Xoutpost.com - Distracting Toys...

Quote:

Originally Posted by srmmmm (Post 1222446)

So glad to be able to say the Firebird restoration is back underway! After nearly a two year covid and staffing delay, the shop has a technician with some Pontiac knowledge dedicated to the reassembly. Progress now includes all the harness installations, firewall components, AC compressor and front bumper components. He'll be finishing up the engine dress and transmission mating next for the engine install. We'll hopefully be road ready in October.

I posted earlier, about my distractions https://xoutpost.com/1207178-post149.html, but I would further expound upon why I never was (and won't be, in the future) able to do a full-on, quality restoration like the one above.

As a poor, retired, ex-working man, I can only drool over the resto on your Firebird...I bought a '66 Chevelle in '94, wishing to do a full resto, but never did. I went drag-racing in '96, because it was cheaper (maybe), and there's a dragstrip very near my house (I heard them racing very clearly, and it stirred my memories from the 1960's, when I raced my stock '56 Chevy, every once in a while).

The Chevelle needed some body work, and definitely paint, but I restored the interior initially (before stripping it out for roll cage & racing seats, in 2002, as I progressed to faster racing classes), and spent my time & money making it go fast in a straight line. It was a backyard project, mostly, except when I was re-building the engine(s) and using my friend's backyard shop (100+ miles round-trip away).
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In '99, still wanting a daily-driver resto, I bought a '69 Chevy C-10, and restored it mechanically, with a complete new interior (while retaining the paint & patina), but moved on from it, as it was drawing money away from my drag-racing funds, and the 10 mpg its' hi-po 355ci engine gave wasn't good for my 120+ mile-per-day commute, and was getting a bit expensive.

I halfway restored a '75 C-10 (driveline & running gear, but nothing else), and concentrated on racing my Chevelle for a few more years, until nearing either lay-offs or retirement (unsure of which would come first), I quit racing in '07-'08. After a few years without a project, I started building my 4x8 squareback camper in 2011, and have been modifying/adding-to it slowly, ever since. Camping only once or twice a year now, with barely a pittance spent on working on it anymore, it's not that expensive compared to the car resto/racing obsession.

Now retired (at 65.5 years, six years ago, having avoided the lay-off I feared), on a small fixed income (about 18% of my old income), my current/final project, the X5, has to sit by while I scrimp, save, and settle for less, as I try to fix problems and/or restore it to its' former glory. The engine/trans/cooling were mostly restored before I got it, but the minor things in the interior are just not getting done. It's a good driver, but not a "restored car", by any means. Jealous, I am!