Project Cars

To car guys, having a project car is one of the very points of life.  First of all, “car guy” is a generic term.  Many women are “car guys”.  It just seems inappropriate some how to call us “car people” or “car individuals” or “autocentric omnivore.”  So, for the sake of brevity I will simply use the “car guy” moniker indiscriminately.  I know people who seem sane, rational, and productive in everyday life, but they are car guys.  They are silently calculating the ideal project car while they seem to be listening to you.  People like this harbor copious amounts of data on vehicles they find interesting.  They spend hours on auto-trader websites gauging desire to value delineation tables.  For example, a Ferrari 365 GTB-4 “Daytona” is very desirable, but it is catastrophically expensive, so it would never be fiscally possible to own one.  A 1975 Ford LTD is affordable, but with its green on green vinyl upholstery, is also quite undesirable.  Every car occupies a place on the chart, the challenge is to avoid the ones on the ends, either overtly expensive or wickedly horrible, and focus on the ones in the middle.  Finding one that occupies the “Goldilocks Zone” of very desriable while not expensive is the point.  Most people have no idea what I am talking about.  And good for them.  They lead normal, boring lives.  If you do understand, then you are a car guy.

Obviously I am one of these people.  I have spent a fraction of my life in the pursuit of all things automotive.  By fraction I mean the easy ones.  Like 1/2, or 3/4.  If there were a flashing red light in a room somewhere that lit up every time I thought of a good project car, it would have burned out long ago.  It usually goes something like this:  Noticing a car I have either forgotten about, or didn't know much about.  Researching what the car is like.  Determining a budget, and searching for candidates.  I am sure this sounds terrible to most people, but to a car guy it is commonplace.  It is what you do.

Deciding on a project car is one of the most exquisite agonies a car guy can endure.  There are so many cool cars that could be restored back to new condition, or made custom for reasonable money.  There are cars that are replicas of really expensive, rare cars that one can build for less than the price of a new family sedan.  There are wild custom cars made from mundane people haulers that have more performance and style than anything currently available from the big names in Europe.  None of these automobiles actually exist in my life now, and that is what is so appealing about a project car.  Starting with something broken or unwanted and using your own hands and talents creating your own vehicle, one that expresses your individual tastes and priorities.

I must pick a nit here.  I have no problem with hiring talent to create your project car.  In fact making your project car a project for a professional restoration shop.  I do not expect every car guy to have the time or resources to complete every aspect of the project car journey on his own.  There are always times when outside help will be necessary.  However, obtaining a vehicle, either complete or in parts, because it is “easy” to create your dream car defeats the purpose of this exercise.  For instance, a Plymouth Prowler is not a hot rod.  It is a production car.  Likewise a Cobra replica is much too common to be a good project car.  In fact they are so generic if you buy a new Harley Davidson it comes with a Cobra replica.  At least it must, because I see the same type of people with both.  The type of person that is much more concerned with your perception of him than his enjoyment of the machine.  That is missing the point.  I have little concern for what other people think of my project car. If I have no connection to the project of building this car, then why bother.  If I am doing it to fit into a crowd, or to impress people I don't know, then the project is debased.

While almost any car could be a project car, there should be some cerebration about your intentions. For instance, what you want to do with your project car?  That depends on what kind of person you are. Some people want to be seen, some want to go fast, and some want to remember an earlier time.  All project cars have some combination of all three, but you have to figure out your focus, or things get out of hand quickly.  There are people that have a project in mind, buy the parts to do the project, then loose interest.  Many of the cars you would consider for your project have been other people's project cars.  But for these people, there was not enough thought put into the whole “project car” premise, and at some point reality kicks in and the project falls apart.  There is alot of work involved in projects like this.  Hard, tedious, tiring work.  You must be mentally prepared for this work, or your project will fail. As it turns out, finishing a project is actually more important than what the project is.  If the reward is not worth the effort, find another undertaking.  Our life is full of successes and failures.  Unfortunately many project cars become big, expensive, obvious failures.  It doesn't have to end this way. Accomplishing a project will bring you great personal satisfaction.  Anything that you have poured your heart and soul into will be beautiful to you, even if nobody else finds it appealing.  It is like a new dance move you have been working on.  You will show it to your friends, even if you look like a newborn calf doing it.  Even in if your friends do not reciprocate your enthusiasm, you will not be deterred from dancing your heart out every chance you get.  Eventually you will either get good at it and people will accept you, or you will become the guy that “dances that way” and people will accept you.  As long as you are having a good time, people generally don't care what you are doing.  The point is to place little value in the opinion of others, in general.

