Learning from Past Mistakes

This isn't my first venture into classic cars. Back in 2005 I decided that it was time to get a "project" car. And that project came in the form of a 1979 Camaro.

There she is in all her primer gray glory the day I brought her home

Man I had some big dreams for this car. Unfortunately I didn't have the finances to support those dreams. I did learn a lot from it though. I disassembled the whole front end by myself, and with the help of a buddy we were able to pull the whole drivetrain out from the car. It was during this that we discovered how bad the rust really was and decided that the stout 383 motor and 4 speed were probably the only things of value in the car. At the time the plan was to ditch the car and try to find a car needing a drivetrain that wasn't a complete rust bucket.

But like most things, life got in the way. I got a new job in a different state and abandoned the project. End up selling the body and then the drivetrain a year later. I have to admit though, what I learned from working on this was well worth every penny I spent on this car in the first place.


So what did I end up learning? 

• Don't rush into a sale - it was at most 5 days between when I looked at this car to when I drove it home, and the seller was definitely pressuring me for taking to long
• Know what you want - I was sold on the price and the idea of just wanting a project car, these should not be deciding factors
• Do your research - I knew nothing about the 1979 Camaro.  If I knew what I know now, it would have gone a lot different
• Don't be afraid to walk away - I believed there was never going to be another deal like this again, when probably there was an even better deal somewhere else

I still value all of the lessons I learned from this project years ago and am very glad I got to learn these lessons about classic cars with a relatively cheap investment.