Thread: Builders or Buyers?

Tweet

I've yet to share Don's pleasure of building one from the ground up, but perhaps one day in retirement before immobiliey takes over. I have taken a production car and customized it to my liking, only to farm out cerrtain aspects of the "build". I have also bought someone else's problem and had to re-do enough that I had thoughts that a total rebuild might actually be faster. I have also bought one that really only needed some light tweaking.

No really funny or strange stories. The only thing that really came to me as a surprise was learning how little some owners know about their cars. One of the cars I purchased, the previous owner had it for about 8 years. Soon after I got it I had called him to ask about some of the buttons, switches and wiring issues I had found. I was surprised to learn that for as long as he had the car, he knew nothing of them. Never used them, didn't know they existed or didn't know what they did. One such button was for a windshield washer. You could hear the pump, but nothing came out. He had no idea what it was or where the tank was. It didn't take me long to find the tank mounted to the frame behind the front wheel.

For eight long years this guy, periodically drove the car to local shows. Any show over 50 miles, he trailered it. The reason he sold it was because his wife hated it and it was too small for the wife and the two teenage kids. He wanted something larger. Car was garaged and marginally maintained, so in the end it was worth the small price. But makes you wonder about some owners, especially the wannabes.