Beware of really nice cars at the shows. They will send you down the path of despair that Hotrock is trying to help you avoid
yep keep your goals realistic. tackling smaller chunks keeps the mind busy and tricks it into not seeing how much is left to do. lol also.. NEVER underestimate the effect that "parts mock ups" have on the mind. Some of my older "wiser" friends used to drive me nuts when we were working on their projects together as they'd spend just as much time.. if not more.. test fitting and mocking up parts just to stand back see what it will look like in the end. To me it seemed like an endless smoke/beer break much of the time. Engine builders can be even worse that way. lol As I got older I realized that was a simple trick to keep the determination levels up and get the creative juices flowing strong enough to keep pushing forward. These days I do it just about every time I feel those juices start drying up. Works every single time and I get caught up to the point of not even wanting to stop and eat supper. Not that I couldn't stand to miss a meal or two after this winter.
I was also lucky enough to find Maverick and Comet Enthusiasts near me. Being able to visit, share, e-mail and swap parts and labour has been instrumental in me getting as far as I have. For me it was things like my 5-lug rear end (traded for my 4-lug) from a local Maverick guy, front spindles from @Ian164 , heater box parts from @goldnrod , many parts and countless hours worth of bouncing ideas off of @77comet , just to name a few of the local guys. Nobody can do it completely on their own! Buuild a network. The internet is good, but you can't build a car on the Internet. USE the Internet to network and then use that Network to help get your project on the right track!! you'll be surprised at how many Maverick/Comet enthusiasts there are around you once you start looking and talking to people at shows, etc.
You are in Philly? I was just thinking last night it's a shame no maverick owners are nearby. Speaking of networking... I'm near Cherry Hill in NJ. right across the bridge!
Yeah, that'd be nice. I've never seen another maverick before that wasn't rusting away in a junkyard, so it would be cool to see yours sometime. This might not help in your situation, but the way I deal with project creep is to get the car "good enough" to drive, and set away a few months to work on it. Most of the time it's drivable, and I do small projects that might only have it down a few days, or even as much as a week at a time, and drive it the rest of it. It's usually winters, since salt+maverick=rust. Even so, all work and no driving during those months does get old, but having that spring deadline does help. Little chunks at a time, like the others said, is key. I realize this is not realistic for some bigger projects though, and it sets a "finished" time way back, but if I can't drive it, I lose interest.
