Pricey ways to stay out of trouble

I never set out to be like this.

By "like this" I mean budding car guy. With a constant layer of filth under my fingernails, a growing level of recognition at car parts stores and an unending thirst to do something to my truck whether it needs a repair or not. It's starting to get out of hand.

Case in point is my outright lust for the car pictured at right - an old Chevy Bel Air. While it looks phenomenal in the picture, keep in mind that a restored Bel Air will run you no less than $45,000 on average.

That usually includes rebuilt parts and a new engine along with a good paint job and massive interior work. Don't even get me started on body work.

To get it to the point that you can drive it without shame takes months -if not years - of continuous work and deep, deep pockets.

Most look like this beauty at left which sold for a shade under $7,000 a little while ago. It has no engine, no mention of a transmission and hasn't run since Nixon was in office. If it wasn't clear, it's the same car as the one above.

Seven thousand dollars for what amounts to a wheelbarrow with tail fins (but no rust!)

This is the problem as you're trying to find a first "project car" as they're known - anything you love you're two lifetimes from affording and anything you can afford is home to rats in a cornfield or has something fundamentally wrong with it. The double-edged sword for newcomers is that too difficult a car will do nothing but drive you away from working on cars altogether and the 75-80 percent complete cars that are suggested for starting out are pricey at times.

More than that, you'll usually buy a car for no less than $5,000 and then drop in another $10,000 in parts and thousnds more in labor and can only hope for a few grand above and beyond that $5K if you sell it later. As it has been pointed out before if you aren't a Coddington or Foose, no one wants to buy your shitty hot rod.

Nobody.

As I cruise eBay and other sites looking for that perfect heap that I can lovingly bring back to life, I can't help but shake my head when you're trying to sell an auto and voluntarily include pictures like this '54 Pontiac.

If you're trying to sell a car and let people know it's at least in serviceable shape, why, oh why, would you show it lost in the woods like this?

It's one thing if it's a Jeep, ruggedly plowing through the underbrush, but a 50-year-old Pontiac? Come on...

Still, there's something to be said for taking a few thousand dollars, hours of work and a bucket of spare parts and making something that runs well and looks sharp. I work on the truck to save money (a new intake, swaybar repair and a brake job I've done this summer alone have saved at least $500 in labor and we still have August to go) but I'm sure I'd work on a project for the pride and challenge.

I'm sure I'll wax poetic in the next few weeks as my sickness worsens, but there is something about a good, old car. Let's face it, there's a reason more people clamor for an old Mustang than a similar vintage of toaster.

Plus, there's something to be said for being able to completely dismantle a machine and not have to drive it to work again on Monday.