Perfectionism in cars

[jframe]

On 12/14/2022 at 6:29 AM, Machine Gun said:

I've never wanted a show-quality car, or a "perfect" car for a few reasons. First, I never had the money to farm out restoration work, nor do I have the skills to do paint and body work myself. Second, I don't have the patience to lay up a car for years while I work to get it on the road. Finally, and perhaps the most important reason is that my enjoyment of having an old car comes simply from driving it. My car needs to be safe, reliable, as original as practical to maintain safety and reliability, and preserved from (further) deterioration. Now the car has to be reasonably presentable to start with. I don't want it to scare children or serve as a visual substitute for ipecac.

 

I take my Skylark everywhere: the supermarket, cruise-ins, church, Route 66, etc. And I don't park at the farthest, most desolate corner of a parking lot...I park among the plebeians. The closest to perfection I want in my car is for everything to work. If the car has an accessory that's not working, I have to fix it, regardless of whether I will use it. It's an OCD thing. I honestly appreciate and applaud those who have the desire, skill, and means to bring their cars to their standard of perfection, but I'm not sure that I'd go that route even if I could.

This makes perfect sense to me as well. My 65 Riviera gets driven as often as possible. Been down a month with a broken water crossover, and all the accessories off the engine to replace it. Buddy of mine says I need to make sure and clean the block and heads, and repaint them before I put it back together. I told him there was no sense in that because I'm going to drive it just as often as I always have. I did repaint the brackets and water crossover and so forth while they are off, but I just don't get degreasing the block and repainting a bunch of stuff that gets covered up by the accessories anyway. The car really doesn't look bad under the hood at all, it's just not PERFECT, and if it was, I wouldn't drive it, and what is the sense in that?

[Terry Wiegand]

I have gotten quite a few grins and laughs out of this topic's postings.  The terms 'show cars' and 'trailer queens' very quickly come to mind here.  I once belonged to this car club that is operated on the idea that My Checkbook is Bigger Than Yours and therefore my car is better than yours will ever be.  I personally know of several of these cars that are owned by a few members that do not even run.  They are pushed from the trailer onto the show field, they get their much sought after award, and are then pushed back into the trailer.  I personally do not see any fun in that whatsoever.  When I put our '16 Buick back together so that it could get back on the road, I tried my hardest and best to do things correctly and carefully.  Was I able to do every single thing myself? - absolutely not.  Having the engine rebuilt, having paintwork done, and having plating work completed were but a few things that I was not capable of doing myself.  When the car was finished up and finally able to be driven it was not considered to be a 'perfect' automobile and it never will be.  It is as nice as I am capable of getting it to be and we will try our hardest to take very good care of it and maintain it as best that we can.  For myself, personally, there is a huge amount of satisfaction in being able to put things back into working order and do things in such a way that the result shows the effort that went into the restoration.  I took the car to East Moline last Summer for the AACA Central Fall Meet.  It won a National Award the first and only time that it has ever been shown.  I'm pretty proud of the ol' gal for that.  I'm really not into the judging mentality like some folks are.  We simply wanted to have the car looked at just one time to sorta make sure that things were done right.  The judging folks must have liked what they saw because they gave the car some recognition.  From this point forward it is all about driving the car and having tons of fun doing that.  If you cannot drive these old vehicles what is the point.  Just one persons point of view here.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

AACA Life Member #947918

[old-tank]

7 hours ago, Terry Wiegand said:

The terms 'show cars' and 'trailer queens' very quickly come to mind here.  I once belonged to this car club that is operated on the idea that My Checkbook is Bigger Than Yours and therefore my car is better than yours will ever be.  

There you go again.  Sad!

[NTX5467]

The "checkbook issue" exists in many high-level car clubs.  I just hope that THEY get what they paid for.

 

As allegedly "bad" as the economy has been for several years now, there are LOTS of people spending over $100.00/labor hour to get their cars done.  These same people usually have about $250K of rolling stock in their driveways for daily use.  Plus live a house valued at $400K out in the country.  Living "in the country" has its own overhead in driving an hour to work, one way, each day, too.  To be sure, they accrued all of that debt when interest rates were zilch, but they still had to have some income to get the loans, anyway.  Economy must be better than the figures imply!  Far too many people getting cars done.

 

BTAIM,

NTX5467

[B Jake Moran]

On 2/9/2023 at 7:02 PM, old-tank said:

There you go again.  Sad!

NOT sad, quite valid and you know it Willie.  Look, I get it, we don't need to go down this tired old road again, and we can agree to disagree, your club is in theory all inclusive and for everyone.  But it's very existence is tied to that stupid ideology of getting a plastic trophy for a car we will likely never see again and for which the rich owner is not truly a hard core enjoyer of Buicks.  

 

I am not wasting my time and looking through the awards of the past 5-7 years in your club to see how many Gold Senior winners have since dropped out of your club after winning a trophy, which their widows will likely toss in the trash 5 more years from now.  No, they can stare at their artifact in the garage while they get even more senile.  

 

Drive your car, don't show it for awards sake. 

[old-tank]

Edited February 12, 2023 by old-tank (see edit history)

[cxgvd]

I talked with a fellow who works for RM Restorations in Blenheim, On and he told me since they won Best of Show at Pebble Beach (for the seventh time) last August the shop is busier than ever.  In March they are having a job fair to recruit more techs and are especially hoping to get high school graduates they can sign up as apprentices and train.  There is a whole world out there outside of yours.

 

Respectfully submitted, Gary