What does it take to complete a complicated build in a modest two-car garage? Ask Patrick Caherty, a fixture at our $2000 Challenge going back to the early days.
[The origins of the $2000 Challenge]
After some 15 years away from the event, though, he recently returned with his mid-engine, V8-powered MonZora, a mix between a 1965 Corvair and …
Major applause and congrats!!! Well done sir! Having built a mid-engine car that was designed to be rear engined, i relate completely.
dang, i left out a critical point: Phone a friend. Seriously. I could not have built this car and made it to the 2023 Challenge without help from a whole bunch of folks, some i've known forever and some i met for the first time as they were working on MonZora. I even started a thread to thank them.
I met Patrick at the Challenge this year: great guy and an impressive project. I am going to have to use the white board idea! Building a challenge car will help you with not over thinking things especially when you are close to a deadline. Maybe that will rub of on my Nissan project. I have definitely been in the "paralysis by analysis" zone on that car many times. Great job Patrick!!
First, I don’t know how to quit. And I like having a story to tell. I hate running, but I’ve run five marathons. Because each one gives me a story to tell.
I'm trying to embody this piece of advice. I have given up on multiple project cars in my 16 years of car ownership. Now I have a project with enough sentimental value that I can't get rid of it!
One of my favoritist builds here. Congrats Patrick!
AWESOME pic
Now cough up the video it was taken from?!
Best GRM hand model completes amazing project and has fun! Great article!
While it took forever to finally make it to the Challenge, that just gave us more years to enjoy all the build progress! Looking forward to another year of watching the improvements and progress, and another year of beating it with my Lotus 
he said "another year of beating it"
I just don't have the fabrication skills.
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
z31maniac said:I just don't have the fabrication skills yet
ftfy
z31maniac said:I just don't have the fabrication skills.
Do don't know until you try, and I speak from experience.
Good stuff, a lot of which I try to follow, often unsuccessfully. But that's where that "don't give up" thing comes in handy: even if it takes FOR-berkeleyING-EVER, keep coming back, keep chipping away. "One bite at a time" you once reminded me.
I'd also like to mention an alternative to the white board method of planning/organizing: Trello. It's an online project management tool which I have found to be hugely helpful. It's pretty darn flexible and there are lots of ways to use it, whether you're organizing by task, or by system, or by date, or whatever. When I was trying to meet a deadline, I organized it by date. When the deadline passed, I started re-organized it by task and system. I can pull it up anytime, anywhere, and spend time ruminating and planning and organizing, which is much better time spent than doom-scrolling or the time-suck of YT/FB/TT reels.
Dude. Print is real.
Step one: Figure out a budget but don't start the project until you have twice the budgeted amount in the bank!
You have to have a vision, to see the finished project in your head exactly as you want it. You then break down the project into manageable chunks, assessing the goals versus the costs. One thing to keep in mind is that any big project is going to take years to accomplish, which can be a good thing because it spreads the costs over time.
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