Tim-
What motivates people, you ask? Well, there are as many answers to that personal query as there are people, really.
Tons of great answers given here so far, too.
I hesitate to tell my tale because a lot of folks here have heard the story to death by now, but ok, you asked:
I've been a shadetree type since I was a kid. That all started by a boy just wanting to hang with his dad as much as possible since he worked so much and wasn't around a lot - and since my dad came from dirt poor roots, he had learned by his teens to pretty much field strip and rebuild anything mechanical, so I took to that honestly too.
I've pretty much had Mopars (with a very few exceptions) most of my life, too, the result of being bitten by the bug in high school by a friend who bought his dream car, a '70 Challenger T/A.
There was a big gap of years when life went on, what with marriages (plural), kids, all that jazz, where I had to give up my increasingly expensive hobby in order to be responsible. I always had a Mopar sitting in a garage or barn or wherever, but it was a project in every sense, too.
Well, about 7 years ago after all the dust had cleared, I had my mid-life crisis and became hellbent on getting back in the Mopar game, only to find that the hobby had gotten sooooo expensive while I was gone....
it was quite deflating, to say the least.
Not to be deterred, though - and once my mind is set on something, I'm doggedly determined.
MOTIVATED.
This was going to happen, hell or high water...
The answer? As others have posted, I sought to find a car that was as complete as I could afford, preferably with the things already done I knew I couldn't do, namely body and paint. I'd do the rest as necessary, learning and re-learning along the way.
The car secured, I took out a loan for a budget I felt I could handle and started fetching parts and going through the car, all the while
reading and watching everything I possibly could.
I got a factory service manual (FSM) for the car and dug up old service manuals and such (Motor, Chiltons, etc.) and read like crazy.
Keep in mind, I no longer lived where my car guy friends did, so I was on my own, too, just like you - but if you're like me, if you see someone do it in a video or read the steps involved in a manual, you figure you can do it, too - because YOU CAN.
As they say around here, ain't no hill for a stepper.
Then I got tired and sick, progressively worse with time....and eventually was diagnosed with cancer.
And then the
second time.... got back up, and...
then again the
third time, which almost did me in. In fact, by that point I had been flatline three times already.
This left me in pretty sorry shape with a LOT of time on my hands, under doctors' orders to literally do NOTHING for a couple months.
Every time I'd try to get up and go, I'd injure myself and set the process back - but I can't simply do nothing. It's not in me, and now I got past the feeling sorry for myself stage pretty quickly and got
mad.
Not only had I managed to survive three times already, but I was staring at tons of unfinished business and a prognosis of probably even
more cancer to come. In other words, I'd had my two minute warning and the clock was ticking.
Time to
MOVE. The
motivation became not that of a fun hobby, but to not leave a mess for my wife to have to deal with should I kick the bucket.
So, when she'd go off to work in the morning, I'd sneak off to the garage and tinker with the GTX.
The car was rust-free and fairly shiny, but mechanically it was all there but none of it was right. At all.
Since I had all these stitches and missing parts of me and zero energy, the
motivation became small and manageable mini-projects that took small amounts of time and energy. The overall goal of "finished" went to the back of my mind and each little bit of the car I targeted came to the forefront - the fuel lines, the wiring to the rear of the car, the door panel replacements, getting the horns to work, getting the instrument panel to work, etc. etc.
Baby steps, not worrying about the end game.
When you do it that way, the
motivation is easy to stay with. You get
instant gratification as each mini-project step is achieved.
Keep that up long enough and one day, you look up and it occurs to you that you've made real
progress that you could see - and that pipe dream of finishing the car becomes more possible to you, day by day.
If help or money wasn't available to do this bit of the car now, I set it aside and did another part I DID have what was needed to do it.
Hardest part for me was developing
patience. I'm a type A personality, so that was really hard - but since it was thrust upon me the hard way, I figured out how to work with it.
This went on for the better part of 6-7 years. Yes,
years.
Another physical malady would present itself, hold me back a bit, then I'd come charging right back at it when I could because, you know,
tick-tock...
Engines came and went, sometimes swapped by myself (that's nuts). Gas tanks were installed, then taken out and fixed and put back in again. Cooling systems were sorted, then re-sorted, then totally replaced again.
The car was presented to the public as "done", only to be retrieved and things changed again when they weren't to my liking.
In and out of more hospitals. Other parts swapped on the car and taken out of me....
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
The
goal was never lost sight of. The
motivation never wavered - FINISH the damn car before, well, I was finished myself.
Don't leave the wife with a mess - a "project" car to deal with....
Then one day, it happened...
It occurred to me, after the thousandth test drive to see if I had gotten something right on the car, I got it back in the garage and all those years, all that $$$ and effort, all that G-D
suffering and pain lifted off my shoulders like a huge weight.
I came in the house, all nasty and greasy, slumped into this very chair and said to my wife simply:
"it's done".
Of course, she'd been along for the whole roller coaster of my croaking and living and dying again and spending countless hours in the garage and seen the toll the whole process had on me - and she'd also seen me declare the car fit for driving before, too.
This time was
different, though.
I knew it - and after cleaning up enough to take her for a drive, she did too.
Final motivational point: when you get to that day when the car drives like it should, it will be freaking GLORIOUS, brother. Absolutely mind-blowingly GLORIOUS.
Of this, I promise!
A lot of these guys on this very forum have been along for the ride and have been of ENORMOUS help and encouragement over the years. Several have contributed parts, many more advice and consultations.
USE THEM.
This place is a freaking WELL of information on these cars and these guys give it willingly and cheerfully.
Read up, do searches on here.
Somebody has already been through what you are now already and has written about it.
This is IMPORTANT:
The more you show you're willing to help yourself, the more others will be willing to help you, too.
You can do this. Others have come before you, with less abilities, less brain matter, less bucks, in lesser environments and done it.
You can too.
Get on with it.
Oh, P.S.: I just beat cancer again for the 4th time this last July.
**** cancer.
I "celebrated" by getting an antenna to fit the car and getting the radio to work.
