The BIG project thread

Show off your work! Anything from final results to full start-to-finish project journals.

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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:00 pm
I guess houses must be stupid expensive in the LA area so I can't blame you there. If you can get a place in the country with some land that would be the way to go. No nosy neighbours to worry about, if you're lucky you can find something with a big barn and have lots of room!

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:12 pm
Exactly. If I were to get land here, it would either be in the middle of the desert, or would cost somewhere in the tens of millions. Neither sounds great.

When I see an ad for a decent three bedroom, two bathroom house, detached garage, barn, miscellaneous outbuildings, on thirty acres with a pond or creek running through the property somewhere in the low $400Ks, I get real, real excited. Just an hour N/NW of Austin is Burnet, Texas. Can't wait!! Only another four or five years here.

As far as expense goes, I never thought I'd say, "Yeah, half million? Good price!!" But there I was in Spring, '04. I'm a little bitter...

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:20 pm
I hear ya on those prices, it's brutally expensive where I live too, I'm in Victoria which is dead west of Seattle on Vancouver Island. I'm fortunate that I bought almost 25 years ago because I couldn't afford to buy my own house now. It's worth around 650,000 which is almost 5 times what I paid for it and while it's a decent house it isn't anything fancy, good location, nice lot, standard box of a house. Fancy stuff is well over a mil here. Even though that is in Canadian dollars there isn't that much difference these days, the old American Peso isn't what it used to be, I remember paying a 50% exchange on parts I got from the States, I think it's about 12% right now.

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:58 pm
My ex wife and I were thinking of moving up to Northern Oregon a few years back, because her mom's side of her family lives in Vancouver, Washington. Portland (ish) would have been close enough to visit them, but not close enough to "stop by". :D Beautiful country up there!!

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:12 pm
It really is nice country up here, lots of trees, but the city has grown too much and despite being much smaller than Vancouver it's starting to take on the same undesirable characteristics. We're going to retire a little ways up the island where it's more of a country atmosphere. Still have quite a few years to go though which is a pity since I'm ready now :lol:

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:41 pm
I hear ya!! Though not retiring, I'm ready for Texas!!! 8)

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:44 pm
What's holding you back? If you're going to do it anyway why not do it sooner than later? I guess a big move like that has that whole work thing to deal with though, getting re-established and all that goes with that.

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:11 pm
There's that, but also greed. I want to be able to move and be comfortable for a while when we get there.

It is a bit more complicated, though. My mom's in a wheelchair, and I am her backup driver/caregiver. I need to be absolutely for certain sure that she'll be taken care of properly. Who knows, though? She might be ready to go back to Texas with us when we're ready. (She was born and raised there, moved here in '68 or '69, and had me in '71.)

Sorry for taking so long to respond. My customer got here about an hour later than he said he would, and fitting the console's base took a bit longer than I thought it would. Plus, he hadn't pulled up the carpet yet. Anyway, I should be able to start finishing the console FOR GOOD on Monday.

Here's a shot of the taillights that I modified for him a couple years ago (from today). They've held up well, considering that the paint is all (gulp) rattlecan!! By the way, doing what the customer asks isn't always my idea of what should be done, but whatever. They're '59 Caddy bullets mounted in the stock '63 Ranchero buckets.

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:52 am
At least you're nice enough to take care of your Mom, not everyone does that so good on ya! Regardless, it's a big move with a lot of hassles so you're right in making sure you can afford some down time.

I wasn't around much yesterday, I had a golf tournnament in the afternoon, that was a blast. I'm back in my shop today, I have a laptop out here so I usually check in from time to time. My son is coming over in a bit to help me with the re and re on the crate motor. I'm looking forward to getting the Camaro out of here so I can get onto his tow truck and then finally to my stuff!!

The Ranchero looks good, I like those old Falcons, I've seen some nice pro-street ones in magazines.

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:22 am
She says that she's ready for me to move any time, but I think that's mostly her "game face". I still get calls a couple times a week to go over to her place to take care of stuff that I know her nurse could do. That's a mom for ya, though!! :D

Golf, huh? All things being equal, I need to steal some time to get out the rifle range. But that's WAY off topic. :lol:

Which crate motor are you putting in it? I had to do an engine swap last year for another guy in my club. '51 Chevy sled got a 330 HP SBC. Started right up and FLEW!! Here it is in my driveway, when it came over for a throttle cable replacement. (The car looks better from far away, anyway.)

Image


Thanks for the compliment!! It's his wife's truck, and unfortunately she's thinking of painting it some sort of Plum Crazy Purple. That, uh, that just ain't right. :?
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