What car should we choose for our project?  It is pretty easy to find the perfect project car.  Almost anything with two doors from the 1960's, for instance, will be a good project.  Cars that have been forgotten can be made into interesting cars.  I have a neighbor with a Plymouth Valiant coupe from the mid 70's.  Nobody would mistake that for a collector car, but it is pretty neat.  It has wide wheels, it is in good shape, and he likes it.  That makes it cool.  The point is that he likes it.  He put effort into it. He drives it every day, and enjoys it.

Project cars attract car guys because we have some connection to them. It might remind you of your crazy uncle from Tallahassee that had the most amazing Chevelle, or the guy that worked with your dad that had a VW GTI.  Or that episode of Simon & Simon where the older brother jumps his Dodge Power Wagon over a swimming pool.  There is usually some memory that makes you want to have a car.  My childhood is filled with car related memories.  My dad was a car guy. He built a 56 Bel Air coupe for his first car.  His first car was also his first project car.  It had a four speed, as real hot-rods should, and was mostly the same color.  As his fortunes and family grew, he purchased a 1968 Camaro new.  Of course when I was born just a year later he traded it for a more practical station wagon.  We also had a dune buggy and a “hippie van”.  Later in life my father had several Corvettes and a big Bronco, and now he has a Mini Cooper S.  Clearly I had no choice, I was going to be a car guy.  But my timing was terrible.

I became car aware in the mid 1970's. It was an unfortunate time to love cars.  See, in the early 70's the federal government implemented the first safety and efficiency standards for cars.  While not a bad idea, the heavy handed regulations forced the auto makers to change cars significantly.  Big bumpers, lower emissions, and a failing economy conspired to produce some of the worst cars ever made.  The mighty Mustang became the Mustang II.  Which is a Pinto.  The Camaro had enormous bumpers bolted to its  lithe body.  Muscle cars simply went away, because there was no way to make power due to new regulations.  Not only was there no way to make power, there was no gasoline to make power with, thanks to the oil embargo. The interior of cars had to be made of plastics instead of metal, to meet safety regulations.  Again, these are not bad things, but until automakers had some practice at it, cars were fairly terrible.

By the late 70's, after years of bad cars, automakers again started to get it right.  One of the first of the “new” design cars was the Porsche 928.  Radical in every way.  Front engined, water cooled, folding headlights, rear transaxle, and hidden bumpers.  Even the Big 3 started getting it right again.  The Trans-Am, Camaro, and Corvette regained some of their 60's beauty, if not their 60's muscle.  Cars like the Mazda RX7 brought new technology to every sports car enthusiast.  The VW GTI was faster than most real sports cars of the day, but was as practical any other small hatchback.  By the 80's things were looking much better.  The Pontiac Fiero GT and Toyota MR2 were genuine mid engine sports cars like Ferrari or Lamborghini, but priced to be attainable by the guys that used to buy Mustangs.  Speaking of Mustangs, you had your choice of turbocharged high tech, or V8 grunt.  Almost every car was more attractive than it used to be due to new headlight and bumper regulations that allowed much more freedom to the designers.  By the 90's computer technology had made its way into every facet of automotive design and production.  The Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo was designed on a Cray Supercomputer.  It had a computer controlled Twin Turbo engine and four wheel steering.  The Porsche 959 had a computer controlled driveline with user selectable modes for gravel, tarmac, or snow.

Of course as time progresses, technology improves. Maybe one point to a project car is to get away form some of the technology we are inundated with.  Older cars don't have sat-nav, or voice commands, or even CD players.  Old cars have springs, solenoids, and switches made of metal long ago.  Metal crafted by a union worker called Jim.  I am not suggesting Jim made better devices than can be produced now, for sometimes Jim went out with his friends, and as a result Jim was hung over the next morning at work.  It is just that Jim's switches are tactfully more pleasing than the modern equivalent replicated perfectly in the thousands by a Siemens robot.  In order to find some of these parts in a car, it must be an old car. Old as me.  While almost any car can be a good project, cars produced since the late 90's are used cars, not project cars.  The minimum time required for a car to become a project is 15 years.  In that amount of time, cars can need work, they become less common, and crucially, the value drops to the point that a regular guy can attain even a somewhat rare European sports car. But to get something really different from modern cars you must keep running the wayback machine until Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin were making new music.

