Bolted to Floor wrote:

rpm wrote:

Since the money has already been spent, adding it up will only depress you

 
Not necessarily Bob. A spread of cost will give a great basis for a stated value insurance policy. Granted, I don’t want to collect on a policy, but there is piece of mind knowing that I can get back what I have spent on it.

Bingo!
 

"I spent half my money on gambling, wild women, and alcohol, the other half I just wasted." - WC Fields

Its not really any different with a classic car.  This isn't one of those shows where we're trying to turn a profit, or impress people with how fast we can get a car done.  The money is what the money is.  These cars are never money making ventures.  Often, you start out with one vision and your passion takes you in a completely different direction.  You think you'll be happy with a rebuilt stock bottom end and some cheap heads, but by the end its a built 331 with EFI.  If you want to track costs, by all means do.  I'm tracking the costs on my '89 GT project, primarily, so when its time to insure it I can tell the insurance company exactly what I have in the car and make sure its not under insured.  It would never sell for that on the open market, but its what it would take for me to build a duplicate.  

I look at it this way: if you're paying your bills, and not carrying crippling credit card debt to do it; who cares?  One thing's for certain, you can't take it with you.  You might as well enjoy the fruits of your labor today.  The past is gone, the future uncertain, so live in the now and have as much fun doing it as you can. 

I've always wondered why people will sign up for 30, 40, $60K for a new car that generally will be worth half after a year and a half of setting in the WalMart parking lot or enjoying a gravel shower twice a day on the freeway.

Butt (TS&T), they get all worked up over using a small piece of their available "spendable" over a couple of years to have something that gives great pleasure and will likely always be worth more, as a percentage of investment vs return, than any new DD. 

BB