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Opinion: One nicely restored Mopar or a yard full of projects?

Thing is: If they're inside and protected from deteriorating further I can absolutely respect and agree with that.
I think the thing is if you have at least one driving and even decent looking car everything else is livable as well. What I have not been able to understand over the decades is when a fellow has all beaten down project cars, does no work on any of them at all and does not even have one that drives. That situation is in a different league altogether. Of course it doesn't matter to me what someone else does, it's just not what I myself would find any joy in.
 
I own more than one nicely restored car and if I had the room, might consider a project too. But never multiple projects.
I think most people with multiple project cars never get them done. So they just sit, never to see the light of day again until someday they show up at an estate sale.
A recent related story on this subject comes to mind.
In the early 80s I was driving my T/A to a part time job, when a guy in a VW flagged me down and asked me if I wanted to buy window louvers for it. I got his number and went to his place later to buy them. He had a cuda project in his garage he boasted was a real hemi cuda he bought recently for $850, with a 383 in it.
30 years later, I told the story to a local car enthusiast and barn find researcher, and he said he knew the car I spoke of, the same guy still had it, and he had the #s block but the cuda owner didn’t want to buy it for some reason.
Recently he posted the hemi cuda was “stolen” along with several other cars the guy had, including a V code and a T/A.
I asked around and learned the guy died, had cars in storage and no immediate family. Then apparently the storage owner died too. The estate arranged to get liens on them for unpaid storage and later sold apparently. Then someone tracked down the late guys relatives and told them the cars were valuable, so they tried unsuccessfully to get them back, thus now calling them “stolen”.
So the takeaway is that the guy I met in 1982 never restored his hemi cuda and it sat in storage 40+ years. And he bought more projects over the years he never got to.
Then he died and now there’s bad feelings and who knows what’ll happen with the cars, hopefully they are in good hands now getting long overdue attention.
His hoarding projects did no one any favors including the rare cars. Some refer to themselves as rare car’s caretakers not owners. You’re not a good caretaker stashing a project forever not working on it.
 

Opinion: One nicely restored Mopar or a yard full of projects?​


Why not both?
If you have the room and free time, I think it is great to have both. Nothing that I have is rare or super high dollar. The weather here is fine so sitting outside causes no harm.
The red car isn't "restored" to factory condition but it is painted, updated and reliable. If this were the only classic car that I had, I'd go bonkers. I can't limit myself to washing and maintenance. It is my nature to need multiple activities to keep from getting bored. Out back, I have 4 other projects, 3 that run and drive reliably. I'm always moving between mechanical stuff, wiring, interior, engine builds, brakes and lately, retrofitting 3 point shoulder belts into rear seats.
This is what I have done for years. I love this stuff.
 
For me it is working well having a nice one to drive and another one for a project.
 
I have one pretty nice one and one not quite so nice. I like them both. I was thinking of selling both my cars and I could get 1 real nice one but I don't have the patience or energy to keep it that way and the last thing I would want is a trailer queen.
 
toolmanmike said:
I have one pretty nice one and one not quite so nice. I like them both. I was thinking of selling both my cars and I could get 1 real nice one but I don't have the patience or energy to keep it that way and the last thing I would want is a trailer queen.
Click to expand...
Coelacanth said:
The question wasn't if you'd prefer one nice car AND one (or multiple) projects, it was to choose one or the other. :)
Click to expand...
And I kind of answered that in my last sentence.
 
Coelacanth said:
I wasn't only replying to you. ;) To the guys who say they wanted multiple nice cars and a bunch of projects. Makes the topic a moot point.
Click to expand...
Ok. I’ll choose. I’ll take the bunch of projects. Sooner or later I’ll have at least one nice one
 
XS22J8R said:
I own more than one nicely restored car and if I had the room, might consider a project too. But never multiple projects.
I think most people with multiple project cars never get them done. So they just sit, never to see the light of day again until someday they show up at an estate sale.
A recent related story on this subject comes to mind.
In the early 80s I was driving my T/A to a part time job, when a guy in a VW flagged me down and asked me if I wanted to buy window louvers for it. I got his number and went to his place later to buy them. He had a cuda project in his garage he boasted was a real hemi cuda he bought recently for $850, with a 383 in it.
30 years later, I told the story to a local car enthusiast and barn find researcher, and he said he knew the car I spoke of, the same guy still had it, and he had the #s block but the cuda owner didn’t want to buy it for some reason.
Recently he posted the hemi cuda was “stolen” along with several other cars the guy had, including a V code and a T/A.
I asked around and learned the guy died, had cars in storage and no immediate family. Then apparently the storage owner died too. The estate arranged to get liens on them for unpaid storage and later sold apparently. Then someone tracked down the late guys relatives and told them the cars were valuable, so they tried unsuccessfully to get them back, thus now calling them “stolen”.
So the takeaway is that the guy I met in 1982 never restored his hemi cuda and it sat in storage 40+ years. And he bought more projects over the years he never got to.
Then he died and now there’s bad feelings and who knows what’ll happen with the cars, hopefully they are in good hands now getting long overdue attention.
His hoarding projects did no one any favors including the rare cars. Some refer to themselves as rare car’s caretakers not owners. You’re not a good caretaker stashing a project forever not working on it.
Click to expand...
Here's one that a buddy found. Previous owner started in the 80s
20251101_175450.jpg
 
68BabyBlue said:
My wife made the decision for me back in late 1979, when I bought her a brand new daily driver, took my old Valiant back, and retired my first GTX from daily driving. She said if I wanted to stay married, I was limited to one non daily driving vehicle. In later years I got around this by storing a second GTX at the shop that did the maintenance on my Peterbilt. Owner was also a GTX guy, owned a nice '67. When I retired, I cut back to just one. Married 48 years. One nicely restored car, that also gets driven.
View attachment 1942645
Click to expand...
Very, very nice. ( And that car looks good as well. )
 
I'll take a yard full of projects over one car all day long--- IF---- I have the money to actually make progress on the projects. If you're saying a yard full of projects I can't work on... then I'll take the one nice car all day long and go for a drive.
 
Some people really like the process of building a car.
I do. I enjoy the hunting for parts, sometimes making non stock stuff work where it was not intended, Taking a pile of parts and getting them to all work together...
But, I also like to drive.
It is great to take a car that you've had apart and were skilled enough to reassemble and it RUNS and drive it on a 1000 mile road trip without a breakdown.
 
At current age? I would have to take one nice car. Besides, my mind would all but short circuit with a bunch of very decent candidates. That's one of the fantasy finds. A widow who wants out from a property that her late husband's accumulation of project cars he never got too. His hobby wasn't the making of classics? It was the collection of possibilities. They're are those out there. We only see the massive yards and garage pulls on TV shows.
 
you have to realistic.If you have cars that have been sitting for years....decades, that you haven't touched....why have them? I have a buddy that has a solid '66 Belvedere that he got in the mid '90s. Hasn't touched it since the mid '90s. Has a four door '69 coronet that was running and driving. Tore it apart about 15 years ago. '70 Coronet two door, solid car, works on it now and then. Does have a complete '71 road runner he drives. The '66 and '69 are inside. He also picked up a beautiful '56 Desoto, and a solid survivor '49 Pontiac, but these two, along with the Desoto and Pontiac sit outside under car ports because of the other cars and a ton of other crap.
 
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