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Old 05-09-2025, 10:57 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X5chemist View Post
workingonit,
No worries. I keep a spreadsheet to record parts and maintenance. I should probably delete the cost column though.
I quit keeping spreadsheets long ago, when building my dragrace Chevelle and my home-made 4x8 squareback camping trailer. In both cases, it was to hide the truth.

When building the Chevelle, I started building it at home, but my wife found my spreadsheet with costs and future costs, so I quit working on it at home and only did so at my friend's shop, 50 miles from home...out of sight and out of mind of my wife, hahaha. I just resorted to giving my friend/race car builder about $150 a week and he'd buy the parts for me (at a good discount from his ring of sources), and work off the extra costs at his shop every weekend. We'd work on my car, other cars in our race team, and those of his outside customers. The $150 I'd automatically hand over was just some overtime pay I'd always get (for most of 47 years, I was always the first one in and last one out at work, so OT was a given).

On the home-made trailer, I started it out with another spreadsheet, and kept it and the trailer in my friend's shop (after I had quit dragracing), so no worries about the wife snooping and sniping about the costs. But, about halfway through the build (after 11 months), I brought it home into my garage to finish it out (it was a completed exterior shell at the time), and I couldn't hide it anymore, so I just 'fessed-up.

Anyway, I was building it for her to use anyway. She was a member of a Bigfoot hunting group, which would travel to and camp in some wild areas, all over the country; I was wanting a safe, dry, and heated/cooled trailer to replace her crummy tent. So, I showed it to her, and continued to build it in plain sight. When finished, it was too late, as she quit Bigfoot hunting and stayed home, while I took up occasional camping instead (only about 15 days a year, max...much less time than my racing days).

Now, the trailer sits unused in the garage and the Chevelle was traded for the X5 in May of '21. No spreadsheets or secret builds anymore.



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01 BMW X5 E53,3.0i-5L40E, 7/13/01
topas-blau,Leder-grau,"resto-project car"

Here:
14 Lexus ES350,3.5L-U660E
09 HHR Panel,2.2L-4T45E
04 Chevy 2500HD,6.0L-4L80E
98 GMC Sierra 1500,5.7L-4L60E

Gone:
66 Chevelle Malibu 2dr ht.,327>441c.i.-TH350>PGlide/transbrake
08 Cobalt Coupe,2.2L-4T45E
69 & 75 C10s,350c.i.-TH350
86 S10,2.8L-700R4
73 Volvo 142,2.0L-MT4
72 & 73 VW SuperBeetles,1.6l-MT4
64 VW,1.2l-MT4
67 Dodge Monaco 500 2dr ht.,383c.i.-A727
56 Chevy 210 4dr,265c.i.-PGlide
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