Hagerty, the official insurance partner of the SCCA®, has a prolific media component to its business of insurance, valuations, and auctions, and while not all articles apply with a one-to-one correlation to SCCA members, sometimes similarities are too obvious to ignore. For instance, when Hagerty author Zach Bowman penned an article entitled Climbing Out of the Doldrums: What to Do with a Stalled Project, it mattered little that he was talking about reviving a 1948 Willys CJ-2A. Truth is, many of us have lost the desire to keep those wrenches spinning on project race cars. But maybe this article can help.
“Work on machines long enough and you’ll find yourself here: The Doldrums. Becalmed by your own decisions and the seemingly endless amount of work left before you can turn the key,” Bowman wrote. “The thought of sanding one more panel, turning one more bolt, or welding one more stitch is enough to make you scream. Your eyes wander. Your search history becomes full of other potential projects. Or worse, you grow to hate the thing. What was once a bright spot in your life becomes a pit of loathing. It transforms itself into a shelf in the garage, a convenient place for holiday decorations and your own despair.”
Sounds familiar. But what can be done? Bowman gets philosophical and presents several of his own dilemmas while working on his Willys, many with accompanying anecdotes.
For example:
“But whatever you do, keep moving,” he wrote. “There’s a reason we call it working on cars. It’s work, and work isn’t always a holiday. As I’ve dragged myself through the various stages of grief, I’ve come to rely on the almighty List to help me cover ground. It’s no good trying to keep it all straight in my head. I’m likely to start on a wheel bearing and wind up trying to solve that pesky radiator mount with the front hub still disassembled. I have to write the thing out, usually on a scrap of cardboard. I sketch out 10 manageable tasks and go from there. I’m not alone. Billionaire Warren Buffet famously gets through his day by making two lists. The first contains 25 goals. He reportedly circles five of the most important and scraps the remaining 20. Those five items become his actual to-do list, and he avoids the leftovers like the plague. I’m not sure if that sort of dogged prioritization will get me closer to becoming a billionaire, but it has helped me work on an old Willys.”
Will this article help you out? Maybe, maybe not. But at the very least, it lets you know that your long-abandoned race car project that is now all but a squatter in your garage is not a problem that’s unique to you.
Photo courtesy Hagerty / Camden Thrasher
