Build or buy?

[**CHRIS**]

The question is, for a normal guy on a budget..no shop tools, lift, extreme cash flow or easy deals, whould you rather buy a halfway decent car, then drive the shit out of it, upgrading whatever breaks one thing at a time until you eventually have a bad ass ride...

Or:

Would you rather build your car from the ground up, knowing that you can't drive her until she's finished, also, spend alot of money over time that you may never get back in resale (this lengthens your not driving her)..but, when it's all said and done you have a truly badass car that you know intimately well...every nut and bolt.

I'm asking because it seems to me the second option is the best in the long run, but how do you cope with your car being undriveable for so long?

The reason I left out the shop guys is because it seems like they can have their cars together alot quicker than somebody who does other full-time work.

[Tiffiny]

if i was normal and had cash i would buy a built car blow it up sell it and buy a new one lol

[OMG IT'S A COP]

build.

[GNs-r-slow]

I have built a couple cars, nothing too stupid, but done everything myself.
I'd say buy a car that someone has spent all thier money on and wants to bail out of it. If you are patient sit on your money and wait for the right deal to come along.

If you want to say you put some work in it buy a roller that is set-up to your needs / wants and build or install your drivetrain.

As stated you never will come close to getting your money back building nuts and bolts

[shinysideup]

Buy a setup roller or any of a dozen mostly finished cars always for sale around here for dirt cheap and finish to your taste. Then blow the shit up!

[KAILUAZ]

Just keep in mind your buying someone else's problems also. But if you buy a bone stock car to start with you have to spend cash on the parts you want.
The roller idea is a good compromise I think. Get into something that has some of the stuff you want/like. Then buy the rest of the parts you want.

[Ford DNA]

I'd say that's a pretty personal decision. Do you want instant satisfaction, or do you enjoy tinkering and making something uniquely "yours?"

[LS1COUPE]

buying a car is better financially. no question at all.

me personally, i MUST have someting different. i must STOMP the jones's, not keep up with them. Fuckers.

[MiDiablo]

/\ Fuck the Jones's!

I'm with E-Rock on this one; you're 9 times out of 10 buying someone else's problems. Just be prepared to do whatever you have to do to make it correct, and make the car uniquely yours.

You could do what I did; buy an "almost" complete car, find out all the problems with it, part out some valuable goodies to compensate for the problems, replace the problematic stuff with good stuff, and finish the build the right way

Only problem is that "my" way takes a lot longer than planned or expected, and also burns a lot of your mooooola. But, fuck it, it's all in the name of fun!

[91Notch]

Originally Posted by **CHRIS**

The reason I left out the shop guys is because it seems like they can have their cars together alot quicker than somebody who does other full-time work.

IDK if I agree with that statement. I own a shop and we see how my car is doing right now....crap! Just because you have a shop doesnt mean you can spend every hour of the day on your personal car.

We have been busy as hell around here lately and when that happens my personal car keeps getting moved to the back burner.

Like I say "Customers cars pays the bills, my car doesnt!"

And because I focus 150% of my attention to a customers car when it comes through the doors means my car suffers for it. But I am ok with that (no matter how much shit I get for it) More customers I get coming through the door and the faster turn around times I have the happer they are and that means good rep, repeat happy customers, and more money in the long run.

[IwinUlose]

i agree with Dave on this one. I help run a shop an my car gets put on the back burner. Wednesday i had a shit load of things i need to do but that never happened. Customers car pay the bills, an get first priority.

[Adrenalin]

Originally Posted by **CHRIS**

The question is, for a normal guy on a budget..no shop tools, lift, extreme cash flow or easy deals, whould you rather buy a halfway decent car, then drive the shit out of it, upgrading whatever breaks one thing at a time until you eventually have a bad ass ride...

Or:

Would you rather build your car from the ground up, knowing that you can't drive her until she's finished, also, spend alot of money over time that you may never get back in resale (this lengthens your not driving her)..but, when it's all said and done you have a truly badass car that you know intimately well...every nut and bolt.

I'll come back to this question

Originally Posted by **CHRIS**

I'm asking because it seems to me the second option is the best in the long run, but how do you cope with your car being undriveable for so long?

It sucks! It really sucks.

