How do you fund your restoration?

[YY1]

I put about $150 a month into my "car fund" which is a separate account at my credit union.

I also invest in parts cars and put the profits from that into the fund.

Like Bru said you make your money on the buy. I only buy parts cars that I've done the math on to make sure I can get my money back on and at least keep a part I need free, or make more selling the rest.

I tend to buy cars with rusty quarters or frames for about $600. If the fenders, hood, bumpers grill and deck are good, there's my money back right there, as long as it's a model I know the parts values for.

I'm also working on project cars that aren't what a lot of folks call the most desirable. 66/67 and 72-74.
318 cars fit the bill as well.

That way I can get a good solid starting point for a LOT less. My 73 Satellite, 67 wagon and 66 383 Coronet all have perfect or nearly perfect quarters and I've got about 6K in all three of them combined.

Speaking of car friendly women-

Stay tuned for what I found for my wife's birthday.

 

[72Fourspeed]

I hear that's profitable! How's yer knees holding up?

Not bad ! But I generally don't have her stand up.

 

[MarPar]

Pimpin'.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Me?
Painfully and with RECKLESS ABANDON

 

[the mississippi madman]

I took out a loan right after I bought the car to get the bulk of my big parts (hard to find parts, suspension, brakes, body panels, etc...)

 

[CoronetDarter]

One way to get into the hobby on a budget is start with a 60's A body. I bought my "built" 68 Dart with a 360 ci crate motor, Tremec 5 spd., 3.55 geared 8 3/4, painted and upholstered, for $11,500 on an e-Bay auction about 4 years ago. Now that the Coronet project is winding down I've started looking at 64 - 66 Dart/Valiants. They're so homely looking they're beautiful.
The Coronet is a totally different story. Built it using savings and a credit card. However, because I have good credit, c/c companies are mailing me 0% interest balance transfer apps. The intro period is between 15 - 20 months; so I transfer the balance and when the intro period ends i get another card and transfer the balance. Haven't paid a $1 interest over the 2 year project. Just got my latest card in the mail this week so I'm good for another 20 months. And yeah the FICO score dips with the inquiries, but it bounces right back up because I pay on time.

 

[steve from staten island]

To each his own but funding a hobby car via a credit card sounds risky to me
I thought about a small loan myself to finish my project. I figured my PT job would more than cover the modest amount i wanted. In the end i decided not to risk it as what if the PT job suddenly ended or i got hurt or sick. I think the whole trick to funding a car is not to get in to far over your head.. In 74 i bought a brand new car for 4,150 dollars. I took a auto loan out for around 2 thousand. A few months later i sold my pride and joy 65 corvette. With that money i paid off the loan,so when i got married later that year i had a new car payed off. Not to shabby. Sure i wished i kept the vette but in reality i could have never afforded to keep it up or restore it.

 

[Roadrunner_Freak]

I think the first step is removing the word "perfect" from your vocabulary. Perfect = $$$$, which doubly sucks in regards to cars that rarely, if ever, left the production line perfect.

As Richard Rawlings famously said... "you make your money on a car when you buy it, not when you sell it." Truer words were never spoken, and they apply to parts as well. Ebay, Craigslist, junkyards, and forums like this are your friends. Use them wisely. But keep in mind they can royally screw you if you're foolish. If there's someone selling a part for $300, there's someone else selling it for $200, and probably someone else trying to get rid of one for $29. Use your resources, take your time, and wait for the best deal. I've known way too many fools who've paid top dollar for everything on their car and realize too late they've dropped $75k into a car worth $25k, and they only realize this when they decide they've had enough and try to sell their car to get their money back.

Lastly, I think anyone who restores a car these days needs their grey matter checked anyway. It was one thing when the only way to get into the hobby was to buy a POS parts car and restore it because even drivers were priced ridiculously high, but these days the owners of all those ridiculously high cars are selling them off in droves and it's much cheaper to buy a good driver than to try to restore a POS. If I were you, I would find a sucker to buy whatever you have, save up some extra money, and buy that nice $25k car that some fool dropped the $75k into. You'll save a lot of time, money, and effort.

Thank you for a great feedback on my questions. My main objective was to make this mopar my own. I've always wanted a 68 RR/GTX and don't care to ever sell it which puts myself in a position to where money into the car isn't an issue. I don't want be an idiot and a 100k into the car on a 20-40k car similar to what you said. However, I do consider my car to be special GTX. My car starts with production number 100314 which makes it one of the first off the production line for 68. EE1 paint code with blue horizontal stripes. Pretty solid car to. Thank you for all your tips.

 

[44070dart]

Years ago when I had bills and had to support a family I took it slow and if I had a few bucks I put it towards the car sitting in the garage for years ..Now kid has grown bills are gone but I still flip parts or cars to move on to more expensive cars that just need maintenance..no more projects.. guess what I'm saying is go slow no harm in driving something that is a little ruff as long as it stops

 

[hemi*guy]

Broke my *** and commuted 3 and a 1/2 hours a day since i was 20 im 53 now and just write checks for what i need!!

 

[Budnicks]

Start with an outline of what you want, as a final product/outcome
IMO then an outline of what you really need 1st, to make it drivable {or safe},
because it's a lot more fun, it'll keep you attention way more/way longer !!

If you can drive it/enjoy it, while cleaning it up & fixing stuff a little at a time,
"that's if you can anyway", some stuff will be costly,
it sometimes may cause you to have the car apart for long periods of time..

