Flint
Well-Known Member
Paint for my challenger in 87 was about 100 bucks for DuPont Centari. Paint for My 67 Coronet RT was about 200 ish in 99. Haven’t recently checked on F5 green for the 69 RR. I’m sure my rear end will pucker
The Price of Restoration
- Thread starter ct71rr
- Start date
- Local time
- 7:36 PM
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2012
- Messages
- 67,118
- Reaction score
- 246,583
- Location
- Maskachusetts
I had 13 grand into my 68 Hemi GTX convertible when I did that car over in 1985. I sold it for 16 grand to gain money to buy our first house. At that time, I was styling having made 3 grand on it.
I’m in the boat now with my sport satellite rag top, bought it paid up for a better car still had many issues. Gutted it, it will be on the rotisserie soon, hanging two rear quarters , pans are awesome , rails great etc .. still I’ll blow 50-60k with purchase price, by the time I’m done.. do I really care ? It’s a nice car and was at the point fix it or live with it. I’m building and redoing the vast minority myself and plan on letting the wife drive it, 383 with factory ac, ragtop, ps, pdb, black bucket seats makes a real nice driving car. I’ll go thru everything front to back but I’m fortunate enough to be able to do it myself and enjoy it.. The sheet metal was oil canned and wavy from previous damage &rust at the rocker joint.I don’t feel it would have been worth it to repair and replacement was a better and longer lasting repair. The one lh panel had been replaced and brazed in, fit was poor. Yep it’s just a 383 car but it’s optioned right, pretty correct now and will make a awesome cruiser, something about a b body vert !If I had to pay for all the work, it would be insane, 100k would be about right. I do really enjoy the work and it’s the hunt for the parts of putting it back together. I’m also planning for the car to get passed down , I do get some help on it from the kids but stripping a body isn’t fun.
Last edited:
You had a knack for selling amazing cars right before the market absolutely exploded on them!I had 13 grand into my 68 Hemi GTX convertible when I did that car over in 1985. I sold it for 16 grand to gain money to buy our first house. At that time, I was styling having made 3 grand on it.
Don't take this the wrong way guys....but I think to be a convertible owner, you need to be pretty quick on your feet.
I have seen many people desperately making their way back to their convertible when a sudden burst of rain falls ....my friend Cliff included.
Convertibles fill up better than a 5 -gallon bucket.
I have seen many people desperately making their way back to their convertible when a sudden burst of rain falls ....my friend Cliff included.
Convertibles fill up better than a 5 -gallon bucket.
That's called the "Midas Touch"
- Local time
- 8:36 PM
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2008
- Messages
- 22,568
- Reaction score
- 65,734
- Location
- South Jersey USA
- Local time
- 8:36 PM
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2008
- Messages
- 22,568
- Reaction score
- 65,734
- Location
- South Jersey USA
- Local time
- 8:36 PM
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2020
- Messages
- 2,597
- Reaction score
- 8,607
- Location
- State College, Pennsylvania
But you can't live in a GTX convertible, and I'm willing to bet the current value of that house is way higher as well.I had 13 grand into my 68 Hemi GTX convertible when I did that car over in 1985. I sold it for 16 grand to gain money to buy our first house. At that time, I was styling having made 3 grand on it.
- Local time
- 7:36 PM
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2012
- Messages
- 67,118
- Reaction score
- 246,583
- Location
- Maskachusetts
All true.
- Local time
- 7:36 PM
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2012
- Messages
- 67,118
- Reaction score
- 246,583
- Location
- Maskachusetts
Story of my life.
Car lovers - Buy high, sell low
Flippers - Buy low, sell high
Flippers - Buy low, sell high
- Local time
- 5:36 PM
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2023
- Messages
- 1,291
- Reaction score
- 4,955
- Location
- Brush Prairie, WA
Teen agers - buy low, wreck it
The old fella ( some old farmer I believe) who started this project with relatively nice floors, decided to fiberglass all of the drain holesthat's what the rust holes are for....... it's tough to argue with that design
Moron.decided to fiberglass all of the drain holes
torredcuda
Well-Known Member
Back around `98-99 I bought this `69 notchback along with a `69 fastback with a 340 for $1000 off a friend/co-worker. I built it into a street/strip style driver for $2500 total in it including the PPG base/clear paint. Granted the 360 was tired and the interior was just racing buckets, home covered vinyl door panels and dash but it was fun to drive for a year and then I sold it for $6,000. Buying parts at swap meets, trading stuff and doing the all the work myself it doesn`t cost close to $100k to build a nice driver even today. I bet my road runner will be done for well under $40k, maybe even under $30k. I can`t afford to pay anyone else $100-125/hr to work on my cars!
Last edited:
- Local time
- 5:36 PM
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2011
- Messages
- 74,013
- Reaction score
- 112,950
- Location
- NorCal Sierras
Him saying the car culture is dying IS TOTAL BS
Opinions vary vastly, so do costs...
IMO it's thriving & cars selling
parts availability, great parts not the mid 80's mail-order junk
is better now, than it ever was...
Yep it ain't cheap, it's also not 1977' economy anymore either
living costs are 5-10+ times what that was too
so the cars are going up in value & cost too...
just look at the auctions,
These cars are selling & buyers are spending cash like crazy
not all of them are over $50k
look at the vintage or 50s-90's truck/or 4x4 market, it's truly going nuts...
Not everyone 'pays everyone else', to do all of it for them
Maybe buy some tools & learn to do it, save $20k+ to $40k+...
Have the pride in doing it, buy some tools & learning to weld or wrench or wire etc.
Wrecking yards or Junk Yards are NOT
stocking 50s-60s-70s-or even 80s Muscle cars
like they were 30-40-50 even 60 year ago...
& the ones that do still have them, they know what they have or the value
& charge dearly, for their rusty take off junk or occasionally decent parts...
Remember these are 50+ to almost 70+ in many case 'years old', or older cars...
Mother Nature takes her piece too...
You have to get creative now, unless you just do a checkbook build $$$
Cheap people, seem to buy "the cheapest POS they can find"
then complain about costs & labor
wonder why they spend/spent ?, "an extra $30k-$40k or more"
just to bring it back from the grave, in stock condition...
I'm more of a day 2 guy now anyway...
I know it's hard on younger guys/gals now too
but it was hard on us, when we were younger too,
I started at $1.65 an hr at Paul Pettersons Shell, with an occasional tip
that I seemed to survive it, & build or buy a crap load of cars over the years
to buy cars that were like 7-10 years old, usually
took months to earn $500s, 10 weeks to save it,
from a gross of $660s, when the net was barely over $500
Grant you, living with my parents at 15 years old,
to buy a 68 Charger R/T for $350, that needs a $150 trans work (in 1974 $$)
to buy something, that always needed work, it was an old used car,
usually ran hard & put away wet, if it was a real muscle car...
But not on $15-$20 an hr., like many get 'starting wage' today...
It's all relative...
Good forbid you buy NOS parts, you're just lining some guys pockets now
or for that rusted out hull & a spaghetti strainer on wheels, it was...
Instead of buying something from a dry climate, like west or southwest
& spend a lil' more upfront, for a better start, & not as much in the long run
& not searching for all the lil' ****, trim, lights or interior,
that will $100-$1,000 you to death
& spend another $10k + just in shipping for that project,
for shipping the ****, from 'god only knows' where...
That you'd now have to buy, usually
from some hoarder/gouger, out for the big $$$, know what they have
all across the US or Canada...
Guy in that video also does have some good valid points too,
I just don't agree with his broad stereotype of assessments...
Opinions vary vastly from car to car, so does costs
depends on what you can & can't do, what tools you do & don't have
what skill levels you can do well,
or what you need to leave to a professional, 'that's expensive' (like Paint & Interior)
what parts you choose to use/reuse or restore yourself,
instead of buying some EXPENSIVE NOS stuff, or repops
or have to pay for someone else to do it for you
not many people can do their own machine work either,
that just like paint & body, can be costly & time consuming too
or get in the dreaded Paint Jail or Machine Shop Prison...
