Anybody else like projects better than the finished product?

I'm not talking about being dissatisfied with the way a project turns out. I love having something to work on, but most of the time, once it's done I sort of forget about it. It's almost like I'd rather be a crew chief than a driver.

Depends on my mood, time of day, alignment of the planets, etc. 34% of the time I agree.

Is this related to how I usually enjoy upgrades but usually hate maintenance?

Finished stuff is never quite as good as you imagine, which makes them just a wee bit disapointing. As much as I try to keep expectations under control, there is no way I can make myself stay realistic. "Of course I can make a Neon run as quickly as a E30 M3." "If I put all the new rubbers in the windows, this 56 Chev will be just as quiet as a new Mercedes."

Nope I'm the kind of person who would not take a wrench to a car if I didn't have to. I wouldn't even watch the car being built if I was confident the guys who were building it paid proper attention to detail. I'd just drive it.

I suffer from a love of inventing home-made solutions to a problem exactly once. So, after I've done a thing well on one project I never want to do it again for another car. As such, each successive build gets closer and closer to just buying a complete project and enjoying the fruit of someone else's labor.

That will go on for a while - then I'll get a hair-brained idea that requires a complete dis assembly of a car or machine of some type ... and run with a scratch build again because I can't ever put something back together without addressing every little thing that bugs me. Even if it's not actually a problem.

This cycle will repeat endlessly.

Yes. Sometimes it's the journey and not the destination.

Sometimes.

Must be, since I never finish any.

I hate being done with a project. Maybe that's while I will forever monkey with something, regardless of its "finished" state.

My desire to wrench is directly proportional to how important said vehicle is. I do not want a project car that is also a daily driver. No fun to be had wrenching like mad because an engine swap didn't turn out right and you have to be to work at 7 the next morning.

I love both parts of the process. Its fun to make things in your head then see how it actually comes together.

I love the creativity that having a project allows. Unfortunately, I also have the realization that I have neither the time nor skills(or the money to pay someone who does) to complete any true auto projects.

Oddly, a few years ago I also came to the realization I'd rather be driving than wrenching. Add to that my boredom with the Miata & autox, and the fact that I really don't ever want another car payment, and it leaves me in a state of auto-limbo.

Though eventually I plan to do a Locost or Seven kit start to finish.

I like working on projects, but I get too many ideas, and can't execute on all of them. That causes me to spread out my attention, time, and money, so no one thing is going to be as good as it could be, if it were the only item being focused on. It doesn't help when "completed" projects break, and I've got to dedicate time to getting them going, when I've already got the next thing in line scattered all over the garage.

This is part of the reason my daily driver is not getting modified for quite a while. The last thing I need to do is make it less reliable.

I know exactly what you mean, Woody. I love bringing a car back to life and restoring them to their former glory.

If I were independently wealthy I'd probably start an auto rescue/restoration shop just for the fun of it. Buy them, restore them, sell them. Maybe pick a few that really tickle my fancy and keep those but send the rest on to be enjoyed by new owners.

I have a project car that for all intent and purpose is complete and I am driving it and enjoying it. I find myself missing the planning of the work, problem solving, and hands on work itself. I'm not one to watch a lot of TV. I just enjoy being out in my shop working or piddling around. The shop is neither big or fancy but comfortable and my space and I'm surrounded by the things I like.

I'm currently building a trailer but it doesn't have the same allure as a car. I tell my wife I'm looking for another project and she kind of rolls her eyes and says "whatever". Not exactly sure what I would like to do but when I seeit I'll know!

right now I'm a little burnt out on the project front. OTOH, I have a running list of projects I kinda want to take on.

Unrepentant project slut.

Hell, I not only have my own project (Volvo P1800), but work on other people's projects on a regular basis. Drives my friends crazy when I insist that work get done before the beer comes out; we compromise.

I swear I would buy parts and tools for them if it makes the project go faster. And it would still be cheaper than owning the final result myself.

The Bugeye in my avatar lasted less than 4 miles before I gave it back to the original owner; this was after a 9 year restoration.

The MGB GT is finally running the best it has in 30+ years of my owning it, and I have not so much as gone for a drive this season. I am in total denial about the cost of having it sit in the garage.

Nope. Absolutely not.

Over the years, I've made a progression from enjoying routine maintenance, to enjoying modifying but hating everyday maintenance, to where I am today...

Which is being totally passionate about the process of driving, but despising any task on a vehicle that requires tools.

Sundays are my only day off of work, so I'll go out to the shop and tinker with the race car for an hour or so. Then, I'll just sit in a chair with a beer and look at it, thinking "I just want to drive the damn thing".

Once suitably depressed, I will turn the chair, and look at the turbo Miata and think "I should just buy someone a bunch of beer to come over and do the standalone install, so I can drive the damn thing".

At this point, I will move the chair again, and look at the x1/9 and think "I really need to make that car go away so I don't have to look at the damn thing".

Then, I go home.

Woody wrote: I'm not talking about being dissatisfied with the way a project turns out. I love having something to work on, but most of the time, once it's done I sort of forget about it. It's almost like I'd rather be a crew chief than a driver.

I'm not entirely finished... some interior work still to come... BUT now that the tune is right... I LOVE driving my car...

What I especially like... at least around here... there are more Teslas around by a factor of 20, then there are sport coupe bodied Corollas

I resigned myself years ago to the fact that I am ALL about the project. I have zero competitive instinct so racing is out.

The design, the fabrication, the work arounds, the research, the parts swapping.... all of it.

Actually, I enjoy the process of acquiring a project-car, and plotting, planning, researching and ultimately deciding on what I want the end-result to be.

I just no longer enjoy the actual work required to make those things happen.

While I enjoy not having to work on my Daily.. I do enjoy working on my projects.

I've never had anything that I would consider finished so I really couldn't tell you.

I do enjoy the process though.

You mean project get done? I thought after you get them supposedly done you keep doing other "upgrades" to them so they are never done. Guess I've been doing it wrong.