The Camaro Club (UK)

This is mainly for those who are / have done project cars but feel free to chip in either way.
What keeps you motivated? It's fun working on cars when it goes well, but when you're in the middle of a load of metal not sure of how its gona go back together, and you're having to do things 3, 4, 5 times over and it still doesnt come out exactly as you want it, what makes you keep going?

After setting out to do a 2-3 month interior resto and ending up doin over a years worth of work, i'm struggling for motivation (mainly due to lack of skills + knowledge + wanting to do it good = things taking way too long to do, could just bodge it and be done ages ago). What keeps me going is the sound of the v8 (first yank and first v8 i've owned) and the uniqueness of it when it is on the road. I'v wanted a muscle car for over 10 years so it's almost gonna be a dream come true. I love the era that muscle cars capture (more so the 50's Americas years of innocence, so feel free to donate me a '55 chevy ) and the style it captures. That lone cool dude in the desert type of thing - vanishing point, bullet, the driver etc and also bit of a fan of the southern states y'all. so i guess it's my way of feeling part of that whole thing. What abut everyone else?

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ive been into cars since i was knee high to a grass hopper, i used to work with my uncle fixing and servicing them from an early age and i found it amazing all these parts and how the car works i just found it facinating.
I always worked on my own cars as well as family and freinds motors and it always amazes me how little most people know about cars, i enjoy a sence of acheivement i prefer to drive something different from the average joe my cars always have to look different to somebody elses some thing i can say is my own
I find that restoring or repairing your own car helps break the monotany of day to day life, yes it is a pain in the arse when they break down or a repair wont go right but there is a great sence of achivement when you fix it yourself diagnosing the faults sometimes getting it wrong is all part of the learning process.

To me a car is personal i like to know every thing about the cars that i drive i enjoy striping it down and making it better the camaro to me is a dream come true my first american v8 although it is a gen 3 it is an affordable american car to me with good looks and it is fun to drive fairly well built i would like a gen 1 who wouldnt but money denotes otherwise

in a nut shell i do it because i enjoy older cars i enjoy improving my skills and learning sometimes the hard way how to drive a different car to most other people a car that turns heads, and i can be proud that it was done with my own sweat tears and blood

i sound like a right freak after reading that but hay ho

perhaps we need to organise a meet at yours to help you along abit

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83 camaro z28
94 mitsubishi pajero 2.8
2001 shogun 3.2 did
2001 ford transit hi top lwb

Mmmmm, now that's a good question. Having been in the motor trade all of my working life, & having specialised in the alternative car side of the industry, I find that working on my own stuff is very therapeutic, as I can do it EXACTLY how I want it to be, without customer constraints such as budget, interfering with design/colour/finished end result. I build my cars for me & only me, if others like it then that's fine, but I never build a car to fit in with the "in crowd" or to be a part of the latest trends. In approaching a project like this, then you're being true to yourself & in doing so, you're not putting any additional pressure on yourself to have to conform to others ideals.

I've been fortunate that the cars I've built for myself are cars that others find desireable. I've not bought them because of that though, but because I like them. Over the years I've restored far too many cars to remember, having owned my own body shop for over 35 years.

My personal projects have included a sit up & beg 1955 Ford Pop, a 1937 Morris 8 2 seat tourer that I built at the age of 15, 2 1936 MG TA's, a 1969 Firebird, 2 1955 Chevys, one a hard top 210 sedan & the other a sports coupe, a 1978 Ferrari replica, 1972 bullnose Trans Am, a blown small block powered 1929 Model A pickup hot rod, a customised 1973 VW camper & my 1969 Camaro.

Almost every one of those has been a total ground up restoration. The key though is to not set a time scale for things to be completed. The car will be done when it's done, period!! If you put time constraints on the project you end up getting disappointed & frustrated when the deadline isn't met. Don't set a deadline, rule number 1!!

I only work on my projects when I have ample time to do so, if there's a likelyhood of being interrupted, or dragged out by the wife, then I won't get involved in anything that I can't just leave when I want to. This way I don't get frustrated at not being able to finish the job in hand, so rule number 2 is give yourself plenty of uninterrupted time to work on the project.

