I have 2 of them actually. They’re both safe in my attic.
If I had to start over...
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Lucky for me I had a lot of lesson's learned from other project vehicles I've had in the past that I was able to avoid lot of the pitfalls some folks fall into with project vehicles. But the biggest mistake I made wasn't spending $300 to fly down to Texas before buying my car and having it shipped (I'd bought cars and bikes over the internet before with good luck, but this time there were a lot of undisclosed issues with the car), I still probably would've bought the car with the issues but could've probably saved at least a grand over what I paid; c'est la vie.
Another thing I'd do over again is break in my engine on the engine Dyno and then tune it at a chassis dyno immediately after installing it. Would've saved me a lot of headaches; trying to save money by not using the Dyno cost me lots of time, time in the garage trouble shooting and downtime of the car. The only parts regret I have is that I would've never bought the Cold Case Radiator and fans, the extra cost wasn't worth the hassle and the fans were not adequate to cool a stock 350 let alone a beefed up 403.
Not sure I'd really have started with a different car or anything like that as I wanted to build the car into what I wanted the car to be. For some guys buying a complete car that's mint or already restored is actually cheaper in the long run than buying something that needs pretty much everything. I threw a catalog of parts at my car but the car is almost exactly how I want it. Even with all the money I spent on parts I don't think I could buy a car like mine for any less than I have spent on it (with the current insanity anything even close would probably cost more). There's the whole time investment thing, but what else was I gonna do in late evenings? Watch TV? LOL
Another thing I'd do over again is break in my engine on the engine Dyno and then tune it at a chassis dyno immediately after installing it. Would've saved me a lot of headaches; trying to save money by not using the Dyno cost me lots of time, time in the garage trouble shooting and downtime of the car. The only parts regret I have is that I would've never bought the Cold Case Radiator and fans, the extra cost wasn't worth the hassle and the fans were not adequate to cool a stock 350 let alone a beefed up 403.
Not sure I'd really have started with a different car or anything like that as I wanted to build the car into what I wanted the car to be. For some guys buying a complete car that's mint or already restored is actually cheaper in the long run than buying something that needs pretty much everything. I threw a catalog of parts at my car but the car is almost exactly how I want it. Even with all the money I spent on parts I don't think I could buy a car like mine for any less than I have spent on it (with the current insanity anything even close would probably cost more). There's the whole time investment thing, but what else was I gonna do in late evenings? Watch TV? LOL
More good advice from somebody with real world experience. I’ll be shopping elsewhere. Buyer beware…
You got that right! My non-G project Pinto quit running 25 years ago, I pushed it into the garage and said "someday" I'll fix it. Well, it took 25 years for "someday" to arrive. I finally started "fixing" it this last summer. Parts would have been a lot easier to acquire 25 years ago than they are now.
I would've started on the car hobby at 12 years old rather than playing sports that destroyed my body which dictated my career path.
I've been at this game a REALLY long time. 40+ years. So I made thousands of mistakes in my younger years and I've also learned that I STILL make lots of mistakes.
Case in point, my wagon; I've always told myself to start with the best piece I could afford. Since this car was only going to be my year round beater and sole winter driver, I didn't want to pay up too much. But when I saw a California body with a freshly rebuilt engine and transmission and a brand new custom dual exhaust system, pop up on Craigslist......
..... I let that cloud my judgement that this car was an unfinished project started by someone I didn't know. He claimed it was all dialed in and ready to go minus a wonky carb. I went about 2X over my original budget. I could tell it was going to need some work to get it to the level that I needed it to be: proven and reliable, but not a beauty queen. What I ended up with was a California body, with a freshly rebuilt engine that leaked oil like a sieve, the wiring was like spaghetti, the radiator was held in with zip ties, the fuel line was 3ft of rubber hose zip-tied to the front sway bar, the transmission didn't have the converter seated correctly and wiped out the pump in short order, a floor shifter that argued over space with the speedometer cable which was disconnected, and that brand new exhaust system was the LAST thing done to the car because it was in the way of everything. I couldn't even drop the starter when I needed to, and try removing a TH-400 trans with an X-Pipe in the way.
Over time, (way longer than I originally anticipated) I was able to correct all the problems with the car and it has become a fun and reliable driver. But I learned I will never buy a half-finished project car again unless it was from someone I knew really well, or it would already have to be completely dialed in.
Case in point, my wagon; I've always told myself to start with the best piece I could afford. Since this car was only going to be my year round beater and sole winter driver, I didn't want to pay up too much. But when I saw a California body with a freshly rebuilt engine and transmission and a brand new custom dual exhaust system, pop up on Craigslist......
..... I let that cloud my judgement that this car was an unfinished project started by someone I didn't know. He claimed it was all dialed in and ready to go minus a wonky carb. I went about 2X over my original budget. I could tell it was going to need some work to get it to the level that I needed it to be: proven and reliable, but not a beauty queen. What I ended up with was a California body, with a freshly rebuilt engine that leaked oil like a sieve, the wiring was like spaghetti, the radiator was held in with zip ties, the fuel line was 3ft of rubber hose zip-tied to the front sway bar, the transmission didn't have the converter seated correctly and wiped out the pump in short order, a floor shifter that argued over space with the speedometer cable which was disconnected, and that brand new exhaust system was the LAST thing done to the car because it was in the way of everything. I couldn't even drop the starter when I needed to, and try removing a TH-400 trans with an X-Pipe in the way.
Over time, (way longer than I originally anticipated) I was able to correct all the problems with the car and it has become a fun and reliable driver. But I learned I will never buy a half-finished project car again unless it was from someone I knew really well, or it would already have to be completely dialed in.
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Sadly, the reason many of these become available anymore - someone cutting their losses when shoveling money isn’t the thrill it was at fist.
My Cutlass has never been a disabled project so I don't really have any regrets there. I've had plenty of others over the years though and my approach has evolved as I've aged. I've been working on my '35 pickup off and on for almost 22 years. Apparently I'm that old guy I used to read about in Street Rodder magazine that finally finished his high school ride after the marriage, house, kids, career, etc. I couldn't comprehend what took so long when I was 17. Totally get it now. Hoping to be drivable next summer.
Nah, man. The Judge is awesome. I wasn't paying attention for 15 years and didn't even know the TBSS was a thing until last year...
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