Author Topic: When is "good enough" good enough?  (Read 6921 times)

Offline cobrajetchris

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Re: When is "good enough" good enough?
« Reply #15 on: October 25, 2009, 06:54:56 PM »
I know exactly what your talking about with "GOOD ENOUGH" and go through that all the time with my 69 R code I am 3 years into restoring now. To give you a couple of examples I painted my engine bay a few months back and was satisfied with it for the most part but the more I looked at it I found some rust pits that where not all removed and a couple of dings I missed and it bothered me for a couple months while I was doing other things like painting the undercarriage. Now it's time to install suspension parts and I needed to make a decision on the engine bay, so I just started doing it over and I am glad I did, as you really are not doing it completely over, your just correcting some errors and flaws and repainting it. On the other hand I replaced my floor pan with a reproduction one piece floor and the fit was OK after much time put in, I reproduced the factory spot welds as best I could and then you get to the fact the new floor has a extra pair of drain pugs in the front and the ribbing is slightly different in that area. At first I was just going to weld up the front drain plugs and grind it flush, then I got more picky and sectioned in a piece of the original floor webbing and kind of "faked it out" the best I could. I am still not happy with it however I painted the floor and have decided on "GOOD ENOUGH" on that part. One of the biggest problems in this hobby is poor quality parts that you have little control over. Most of the reproduction parts out there are TAIWAN junk, some NOS parts are impossible to find and lets face it most of these cars where driven hard, wrecked and rusted out. I was told a long time ago the better car you start with the better car you finish with, I believe that is very true,  just due to the fact that some things are impossible to duplicate and with poor quality parts it just comppounds. One thing to keep in mind there is nothing perfect in this world and the strive for perfection is what drives better and better restorations. Perfection is also in the eye of the beholder as I remember one time a guy at a car show looked at the paint on my boss 302 and said " I can't see anything wrong with the paint job but I bet you do". I replied are you kidding that is all I see is the flaws. You definitely have to pick your battles and I found it's easier to live with something beyond your control than your own personal workmanship issues. You are definitely not alone in this battle and good luck on your project.     
CHRIS KNOBBE
69 MUSTANG COUPE, DEARBORN BUILT 06/10/69 OWNED SINCE 1978
70 BOSS 302 MUSTANG, DEARBORN BUILT 10/24/69 OWNED SINCE 1987
69 R CODE MACH1 AUTO, DEARBORN BUILT 10/10/68 OWNED SINCE 2006
69 R CODE MACH1 4 SPEED (factory black) SAN JOSE BUILT 12/30/68 OWNED SINCE 2007

Offline CharlesTurner

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Re: When is "good enough" good enough?
« Reply #16 on: October 25, 2009, 08:03:51 PM »
I was told a long time ago the better car you start with the better car you finish with, I believe that is very true,  just due to the fact that some things are impossible to duplicate and with poor quality parts it just compounds.

That's it right there!  Trying to piece something together is very difficult.  It's getting to where if you don't have a good car to start with, you better start looking for a good donor car!  Of course, built about the same time and from the same assembly plant.


Charles Turner - MCA/SAAC Judge
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Offline ruppstang

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Re: When is "good enough" good enough?
« Reply #17 on: October 25, 2009, 09:56:21 PM »
Good is deffently not good enough when you paid someone to do a job that you could have done better your self. I think is better to try and fail and learn something even if that something is that you can't do it, than not try at all. Marty