Before 1972 cars were built to sell.  Period.  There were no guidelines for designers to use.  Case in point: the 1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.  As a result, enormous, finned, chromed, flamboyant, beautiful cars were the norm.  As tastes changed, so did cars.  The round, chrome shapes of the 50's gave way to the more angular, restrained shapes of the 60's.  While the Cadillac is undeniably a thing of beauty, my tastes are more aligned with the cars of the 60's.  Thin windshield pillars, delicate chrome bumpers, pillarless roofs, a big diameter wood steering wheel, chrome on the dash, door handles with thumb button releases. Gauges that told you bad news, until you tapped them, and they told you good news. Lots of small details that made cars beautiful and entertaining.  Of course the delicate bumpers would not stop any kind of impact.  The chrome and metal dash would beat you to death in an accident.  The pillarless roof would collapse in a roll-over.  The gauge may actually be telling you bad news.  Even though, I have no doubt that if car makers could produce cars like the ones from the 60's they would.  Witness the motorcycle marketplace.  Harley Davidson has not made a new motorcycle in 50 years.  And they can't make them fast enough.  Triumph, likewise, makes a line of retro bikes.  So, too, does Moto Guzzi.  The Vespa is more popular now than ever.  Motorcycles do not have to adhere to safety standards, so they do not have to change.  Plenty of people love the styling of a 50's or 60's bike, and buy them as new motorcycles.  Since I can't buy a new car like an old car, I must make it myself somehow.

Starting with the foreign market, there are several tempting choices.  The MGBGT, Triumph TR6, BMW 2002, Austin Mini Cooper, Toyota Celica, Datsun 240Z, Mazda Cosmo, Honda S600.  All worthy choices.  All have a real sense of performance, beauty, uniqueness, and 60's charm.  They are relatively affordable, easy enough to get parts for, and would be rewarding to restore and drive.  They are, of course, somewhat fragile and small, but they should get comparably good gas mileage and would handle wonderfully, especially on modern tires.  The only real draw back to a car of this type would be the cost of parts.  While most were imported to the US, they were never sold in large numbers, so parts would necessarily come from overseas, at a premium.  An obvious advantage to starting with a domestic car is the sheer numbers of cars produced locally for the home market.  Due to the generic nature of our cars, most parts are interchangeable, and critically, less expensive.  Of course some foreign cars were sold in such large numbers they are as inexpensive to restore as an American car.  As a result, there is an obvious choice, but it is not a choice I am going to make.

The VW Beetle.  There is nothing wrong with a Beetle.  The main reason I don't want a Beetle is they are still somewhat common.  I have a neighbor with three.  They are all very cool, but the simple fact that he has three tells me something about working with the ubiquitous German sedan. Beetles are like Legos.  You start with a pile of parts, and depending on your mood, you end up with a dune buggy, or a low rider, or a sedan, or a hot rod...  The Beetle is the automotive equivalent of Chinese food.  As soon as it is done, you want something else.  I am not choosing to restore a BMW, or a MGB, or a Porsche, or any foreign car.  I am choosing an American car.  But not one you are thinking of.

I admit I am an Eurocoupe fan boy.  I had a BMW in college.  My best friend had a BMW.  Since we are so familiar with American cars, they seem less desirable, at least to me.  Nevertheless, there are many good choices for project cars.  I am intending to build a car from existing parts, so an ample, cheap parts availability an immense asset.  The rationale for this availability of parts becomes clear when we understand the car business of the late 60's a little better.  The domestics have always built cars the same way.  There are sales leaders, generally sedans and trucks that are very practical, and there are “halo” cars.  Models that are not intended to sell in large numbers, but that create excitement about the brand.  For instance, the Mustang was just a Falcon sedan chassis with a sporty body.  Ford was cautious with the Mustang, because even small mistakes can become costly for a huge company.  The original concept for the Mustang was a mid-engine rotary powered sports car.  Instead, Ford decided to rebody the Falcon, and the Mustang presented a much smaller gamble.  Of course we all know how that gamble paid off.  GM was less likely to produce a unique car than Ford, because it was the largest manufacturer of anything in the world at the time. Consequently GM's “halo” models are simply the staid sedans with fewer doors, wider tires, and bigger engines.  One of the best known car names of all time was just an option package on a standard two door Pontiac Tempest.  Of course everybody recognizes the GTO, but underneath the extra equipment, it is just like any other Pontiac of the day.  Likewise the Chevelle SS is an option package.  The Charger R/T, the Skylark G/S, the Olds 442, the AMX, all option packages on standard cars.  What this means today is you can take your grandmother's old Tempest and make it indistinguishable from a real GTO, for much less money.  Of course you can't sell it as a real GTO, but who cares.  If you like the way muscle cars look, build one from a regular coupe.  That is what the manufacturers did to begin with.  Very few cars are “clean sheet” designs.  It is very expensive to create a product that does not have shared components.  Knowing this makes our choices easier.  A real GTO from the 60's is worth $50K.  A clone can be built for less than $20K.  Since I don't care if it is a real GTO or not, I would make a clone, if I wanted a GTO.

