What is your long time projects / labor of love

70 duster. Got in 1995. 22 uears now. Still messing around with it.

Ahh... my stupid 1979 Trans Am.

Here it is the day I bought it from Teal Mesh Tank Top Guy:

Here it is in it's current form:

It's been sitting off the road since 2011. I built an engine for it 9 years ago, and it has about 1000 break-in miles on it, and that's it. I pick at it when I can, and now the biggest problem is rust. I cut out the passenger floor last year, and found that the torque box was rotted too. Currently, I need to fab up a piece of torque box, weld it on, and weld the floors in. After that, the doors, the p/s fender, the driver's quarter, the cowl, and more need repair. And then there's the rear tail pan/frame, fuel system, suspension bits, interior....

It has snowballed into a clusterberk. The cycle goes like this: I get excited because I have a gnarly Trans Am. I go outside to work on it, and then hit a huge pitfall. I then get frustrated with it, and step away to work on something else. I really need to bite the bullet and dive in with both feet and just hammer it out.

The easy button is to cut my losses and sell it. Problem is, I would never be able to afford a nicer one, as they have skyrocketed in price since I bought it, so I soldier on.

Someday I will conquer this stupid car. It will be 15 years of soul-crushing ownership in a few weeks.

Tony Sestito wrote: Ahh... my stupid 1979 Trans Am. Here it is the day I bought it from Teal Mesh Tank Top Guy: Here it is in it's current form: It's been sitting off the road since 2011. I built an engine for it 9 years ago, and it has about 1000 break-in miles on it, and that's it. I pick at it when I can, and now the biggest problem is rust. I cut out the passenger floor last year, and found that the torque box was rotted too. Currently, I need to fab up a piece of torque box, weld it on, and weld the floors in. After that, the doors, the p/s fender, the driver's quarter, the cowl, and more need repair. And then there's the rear tail pan/frame, fuel system, suspension bits, interior.... It has snowballed into a clusterberk. The cycle goes like this: I get excited because I have a gnarly Trans Am. I go outside to work on it, and then hit a huge pitfall. I then get frustrated with it, and step away to work on something else. I really need to bite the bullet and dive in with both feet and just hammer it out. The easy button is to cut my losses and sell it. Problem is, I would never be able to afford a nicer one, as they have skyrocketed in price since I bought it, so I soldier on. Someday I will conquer this stupid car. It will be 15 years of soul-crushing ownership in a few weeks.

You need to stop getting excited about having a Trans Am that you want to drive and start getting excited about the one knarly problem that you are going to go out and kick in the balls. Feels really great when you fix that torque box and gives you an appetite for taking on the next knarly problem. eventually you find yourself with a knarly Trans Am and you find that you miss all the fun challenges.

Tony S, how difficult would it be to fit the '71 nose on yours ?

I bought my Miata new in July of 1998, so almost 19 years ago.

Most recent photo of it:

Fifty track days, a hundred autocrosses, 3 motors, 3 turbo systems, 2 transmissions later, there's not much left in the car that Mazda put there. :)

My black 87 Conquest. I bought it stock in 2012. It went from stock to a 1uz+manual swap back to be a roller. Currenly its getting the original engine and trans back in it but MPI with megasquirt now. Might end up with a t56 behind the 4g54b one day.

759NRNG wrote: Tony S, how difficult would it be to fit the '71 nose on yours ?

It can be done. I believe the front flares are different, and I would need a lot of the other 70-73-specific parts, like the front spoiler, as well.

That said, if I was ever going to do a nose change, it would be a 77-78 nose. I still have another 79-81 nose that I believe I can make work.

77-78 > all.

While I agree the 77-78 noses look the best, I have softened on the 79-81. I use to think they were the worst. Now I kinda dig'em.

My 79 looked almost identical to yours Tony. 8" snowflakes and everything except the hood bird. Mine was a hood bird delete car.

I got my Monte Carlo in the summer of 92 just before starting my senior year of high school. Drove it until 01 when I started to repair a few things and paint it. It has sat in my garage like this ever since.

Had my nx2000 since 2004, it's finally thoroughly rusted through. Now my plans of making a midlana framed chopped up nx2000 are finally starting to gain momentum.

Oh and accidentally burned the entire interior out of the Camry wagon a couple weeks back. Got rid of a 5 year project I hated,(every day) and freed up some garage floor space

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: While I agree the 77-78 noses look the best, I have softened on the 79-81. I use to think they were the worst. Now I kinda dig'em. My 79 looked almost identical to yours Tony. 8" snowflakes and everything except the hood bird. Mine was a hood bird delete car.

The '79-'81 is my favorite of the post-'73 Firebirds

I'd suggest that my wife is my long-term labor of love but then I'd be tempted to post pictures...

NickD wrote:

Datsun310Guy wrote: My wife is my long term project. It's taken me 30+ years to get her where I want her to be........

She probably says the same thing about you.

No, she still has a long list of changes and improvements she is hoping to quickly kick in.

Not mine, and not a labor of love, but my dad has had an Opel GT in his garage since 1978, putting maybe 100 miles total on them. He started with one that needed some work but had to sell it about a year later when we moved across the country. He promptly bought another in 1980 or 81, drove it home and put it straight to the garage for "restoration". Its been there ever since. He bought a parts car with a boatload of spare parts in 1992, and it is likewise still sitting where the tow truck dropped it off. Every few years he tinkers with it (rear axle has been completely redone) and I offered my assistance to get it finished, but he has "too many other projects". I'd take all of if off his hands, but don't have covered storage.

Mine is my house. We bought it 14 years ago this weekend and are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, which is the last room in the house to be updated.

Been messing around with my 1970 Opel GT since dad bought it to teach my youngest sister engines around 1987. He gave it to me around 1994 and I got it running drove it a while and parked it for a while then did a complete restoration on it. Back on the road around 8 or 9 years ago. Still tinkering with it. Are they ever done?
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Bought my 99 Miata around 2007 as an economy car to drive to work. Then learned about autocross in 2008. Been slowly upgrading and tinkering with it for several years now. Still not where I want it. Needs a torsen, better suspension, bigger wheels to take advantage of tire selection & work on the driver. Still has 14" on it. Would like a hard top and do track days with it in the future.

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Have 1963 MG Midget sitting in the garage waiting for me to get working on it. Bought it for $50 to save from the crusher several years ago. Too many projects and not enough time or bank account.
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