Are you a "run and restore" or a "restore and run"?

When looking for your next classic car (or project) that needs restoration, are you the type to buy something, get it running and then work on the exterior/interior/welding/etc. or do you get a new project and tear it down to start the restoration?

I had a friend who would always make sure to get his cars in running/driving condition with the intent to restore it as he enjoyed it.  He never gets to the restoration part as he's too busy driving them.

I'm more of the type to get a new project and disassemble, restoring/fixing each part as I put it back together.  Sadly, I've had lots of failed projects. 

Just curious what others usually do with new projects before I dive into my next one.

-Rob

My history is buying basket cases. 2 of them are still on the property and haven't moved in 2 and 4 years respectively. Most recent project was bought as a driver and hasn't been inoperable for more than a week under my watch. That's the way I want to do things going forward. 

Run and restore. Nothing kills a project like not being able to play with it.

Get it running and drive it for a while first.

Nothing like spending a few years of your life working on something to discover you hate it.

I've never been so glad for that until I drove my first E-type.

I like the BJ8 Austin-Healey a lot more now.

Depends on the project and the goals. I do both. 

Appleseed said:

Run and restore. Nothing kills a project like not being able to play with it.

Me too. When I buy non-running projects and don't get to enjoy them first, the project VERY rarely gets completed. I'm looking at you, 4 VW Buses and 2 Saab Sonnets...

Depends entirely on what shape it is in. If it is an old car with dodgy brakes, or worn out engine or has bad synchros, why run it when you can restore it and not risk any further wear/damage?  If the level of delayed maintenance is lower, then getting it running, if only so that you can diagnose/assess the things that need fixing is often preferable.

Turns out I am in the problem solving hobby, not the driving cars hobby. The cars are just the venue.

So yeah, find an interesting problem, pull it apart and reassemble the puzzle, then move on and up the ladder to the next puzzle.

Pete

I debated it when I got my Bugeye.  My thoughts are that it depends...

For my situation when I got the bugeye, it was my first classic car project to myself. I had a busy life and it was in my mother in laws shed. I have a history of ADD (not a joke, diagnosed in Kindergarten). 

Yup, get it running was the push.  

Could I have been more efficient otherwise?  yeah, but hindsight is 20/20  

It was more fun snowballing it along and let me connect with it better. 

I am much more about driving my cars than working on them.  Not that I don't like working on cars - providing I have a nice comfortable space to do that in. And since I don't have a decent work space right now, my cars tend to languish when they break... 

Tear it apart, then abandon it, never having driven it, if we're honest.

I'm definitely a run-n-restore guy, but I've never had the space to have a disassembled car AND the tools/workspace to support the effort.  I may be in trouble if I ever did, but maybe not.  I only work on them so I can drive them.

Run and drive. I too have A.D.D. and so that makes me painfully aware that the likelyhood of my completing a nut and bolt resto is questionable.

I have seen very few people who managed to drag a project home actually get it finished in under 20 years. I have 4 friends who have beloved cars they've done little to anthing with the last 20 years. Ironically they don't have A.D.D.

I've come to terms with the fact that I will never own a super clean old car. In my case I race them so doing a concours paint job is ill advised.

I'm in the getting it running and driving well, then, if need be paint it.

At least one of them needs to be run and restore, otherwise the motivation takes a vacation sooner or later.

  I have a bad habit of getting the drivetrain all sorted out and never finishing the complete build. Both my 84 and 88 Ranger 2.3 turbo swaps went that way. Get the fuel delivery all sorted , get brakes sorted, trans mount mocked up,get the wiring harness sorted, drop trans and fresh coffee grinder with a hair dryer settled into engine bay with open down pipe, get critical instrumentation zip ties in place "temporarily", get an actual exhaust on it after it fires up and runs,then spend the rest of the time driving it . figures on sorting the body and paint later but later never comes because my project turns into my daily and never gets finished because the darn thing is fun to drive and the boosted 4 banger build gets good mileage. 

  I have yet to truly finish a build. I suppose it is better to thrash on a forever "incomplete" project for 100K than to dissasemble it and never get back to it?

NOHOME said:

Turns out I am in the problem solving hobby, not the driving cars hobby. The cars are just the venue.

 

So yeah, find an interesting problem, pull it apart and reassemble the puzzle, then move on and up the ladder to the next puzzle.

 

Pete

I had a friend who was just like that. Restored an XKE and even replicated the factory spot welds on the underside of the new floor panels he put in. Would have won a medal if being anal retentive was a competitive sport!

Finished the car, realized that he enjoyed restoring it far more than he did driving it, and sold it!