Take your dream cav, think of everything that you would like to do to it. Now, would you rather buy it from someone already completed, or do the work yourself? I was thinking about this today when a guy came into work bragging about his car and when I asked him what all he had done to it, he said "Nothing I bought it like this."
I can see where this could be enticing saving you time and probably money, but I personally would like to do it all myself. I feel that it would make for a better relationship with the car, and give you a sense of pride or victory. Anyways random thought, just wondering what you opinions you guys have.
I would never buy someone elses project.
I @!#$ with my car as a hobby not JUST to make it something different... to buy a car already finished really negates that.
id rather do it all myself also, with buying someone elses project car they can always say, thats the car i built. i would want myself to be the only person ho can say that about the car i drive
i learned alot building my car
i can answer any question anyone throws at me about the build.... i love making people who buy cars feel stupid
Nope, where would the fun, stories and beer be in that?
It's something done by yourself, or with friends.
(Friends are very important when you are hurt and can't do as much work by yourself)
Build FTW.
It is much better to do it yourself until something goes wrong haha j/k. there is no worse feeling then seeing someone driving something and knowing that it isn't theirs. one thing i can give my buddy credit for though is he gets cars/trucks that people screw up bad for DIRT cheap. fixes them up correct and sells them for 3 times the amount he got them for. but i guess if he ever cruised one to keep he would start from the scratch.
2004 Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sport Coupe
1964 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
*Gone But Not Forgotten*
2004 Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sport Coupe
2001 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 Coupe
1972 Chevrolet Camaro
I would much rather build it my self, because you will practically touch every bolt in the car and learn so much. Then after you are done with it, you have the great feeling of accomplishment, and when its your car you know about possible problems with it, whereas if you bought it only the original owner would know and most likely not tell you...
@!#$, you cant buy my dream cavs. Way too much custom/personal/hard to find crap.
Honestly, I would feel like a fraud buying someone elses work and driving it around like I did it myself. The more work you do on your car, you begin to know what every sound is, you know exactly how your engine should sound, and when something is wrong. Also, if and when something went wrong in the dream car you bought from someone else, are you really going to know what the last guy/girl did? Maybe they took shortcuts? Maybe the car is a huge piece of shiat with a nice body and interior?
Point is, people who drive other peoples work around like its their own are frauds. Even though I probably couldnt do half of the mods you guys have on your cars, the opportunity to own one wouldn't feel like a victory, or carry any personal achievement that comes with having a self-modded car.
i dont think the origonal poster said anything about being a fraud and pretending you built the car when you just bought it. the questions was would you rather build it or buy it.
and really id just comes down to each person. i build my cars and i take pride in my work, but at the same time, i had my house built, and i had someone come in and put a fence in and a deck in etc etc etc and i still consider it my house, i just dont have the time to devote to building everything myself. that doesnt make my house any less mine. i own it no matter who built it. people need to get off of the whole. oh im hardcore because i built it myself kick. who cares. some people like to build. some people dont have the time or skill to spend building something. either way there is no wrong way to do it. people down on people who buy projects, but in reality allot of those people who have the money but not the time are able to do things and have things made that have pushed the car field in general, and that's a good thing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography
Nobody could build it the way I did.
That is the difference to me and when you buy someone elses build, you don't know what's been done which would contribute to futility of ever doing more to the car.
Why bother.
Just do it.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO! 
nobody could build it the way i did. but i know people who can build it better, allot better then i could.
the posters questions was if you could have the car of your dreams, everthing that you want is allready done. so there is no need to do more to the car. not even getting into the fact that allot of people building cars on this site arn't the best builders to begin with.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography
i'd rather build than buy... for the sheer fact that i enjoy working on my car.
it's not a matter of pride or anything like that... just enjoy the wrench time. i've made alot of good friend's from being under the hood of a car (j-body, subaru, etc)
It's funny how everyone BUYS their car.... At that point what does it matter if someone else changed the bumper or if someone else installed it from the factory? Who cares, you either like the car or you don't.
Personally I used to have the preference to build over buy, nowadays id rather buy it built an enjoy it, I work on cars for a point I have zero desire to go home and work on my own.
I wouldnt buy a built project the number one reason would be they could of cobjobbed somthing like what if they cobjob the batttery terminals or somthing or maybe even brake lines or fuel lines coolant hoses the list goes on
I'm starting to lean towards buying something and leaving it alone. If it's stock, so be it. If it's built then that's cool to. Ive put to much of my time and money into cars over my life that i think i could tell by looking and test driving a car if it's junk or not.
I bought mine(already turbd)......and then spent additional 3000$ on it. What category does that fall under?
Anyhow Id much rather build it from scratch, but if an awesome deal is thrown your way...why not jump? Then build on that?
Your WHAT hurts?
There are very few J-bodies that I would want to buy already modified... and those very few are only because it's something really friggin' awesome - like the chopped-top coupe somewhere in Alberta... that thing was mint. Way beyond what I would be capable of doing...
My dream car I couldn't afford, because it would start out with the Dodge m4s turbo interceptor from the movie the wraith and modify that
But I like my z24 I'm building my dream little by little but money is tight with the economy as it is
i would prefer to build with friends as mentioned, but if it is already done i would have to redo some parts of it for giggles, i cant leave enough alone
I would much rather build it myself...
It's a hobby to keep me busy...a stress reliever of sorts, when I need to clear my head and take a break from life, I work on the cars.
On top of that, I've made a TON of friends through my projects and working on others. I've learned a lot from the people I work on cars with, have been left with a ton of great stories and memories throughout the process.
You don't get that from just dropping the cash and driving home a finished car...
