Need a new Spark for the hobby

[FatJohnny]

It's been a LONG time since I posted on RRT. As a matter of fact the last time I posted was on the old RRT. When the new RRT was created, I applied for an ID and password but for some reason it does not work but recognizes it.

Anyway, as we grow older in life our priorities change and sometimes we put our hobbies aside. This has happened to me when I bought an old house in Novemeber 2001. Since the house purchase, my cars have "slept" in my garage w/o much use. I spend 100% of my free time renovating the house room by room.  

There are times I open the garage door and stare at my cars and wonder when I will have time and the desire to drive them again and attend the car shows that me and my friends once did almost every weekend during the summer.  After a few minutes of dreaming of the old times, it's off to working around the house. Some of my friends  tell me to sell my cars, but I spent 2 years of my sweat and blood building each car from rust buckets to shinning painted metal.

I guess my question to the group is as follows: What does it take to ingite the old spark again? The end of summer is fast approaching.

John
New Jersey

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[donsrods]

I know exactly what you mean. I look at my roadster sitting in the garage, torn down 6 years ago for a rebuild, and wonder why I haven't had the desire to get on it and start driving it again.  I think our lives change, and we take on different responsibilities and interests, and shelve some things in the meantime.

For me, I think the reason was two-fold.  I got burned out on cruises and shows for one thing.  You can only have the same conversation and see the same people week after week for so long before it gets old. I was President of our local club, and it was the worst non-paying job I ever had in my life.  Nice people, but it took so much of my time I had none left for my family or me.

Secondly, I went through a bad divource  after being married for 28 years, and after a year I met a great lady and got involved with her.  We did other things, like ride bikes every Monday, go to movies, traveled, etc. So my rod sort of was secondary.

But as for what spark rekindles the interest, I think it happens when we are ready.  I am now starting to get stoked about the new modified I am building, and will probably drive it every day as I did the '27 for 5 or so years.  I am getting a little tired of building cars, and just want to drive one again, so that is the spark for me.

The fact that you are asking shows you are leaning that direction. Maybe you just need to start going to a few cruises and shows and get reinterested enough to blow the dust off.  Don't sell them, because the money will go for shrubs or something else, and the cars will be forever gone. (been there on that one, too)


Don

[phat rat]

What did you like the most before you put the cars up? Driving or going to shows and cruises? For me it's the driving, I've put 22,000 mi on my cpe since I got it back on the road 8/2/04 after being in an accident with it. As far as shows and cruises I only go to the bigger shows (NSRA or Goodguys) once or twice a summer I'll go to a cruise. I get bored easily and I would rather be driving and seeing the country then sitting in a chair at a cruise or small show where that's all there is too do.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I get bored easily and I would rather be driving and seeing the country then sitting in a chair at a cruise or small show where that's all there is too do.

Some what explains why I bought a motorcycle in late 2003.  We have spent a bit of time riding to no-where & back.  Simply seeing the country side.


With retirement 6.5 yrs away , every time I sit down and figure out would I need to buy for a car project to move forward on it.......... I start thinking :" Should I spend the money or hang on to it?"

Then I start thinking about selling 2 or 3 cars..... that would generate about 800 bux........ LOL

[FatJohnny]

Thanks for the replies:

phat rat, you ask what I liked before I put the car up. My answer: Tinkering, welding, building. I am the type of person where I must be doing something to the cars. I get bored very easily sitting in a parking lot at most of the local cruise-ins. Big shows are different since there is usually more to do than sit in a chair and roast under the summer sun. Other than that, I must be doing something to the car to keep my interest.

John
New Jersey

[donsrods]

I used to say I liked building them better than driving them, but now that I am getting older I have revised that thinking.  Lifting hundreds of pounds of steel has less appeal than it once did.        


Don

[58 Yeoman]

I bought the '41 Pontiac in 2000, got the frame mostly done; time to start on the body.  I bought my house in '99, and like others, it needs work.  I've been sidelined doing other things, and stuff gets piled on top of the Poncho.  When I DO get time to work on it, I look at all that stuff that has to be moved, and it kills the urge.  I've got to get started on removing all the stuff, so when I get a chance, I can just jump in and work on the car.

Someone on a website somewhere that I frequent has the tag line:

Life is what happens when you're making other plans.

I think truer words were never spoken.

[alchevy]

