Ever feel defeated by a project? T/A out of shop(s) after many years....

[JH27N0B]

Sorry to hear that but don't get down the major hard stuff is done and while it can look overwhelming your right near the finish line. The car looks great  if you don't mind me asking what town is that gator top t/a at as I just purchased one and trying to track down all the green ones thanks.i

The car is stored in Wayne someplace, I don't know where the owner is from but most likely local, Fox Valley area someplace.   The owner of the storage place said I was welcome to look at the car, if I end up storing my '71 there I will take a good look and some pictures.  I think it's F4 green.
I was interested in a B3 blue gator grain T/A at the Mecum auction in 2008.  Sold higher than I was willing to go, and just as well, had been a rust bucket, more than a few flaws in the restoration, and 2 months after the auction I was finding myself getting walked out the door with a box in my hands from work.
I wish there was something unique about my T/A, out of the 11 or 12 in the Chicago area I know, half are red! Get all the local red T/As together at the CMC spring Bartlett show and we'd outnumber the new Challenger class most likely! 

[YellowThumper]

Completion is a mindset. I also work long days. 10 a day with th 45 min commute each way. Every day (at work) I think/plan what I will touch that evening.  Still wound up from the drive I walk in put my crap down and go to the garage. Only get about a 1/2 hour before family gets home. Couple of years into this routine and all the little bits add up to big ones.
Keep plugging you will get there. As for the excessive costs, if you have already spent then there is no going back. Just look forward. Clean, detail and assemble as much as you can.
1 less chance of misplacing things if you are moving it around.
2 Car will always be worth more if you are forced to sell it.

Good luck.

[CUDA JAS]

Now I am still as passionate as ever about cars, but I am more about going out to cruises.  One doesn't need a concours show car to go to cruises!
And there are only a couple magazines I would want to be featured in, like Hemmings Muscle or Mopar Action. Maybe Muscle Car Review.  The rest are lame.  I don't know if I am in any hurry to get it all completed, I may find myself all dressed up and no place to go!

While I have never truly been in your place, I have read some good advice in this thread, take time away for awhile (I often take two weeks or more off from working on my car), send a little time on the car each day (that's what keeps me sane).

Its the above comment I keep coming back to.  While I agree, that one does not need a concourse show car to go to cruises, local or otherwise, there is nothing that says you can not take a concourse show car to a cruise!

Just think of the look on people faces as you roll in to a local cruise with that beauty. 

Oh man did you trailer that here...nope, drove it over from XXXX.      

Its a car. its meant to be driven no matter how nice they are.  I for one think that would be pretty awesome.

Will driving it devalue you it, ah maybe, but it sure ups the fun factor.

Good luck hope you finish it.

Jason

[Mopar Mitch]

Calm before the storm; dark before daylight... a passion is what this is all about....   I'm willing to help you... we live very close.. and have others available to help...  Little at a time... it'll be completed.   And you deserve it to be completed!

[djw383]

The best feeling is after moving parts from here to there, and back, when you finally put a part in its final spot on the car and you can put the check on the list that you no longer have to touch it....

[JH27N0B]

The best feeling is after moving parts from here to there, and back, when you finally put a part in its final spot on the car and you can put the check on the list that you no longer have to touch it....

One sad irony about the parts.  In recent times I had delivered parts to the shop to be reassembled on the car, things like suspension parts, dash, pedals, steering, etc.  My storage room at my house was finally starting to look less cluttered!  I could even imagine the day when I could have that bedroom back.  One of my mid term goals has been to declutter my house, do some cleaning and painting, start getting it ready for the day when I can finally sell it and move to a less crowded area in a better, lower cost state.
So a few months ago, the shop tells me that with your car about to leave here, I have some extra parts you are going to need to get out of my place.  I ask how many parts can there be?  He says, 17 boxes, plus some glass and a couple tires and wheels!!
So now I'm tripping over all these parts at home, my place is more cluttered than ever......

[djw383]

Is there anything you are positive about looking forward?

[JH27N0B]

Is there anything you are positive about looking forward?

Currently, I'm sorry to say no.  The work situation has been negative since I started there 3-1/2 years ago and is really going downhill this year.  Maybe no layoff Thursday after all, HR booked all the conference rooms that morning and by now, we know the drill all to well.  They do that when there is going to be a layoff.  But today they told us we are all to go to conference rooms at a specified time that morning, to hear a teleconference from the CEO.  We know he's not gathering us all to tell us things are great and we are all to get a big raise, I can tell you that...
Wouldn't doubt the government required advanced notice of an upcoming large layoff will be part of his spiel.
So the car situation on top of my career being on life support in recent years has left a mark. 

