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Loving the vids John, good man yourself!
I won't try to give advice on the blue yoke; only you will know if it's worth it to you. However, I will give my own personal experience.
When I was 17, I took on an MGB GT project. It was a total basket case and was not economical to restore.
I ploughed on with stripping it down, I spent a lot of money on parts and then it all sat for years until I could afford for someone to weld it (it was in my parents' garage so I didn't want to be learning to weld with it connected to the house etc.)*.
When I got a stable enough job, I looked into the price of the welding and it was house deposit territory (just the welding mind, not a finished car) so I made the very hard decision to break the car for parts (was saving for a house at the time).
Financially, I actually got back pretty much what I put into it. However, the opportunity cost was other motoring experiences during this time.
Personally, I leaned at lot! I made plenty of mistakes/figured out a lot of things that have helped me ever since. On this basis alone I don't regret it but none of my family (non-petrolheads) can understand this. I won't pretend it was all rosy but it was hard-won hands-on experience. Indirectly worth it but nothing direct to show for it.
Ironically, the MGB taught me things that helped me to complete smaller projects, over time, these projects escalalated and I now probably have most of the skills to succeed now. However, I don't have the time or (being honest) the patience for a project that spans years. Maybe months but not years. Not being negative but I realised I much prefer doing coilovers in a weekend or rebuilding an engine top end over 6 months (of dry weekends) and then enjoying the thing.
*be wary of people you know/lads doing a bit of work on the side. I once had my car up in a lad's yard for 8 months with no progress. He never even took the cover off it. Another lad had it a year, similar progress. Transport at my expense. Both fellas took it on with good intentions but didn't have as much time/motivation as they thought. They weren't looking for money. They actually wanted to do me a favour in good faith so no hard feelings (I'm very grateful that they even offered) but I hadn't bargained in these challenges.
Good luck with whatever you decide! And check out 'SOUP Classic Motoring (George Karellas)', a fellow Youtuber, for some inspiration.
I won't try to give advice on the blue yoke; only you will know if it's worth it to you. However, I will give my own personal experience.
When I was 17, I took on an MGB GT project. It was a total basket case and was not economical to restore.
I ploughed on with stripping it down, I spent a lot of money on parts and then it all sat for years until I could afford for someone to weld it (it was in my parents' garage so I didn't want to be learning to weld with it connected to the house etc.)*.
When I got a stable enough job, I looked into the price of the welding and it was house deposit territory (just the welding mind, not a finished car) so I made the very hard decision to break the car for parts (was saving for a house at the time).
Financially, I actually got back pretty much what I put into it. However, the opportunity cost was other motoring experiences during this time.
Personally, I leaned at lot! I made plenty of mistakes/figured out a lot of things that have helped me ever since. On this basis alone I don't regret it but none of my family (non-petrolheads) can understand this. I won't pretend it was all rosy but it was hard-won hands-on experience. Indirectly worth it but nothing direct to show for it.
Ironically, the MGB taught me things that helped me to complete smaller projects, over time, these projects escalalated and I now probably have most of the skills to succeed now. However, I don't have the time or (being honest) the patience for a project that spans years. Maybe months but not years. Not being negative but I realised I much prefer doing coilovers in a weekend or rebuilding an engine top end over 6 months (of dry weekends) and then enjoying the thing.
*be wary of people you know/lads doing a bit of work on the side. I once had my car up in a lad's yard for 8 months with no progress. He never even took the cover off it. Another lad had it a year, similar progress. Transport at my expense. Both fellas took it on with good intentions but didn't have as much time/motivation as they thought. They weren't looking for money. They actually wanted to do me a favour in good faith so no hard feelings (I'm very grateful that they even offered) but I hadn't bargained in these challenges.
Good luck with whatever you decide! And check out 'SOUP Classic Motoring (George Karellas)', a fellow Youtuber, for some inspiration.
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