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Giving up restoration of '74 Midget

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Zimmy, when you do it yourself you always know about and see the imperfections, others don't.
 
:iagree:
100% Hap.
Maybe that's why I have three finished projects in my back yard (70 Volvo Amazon, 74 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sedan, 57 Triumph motorcycle), and I ride my bicycle to work every day (20 km round trip).

For me it's the project. I gain satisfaction from making it, not so much from driving it. All of those finished projects and also the Frogeye were complete piles of rust when I started them. A MIG welder is a blessing!
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:] If you don't have the stamina to finish something you start, don't start it!

Ownership of a car gives you the legal right to destroy the car, but it doesn't give you the moral right.

If you really would prefer a Mustang, then you should have started with a Mustang[/QUOTE]

I didn't realize that one received pastoral sermons on this site. I bought my '74 Midget seven years ago and you know what? Lot's of things can happen in seven years that are unforseeable.

First, old people like a parent should be more considerate and not get OLD and then sick and require care--they should should just stroke out or have an MI (that's heart attack for the layperson) and drop dead. My father, a decorated WW II veteran had the nerve to get old AND sick which ended up really putting a dent into my important car restoration hobby.

The nerve of the guy. Oh, and then he died. How inconsiderate.

Then there is the fact that when I bought the car my financial situation wasn't as favorable as it is now and buying a used Mustang was cost prohibitive. That's why I bought a Midget. I would really like a new Z51 Corvette and I can easily afford it as well, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money on a car. It's not always just about money.

And the Mustang that I will be now getting came from a completely unexpected and unanticipated source. And btw, the person giving it to me also did not finish the restoration! He's 90 years old and how DARE he start something 10 years ago that he should not have started!

I'm impressed by your morality play. But I'm the owner and entitled to cut the car into 1" strips of steel if I feel like it. Where I work during the day, we DO have moral obligations. We're involved in treating children with cancer and even if you're having the worst day of your life, the patients come first.

But this is only a used car, not a sick human being.

So don't give me that morality crap.

As to the presumed lack of character, planning, resources and desire, none of that applies to me.

1. I have ample funds to complete the MG--I'd rather spend an equal or even lesser amount fixing up a Mustang, though.
2. I have the car in a very nice garage which has two work benches, all the necessary tools and plenty of space.
3. I planned this project very carefully. However, what I could not plan was how the project could get stalled by less important things like your father getting sick and requiring care and then dying. Then there was the job of settling an estate etc etc......
4. I like to build and fix things but I also like to drive cars and I've been doing that for my entire adult life.
5. Then there is the current price problems with British parts. The cause of this situation is obvious, but for you people in Europe or elsewhere, fyi the dollar isn't worth anything right now.
So while things were relatively CHEAP 7 years ago this is no longer the case.

I'm not going to destroy the car. Since I haven't been able to find a buyer for the complete package, I'm taking it apart and selling it piece by piece. When I get down to the bare tub, I'm hopeful that someone will come and haul it away since it really is a nice chassis. I need the space NOW since the 90 year old gentleman who has the Mustang desires to get rid of the car ASAP. I would like to oblige him since time is not on his side. Also, I would like to finish the Mustang so that I could give him a ride before he dies--that would mean a lot to him.

If I wanted a lecture on morality and integrity, I would have gone to church. America is filled full of half-broken, half-taken apart old cars that are left rusting in driveways and fields. My Midget has always been housed in my garage and my new Honda sits outside.

If my actions are too unbearable or seem inconsiderate to anyone, well that's just too bad.
 
I'm not sure why this thread is so contentious. I think people have made assumptions that allowed them to get on their soap boxes, but a few have actually tried to help you make sure you are making the right decision (ultimately only you know). I've just suggested that since you are abandoning it, you can re coupe the most money by parting it out. If you can not find a buyer for the shell, then cut out the rear arches, and the rear valence (these will bring good money). A straight bonnet is also worth keeping, and maybe front fenders. Toss out the boot lid and the doors. It is illegal to sell the title without the car, but some criminal that deals in stolen midgets might want it and the VIN plate. :wink:
 
Trevor Jessie said:
I'm not sure why this thread is so contentious. I think people have made assumptions that allowed them to get on their soap boxes, but a few have actually tried to help you make sure you are making the right decision (ultimately only you know). I've just suggested that since you are abandoning it, you can re coupe the most money by parting it out. If you can not find a buyer for the shell, then cut out the rear arches, and the rear valence (these will bring good money). A straight bonnet is also worth keeping, and maybe front fenders. Toss out the boot lid and the doors. It is illegal to sell the title without the car, but some criminal that deals in stolen midgets might want it and the VIN plate. :wink:
Click to expand...

I appreciate the advice. I intend to do exactly what you suggest--I'll more than recoup my costs by selling the pieces off and I'll attempt to sell (or give away for a token price) the tub. Some have suggested that this is immoral, but I'm sorry, I need the space for my new project. I have 4 vehicles right now (all of them run and are driven regularly except the Midget), and I physically don't have room for a fifth vehicle.

I have no intention of selling the title without the chassis. I will try my best to find a home for the tub. It would have been better to sell the entire car intact and I'm sure that I could have found a buyer eventually, but eventually is too long for me at this time.

