Build Thread-85 Cutlass Brougham-New Pics Added!

[Tony_SS]

Think twice about renting... you could loose all your equity within the matter of a month with some looser tenants. Plus under certain laws they may not be able to be evicted right away if they aren't paying rent... Just a word of caution.

Updated advice: Cut your losses and sell off that AMC. Liquidate all your parts too. Get the Cutlass painted and assembled already. Then park it in the garage. Fix up the house the best you can and get it ready for the market when/if you decided to sell. Any money put into it you should get it back out if done right. Its your best investment.

Next start to actively look for another job that'd make more money, even if its waiting tables. Plus you'll get the chance to meet some other girls, especially at a restaurant. Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is changing jobs, more times than not it leads to better things.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Think twice about renting... you could loose all your equity within the matter of a month with some looser tenants. Plus under certain laws they may not be able to be evicted right away if they aren't paying rent... Just a word of caution.

Updated advice: Cut your losses and sell off that AMC. Liquidate all your parts too. Get the Cutlass painted and assembled already. Then park it in the garage. Fix up the house the best you can and get it ready for the market when/if you decided to sell. Any money put into it you should get it back out if done right. Its your best investment.

Next start to actively look for another job that'd make more money, even if its waiting tables. Plus you'll get the chance to meet some other girls, especially at a restaurant. Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is changing jobs, more times than not it leads to better things.

I agree with you here. The Cutlass will be done regardless, and the house is getting the roof fixed over Christmas break when me and some friends are tearing it off and replacing it with an aluminum one. Then all I have left to make the house saleable is paint, a new valve on the pool pump (that I already have), some new screens around the pool and a bit of landscaping. The AMC needs a new engine since it has no oil pressure, but luckily I have a freshly rebuilt 360 that has sat around since 1998 (from another failed project: a 1973 Javelin AMX) that I will put in right after finishing the roof. I hope to get $2500-$3,000 for the car as a runner in the spring. I figure there is no sense selling it right now as the economy is horrible , and toys like that sell better with summer coming. No matter what these things need to be done, and done quickly. I am probably going to fail Calculus this time around because I have no time to study. I don't want another bad semester like this again.

As for waiting tables, I can't do that. I have a torn Medial Meniscus from when my knee was slammed under the dash of my Sentra in an accident 3 years ago and I can't spend too much time on my feet. I had a chance to wait tables at The Olive Garden last year, but the knee kept me from doing it. Right now I minimize the problems caused by it by trying to keep my weight down as low as possible. I weigh 200 right now but am trying to get down to 175 as the extra 25lbs does me no good. Most of the time I am fine, but there are days where I can barely walk. I got back up to about 210 and started having problems with it again, so now I am doing everything I can to get the weight back off, at least to the 180 I was down to last year ( I had been 240). For now, pizza delivery is the best money I can make. Plus, it gives me the flexibility I need with the schedule to go to school. I just can't really work more than 20 hours a week and reasonably expect to do well enough to be able to transfer to Florida's university system. I need a minimum of a 3.0 as of summer 2010 which is when I would be done with all my math, physics and chemistry courses. I want to do it faster than that which is why I want to simplify things and do basically a dual enrollment ( which lots of people do). That way, I can start on my Engineering courses while I finish my math and science at St Petersburg College. If I do that, I will not be able to work too much since the one college is 10 miles from home, the other is 30 and in Tampa.

As for Fords, I am not a brand loyalist to any one company. I like some stuff from just about everywhere. If I were to choose one brand I have been the most loyal to it would be Nissan as I have had 3 of them and only 2 Oldsmobiles and 2 AMC's. I have done work on everything and anything at one time or another. Heck, I even helped put a Lamborghini Countach back together with the guy who helped me learn how to paint. I have done more Mustang engine swaps than any other car ( probably 5 of them). I have worked on old VW's, Fiat's, Camaro's, Hondas, Toyotas, etc. I probably know more about foreign cars than domestics-which is saying a lot since I know domestics pretty well.

 

[lt1monte]

I will just restate what others have said. Your life doesnt suck, your attitude does. You cant work more than 20 hours a week? Are you kidding me? I work 40-50 hours a week and go to shool full time (16 credit hours this semester), have a girlfriend, and a project car. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and just do what you gotta do.

 

[Silent viewer]

i second that

 

[Blake442]

I third that.

You don't need to get rid of your stuff for things to change, your attitude needs to change. Otherwise you'll just be miserable in a different setting.

 

[2000.malibu.ls]

hey you know what may be a better option? take an online rush course, my dad is doing one right now, he takes 2 classes at a time for 9 weeks. idk what kinda system your taking, but if you took several rush courses you could be done allot ealier than by taking regular 12 week classes. im excited to get into engineering in 2010 when i graduate. things are gunna work out :wink: do what you feel is best and dont listen to others opinions, if your happy with your choices, who cares what anyone else thinks?