Yes it can cost a huge amount of $$
$70k+ from top to bottom for a run of the mill resto (plus the price of the car)
'with a professional doing all the work'
you just writing checks
& a professional body guy, using replacement parts & a quality paint job/material
is easily 25% to a 3rd of the cost alone...
Opinions vary vastly, so do costs...
IMO it's thriving & cars selling
parts availability, great parts not the mid 80's mail-order junk
is better now, than it ever was...
Yep it ain't cheap, it's also not 1977' economy anymore either
living costs are 5-10+ times what that was too
so the cars are going up in value & cost too...
just look at the auctions,
These cars are selling & buyers are spending cash like crazy
not all of them are over $50k
look at the vintage or 50s-90's truck/or 4x4 market, it's truly going nuts...
Not everyone 'pays everyone else', to do all of it for them
Maybe buy some tools & learn to do it, save $20k+ to $40k+...
Have the pride in doing it, buy some tools & learning to weld or wrench or wire etc.
Wrecking yards or Junk Yards are NOT
stocking 50s-60s-70s-or even 80s Muscle cars
like they were 30-40-50 even 60 year ago...
& the ones that do still have them, they know what they have or the value
& charge dearly, for their rusty take off junk or occasionally decent parts...
Remember these are 50+ to almost 70+ in many case 'years old', or older cars...
Mother Nature takes her piece too...
You have to get creative now, unless you just do a checkbook build $$$
Cheap people, seem to buy "the cheapest POS they can find"
then complain about costs & labor
wonder why they spend/spent ?, "an extra $30k-$40k or more"
just to bring it back from the grave, in stock condition...
I'm more of a day 2 guy now anyway...
I know it's hard on younger guys/gals now too
but it was hard on us, when we were younger too,
I started at $1.65 an hr at Paul Pettersons Shell, with an occasional tip
that I seemed to survive it, & build or buy a crap load of cars over the years
to buy cars that were like 7-10 years old, usually
took months to earn $500s, 10 weeks to save it,
from a gross of $660s, when the net was barely over $500
Grant you, living with my parents at 15 years old,
to buy a 68 Charger R/T for $350, that needs a $150 trans work (in 1974 $$)
to buy something, that always needed work, it was an old used car,
usually ran hard & put away wet, if it was a real muscle car...
But not on $15-$20 an hr., like many get 'starting wage' today...
It's all relative...
Good forbid you buy NOS parts, you're just lining some guys pockets now
or for that rusted out hull & a spaghetti strainer on wheels, it was...
Instead of buying something from a dry climate, like west or southwest
& spend a lil' more upfront, for a better start, & not as much in the long run
& not searching for all the lil' ****, trim, lights or interior,
that will $100-$1,000 you to death
& spend another $10k + just in shipping for that project,
for shipping the ****, from 'god only knows' where...
That you'd now have to buy, usually
from some hoarder/gouger, out for the big $$$, know what they have
all across the US or Canada...
Guy in that video also does have some good valid points too,
I just don't agree with his broad stereotype of assessments...
Opinions vary vastly from car to car, so does costs
depends on what you can & can't do, what tools you do & don't have
what skill levels you can do well,
or what you need to leave to a professional, 'that's expensive' (like Paint & Interior)
what parts you choose to use/reuse or restore yourself,
instead of buying some EXPENSIVE NOS stuff, or repops
or have to pay for someone else to do it for you
not many people can do their own machine work either,
that just like paint & body, can be costly & time consuming too
or get in the dreaded Paint Jail or Machine Shop Prison...
Yes it can cost a huge amount of $$
$70k+ from top to bottom for a run of the mill resto (plus the price of the car)
'with a professional doing all the work'
you just writing checks
& a professional body guy, using replacement parts & a quality paint job/material
is easily 25% to a 3rd of the cost alone...
Last edited:
- Local time
- 8:36 PM
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2018
- Messages
- 21,428
- Reaction score
- 75,590
- Location
- Midland Ontario, Canada
Lots of delusion showing up here that have never bought reproduction parts in the past 5 years or $700/ gallon paint.
The metal work I couldn’t do was huge money. I have 98% of the parts to finish assembly if only I had some time. I think I am around new high end Mercedes cost already.
Similar threads
