All to familiar story....

[chargervert]

My friend had about 20 project cars, and was paying different people to work on several of them. So after expressing frustration trying to get them finished I talked him into selling off a lot of the project cars and buying done cars. I helped him with finding good deals on done cars or decent running drivers instead of doing the project cars. He has done very well and upgraded his collection nicely. He still has about a half dozen project cars and is finding it very difficult to find people who want to work on them at all,let alone for a reasonable price. Almost every time you are ahead of the game getting a done car and tweaking it to your liking. Unless the car has been hacked or it a perfumed pig. Don't buy cars on the internet without seeing them in person. Like RC said,watch the end of some of the Fantom Works shows when he sits down with the customer and breaks the news to them that they just put 100k into a 64 Barracuda, or 68 notch back Mustang! Unfortunately for me,I don't follow my own advice! Lol

 

[ct71rr]

$10K for a rebuilt 5.7 hemi??!!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

If I had to pay a shop for all the hours I have in my build it wouldn’t be affordable. It sounds like the owner didn’t understand what he was getting himself into. He would have been better off buying a done car…

How many times have people come to these internet forums posting about some project they are looking at & get hit with lots of posts about buying a done or at least mostly done car.... They rarely take that advise... I get the "I want to build my own dream" but those dreams can be accomplished by starting with a done car & adding a few tweaks.. Or those dreams can become nightmares....

 

[68BabyBlue]

If I had to pay a shop for all the hours I have in my build it wouldn’t be affordable. It sounds like the owner didn’t understand what he was getting himself into. He would have been better off buying a done car…

My 300f had recepts for parts and labor equaling three times my purchase price.

 

[Black_Sheep]

My 300f had recepts for parts and labor equaling three times my purchase price.

If I’ve learned anything playing with old cars it’s this; However long you think something will take, double it. However much you think it will cost, triple it...

 

[cosgig]

I had one of my cars body and paint done at a custom shop that was also part of a large blasting company. It took them over 2 years to do my car, delays and delays, excuses and excuses. Whenever I would stop in to check on progress, I would have a truck full of things I needed blasted, and while I was busy hassling with the owner about the timeline, I was getting all my parts blasted for free. I literally got $1000’s of dollars of stuff blasted because they were dragging their feet working on my car. In the end, the car was done, I never paid the final payment because some parts of the car we’re not up to snuff, and he was “done”, and so was I. They closed up shop not long after.

 

[yella71]

Ill give him a hunderd bucks.......

 

[1KoolBee]

If I’ve learned anything playing with old cars it’s this; However long you think something will take, double it. However much you think it will cost, triple it...

I worked with a software engineer ,”Joe”, who had a humorous way of estimating labor: “take your best estimate, double it, and go to the next higher unit of time” . So two days became 4 weeks. I can’t tell you how many times Joe was right on the money! I think restoring cars is in the same boat.

 

[eldubb440]

I worked with a software engineer ,”Joe”, who had a humorous way of estimating labor: “take your best estimate, double it, and go to the next higher unit of time” . So two days became 4 weeks. I can’t tell you how many times Joe was right on the money! I think restoring cars is in the same boat.

everything gets multiplied by 3......... at least

 

[YY1]

I did something similar in my IT project manager job.

Any time I heard "six months", I wrote down "two years".

...and was more often that not, right.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Paying a shop to restore your dream car ?
almost as bad as trying to buy your dream woman.
Just cheaper

 

[XS22J8R]

