Any Advice/Tips on Project vs Finished Car?

[terryr]

all well and good buying a restored car as long as you have a good history of the build and your happy with it ,rolling resto just never seem to get finished ,i always tend to buy as solid as possible dont really worry to much about trim and stuff ,and then rip it apart and put it back together again ,but then again i have a big garage and do my own work, and have never earned big money on ones ive sold ,if i was to add a labour charge into it id be on a massive loss ,some people prefer tinkering to driving em

[Dave-R]

If my Challenger had not been a real 440 R/T I would have made a loss when I sold it for sure despite the huge increase in value over the last 20-odd years.

But I did "restore" it twice in that time which didn't help.

[Hemimad]

I have restored at least seven cars from the ground up and have never considered it as a financial investment, but I do enjoy it and I am lucky to have a Wife who lets me slope off into the garage while she mows the lawn.

I cannot say that I have money spilling out my pockets but to buy the best car for sale would save loads of money in the long term, however it is dependant on how much cash you have in one place. To have a dream of owning a car that you know is not full of filler, sawdust/old tights and does not have the oil light wired to the ignition light can be a minefield with Classic cars. The only way to be certain 100% is to DIY, by the time it is complete you will know every inch of the car inside and out. It will take you on a merry-go-round during the course with its ups and downs, but you can plan the road ahead to fit around everyday life. The benifit to people who do not have £15 - 20k on the hip for an operating B or E body or the like that may or may not need work in the short term is that they may have £4 -7k to buy one where its faults are laid out for all to see and ebb out the cost to restore over a period of years. That way they do have the car they dreamt about and it will always have a value to someone should the crap hit the fan. You may well spend 25K restoring that car and loose £5 -10k when you sell it or you may not, nothing is certain.

I am currently in the throws of restoring a 1970 Roadrunner that is quickly getting out of hand, but to give you an idea of the costs to date;

Paint and Body £4500.00
Engine £1200.00
Interior £1800.00 (not fitted)
Wiring £600.00
Vinyl top £400.00
Decals £350.00
Wheels and tyres £1300.00
Disc conv £900.00
Exhaust £????
Windscreen £????
Seals nad odds and sods £650.00
Bumper chrome £800.00
Fuel tank £250.00
Lines £120.00
Lights £300.00

Labour bill : F.O.C

Visa Bill : O.M.G (hide from Wife!)

Cost of car to buy : Toooo much, but I wanted it!

Also be mindfull of the shipping and import duty when thinking about how much something will cost to do. I doubt that mine will be the best out there, but it will last and I will know what went into it to get it that way.

Cheers

Dave C

[Dave81]

[Steve]

Do me!!! Just the parts list there is more than twice what I paid for my car and the bits Ive done to her!!!! Im in the wrong job!!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the detailed replies and great advice chaps, I think the answer is obvious so I'm sticking with plan A and will keep up the search for a complete running car!

[Steve]

Think this will be and eternal debate Bilko..... Im very envious of all the guys on here who can restore these great cars but Im just lovin driving mine and enjoyin her....250 miles this week just bimbling round and still got the HRDs on Sunday. Utopia would be my Polara and a project but cant have that so more than happy with a sorted turnkey land yacht and fillin my boots with watchin the great resto threads on here

Whatever you do mate, have fun and enjoy your Mopar

Cheers Steve

[Mossy68]

Well said Steve.
Given the money / time I'd have some hemi mopar from hell and spend every waking hour on it !!
But .................!!!!

Gary