This is what happens to old cars frequently--they just disappear. That's just how it goes.
 
Someone lock this thread. It is beyond redemption.

Best of luck with your Mustang. Had a new 289, 1966 GT.
 
There is nothing immoral about parting out your abanded project. Everyone here has bought a used part from someone that helped us to get our own done. I know I cut up a car that was restorable to salvage parts for mine. Heck I cut up three corvairs to restore a four door years ago and than cut that one up. Im sure it hurts you more than any of us. But the surplus of used parts is what keep the rest of them going. Sending them to the crusher for a quick $50 and melting down all those extra pieces. Now taht may be a different story all together..... Sell all you parts. Make a few bucks and kick off to a good start on your Mustang. G' Luck
 
Hap Waldrop said:
Please don't anyhting I say wrong in the this post, it's not meant to be. I think of myself as a realist, and not much of a daydreamer, and often times in this hobby I give what I call hard love advice. A restoration or a race car build is a buttload of work, I'm not telling anyone here that has done this anything they don't already know.
I have people come to me all the time telling me they are going to restore a car or build a race car, that's when I start my hard love routine, it goes a little like this.

Do you have a good place to work on the car and do this job?

It this place heated, so you can work in the winter?

Do you have all the tools needed to do the job, and are you prepared to buy them if you don't?

How much of this project can you do yourself and how much do you need to contract out with professionals?

Have you made a realstic budget for your project, if this is your first job like this, then double it!

Do you have the free time to do this project, if you have young children with all the time consuming things that come with kids, can you budget the time needed to do this project?

If you have a choice to piddle out in the garage on your project, or watch sports on TV, which would you truely rather do? If you answer watch sports, then get rid of the project.

Are you taking on this project because you really want to experience the feeling of acomplishment from completing a project like this or are you doing it this way because you don't feel you an afford a decent example of this car, and you doing this to save a buck? If the answer is to save a buck, you're already doomed, restoring a car will almost always cost more than buying a restored example, and if you are only doing this because you want a example of this car, and working on the project is drudgery and not pure enjoyment, get rid of it, you'll never finish it.

And finally, do you realize out of all restoration projects started only about 1 out of 10 see completion, be honest with yourself, are you that I out of 10?

I probably talk more people out of doing projects than encouraging them to start one, but you know what, anything I just said to that 1 out of 10 guy didn't even faze him, he's on a mission, and for him this project is something he welcomes, to this guy lying on his back on cement floor with a crepper is way more fun than watching the baseball game or race on TV, he wouldn't rather be nowhere else on this earth, he is in his element. To the guy fooling himself, I just saved him alot of time, money and heartache.

Ever notice the 1 or 10 guy here or anywhere in this hobby, alot of the time this project might very well be their first big car project, and in the begining even though they welcomed the project, their real goal was to get it finished and enjoy driving or showing the car, but when it's all done they find out that simply just owning, driving and showing the finished project is not what they have become to enjoy about this hobby, it was the project to begin with. The next thing you know these guys go find a new project, because in the end it was the project they fell in love with not the finished car. These guys are truely the greats of our hobby.

Here, here I tip my glass to the 1 of 10 guys in this hobby, you are what this hobby is all about, you know who you are, pat yourselves on the back, job well done!!!!!!!

Just to let you all know where I fall into this group, I half and half, I absolutely love to build a race car, but not so much a street restoration , too refrained my my creative style, so my 1967 MGB GT perfectly street restored street car I traded a buddy a race car I built for it. When it come right down to it, I wanted a street car to drive not restore, and would rather have built myslef a new race car than done a street resortation. We have to be true to oursleves to last in this hobby.
Click to expand...

Very Nice Rendition Hap!
 
C16187,

Don't take this stuff so personally, man. We're a bunch a friends here. Threads here are more like conversations than focused responses to a specific question/subject/etc.

You posted about giving up your project. Okay. No big deal. It just got everybody to thinking about projects... how hard they are... how they frequently want to toss out their own projects... etc. And that's what we have been talking about.

I really don't think anybody meant to personally attack you. Or lecture you about anything. If you frequent forums, that's probably what you are used to. I know I have seen it on other forums. But we're not into that scene.

Sell your stuff on eBay. Build your mustang. Be happy.

Morris

Ps. Sorry about your Dad. Sounds like a great guy. Tell him we all said thanks for his contribution to the world and our country.
 
My post in no way was meant to be a personal attack on anyone, sorry if it was taken that way, it wasn't meant to be. Being in this business I see alot of people enter into projects not being true to themselves, I have no idea if that was your case or not. Things outside our control puts projects on the side burner or derails them all together, that's life. I buried both my parents during the build of my SCCA FP Sprite, it derailed the build for 2 additional years, and to be honest with you was far from the most important thing in my life at the time, projects can wait on family.

I think if anything you took what I said personal, and it wasn't directed at you.

What I posted above is correct about 90% of the time, let's just say you were the other 10% and move on. Hey if your heart isn't into this project, I understand, been there before, how do think I knew about what I wrote, I'm guilty as charged, I too have abandoned projects.
 
Not me, I have finished everything I have ever started.

Yea, right.
 
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