What's Your Game Plan For 2018?

You've probably heard this garbage a million times - what's on your hot rod list for the next 12 months? Are you going to make 2018 the best year ever? Blah, blah, blah. Sure, we can all dream of winning the Powerball and letting all hell break loose from there, but what about yours and mine reality? What can we do this year, that just might make a difference, and make this year better than the last? First off, we all need to make goals that we can actually attain. While some people may say, "go big or go home", I like to keep my goals fairly simple. The reasoning behind this logic is, if I complete that goal, it motivates me to tackle another, and if possible, another. And then when 2018 is drawing to a close, I can look back and say, "Well hot damn!"

For example, when I was restoring / modifying an antique Chevy C-10 truck, and I came to the interior, I took this in stages - which lasted over the course of three years. The first part was when I had the truck painted. The exterior paint scheme was carried over into the interior. That was step #1. I had to wait for steps 2 and 3, because my wallet was pulling more vacuum than the V-8 between the fenders. The following year was a small goal - to install the Auto Meter gauges in the dash, which happened faster and earlier than I thought. With a great deal of the summer left, I installed a Hurst shifter on the floor in July. I found I still had some extra money left, so I recovered and installed the bucket seats in late August that I had weirdly stashed in a huge closet (along with the shifter and gauges on a shelf in said closet) for three years. This benefited my psyche greatly as I accomplished more than one goal, I didn't have to spend much money on parts and materials that year, and it gave me time to buck up for next years goal of installing a custom dash, which involved ripping out the entire original unit, dash pad, wiring, and lower metal portion.

My point is, is that I would have lost my mind if I tried accomplishing all that in one year. I would have been living in my garage. While that may work for some of you, I can't roll the dice that way. So, if your ride is looking smooth, except it needs a paint job, (and it's currently wearing it's primer proudly), that doesn't mean you can't take it to a car show because "it's not finished". You'd be surprised at the number of people who will still dig your ride, and comment a year or two down the road, when it finally is painted. They'll love and support you in the process. Another item that can be on your 2018 planner is to take your kids, grand-kids, nephews, and/or nieces to a car show or drag race. You might be taken aback at how much they'll interact with you as well as the surroundings. They make ask a ton of questions - they also may not. They may not say a whole lot, except to say that it was "pretty cool". Then, years later, they will thank you or appreciate what you did for them. What did you do? You shared your passion. And that's rare these days.

Your game plan doesn't have to be big, just make your game plan count.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave