Don Creason: Project Cars Don’t Have To Be Perfect

In my line of work, I have to say I’m as guilty as anyone of promoting the big ideas. Each day it’s our responsibility here at StangTV to bring the readers the coolest, latest, and baddest rides, trends, and parts. The problem sometimes is that to the reader it can seem like you’re missing out if you don’t follow along with the trends.

I’ve fallen into that sort of rut in the past with my own cars. The ’86 Mustang that was my first foray into the world of blue oval pony cars escalated from a mild build, to ambitions of racing in a top heads up class. This was a dozen years ago, and I had almost no idea what kind of expense I was looking at until I ripped the car apart. It sat, languishing, tormenting, and mocking me each time I walked into the garage and saw it, until finally one day I sold it as an abandoned project car.

Lessons learned with my own ’98 GT. I’m guilty, often in the winter time of becoming bored with the car. I can’t get out and drive it when there’s snow and road salt everywhere. I start getting in my head that I’ll sell it to build something else. When better weather arrives and I take it out for even a quick run, I’m quickly reminded of how much I like this car the way it is, and that I shouldn’t let what I read or see around it influence me too much.

My personal project cars, neither of which will ever be 'perfect' to many people, when they're done they'll be perfect drivers to me.

Whenever I start scheming about the next big modification or project hopefully I can think about things for a few minutes, or better yet days.

You can spend a fortune building a project car, and many of us do. Wild engine combinations, slick paint, and sick interior will no doubt turn heads and garner attention wherever you take your ride. That’s if you can afford the build though. Perfection is impossible to achieve and while having a blazing fast or show winning ride is a laudable goal, some of those ambitions are beyond the reach of many of us, both financially and otherwise.

I would propose that many of us, including myself, take an approach that even at my fairly young age I’ve learned from others – simply enjoy your car because you’re the only one it has to please. By that I don’t mean that you should refrain from modifying it or that you shouldn’t take on bigger projects. Instead I mean from now on I plan to be realistic. Whenever I start scheming about the next big modification or project hopefully I can think about things for a few minutes, or better yet days. Key questions that I need to ask are; am I doing this for me, or is to impress others? How long will this project take? Can I really afford it? Will I still enjoy my car? This doesn’t me that we’ll change what we present on StangTV either, it simply means that for me personally, I want to drive and use my cars, not just dream about them.

There is a lot of in-between the lines information that never gets published about many of the cars we feature on StangTV or that you see elsewhere, or even the cars we own ourselves. The truth is that high output engines are often like temperamental spoiled children, they require regular attention. Many require at least some form of annual if not regular maintenance that may go as far as a complete tear down.

Cotton’s previous show winning ’67 Fastback.

 

I built it, I drive it, I like it, it’s not perfect, so what. -John Cotton

Expensive show car level paint jobs are great. Nothing attracts attention like a good paint job. If your paint is so slick, so great, and so amazing though that you’re afraid to get the car out and drive it much for fear of damaging that freshly polished coat, then does it really improve your enjoyment of your car? I would say no.

I recently had a long conversation with my good friend John Cotton on this very subject. You may remember Cotton’s ’67 Fastback which we detailed over a year ago. That car has since been sold and John has completed other projects in between then and now.

Recently Cotton began working on a ’69 Mustang convertible. The car was in worse shape than he’d imagined when he brought it home. Deeper investigation into it showed the unibody was tweaked from previous damage, enough that panel mock-up was impossible. Cotton is not a professional builder, but he used his ingenuity and can-do spirit to straighten out the damaged ’69 as best possible in his own garage. While his ’67 Fastback was a show winner everywhere it went, the ’69 is going to simply be a cross country capable driver for his own enjoyment.

“The welds are a little sloppy, the panel fit won’t be show car perfect, and some of the other details won’t be show winners either, so what,” he says. His mantra on this car, and quite possibly from now on is “I built it, I drive it, I like it, it’s not perfect, so what.” The car will be reliable, good looking, and easy to repair and that’s really all that matters to him.

Cotton fires up his ’69 Convertible for me in the garage at his house. The car is almost ready to go to the painter.

This sage advice from an experienced enthusiast is something I could stand to remember with my project cars the next time frustration at the lack of not having the latest and greatest add-ons pops up, or I’m lamenting that I’ll never have paint as deep and slick as another guy’s on my car. If we could all adopt Cotton’s attitude towards our cars, we’d probably spend a lot more time behind the wheel, and a lot less time anxiously obsessing over impossible details. Perfection is often subjective, and for me, having a car that I like and enjoy will be enough perfection for my taste.

About the author

Don Creason

Don Creason is an automotive journalist with passions that lie from everything classic, all the way to modern muscle. Experienced tech writer, and all around car aficionado, Don's love for both cars and writing makes him the perfect addition to the Power Automedia team of experts.
Read My Articles

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