7 rules for a successful project car

Know Exactly What You’re Committing To

What’s your goal and your vision? Heavy stuff, right? We see it often. People run headlong into a project car and, after sinking a lot of time, money and cussing into it, wake up one morning with an epiphany: What the heck am I doing here? 

Then they’re stuck with a difficult decision: Sell the parts and pieces for pennies on the dollar or carry the albatross to completion. Neither option sounds fun, right? 

How about starting the process by being honest with yourself? Does this project work with your reality? Will it work with your family’s reality? Your location? Your physique? Your physique in five or 10 years? Will anyone else in this world want the car after you’re through with it? 

Does your project have a clear goal–like, simply, why do you want to build this? To go racing? To create a cool daily? To fill a hole in your heart? Because the others on the GRM forum egged you on? All valid reasons, but just make sure you’re fully on board before committing. 

Looking to tackle a project car–or planning your next one? What’s your threshold for pain? As we’ve found, some go together more easily than others. Photograph by David S. Wallens

Budget Your Money and Time

Have you priced paint lately? Or, really, anything? You’re not going into a project without setting some sort of a budget, right? Whether you’re using Excel or the back of a napkin, work out a basic budget for this endeavor–and then double it. 

And in today’s fluctuating market conditions, do you have contingency plans? What if key components get more expensive, experience delivery delays, or simply disappear from the market? Then what? What’d we learn in scouting? Be prepared. 

We tend to work with trusted partners we can trust–and yes, trust is purposely mentioned twice in that sentence. There’s a reason we have certain friends, shops and vendors on speed dial, for example. (And when the GRM forum isn’t fueling the Bad Decision Triangle, it can offer helpful info, too.)

The other part of that all-important budget: time. How about working toward debuting the car at some sort of an event–could be a major race or just a local show–and working backward from there. Set due dates for completing the major steps, and of course, don’t forget to celebrate those achievements. (Treat yourself.)

How’d you like to take a shortcut to summertime drives over years spent in the shop? Would you get more enjoyment out of the car by simply buying a good one that you can start enjoying now? 

Yes, the buy-in will likely be higher, but can that cost be justified by being able to enjoy it today instead of building it tomorrow? Some people prefer the thrill of the build, but many of us would just like to get out there and drive. 

Read the Rules

Building a race car? Have you read the rule book? And how set in stone is that rule book? Nothing worse than getting halfway through a multi-year build to encounter a rule change that renders your car uncompetitive before it even hits the ground–or even worse, makes it ineligible to take the green. 

Something else to consider: What can you commit regarding time and money? And do you have trusted friends and family who can help, too? Photograph by David S. Wallens

Make Space and Insure the Car

Where are you going to build this? We’ve seen some cool dorm and apartment parking lot builds, but that’s not always ideal. 

You have a dedicated workspace, right? And if you’re starting from scratch, flip ahead for tips on turning a typical two-car garage into a productive home shop. We’ve built some cool cars out of seemingly humble workspaces. 

Even while the car is apart and not running, is it properly insured? Why do you care? What if something really bad happens? Your homeowner’s insurance isn’t likely to cover your disassembled project, yet specialty insurance–check with the classic car carriers–will often cover a non-runner. They might insure your tools and equipment, too.

Buy What You Can Handle

We all know the hero stories about a guy who dragged home a car that had once caught fire and was put out with rust–and totally resurrected it to showroom condition. 

Do you have the skills, time and connections to do the same? If the answer is somewhere between “perhaps, if I get lucky” and “no way, bro,” then how about following some sage advice offered earlier: Start with the best example possible. You’ll pay more at buy-in but increase the odds for success. 

What do your personal skills look like–and what are you willing to learn? Can you weld and fabricate or are you more comfortable bolting things together? Photograph by Chris Tropea

Start a Routine and Make Checklists

How to get to that finish line? Are you willing and able to put hands on the car for half an hour each day? (If the answer is no, then a major project might not be for you.)

Don’t forget to budget time for the all-important sorting, too. There’s a big difference between a car that’s fully sorted–absolutely zero issues–and one that’s 95% of the way there. Fix that clunking exhaust, sticky throttle and loose driver’s seat before they have the chance to sour the entire experience. 

Checklists and notes are your friends. Make those lists visible, too–maybe on a big whiteboard in the garage?–so everyone knows what’s going on. There’s nothing worse than blowing up your new engine because no one checked the ignition timing before that first shakedown session. 

Check In With Yourself

Take a few to periodically reassess things. Has your vision or life situation changed? Is the project still heading where you want it to go? Is this what you really want to own? Can you accept one more heartbreak? Are you fully committed to taking this one to the end zone? 

Make sure this project is still for you, and don’t be afraid to abort. Know when to punt so you don’t spend good money after bad. 

And as we said earlier, don’t forget to celebrate those achievements. This should all be fun.

Be true to yourself, too. We’ve done cool, rewarding project cars that didn’t involve a mill, lathe and hours of fabrication. The big goal? Keep it all enjoyable. Photograph by David S. Wallens