But if you can do it a little at a time, instead of it sitting for a couple years,
before you ever get any enjoyment out of it, it'll be more fun now...

Set reasonable goals along with the budget & stick to it,
budget what ever you need to buy & can afford,
buy what you can when you can,
look for deals/sales if $$$ is tight, this isn't a cheap hobby,
do it right the 1st time, spend the $$$ once, because it's a costly mistake
that many people make & end up bailing on projects or just get dissatisfied
or bored, also so you don't have to spend the $$$ twice...

I've always tried to support my addiction/hobby/cars etc. with my parts or
doing something to earn extra funds for my cars, not taking my living income
from my household budget, taxes kids food bills etc....

I'd personally never borrow to build a car, or run up credit cards either...
I don't buy anything I can't afford, or able to pay {like} cash,
until I can afford it, Just save longer if need be, don't go in unnecessary debt...
If I buy parts with the credit card, especially online shopping,
than I pay it off just like as if I purchased the stuff with cash...
IMO that way you don't go too crazy or that way & get over your head,
in build costs, that'll kill most projects...

Try & get books * learn to do as much as possible yourself,
IMO that's the best way, maybe pay others for stuff you can't do or you don't have tools for yet...

Like my signature says; "Fill your library before you fill your garage"
Then fill you garage with the needed tools to help build the project...LOL

Anyway, that's how I do it...
It's not ideal for everyone but it works/worked well for me,
for over 40+ years now...

Good luck with the GTX

 

[ws23jrt]

When I started with B bodys they were my daily transport.
A restoration for me then was fixing what was needed to depend on them.
Time has gone by and I found better and more reliable transport to make a living with.
Not needing these cars day to day has turned them into a hobby.

A part of growing up is gaining a better grasp on what is needed vs wanted. Spending the future for what might be fun to play with today is a big risk.
Let's say a car just financed is a project.--Years go by fast and projects tend to complete slowly.
IMO If going into debt is the only way to play in this hobby one is not ready to play.

 

[mosquito13]

Do everything myself or for for trade, with lots of help from friends. Anybody else in a car club? I understand the rich farmer from Iowa thing and think no less of folks that can afford to purchase , but seems there are a lot of folks daily driving their low dough cars here too.

 

[GetX'd]

Not a stupid question al all. I asked a similar one a year ago or so. I worried about putting so much into a 68 GTX that I've had for 45 years. It was stored inside for about 35 of those years as I traveled the country for work and the world for enjoyment. I retired and pulled it out of storage and went full bore on a restoration. The funds came from savings I had invested all these years. I had it restored by others because I've lost most of my knowledge over the years. It cost me a lot more because I didn't do any of the work. We don't have any kids. Second marriage and a wonderful, understanding lady. It's been my retirement present to myself after 33 years of corporate America. I doubt I'll get the money out that I put in but we do these things out of a love for the hobby. Not to make a profit. I had it done slowly over the course of 5 years so it would be a lesser financial blow. I paid as I went. Turned out sweet and really looking forward to enjoying it this summer. Pace yourself financially and do as much of the work as possible yourself.

 

[1967coronet]

Just my 2 cents..... 1st off do not buy a money pit for a project, some guys see a car that takes them back to the good old days and don't see the nothing but the dream.
At that point they start dumping money into a project that will sooner or later turn into a shelf or table to sit your beer on.

Work with what your handy at, if your a decent wrench , find one with a real solid body , top and bottom, find that project car that someone has gave up on after dumping a ton of $ into it.

As far as funding it or just buying one that's done , if you have good credit barrow the $ if you don't have it at hand. But at the same time be ready to drive something cheap as a everyday driver that you do not have to have a lien on.

I have talk with guys driving a $30,000 pickup and making payments for 5 yrs on them that claim they wished they could own a classic car. Its a trade off.
My old 67 has no loan on it but I would much rather make payments on something like it than a new pickup ect that goes down in value each month.
A nice classic car bought right at a sane price is just like a savings acct, day comes you wish to sell you should get your $ back mabey even make a little.

 

[Photon440]

I've managed to funnel a few hundred dollars into my car every decade since the 80's. It's moving right along.

 

[cudajunction]

NOT SAYING NOTHING

 

[Dibbons]

Here is how I got my car purchased, running, painted, and safe to drive in just a year's time: borrowed from the cash value of a life insurance policy my father took out on me forty years ago. I have the option of paying it back later, or just having the loan deducted from the payout to my loved ones when the time comes.

 

[1962polara]

I stretch to buy what I need ,knowing at some point I will need it anyway. Sometimes you have to save a bit & wait to get the next part but I keep no score.
What I mean is I never place a value on what I have brought ,I just know I have another part.
Do you ever think about the money you spent on food? Or holidays or booze?
People give up smoking and say they save so many $$ .....but then where is that spent?
Enjoy what you do for the shear pleasure ...what price is that?

$100 dollars today will be $100 five years from now and the value of that $100 will be less by then

 

[verdelaw]

These are some interesting replies and I want to say THANK YOU to everyone responding with such candid honesty.

What I'm seeing as a trend here is... most people are waiting a long time to get their car done... I mean Photon was talking *decades* to get his done. Dayyyyam!

Personally I can't wait that long.. it's not really impatience, it's more of a sense of carpe deez nuts. Like I don't know what might happen tomorrow, I'd like to enjoy today. But to each their own.