I enjoy driving my car (over 20,000 miles since July, 2003). Going to local car shows and cruise nights is fun. I got into this hobby when a lot of the guys were going all of the time. Now-a-days folks have more responsibilities with family and with jobs and so the car hobby has to be put on the back burner. It seems like back then, everyone had more time to go to car shows every weekend. Maybe what happened too is with the internet, we know where more car shows are at. Sometimes you have to flip a coin to see where to go because there might be 5 different ones within 200 miles of me. Then too, as you meet people and make friends, you try to support their car shows and cruise nights.
When my car got on the road in July 2003, I drove it around town and to a larger city about an hours drive away. Then two weeks later, I drove it to Louisville for it's first Nats trip. Went to 4 other car events that year in it. In 2004, I drove it to 15 car events throughout the year. In 2005, I drove it to about 5 because I had to do a few things to it that year. This year, I have driven it to about 5 so far.
People talk about the high cost of gas to fuel these rods to get to shows and that some of the larger ones are going to see a downward trend in numbers. I don't think so after returning from Louisville this year. There were more cars there than last year. A group of regulars that are usually with me were not there and we had about 5 rookies there with us that will be back driving something next year. So if the folks that didn't make it there this year and the folks that did come next year, it could be a record year. I know that as I checked out of the hotel, I grabbed the last three rooms they had for next year!
When I first got into the car hobby, back in 1996, I had a 1981 Chevy Stepside Pickup (still have it). I joined a local car club and joined in their activities. Even became their president for a year. I wrote their newsletter, updated their website, and kept them informed about what was going on. Then I started keeping up with another club's site. Then I started keeping up another club's site. Then I that second club made me a full member and I later on started writing their newsletter. I had to drop off that third club's site task. I was going to a lot of car shows and taking lots of pictures of cars. Then since I was familar with how different car clubs do their car shows, the first club would ask me questions about how others did things. So I started telling them since they asked. Then this year, it rained on our car show. We gave out some really nice door prizes, had 54 registered cars, paid all of our bills, gave $1,000 to the Red Cross local chapter for hurricane relief, and everyone that came had a nice time even though they were rain soaked and they could see that we had a lot of things planned, but the rain changed things so we had to make do the best we could. Well, all of this did not sit well with the ones in charge of the club, so they dreamed up this plan to change things. Decided that they were going to move the car show to the city convention center that was going to cost over $5,000 to rent for the weekend. When they went and talked to the convention center, they were told that the conv. ctr. would come up with the funds to rent it. They passed out some information on what they had come up with at a meeting trying to figure out why the club exist, who's our customer, etc...and asked us to read over the information and come back with comments. So I took it home and read it and typed up a list of comments I had and e-mailed them back to the board. The meeting the night before was the last one I went to and several of the members had boycotted it because they knew what was going to be discussed. We spent 2 hours arguing over what the club was there for and then when we came to an agreement, it pointed us right back to (what I and several others had told them) what was written in the bylaws 20 years ago. To enjoy cars and have fun with them and keep the hobby going for future generations. Well, someone read me an e-mail that the president wrote and sent out saying that I was a negative person. After I got home from work that day, I decided to quit the club, a few hours later the president responded to my comments and said that those were details, that I was jumping too fast. I wrote back and told them that I had decided to resign before this reply came back. I quit and more have since and we are just going to get together and have fun and help each other with our cars and go places together. Well, since then, word has come that they went to sign a contract with the conv. ctr. and guess what? The club is responsible for the over $5,000 to rent the conv. ctr. So now they know what details are!

I am still a member of the second club and write their newsletter and update their site and my small group of negative folks are having fun again!

[phat rat]

Fat Johnny I like to work on a project and hunt parts also. I've got a project going most of the time. Right now it's a 38 Ford pu and extending my car trailer 8'.  But I don't let it interfere with the enjoyment of driving the cpe. So what about getting your car back on the road and having one for a project?

40chevy, that's why I no longer belong to a car club, got sick of all the * and everybody sitting on their duff. Living here in the north our cars get put up for 4-6 months every year so when the car is out I make the best of it. So that 22,000+ was put on in about 16 months.

[Carps]

It's been a LONG time since I posted on RRT. As a matter of fact the last time I posted was on the old RRT. When the new RRT was created, I applied for an ID and password but for some reason it does not work but recognizes it.

Welcome back, I think this may just be step one to reigniting the old flame.

Anyway, as we grow older in life our priorities change and sometimes we put our hobbies aside.

Some of us learn the hard way and end up with our hobbies being the one think that helps keep us alive.   Statistics show that many retirees drop off the perch within two years of retirement from full time work.  However, the same statistics show that people who are active with a great hobby, usually live to a ripe old age because their hobby helps keep them alive and provides a reason to wake up each morning.

This has happened to me when I bought an old house in Novemeber 2001. Since the house purchase, my cars have "slept" in my garage w/o much use. I spend 100% of my free time renovating the house room by room.

My old house is nowhere near as well maintained as the garage.     Seriously, there's things in life that are a grind and things that we allow to take over and control our lives whilst the things that give us pleasure are often ignored.  I'm one of the lucky ones who derives a mountain of pleasure from my day job, so it may appear to some that my hobby has suffered or it's taken way too long to finsih my projects.  Reality is, they've always been there and I've 'tinkered' when the time has been available but I've never ever even considered walking away from it.  I think the fact that your cars remaain in your garage sugggests you have no desire to walk away, moreso your problaem is with balancing your time and maybe finances to allow you to enjoy restoring your old hous and participating in your other passion.

Nothing to be concerned about, it happens to us all.  Just need to work out how to do both without sacrificing anything else.

There are times I open the garage door and stare at my cars and wonder when I will have time and the desire to drive them again and attend the car shows that me and my friends once did almost every weekend during the summer.

Instead of staring at them, just crank one up and take it for  blast around the block.  I was up early this morning and did just that, the experience was envigourating and now the same car is in the shed jacked up with tools on the floor as my early morning jaunt has encouraged me to fix a couple of things that are not quite right.

After a few minutes of dreaming of the old times, it's off to working around the house. Some of my friends  tell me to sell my cars, but I spent 2 years of my sweat and blood building each car from rust buckets to shinning painted metal.

Just as the cars have waited, so too will the work around the house.  Sounds to me like you're a bit depressed and your freinds telling you to sell your cars is not making you feel any better.  Depression is a worse disease than cancer, but it's much easier to cure.  Just got to bite the bullet and do something that makes you feel good about yourself, like driving your hot rod or heading out for an early morning coffee and doghnut session with a few like minded buddies.  The housework will still be there when you get home but not doing it right now won't kill you.

I guess my question to the group is as follows: What does it take to ingite the old spark again? The end of summer is fast approaching.

Don't wait for the end of summer, just get in your car now and drive round to visist a like minded buddy.  You don't have to take all day, but if it takes all day, so be it.  You'll feel much better and maybe have the desire to do it again soon.

[terrarodder]

If you need a big show to get you started, try the WOT show,over 2000 rods an customs. Its located in Macungie Pa. not far from NJ. 78 east to 100 south can't miss it.