I only did one OE restoration which I originally estimated would take about 3 years max. It ended up taking over 16 years. The first 13+ of those the car was in "restoration shop jail". It's easy to judge, and I'd argue a bit self serving to do so, but in my case even after the first few years when it became apparent I was being failed by the shop, doing anything about it was overwhelming to me and even with the benefit of hindsight I don't have a great idea how I could have done things different given the hand I ended up being dealt. The shop was in another state so I couldn't just stop by regularly and try to twist the guy's arm to get work done. I kept having setbacks in life starting not all that long after the car went in the shop. He had a health issue come up that meant he had to take a break from working for months, and I actually welcomed that first delay as it was at the time the stock market was experiencing the 2000 "tech wreck" and I wasn't feeling good about my financial situation anymore. From there, I'd think about moving the car, but as soon as I'd get serious about it, I'd have career setbacks, like a workforce reduction at my formerly stable work in 2003, laid off in 2005, found new better job quickly, but got tossed out the door less than a year later, out of work 9 months that time until getting new job, got tossed there end of 2008 in the great recession and out of work 1-1/2 years.
The thought of trying to retrieve a project from hours away in 1000 pieces was really intimidating. I took a little comfort in feeling like "at least its in free storage until I figure things out", while fighting life's challenges. And unlike the project starting this thread, I actually didn't have a ton of money run up in bills at that shop either. I got bills at the beginning when he disassembled it, then 5 or 6 years later when he finally got in gear and did a lot of metal work. Then it got media blasted and etch primed which I think ran $1500, and from there the guy seemed to never touch it again.
I had a niece pass away of cancer in 2011 and that got me thinking I need to do something, I am not going to live forever either and need to figure this out soon whether I can afford it or not.
Hired a shop closer to take over the project, and they were able to take care of the difficult logistics of picking it all up and moving it. They ran the bills up far past estimates and were too hard nosed in their dealings with me (sort of a don't want you involved, just stand clear, don't ask questions and pay pay pay attitude) which put a lot of stress on me, but at least I had them get it to the point it was painted and assembled enough it was a roller, and then I got it home to get the burden of the second shop off my back. Then I finished reassembled it in the course of the next year after getting it back.
The start of the project where I partially disassembled it, did research and hunted rare parts was fun, as was reassembling it, the long period in between was mostly a nightmare though, probably won't ever do a full project again (assuming I would even live long enough to see another to completion!). I had so many blowhards in the peanut gallery over the years the car was in "jail" giving me unsolicited advice about what I needed to do with my car, that in some cases I actually was telling people I'd sold the project to get them off my back!!
It would be interesting to know how many car projects actually get finished on any type of reasonable schedule, or for that matter, get finished by the person who started it. I wouldn't be surprised if the % is really low. Sad to see these projects that don't get done and get sold with big financial hits. It was tough and ended up costing close to 3X my initial estimates, but somehow someway, at least mine got completed.

 

[Runcharger]

I guess it comes from my work history, I generally had several crews working for me and dealt with almost impossible to meet deadlines. Anyway, whenever I buy a project car in the back of my mind I always have a one year completion date deadline. Part of it is that if it isn't done in a year you're sick of the SOB and want to get rid of it anyway. I pretty much always hit the deadline and honestly it isn't that hard doing your own work and reaching it. I just don't understand people letting this stuff drag on for years, I believe that the car just really isn't that important to them.
When I did outsource paint and or body or engine work I always laid out a deadline. If you don't lay out a deadline then why would you expect the work to be done on any sort of timeline? People think they are being a nice guy I guess or think that the work will cost less, that is not the case.

 

[eldubb440]

Paying a shop to restore your dream car ?
almost as bad as trying to buy your dream woman.
Just cheaper

and slightly less aggravation

 

[Budnicks]

Saw this ad on Craigslist, seems like a typical story. I feel bad for the guy

"The story
I bought a stock 1974 Cuda with a 318 and auto tranny. It was supposed to be a retirement present to myself. I bought a 1974 knowing I was going to Frankenstein it to a luxury hot rod. Not to over powered, and dependable. I had the car at a restoration shop for 10 years. In that 10 years I was constantly promised and put on hold while all others were put in front. The car was on the rotisserie for almost two years.

So what has been done?
Car taken apart
Rust removed
Undercoated
Body work
Primed
Tubular front end installed
Engine and tranny installed
Shaker hood installed

Needless to say this shop burned me out and I have lost allot of interest in the project.
I have no idea of what the car is worth in this state, but I will share what I have spent.
I do have receipts

1974 Cuda 20k
95% body work primed and undercoated
engine, tranny, tubular front end install 25k
Rebuilt 350 hemi out of a Durango 10k
Tubular front end 5k
Transmission 5k
New steering box 1k
Shaker hood 2k
Headers 1k
Radiator 1k
Rallye 18” wheels 1k
1970 tail square lights 1k
16” brakes 1k
FAST wiring

The car needs very little body work, paint, wiring, interior, exhaust, and basically put back together.

I have all the stock glass, all interior, radiator, A/C, wiring, rally wheels, hoods, doors,
Seats, console, dash, door panels I have about 70k (including 20k for the car) MAKE OFFER. If I dont call you back means I don't accept the offer."

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Money pit comes to mind...