New dash knobs for a P-15?

[Norm's Coupe]

Now, lets see..

If I had put one dollar in the drawer back in the early 60's, it might be worth 10 cents compared to what it was worth back then. So........with that in mind. If I bought and restored a 48 Plymouth Coupe back then, it may have cost me two or three thousand to restore/rebuild it. Especially, since I could have bought the coupe for only $50 to $100 back then (maybe less). Some cars you could buy for only $25 back then.

At any rate, that two or three thousand spent back then is just like spending about $20,000 to $30,000 today. So.........as mentioned. Your car may be worth more in the future, but due to inflation, you didn't make a dime and may even loose a dime on it.

I've said it many times. If you're in this hobby for the money, you're in the wrong hobby. It's just the opposite, it's a money pit. For example my son's 80 Firebird is restored. All body work and paint was done by a professional shop. Plus, the new engine, new interior, etc., he has over $20,000 into that car. He'd be real lucky getting that if he tried to sell it though. Now, that $20,000 was spent about 8 or 9 years ago. Flash forward to last year. He found some rust coming back. So...........it spent the last year back in the shop stripped down, rust repaired and removed, then repainted again. He just got it back about a week ago. Was in the body shop this time since November 08. Don't know what that cost him, but add it to the $20,000 previously spent, and he's really deep into that car. He does have it insured for what he has into it though. But.......he had to supply the insurance company with detailed receipts for what he put into it, before they would insure it for that amount.

Now, he only drives that car on nice sunny summer days. Any other time, it's locked in the garage. In fact, during the winter, it even sits on jack stands in the garage. But.......Michael, the point is. If you drive the car, you have to maintain it. Doing that is never ending, so........you'll never make any money on a car when you spend all that money to repair/restore/rebuild it.

[JoelOkie]

Norm, Don't want to take the thread off on to yet another tangent, but I agree with you on the fact that if you are wanting to make some money, putting your time and money into old cars is generally not the easiest way to go. If I had been working just a minimum wage part time job and banking the money for all the time I have spent working on old cars, believe me, I'd have saved a pretty tidy sum by now. That's not to mention the cost of the cars (minimal though it's been), and money for parts, paint, associated tools, and equipment. In the end, if you come out with less in the vehicle than what it is worth you have done pretty good, and for someone that just wants to buy a car to just strictly be able to drive, it's probably cheaper (and much easier) to buy one that someone else has done the work on. But the hobby for me isn't just having a drivable car, but getting in and doing it myself from start to finish, and the obvious advantage of knowing exactly what I have when I get done. I have a friend that is fairly amazed that I am putting so much effort into a 1949 Dodge truck, as his angle is always what the vehicle will be worth when it's done, and he is one that does manage to make some good money with it. He says it would be no more work for me to be working on a 36 Ford coupe, as he is currently doing, and that it would be worth some real money when it was done. I don't know about all that, as I don't know if my skill level, and what passes as good for me would ever command any real money from anyone, and beside that I don't want to try and change something that I just enjoy doing into something I feel I have to make money at. I am trying to get a pickup of every make from ca the 40's, and intend to keep them. Hopefully they will appreciate in value, and if I need out on vehicle, that the market will be good at that time, but I am not counting on anything beyond enjoying fixing them up and driving them while I am able. Joel

[Norm's Coupe]

Joel,

I feel the same as you do about fixing up old cars. I do most of my own work on my coupe. Hopefully, I'll have it ready for a repaint next year sometime. Since I've done most of the work myself, I'm no where near what I could sell the car for if I wanted to. I will have the car painted at a shop, but even with that I'll still be well below what the car would be worth then. I just can't see dumping more money into a car than what you can get out of it, even if it is a hobby.

In that last post, I was talking about my son and his car. He thinks more like Michael. Says it's only money.

[Don Coatney]

..and by the way Don, how many hundreds of thousands of dollars passed from your hand to the shredder this week?

Add a few zeros Tim. Shreads are in the hundreds of millions weekly. They are shreaded at the rate of 40 per second.

I do most of my own work on my coupe.

That is the real ticket. Doing your own work.

[dezeldoc]

im going to be buying some of those items mr dezel.

You only have a day left to buy the things you want then the auctions are over!