 

[custom442]

My friend has a new mustang GT, it is nice and fast as hell. I was completely surprised, it's night and day compared to the older model GT's.

Have you looked at throwing a newspaper for extra money? When I needed cash last year I got on a route, just an hour/hour and a half at night/early morning, and it pays an extra grand a month on top of your regular job. There was even a white collar guy in my region who was throwin the paper for years to make an extra 12 grand a year.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Rush courses online would not work out for me. I have ADD and need the discipline and interaction that a classroom provides. Plus, I can't sit still for that long. I am supposed to be on Adderall, but I can't afford the doctor's visit and prescription price. I also have really bad insomnia that I can't always deal with. It takes me up to 5 hours to fall asleep at night, so some nights I get only 2-3 hours of sleep. The sad thing is, the Adderall helps with my depression, ADD, and weight loss needs. Plus, I am more outgoing on it (I am almost reclusive otherwise) and I even sleep better with it. A friend of mine gave me their leftovers a few days ago because they were put on another med that works better for them. I have been on it for the last 2-3 days and it really helped me come out of the depression. Plus, I have lost weight on it too.

I am not positive I will do all of this anyhow, but I will definitely sell off the AMC and fix the house, Cutlass and truck. One good argument for doing it is that it would give me time to fulfill a dream of mine that I can't with these obligations. I want to drive from the Southernmost point in the US in Key West to the Northernmost in Alaska and back again. It would give me a chance to see this country as few have ever seen it.

 

[Coveted]

you ever consider moving? Florida is like texas nyc and cali, it has ridiculously high rents and cost of living and the wages dont back that up.

You can easily get a mortgage on a house up here for sub 500$ in a good neighborhood or out in the country. When I lived in a decent part of niagara falls, my mortgage was sub 300$ for a 4 bedroom finished basement 2 car detached garage 1000 sqft corner lot brick ranch.
I'm just throwing the idea out there if money is that tight, maybe you should look at your options.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

It's not that I can't pay the bills, it's that I need to save up right now to fix the roof, paint the Cutlass, etc. I need to work more, but that takes time away from school. Plus, it's hard to concentrate with all these projects around me. I don't want to move because I get in state tuition rates which are about 1/3 anywhere else ( about $1,000 per semester with books). Plus, here I have a support network of family and a few friends. When you have a lifelong history of major depression, being alone is not a good idea. I also know how to live cheap here in ways that only local knowledge can bring you. It will be easier for me to live with fewer distractions which is why I am thinking about selling off the crap I don't need. While I could work less than I do right now and still pay the minimum bills, I need to build up a cushion in case everything falls apart economically, the truck's engine chucks a rod, car accident puts me out of commission, etc. I am just thinking about this to make everything simpler and easier on me. You have no idea the chaos I have due to a number of things. It's chaos of my own making, but it's still chaos. I do have alternate strategies mapped out for staying here should I so choose, but the money saved will be eaten up by skyrocketing utility rates that will hit in January (150% higher water, 25% higher electric). I also have mediocre credit that I have been working on (it used to be catastrophically awful, like around a 500!) so that when things improve for me I will be able to make it better. Right now I wish I could get a refinance on my house and drop the interest rate as it is pretty high. Unfortunately the trouble in the subprime market means that I don't qualify since FHA is all I can get, but my house's need of repairs means the LTV will not conform to FHA's requirements. Had I had the credit I have now a year ago I would have had my pick of lenders wanting to do business with me on a 30 year fixed with around a 6.5% interest rate. Now, I can't really get anything. Even people with 720+ scores can't get loans. So, I may end up staying in the house because I can't sell it anyways.

Also, I can't afford the taxes in a state like New York, and I don't want to live where I have any kind of vehicle inspections. My total property and school taxes here are around $500 a year. In New York it would be far higher. There is a state income tax in NY, but not in FL. Plus, the high cost of heating a house in winter would bankrupt me. My current month's electric bill is $71, and the highest it was this year was $120. Heating oil would easily triple that. Then there is the price of Gas which is about $1.91 a gallon right now. A friend of mine in Binghamton NY pays about 30 cents a gallon more than me. I think he also pays around $3500 a year in school and property taxes. We also have a 7% sales tax where I live, in NY it's quite a bit higher (8%?). All in all it is cheaper to live in FL than NY. (BTW, I am originally from Poughkeepsie, NY)


Reading all these posts probably makes me look like more of a mess than I actually am. All I have to say is you'd have to know me for a while to get me ( even then, a lot of people don't). I haven't got too many friends, but those I do have are VERY loyal to me, with two of them considering me the best friend they have. I'm probably nothing like what people think by reading these posts or my blogs. I omit a lot of info that may hurt others or me, or that I consider extraneous. There simply is not enough space to explain all the details.