Dollars and sense
I have been follow ing Morley’s Project Hillclimber build in UniqueCars from its inception. I am intrig ued as I wish to go down the same path and compete in hill climbs etc. I reckon hill climbs and sprints are much easier on t he vehicle and more f un than track days.
I ask t he question though: Would it not have been much easier to buy a vehicle a lready set up, t hus sav ing money, time and being able to participate much earlier than building one yourself (I have litt le mechanical experience)? It would be interesting upon completion of Morley’s project to know how much it will have cost and the manhours involved to build it.
Andrew Taylor,
AH, ANDREW, you’ve identified the flaw in my brilliant plan. You’re dead right: Buying a completed hillclimber with all the work done would, indeed, have been cheaper and a lot less work than the path I chose. And there’s nothing wrong with doing that, especially if, as you’ve admitted, you don’t have a whole lot of mechanical experience. The fact is that – with the exception of historically significant examples – a race-car is a
“THE PIC OF THE SPECIAL ORDER EJ WITH THE RED-MOTOR NUMBER PLATE IS A CLASSIC”
bit like the average boat… a big hole you shovel money into. Check the classifieds; a lot of people who build race-cars spend thousand and eventually sell it for hundreds. It’s not even just the car and the actual components, either. There’s also the workshop gear you need to buy to get the job done.
But, to be honest, building my hillclimber has been great therapy. For me, working on an old car requires using a completely different part of my brain from the – tiny – bit I normally use day to day. As I’ve said many times before, I’m not a classically trained mechanic, but working on something nice and simple like an old Commodore has taught me new skills and new techniques that I’ll have forever and can use down the track. Also, the actual building of the thing is a large part of the experience for me. I really do get a kick out of making bits and pieces from scratch and marrying up new components to improve the end product. And I even get to play design engineer by coming up with ways of making it stronger and better.
On a more philosophical level, the fact that I’ve built the thing myself has demystified it for me. This has a couple of ramifications. One is that I’ll feel confident driving it quickly because I know that the really vital bits are in good nick and installed properly (I take my time with those and double-check everything). Also, I’m going to be less distraught if I bend it or anything does go bang. Because I’ll know how to put it right, since I did it myself in the first place.
I guess the other reason for doing it from scratch was because it makes for a better yarn in this magazine. It would have been just another one of ‘Our Shed’ cars had I simply bought a complete race-car. But by starting from not much more than a paddock bomb and taking it all the way step-by-step, you lot get to see how it’s done by a complete weekend warrior. And we got to showcase some really neat, quality gear from a range of local manufacturers and suppliers; stuff that you can use on your project, Andrew, whether you build it from scratch or start improving on a ready-to-race job.
As for the cost, forgive me if I don’t want to think about it, let along add it up. I reckon I’ll be on the track for under ten-grand (but not much under) but since the process has been spread out over a year or more, it hasn’t been the, wallet-trashing experience it might have been. As for man-hours, it all depends on how fast you work. Because I’m a plodder, I reckon I’ve got about a week’s worth of time just in the suspension bushes, so I’m not a good example. As Mrs M would soon tell you; there’s a theme.