It should be a four letter word
Procrastination.
My worst enemy. There are those in the world that seem to have some sort of drive, determination, or motivation. Is this a learned trait or is it genetic? I would really prefer to believe that it's learned. If it's genetic...I just don't have it and I'm never going to get it. I don't consider myself lazy. I'm not afraid of work. Accomplishing things gives me satisfaction. The biggest problem I have is starting the work. Once I've started, the project will get done.
I've always loved air cooled VWs since my dad drove me around an old bus when was a rug rat. My older brother had a bug in high school and just finished restoring his second bug. This last year I started my first major project. In my garage sits the chassis of a 1968 VW bug. I bought this car in the hopes of restoring it to its original basic transportation glory. About a year ago, I was driving it to work (it was my only transportation at the time) and the clutch started slipping. I nursed it home and that was the last time the car has moved under its own power. I decided, since I needed to pull then engine and trany to fix the clutch, the restoration time had arrived. As I pulled the car apart I realized that the body was in much worse shape than appeared on the surface. I could've attempted to repair all the rusty panels and other nonsense to bring the body back to life but the thought of missing some rust and little bubbles appearing in my restored car was unfathomable. I decided that I was going to convert the car to fiberglass dune buggy. I found a guy that was selling his body on the internet. Miraculously he wanted to trade for 68 bug parts. I made an even swap for his body. All the transaction cost me was the gas to go pick the thing up. I've done a ton of work trying go make myself a car out of the mishmash of parts in my garage. Part of building a dune buggy requires you to shorten the frame of the bug 14 1/2 inches. You literally have to cut the car in half and weld it back together. I had never done this type of thing before but had heard that most old VW shops could for a few hundred bucks. I tried desperately, in my area of the woods, to find someone who would do the work. No one would go for it. They all used liability reasons for not doing the job (damn lawyers are gonna be a future rant). I eventually went to Home Depot and bought a friggin welder and did the job myself. The welds aren't beautiful but they are strong.
By now you're asking yourself "What the hell does this guy doing all this work have to do with procrastination?" I was proud of all I had accomplished. I stood back and beat my chest and let out a couple Tim Taylor grunts at all I had done. That was about 2 months ago. I haven't been motivated since. My dune buggy represents the first project in a long time that I remember starting but not finishing. I have every intention of building my own plane at some point in my life. Not a little model mind you, but a full sized flying machine that my wife and I can hop in and go gallivanting around the country in (see the link on the side of the page). I consider the dune buggy my test (partly because VW is an engine option for the plane). If I can't build this car, I have no business spending thirteen thousand dollars on a box of aluminum. So if any of you reading this (I have no readers I'm aware of so far) have any ideas on how to stay motivated I would like to hear them.
My worst enemy. There are those in the world that seem to have some sort of drive, determination, or motivation. Is this a learned trait or is it genetic? I would really prefer to believe that it's learned. If it's genetic...I just don't have it and I'm never going to get it. I don't consider myself lazy. I'm not afraid of work. Accomplishing things gives me satisfaction. The biggest problem I have is starting the work. Once I've started, the project will get done.
I've always loved air cooled VWs since my dad drove me around an old bus when was a rug rat. My older brother had a bug in high school and just finished restoring his second bug. This last year I started my first major project. In my garage sits the chassis of a 1968 VW bug. I bought this car in the hopes of restoring it to its original basic transportation glory. About a year ago, I was driving it to work (it was my only transportation at the time) and the clutch started slipping. I nursed it home and that was the last time the car has moved under its own power. I decided, since I needed to pull then engine and trany to fix the clutch, the restoration time had arrived. As I pulled the car apart I realized that the body was in much worse shape than appeared on the surface. I could've attempted to repair all the rusty panels and other nonsense to bring the body back to life but the thought of missing some rust and little bubbles appearing in my restored car was unfathomable. I decided that I was going to convert the car to fiberglass dune buggy. I found a guy that was selling his body on the internet. Miraculously he wanted to trade for 68 bug parts. I made an even swap for his body. All the transaction cost me was the gas to go pick the thing up. I've done a ton of work trying go make myself a car out of the mishmash of parts in my garage. Part of building a dune buggy requires you to shorten the frame of the bug 14 1/2 inches. You literally have to cut the car in half and weld it back together. I had never done this type of thing before but had heard that most old VW shops could for a few hundred bucks. I tried desperately, in my area of the woods, to find someone who would do the work. No one would go for it. They all used liability reasons for not doing the job (damn lawyers are gonna be a future rant). I eventually went to Home Depot and bought a friggin welder and did the job myself. The welds aren't beautiful but they are strong.
By now you're asking yourself "What the hell does this guy doing all this work have to do with procrastination?" I was proud of all I had accomplished. I stood back and beat my chest and let out a couple Tim Taylor grunts at all I had done. That was about 2 months ago. I haven't been motivated since. My dune buggy represents the first project in a long time that I remember starting but not finishing. I have every intention of building my own plane at some point in my life. Not a little model mind you, but a full sized flying machine that my wife and I can hop in and go gallivanting around the country in (see the link on the side of the page). I consider the dune buggy my test (partly because VW is an engine option for the plane). If I can't build this car, I have no business spending thirteen thousand dollars on a box of aluminum. So if any of you reading this (I have no readers I'm aware of so far) have any ideas on how to stay motivated I would like to hear them.
posted by Glenn at 7:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home