Car Restoration
Is A Great Retirement Hobby
Car Restoration can be a very rewarding hobby and it’s one of those pastimes that you can choose to be just a spectator or a full-fledged participant. A number of my friends spend countless weekends at car shows where the owners display their handiwork with some classic vintages. My friends don’t work on cars and don’t own any antique automobiles, they just like seeing the old cars and the stories behind each of the restorations.
Quite honestly, I was never bitten by the “car bug” but I have an appreciation for anyone who develops an interest in something as complex as this hobby. Car restoration takes time and skill and, sometimes, quite a bit of money if you’re working on a vintage model. I’ve been to a few museums and enjoy seeing the old cars but there’s another level to this hobby that I have never gotten involved although, as I said, I have an appreciation for anyone who enjoys learning the details of a particular hobby.
Whether it’s a Model T or a ’55 Chevy, listening to an owner describe the effort it took to restore the particular car that they’ve been working on will let you know that you’ve encountered a passionate hobbyist. Our next-door neighbor was one of those people. He worked on his 1957 Chevy day and night. You would see him doing his yardwork in the morning and working on his car in the afternoon. He absolutely loved the time he spent in his garage.
Car Restoration Can Be Profitable
Our neighbor had a mechanical ability and used it to fund his hobby by selling his finished product at the end and then starting on the next. Just like someone would fix up a house that needed work, he would take a take a car and refurbish it. He had a regular job as a boat mechanic but, in his spare time, he was a car flipper. He not only loved what he did, he made some nice money doing it and it certainly filled up his days when he retired. Apparently, car restoration is a big business.
Antique cars, of course, are in a class by themselves and the old cars of the thirties like the Duesenberg or the Packard are what first comes to mind when I think of car restoration but it can certainly apply to the newer “classics” like the ’65 Mustang or the ’57 Chevy. And it can even apply to going down to a junk yard and getting a car for next to nothing and building it back to it’s glory days.
Car restoration is something to consider if you like old cars or have a mechanical ability. If it’s something that you think you might have an interest in, go to an old car show and talk to the owners. Their passion and love for their hobby may convince you that car restoration is right up your alley and may be one more way to Enjoy Retired Life.
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