Now back to the first quesiton, I just wanted you to know that it sucks. (If you're on a buget)

This would also depend on what your plans are for the car and what you want at the end of the day and how much you plan on spending, buget or not and how long it would take you to accomplish this. I personally have always wanted to build a car the way that I wanted it. Looking back, if I had wanted a fox, I probably could have bought a roller set up the way that I wanted or pretty close for alot less. (Just saying that because sn95's aren't as popular as fox's and fox's would most likely be easier to come by)

I probably could have bought someones complete motor and went through it to make sure everything was okay alot less than getting the parts seperate myself, not to mention new.

I dunno, I'm rambling here I guess, but I think if I would have just bought a roller, bought a motor from someone who was ready to bail as well as a tranny that I wanted, I could have done it for alot less money even with going thru it to make sure everything was good to go.

On the other hand, like I said, I have always wanted to build one the way that I wanted and that is the route that I'm taking. I will confess, that I have looked back and asked myself, what the hell am I doing spending this much money on this project?. With that said, and at this moment, I am thinking that I will be very happy because I planned this combo exactly the way that I wanted with the exact parts that I wanted.

All in all, either way you build it, you will have bugs to work out and minor changes to make in the end.

Sorry for the book and I'm still not sure that I gave you an answer, but maybe my experience so far in my build will help with your decision.

Good luck.

[MiDiablo]

91Notch,

While I agree that customer's cars should come first - I don't necessarily agree with the statement that "Customer's cars pay the bills; mine doesn't!" Why? Simply put...

Your car speaks VOLUMES about what you (Genium) can do for your customers!!

Anotherwards, if you want to go home at 10:30pm, because you've been working on customers cars all day - suck it up - stay until 11:30pm or 12pm and work on your car. Because at the end of the day, your car is going to set the tone for what you can offer your customers.

That's just my 2 cents man. If I owned a shop, I would want to make sure that my car could PROUDLY adorn my shop banners/logos/info - and be an awesome piece of marketing to generate MORE customer dollars to pay those bills

[91Notch]

Originally Posted by MiDiablo

91Notch,

While I agree that customer's cars should come first - I don't necessarily agree with the statement that "Customer's cars pay the bills; mine doesn't!" Why? Simply put...

Your car speaks VOLUMES about what you (Genium) can do for your customers!!

Anotherwards, if you want to go home at 10:30pm, because you've been working on customers cars all day - suck it up - stay until 11:30pm or 12pm and work on your car. Because at the end of the day, your car is going to set the tone for what you can offer your customers.

That's just my 2 cents man. If I owned a shop, I would want to make sure that my car could PROUDLY adorn my shop banners/logos/info - and be an awesome piece of marketing to generate MORE customer dollars to pay those bills

No I totally agree with you on that issue. And trust me there has been many of late nights here at the shop thrashing on my car.

But for me its a money issue. I have been in this business along time and I have learned to save my money and not spend every penny of it and put it away for the future.

This business is up and down. Lately the industry has been in the dumps because of the economy and I have been fortunated enough to be having work coming through the doors. And it seems to be taking an upwards trend meaning the economy might be starting to come back.

Just think what would happen if the economy would totally crash? While some shops out there who might spend all their money on shop cars (Knowone get pissy about that its just a general statement, not directed to any shop inparticular) will then struggle to keep their doors open because they might not have any money to fall back on. While me with money in the bank might be able to make it through the hard times and be able to fall back on that money and keep my doors open.

Plus after all the bills are paid and I take a pay check home I might have xxxx amount of free money. Instead of putting it in my car I am more willing to spend the money on maybe a new tool that might be needed in the shop....and all that does is actually benefit my customer cause then I would have the tool to do the job correctly.

[Ford DNA]

I forgot to answer about coping with the car being down. Do you know how much people talked about my blue car being built? I don't mean to sound important or anything, but people talk. Drag radial = TALK TALK TALK. LOL

That damn car has been down since March, and it was only "up" for two passes! Every time I go to Sunshine, I can't go 30 minutes without being asked when my car is going to be back together. I'm talking about to the point of getting really effin irritated with so many people asking. I was ready to get a shirt made - "DON'T ASK ABOUT MY CAR - LEAVE ME ALONE." It's like dealing with NOT having a car to run AND having everyone remind you of it.