Originally Posted by
QC97Z
So I had to read back through the thread to re-familiarize myself, because it's been THAT LONG. For all of you folks that have been following this and saw me drop off the face of the Earth, I'm truly sorry for leaving you all hanging.
I ended up buying my first house (still living there) in November of 2013. Home ownership, chicks that have come and gone, bills, other motorcycles, lots of side work for other people's cars, and a job that gets tough on me have all played a part.
My place in the world has changed dramatically, as have my interests and responsibilities. I'm now sitting pretty good - emotionally, physically, financially. Took on a new position at Deere in Technical Support, where I get to help dealer techs figure out issues with machines remotely - right up my alley. There will be some travel involved too, which is great for me since I don't seem to get out much.
Any of you guys that deal with anxiety and depression - I now know exactly how you feel and what you go through. I've been there these past 6 years. To hell and back.
To catch you up on the build (YES, I will be posting pics soon), I've learned some things:
-DON'T put your trust in shops you don't know. They will screw you over. Get a hard estimate, and stick to that estimate. Get up the shop's ass if the work isn't "almost" complete and the estimate/money runs out.
-NOTHING costs what you think it will.
-There are always more than 3-5,000 ways to skin a cat when it comes to hot rod building. As soon as you think you have a plan of attack, there are tons of other ways to achieve the same goal, or someone else has done it in a way that looks cooler. Or, as soon as you get something done - you think of a cooler way yourself.
Since the last post with pics, there have been 2 major roadblocks that I've overcome.
1) Body work. I am NOT a body guy, and fiberglass is a dying art.
I've had my car to 3 body shops now. The first is in Barrington, IL (I won't mention their name, PM me if you are in that area and want to stay away from them). They took $2K of my money, had my car for over a year, and did very little with it. What they did do, ended up having to be ripped out and re-done by someone else. The guys there know what they're doing mechanically and with old stuff, they're just not really that great with custom fiberglass body fabrication. They built the trans tunnel, which turned out pretty nice. Everything else was not very good.
The second shop was much more local to me. The guy had my car for 4 months, didn't take a deposit from me, and didn't do squat with it. I ended up taking the car back and searching for another shop.
The third and final shop that actually did decent work and finished it (to the tune of about $9K.....that's another story altogether) is a Corvette specialist with custom fabricating experience. They finished the car up in a matter of a few months and it looks pretty good. It will need a bit more massaging before paint, but TONS better than anyone else. I can take it from here.
2) Title work. Illinois has extremely strict rules for titling a "custom street rod". Not only are the rules strict, but the folks in Springfield enforcing these rules aren't even totally educated on them, and everyone I talked to had a different idea of what the rules actually are and how they'd be enforced. I was actually told at one point that the car would have to have all emissions and safety systems of any 2017 vehicle if the title were to be a 2017 "street rod".
I ended up getting ahold of the manufacturer of the chassis. Being that they are a licensed automobile manufacturer AND car dealer, they were able to get me a clean title with VIN and just did a title transfer....after a couple months of emailing back and forth.
Maybe they should have mentioned they could get me a clean title from the beginning.....
So now, body work is done and I have a clean, clear, Illinois title in my name as a 1927 Ford Roadster. Sweet! Now onto some pics when I can get back into my photobucket account...
