Advice for newcomers to the hobby

I agree with all of this. Very well thought out. Too many people get in over their heads. Back in the mid 80s when 68 chargers could be had rough and running for $500, I bought my 68. I did a cosmetic restoration on it. Basically learning body and paint work at 15 years old. Had the seats reupholstered at a local shop, put in a cheezy whitney loop carpet, gave the 383 a tune up, a radiator recore, did brakes and tires. Learned i had a love of hunting for rusty gold at the salvage yards back then.

A simple cosmetic restoration on most of em nowadays isnt gonna happen. A decent driver that can be fixed while driving will usually be at minimum $5,000-$7,000

Now these old relics aren't 15 years old anymore. Most anything you get into that's cheap nowadays is gonna need a lot of everything. However the difference is I now have 35 years experience working on old cars. With each one I would redo i went further, and further into them as I was comfortable with how far I went on the previous ones essentially plotting more uncharted territory each time.

Over time I picked up needed skills like how to properly double flare a brake line to fab my own. Fabricating sheetmetal patches, and using a mig welder. Body and painting work, Engine, transmission, and recently rear axle gearset rebuilding. Even electrical systems having completely rewired several vehicles.

These are all skills i picked up over a long period of time partly out of necessity, partly out of a want to know, and partly out of worrying about paying other people for doing jobs I was not able to do and getting sub standard work done in return for my cash.

One isnt born with any of these skills or knowledge. They have to learn and develop all of it. I am teaching these skills to my son so that they are not lost to the sands of time. Hopefully he picks them up and runs with them and goes even further than I am going with this hobby.