Who has the longest term project car?

need to define project. is the car a project till the owner has no more plans for the car. or is it when the car is driveing. my car could be considered done, but i plan on changing the paint, building a biger motor, changing to a stick shift and a whole bunch of other projects. i feel that my car will never not have a project in the works for it.

 

Had the mav a long time five years on the site.

 

Oh my - dude, that just aint right...

Agreed 100%. We're probably all constantly tweaking on our cars, from various repairs and gremlins to major surgery.

IMO, the word "project" basically means not drivable; i.e. in some state of disrepair, parked in the garage, being worked on (either continually or just as time allows.)

 

Yup, mine falls into your definition. Worked on as time allowed...which wasn't often. I had two offspring in that time......

 

I bought my 73 comet in 2004 and never drive it yet. But it will go to paint soon and i will finally drive it.

 

Mine is definitely still in project stage even though it is driveable. It was a bare shell until two years ago, when I couldn't stand not taking it to the Gathering any more. Been slowly whittling away at my long checklist of things to do, and it will soon be in non-driveable condition again while some of those items are checked off. Once it is painted and together again, I'm sure I will continue to tweak on it, but at that point, I'll call it no longer a project.

 

I parked my Mustand in the garage to do the brakes and rear axle bearings.... in 1985 or 86.
My problem has been learning when to stop.
I have cut the dash out, made a new one - replace it with a newer one that I really like, rewired the front, under dash and rear of the car, built subframe connectors, purchased and rebuilt the 4spd Toploader, rebuilt a 351W for it, pulled the front sheet metal off in favor of a fiberglass one piece nose, got the nose, removed the fuel tank and replaced it with a sheet metal trunk floor. I decided I am going to use a 33 gallon Bronco fuel tank mounted behind the rear seat - which has been removed and it will not be going back in. I have removed all the window regulators and mounted the rear windows (lexan) so they don't move. I am going to put slider door glass (lexan) in the doors. I am modifying the front and rear glass mount so I can use a glue-in window install rather than the gaskets from the factory. I am going to move the fuel filler to the passenger side pillar behind the window and mount it flush. I am replacing the rear light panel with flat sheet steel (more or less flat) and mount four lights at the rear. I am fabricating an eight inch spoiler that will be built into the trunk lid and the boomarangs (have to fabricate them to match the spoiler). I need to box in the trunk and radius the rear quaters. I am going to cast some new emblems for the front fenders, hood and glove box from aluminum. (muskrat reliefs) I am going to fabricate reinforcements for the rear sub-frame so I can weld a receiver style hitch in place.
Then I need to finish the body work off - skim, sand, color it and then finish it all off with clear coats.

So far the car hasn't moved or even started up for over fifteen years and it has not left the garage in 20 years...??!!
That is a long term project - it will be there a while longer unless someone reports me to overhaulin or something like it.

 

Got my Maverick in October of 1989. In a short period of time, I got the then stock Cleveland in the chassis along with the top loader and 9 inch rear. No garage and a gravel driveway started to get the best of me. I would get things done from April to October and then the winters would hit and ruin more of the car on me. That went on until 2006 when I was finally able to build a garage and I started making serious progress on the car from that point on.

 

Well, at just a month off the road, I'm starting to feel better.

So what keeps us off the road so long? Money? Time? Seems like for me the biggest challenges are (time and time again):

1. Getting into work that is WAY over my abilities (knowledge, skills, tools, or facilities)
2. Starting to fix one thing and finding three more in the process; and they just keep snowballing on me.
3. Getting too many little fix-its going. I start one, hit a roadblock, start another, and before you know it, half the car is disassembled.

 

Amazes me how some guys have had the WHOLE car apart down to the shell. Bad enough to take several areas apart. But yea, it can become a big snowball quickly.

 

When you work on cars all day long - when you get home it becomes another job.
Then when I was disabled and had to retire I couldn't do much so I worked on it as I could. I am getting a bit stronger but I can still only do limited work so it is slow going. Money is another hold up but I have most of my parts.

 

yeah it definately is a matter of driveable vs not. i have been lucky i guess though because the first 13 years i owned mine (1988 on) i drove it WAY more than i worked on it. but then it became my playtoy and i started taking it apart almost every winter now.... i may have to not do that this winter though cause there is grumbling about drive to work ratio and other projects i need to get done....

 

Don't know what you mean

 

This is as far apart as mine got.....

2002

 

ain't got a clue what he's talking about, either