[70chall440]

I cannot say I have been exactly where you are but I will say that I have about 4-5 ongoing projects simultaneously; been working on my Cuda for about 10 years, have work on and had my Challenger for about 14 years. Like what has been stated here, its all a mindset; if you want this car restored to near perfect condition but do not have the expertise, time and/or money, then I think you need to perhaps look at selling/trading it for something less perfect that runs and you can drive/work on. I realize that is a sacrifice as you really want this TA, but the facts are the facts and IMO it is better to have something you are enjoying than something you aren't. Maybe good times will come back and you can revisit it. Maybe there is someone with a TA without the original drive train that would be wiling to trade.

its a beautiful car and you are going to take a loss, however you don't want to be "that guy" with a highly desirable car that you just cannot ever finish. that car needs to be out in the Mopar population being enjoyed. You need a Mopar that you can enjoy and are not worried about losing.

I am facing a somewhat similar deal in that I am thinking about quitting a decent job that is killing me, however if I do I need to find another job or sell off toys such as my Viper to survive. If I quit or got fired, bet your bottom dollar the Viper and probably the Challenger would be gone regardless of how much it hurt. As someone said, "its just a car"; a beautiful one at that but still just a car. All that said, the build party is a great idea if you have some people around you who can help.

[JH27N0B]

For the first time in a bit over 16 years, the T/A is home!
With the help of some friends including Mopar Mitch, the car was delivered in an enclosed trailer Sunday.
It was a beautiful weekend thankfully, everything came in just under the wire.  I drove my '71 out to a storage place around 20 miles west of me on Saturday.  I was sad sticking it away from home, but had to clear up the space in the garage.  Then Sunday the rig rolled up and within 15 minutes the car was safe and sound in my garage.  This weekend is MCACN, plus the weather is going from 60s last weekend to 30s and some snow.  I guess I got a little luck for a change.
Local Mopar guy and body and paint man Dave did a great job fixing the paint damage.  Still have to replace the 340 SIX PAK decal on the fender, but he was able to do the work without losing the T/A tape stripe on that fender.
He was working on it as a side job when he had some spare time, that is why it took 3 months.
I will start picking away at some reassembly this winter.  I have a little 220V electric heater in the garage but otherwise it's not heated, so I will be limited as to how much time I will be spending in the garage.  We are supposed to have warmer weather with El Nino, but that remains to be seen.
Got my work cut out for me now.  But all in all, the majority of the heavy lifting has already been done, I have to install wiring, brakes, exhaust, trim, engine stuff, and Interior, lots there, but nothing Alan couldn't most likely have done in a week. 

[JH27N0B]

Here is the other side of the car, showing the fender that got damaged.  There is a slight ridge just below the stripe in the front 4 or 5 inches from the paint repair, which you have to really look to see, but other than that, the repair seems undetectable.

[1 Wild R/T]

Give credit where credit is due.. Alan would be done in two days... 

Glad to see you got it home & your moving forward.

[JH27N0B]

Bought a new pocket camera to use at MCACN this weekend, and while trying it out this evening I took a shot of the dash.  It is an Ultimate Rides dash I got through here 6 or 7 years ago when AZ Nick who used to be a parts vendor did a group buy. My restorer uses Just Dashes.  I took my dashpad to him in spring, and a month or two later I saw him and asked him how the dash pad looked installed. He said, you want to know the truth?  LIKE SH-T!!!!!! 
I saw it in person a month later, and looking at it then, and looking at it now, I don't know WTH he is talking about.  I know many have trouble dealing with the UR guys, and there is no excuse for that.  But IMO he does a nice job on dash pads when he feels like it.  And as far as Just Dashes goes, besides their high prices, the puffiness around the VIN and the fact the Challenger script isn't chromed so you have to paint it with a silver paint pen, sort of looks like sh-t to me. 

[Got JOB]

I have a SIX PAK decal that I have had for several years, just an extra one I acquired somewhere, that is yours if you want it. Give me an address and I will mail it to you.
Ricky 

[Mopar Mitch]

Brad -- I was very happy to have been involved in helping you out... that's what friends are for!  MoPower to ya!   I'm just a phone call and ~15 minutes away!

Hey.. now I have to get my car done... let's race... who gets their car done first?... wooooha! patience!

Super T/Anks to our friend Dave Bosak (owner of Supreme Body Werks, Schiller Park, IL) for his outstanding body/paint work (and.. he's a 1000% Mopar guy!), as well as to his brother Greg Bosak for trailering the car for you (and Greg is a 1000% Mopar guy, too... and owner of Chicagoland Hobby on the NW side of Chgo... great hobby shop!).

Mopar friends -- its a "brotherhood"!