I always have a plan of attack, never deviate from it if you can help it. I work out EXACTLY, the process that is needed to finish the whole car. I mentally go through every stage of the project before even touching it. Rule number 3 plan ahead, so that you don't end up doing things twice.

I always try to finish the job that I've started before going on to the next stage. If you have too many things on the go, you'll lose track of what you're doing, so rule number 4 is, finish what you start & do everything to the best of your abilities. If in doubt, ask for advice from someone that knows how to do it.

I always have a goal as to what my project will be like when it's completed. Before starting to do anything to the car I will spend hours just looking at it, mentally changing things suchas colour, wheels, stance etc etc, until I know what will look best. Only then will I start the project. So rule number 5 is is to have atotal understanding of what you want the car to look like & try not to be influenced to change things "mid stream". This is why some projects look a bit of a mess, as there are too many things going on that don't compliment each other, as the builder has changed his mind part ways through.

The most important thing though,is rule number 6, if you intend to spend a lot of time & money restoring a car, it is imperative to buy the right car in the first place, not only that but buy it for the right reasons. Some people buy/build a car for reflective glory, in that they want other people to say how good it is, or that they desire that particular style of car. Unfortunately, you have to live with that car 24/7 & the reflective glory can be short lived. Always, always, always buy a car because it's what you want, not because others desire it. If you like the car & it ticks all of your boxes, evertime you get in & drive that car it'll make you smile. It goes without saying, that if you really like the car you've bought, it's a labour of love to work on it & the motivation to work on it when things get tough is easy. The motivation is that you want that car.

Working on restoring any car should be a pleasure. If things go wrong, then take a step back & leave it for a while until such time that you feel the need to have another attempt. Continually trying to work through a problem can make you hate the car & not enjoy the building experience.

I don't need much motivation, I just love fabricating things, I really can say I enjoy it. I enjoy it because I want that car, I enjoy the planning stages, the hunt for parts, the disassembly, right through to the final stages of rebuilding the shell after painting it. I do it because I can & want to.

If you don't enjoy doing things like this then rule number 7 is work hard, or rob banks & pay someone to do it for you

Sorry for the ramble

cheers....Nige

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Too much power...not enough hands!!

ye good question when i first brung my camaro home my dad couldnt believe what i had bought he told me i should have left it were it was and i told him i will do this car and make it realy nice and all my friends said the same as my dad but 5 years on and its about done but in that 5 years it caused me some hassle not just with bits not going right with the car but with my girlfriend to and she was telling me to sell the car lots of times and i nearly did but then ones i got the new rear quaters boot floor and rear panel fited and in to primer i stood back and took a look and thort no iam not selling it i wanna see it to the end when i told my girlfriend this it caused even more hastle but shes still with me today and i still own the car so alls good but if you need any help doing anything i will be happy to help as much as i can because i was were you are at one point it always use to hit me in summer when all my mates are polishing there cars and going to shows i was stuck working on my car but it gets better i just hope i can catch this summer i will try and post some of my pics tomorow just depends on my rubish laptop lol.

Some really interesting reading from everyone!

It's definitely a hobby that's in a league of it's own, granted some people are lucky enough to make a living out of it. Nige, surprised and envious of how many beauties you've had and worked on! Didn't read your reply as rant, it's actually quite a nice guide on how to approach and view these types of projects. You've obvsiouly been through this all countless times so must be as easy as reading a book for you. I think the top advice that can be taken is that it will be done when it's done! true and also hard to get your head around that at first.

It's also nice to see the reasons why people do what we do. No doubt these things turn heads but as long as that isn't the main reason then it's good to know this is not a forum for posers

We all probably do a bit of that / will be when they are fixed, but it's nice to see that it's a genuine desire that we all have for these cars for their style / individuality / style. I for sure like to be a bit different from the crowd, never one to follow fashion on trends, tend to pull out of stuff when it gets popular. apart from Facebook i guess, probably because that's a platform that allows you to be indivudual. and to also make friends with other yank / muscle car people.

it was interesting reading your experience 70 z28, sorry, don't know your name Gald that you held onto the car, looks like you nearly gave it up but it's great that you managed to hold onto it and still stay with your missus! Shows some true passion there, can't wait to see some pics of your motor, love the early second gens!

