feel good to know for every completed muscle car/hot rod on the road, there’s plenty more in a garage somewhere looking like mine. In my head I have about a 5-year plan to get it the way I want. At times I find my wife's empty Starbucks cups or my kids Capri Suns on my cars fender and throw them away with disgust, as if they are defacing some national landmark or something. I cant wait for the day when 530am rolls around and I start it up to go to work and wake up the neighborhood!

All my neighbors saw the car sitting in my garage for years, thinking that POS will never run. Ahhhh...waking the neighborhood. That is a good feeling. They know different now!

[MrPushrod]

Originally Posted by 67whitetrashbird

I cant wait for the day when 530am rolls around and I start it up to go to work and wake up the neighborhood!

[blown 68]

the two cars i did, a 1969 gto, ram air III, and the blown 68, each took about a year to a year and a half, (was working and gigging in the meantime as well). but there is/was always little things to do. someone told me once as i showed them a pic of the 68 that i said was 'finished': 'they're never really finished ya know'...

i believe they were correct...... that was two and a half years ago, when i was 'done', and the engine is out of it now.........

[jjscerbo]

Took me 8 months to do the frame off resto on my 65 GTO Clone. Took a year in trying to get the machine work done untill I gave it to Mr.Pbody. He took only 5 weeks.

With hope I will be cruiseing it this summer to the drive-in..

[R J Staub]

Picked my 73 Firebird up about 5 years ago, front clip totally apart, engine not running; collecting parts, blocks and heads since then; Jack Gaydosh is getting it in early summer for cage, fuel cell, mini-tub, frame connectors, etc if the $$ holds out. Then next year I'll be racing with the Outlaws !!.. We will never park in the garage !!

[Goin' Topless]

Bought my 70 convertible in 1999. Gave it a quick paint job and swapped a wamred over 400 into it, drove it for a year. Took it apart again in 2001, this time down to a bare body and chassis. Got it on the road in December and got 200 miles logged before the snow flew. It's not 100% done, but it does drive nice and runs hard.

There were times when I wondered if I'd ever get it on the road too. Just keep plugging away. If it helps, I broke my project into several smaller projects. The progress is easily marked that way, at least, for me it was.

[ho428]

I started taking my 68 Bird apart last August, took it all the way down. I did take it to a body shop in October for blasting, panel work and paint and got it back before Christmas. I'm now well into re-assembly. All suspension, brakes and from the doors back is done, I'm doing the interior now and working my way forward, should be mostly done with that in a month or so I hope, then I'll start on the engine and installing the front sheetmetal. Goal is to drive it this summer unless life gets in the way... again.
So hopefully a one year build of 1-2 evenings a week and usually 1 full day on the weekend. Persistence and having multiple projects going keeps it moving forward.