I am not sure I want a muscle car, however.  Muscle cars are fun to look at.  They are fun to hear charging down the street.  They are relatively inexpensive to restore and maintain. They are undoubtedly beautiful.  But they are too expensive and uncomfortable to actually use.  That big V8 under the hood makes more noise than power from your $4 gallon of gasoline.  And it loves the juice. Muscle cars are also hot, cramped, and loud.  They have large motors that require large transmissions and large differentials.  All that mechanical stuff takes up room you would normally use for your feet, arms, head, wife, luggage, and general comfort.  They also can't go 'round corners or stop.  I don't want my project car to be a new touring sedan, but I don't want it to be so uncomfortable I don't want to spend time in it, even if I can raise the money for gas.

Because I am wanting something unique, but still affordable to build, I have to consider things normally foreign to me.  Things like Chevrolets.  Not that they are actually foreign, just that I never considered choosing one as a project car.  After some research and thought, I have chosen.  And it is a surprise to me.

It is clear what I must restore.  The Chevrolet Corvair.  Remember those?  Of course you do.  Ralph Nader won't stop running for President, so every four years we get to hear about how bad the Corvair was.  While the early models are somewhat ungainly, and a little dangerous, the later models are striking. Originally the Corvair was conceived as the US equivalent of the Beetle.  While following the design principles set forth by the well known German sedan, namely air cooled rear engine, independent suspension, and low price, it was intended to be an American interpretation of the theme.  It also looked like a modern car, not a relic from the 40's.  The Corvair was an instant hit.  It was produced as a coupe, wagon, van, and truck, just like the Beetle.  While all Corvairs are doubtlessly cool, the coupe is my focus.  The Corvair started out as a Beetle challenger, so it was not perceived as a performance car.  Still, Chevrolet offered a sporty appearance package for the little coupe.  It proved very popular.  Partially due to the acceptance of the Corvair as a performance car, and to improve its simple suspension, it went through a redesign in 1965.

The simple swing axles were replaced by a proper independent rear suspension similar to the Corvette.  The engines were enlarged and turbocharged, the brakes were bigger, the tires wider, the interior was upgraded, and the Corvair became a viable alternative to the Mustang.  It was as fast, and more comfortable to be in, due to the flat floor, light weight, and rear engine.  It had an open, airy pillarless coupe roofline.  It was considered so beautiful that GM designed upcoming models to emulate the Corvair.  The Chevelle SS, the GTO, the Skylark G/S, the 442.  The first of them all was the Corvair Corsa Turbo.  While not quite as fast in a straight line as the mighty muscle cars, it would simply run away from them in the turns.  The fully independent suspension, added power, and refined interior made this car more desirable than any muscle car, and as good as most of the imports I love.  The Corvair was a blank page, single generation car.  GM had built nothing like it, and hasn't built anything like it since.  While it did garner some deserved bad press, the updated rear suspension  corrected its biggest weakness.  As happened with GM so many times, the problems with the Corvair were addressed as production ended.  Some carefully chosen modern upgrades will present you with a beautiful, quick, efficient car that looks nothing like your neighbors Subaru.  Thankfully.

So, it is decided.  Using logic and sound planning I have committed myself to restoring a Corvair. Now I can move on to other things.  That part of my life is sorted.  A Corvair it is.  Or maybe a MGBGT, or an RX7.  I love old Elans.  Small Broncos are neat.  A Fiero GT wouldn't rust.  No, no, we must get back to my plan.  I will restore a Porsche 911SC.  They are fast, beautiful, and reliable.  That is it. Wait a minute, what was I talking about?