Lol at everyone coming over to my garage to help out, would love that, mostly to see a massive line of camaros down the street Actually the advice helped and just hearing other peoples expereriences is reassuring as i'm sure you all know, sometimes it can be quite a lonely project doing these things. Hopefully other people about to start a project or thinking about it will catch this thread and approach it the right way. Sorry if it came across as a help me thread, just thought it would be nice for people to share their experiences and see what values people have with their camaro's and how people go about working on the long term projects etc.

Look forward to hearing more of your expereinces and hope others are benefitting from reading what we have so far

cheers,

Ray

_________________
How to post pics: When writing a message, scroll down and use the "attach file" option. Where possible, a photo sharing service can be used such as Flickr, Imgur etc. The image location (usually ending in .jpg) can be copy and pasted between the ][ brackets that appear when you click the 'Img' button (you can find this button at the top of the message box).

How to post youtube vids: Click on the 'youtubeHD' button at the top of the message box and in the middle of the ][ brackets that just appeared, copy and paste everything from the youtube web address that appears after the = sign i.e if this is the url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 just copy "K2cNqaPSHv0").

I think that the most important thing of all when considering a repair of any kind, let alone a full on restoration, is know your limits . The second most important thing is to know your budget.

Far too often I've seen people spend a shed load of money on nice shiny, trinket parts for their car only to find that they can't afford to spend money on the essentials, like paying for skilled labour to do what they can't do, my own car being a case in point I guess. The guy that owned my car prior to me buying it, stripped everything off it, right down to the very last nut & bolt. In the meantime he bought a whole load of stuff for it, that just sat in the corner of his garage along with the car.

At this point, he had a lot of time & money tied up in the project & nothing to show for it really, other than a bare car & a load of parts that he couldn't do anything with. The enthusiasm tends to wear off very quickly for most people, if they don't see results happening & in his case the car just seemed like a bottomless pit that he couldn't complete.

Once stripped right down he realised that he couldn't afford to pay anyone to do the body repairs, as he'd spent the money on trim items etc etc. At that stage of the build the last thing he should have spent his money on was chrome wheelarch trims, new clocks & wiring for the centre console, an RS steering wheel etc etc, the list goes on. When I bought the car, I subsequently sold on all of this stuff, plus a shed load more that I didn't want or need to help fund the rest of the project, enabling me to put the money where it was needed

Unable to finish it, he just left the car languishing collecting rust. It would have been far better for him if he'd made a plan of attack & only bought the essential parts needed & factored in the costs for paying someone to do what he couldn't. That way the project can progress at a reasonable pace & you don't lose interest. When I had my paintshop, you wouldn't believe how many people had fallen into this trap. That's why you see sooo many unfinished projects for sale.

I always recommend, wherever possible, to keep the car on the road & to repair things whilst keeping it useable. Even the body restoration can be done like this if you're sensible, by just repairing one panel at a time. At most it'd only be off the road for a few weekends, which doesn't allow the enthusiasm to drop. In fact it probably enhances the enthuisiasm to get on with the next part of the project.

Never underestimate how much it'll all cost, or how long something might take, nor over estimate, what level of skills you have. Follow the golden rules & you won't go far wrong
HTH

cheers...Nige

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Too much power...not enough hands!!

some good advice ther nige

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83 camaro z28
94 mitsubishi pajero 2.8
2001 shogun 3.2 did
2001 ford transit hi top lwb

ye mine was an unfinished project to the bloke i bought her off had big plans untill he striped every nut and bolt off her and realised it was to much for him so after leveing it a while he decided to scrap her but lookaly i got there in time to save her and when i sort my photo bucket out you will all see what she was an what she is now an ray you need to keep on with yours its such a big reword when its about finished and if i didnt live so far away i would defo come and help you with yours i just love working on yanks in the bodyshop were i work were restoring a 1958 buick special and a 1953 ford f100 truck and weve just had a new dodge ram in. its shaun mate

Any up to date pics on this??

cheers...Nige

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Too much power...not enough hands!!

ye av got loads just need to get this photo bucket thing sorted but am on with it so hopefully the pic will be up soon. thanks shaun