Or more precisely in the case of my 67 GTX, buy low, sink a crap load of money and work in it over the years, but know you couldn’t sell it for half of what you have in it.
The Price of Restoration
- Thread starter ct71rr
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Building these cars are my favorite part of this hobby. Yeah it’s not cheap but what is these days. I have the ability and skills fortunately to do all my own work. I leave the body and paint to others just due to the lack of time and I am slow as molasses doing that. I haven’t even totaled up my 71’s receipts nor do I want to.
1 Wild R/T
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torredcuda
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Same here. Other people spend their "extra" money on going out to eat, vacations, gambling, clothes, landscaping, spas, other hobbies etc. almost all of which have little or no return on investment. It`s my HOBBY and while I have made a little money selling a couple cars, not including my labor of course, I do it because it`s my hobby/passion/love so that is what I choose to spend my money on. You can`t take it with you so enjoy it.
Some would probably say I've dumped way too much money into my car - 383, non-numbers matching engine, column shift, bench seats, etc. But I don't care. I've always wanted a '71 Road Runner since I was about 10 years old and drooling over one of my uncle's '71 440 +6 Road Runner. This is my first attempt at a resto. I've learned a lot along the way and saved a bunch of money on labor. I actually enjoy doing this and I'm already planning on doing another one.
The needle is in and the plunger has been pushed!
Haaa! Yup, I'm hooked!
threewood
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Even if you do it all yourself including paint and body, you will easily be in it $30k. I bought my 69 GTX for $5k complete but needing everything. I put approximately $23k into it and I did everything, including transmission, interior, rear end, etc. Cars seem to be at least $10k for non running wrecks.
Addiction is the real cost of restoration! Lol
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I buy drivers. I got my wagon in '92, for $500. Just a "used car" back then. I've probably put close to 100k miles on that car by now.
Got my Charger in '20, unrestored "survivor" that ran and drove. Less than $35k. Got it home, spent a looong time buffing and wet sanding and polishing, rebuilt the carb, removed some cheesy stuff the PO did (orange valve covers, orange air cleaner, Dixie air horns), and drove it for a year. Replaced the driver side floors with AMD. Rebuilt the front end when it got super loose, with heavier torsion bars while I was in there - not "original", but I USE the car and now it rides and handles better. Replaced some lights with LED (dashboard, high beams). Installed HID low beams. Replaced the fuel sender. Little improvement stuff but nothing permanent in case someone does want to put it back to factory sometime. I have zero plans to "restore" it, I'm having too much fun driving it.
I'm floored when I see the prices some of these things sell for. No way I could afford that. I'll stick with my "old car", versus a "gorgeous restoration"!
Got my Charger in '20, unrestored "survivor" that ran and drove. Less than $35k. Got it home, spent a looong time buffing and wet sanding and polishing, rebuilt the carb, removed some cheesy stuff the PO did (orange valve covers, orange air cleaner, Dixie air horns), and drove it for a year. Replaced the driver side floors with AMD. Rebuilt the front end when it got super loose, with heavier torsion bars while I was in there - not "original", but I USE the car and now it rides and handles better. Replaced some lights with LED (dashboard, high beams). Installed HID low beams. Replaced the fuel sender. Little improvement stuff but nothing permanent in case someone does want to put it back to factory sometime. I have zero plans to "restore" it, I'm having too much fun driving it.
I'm floored when I see the prices some of these things sell for. No way I could afford that. I'll stick with my "old car", versus a "gorgeous restoration"!
I have some that will be getting restored,they are too far gone not to,but others will just be drivers,more fun,driven more often with far less stress. Not every car needs a full restoration to be enjoyed.
I'm never going to do it again, I'm too old to crawl all over the place for months. Replacing the whole floor pan and up the firewall, trunk and frame pockets was the last time for me. It's like anything, you buy at a point you feel comfortable with, money versus work. Years ago, putting $10k under the hood was nothing and having parts all over the place was the price you paid. I loved buying and bolting, but I don't do body work, it's a talent I was too busy to learn. I bought my Coronet in 2018 for $30k, was it worth $30k, I know what a NEW Hemi 5.7 and a NEW 545RFE cost. It's the rest of little things that add up and then throw in the body work. I've flipped houses, built furniture and playing with car art is about as far as my attention span will go these days. I get it being a hobby, but I've went from building them, to driving them and left the hobby part behind me. Hoarding cars that will never get done was never for me, that's not a hobby, it's a drain on the one problem I have, getting it done and moving on. My days of sacrificing, pinching pennies and breaking my back are over and so are the days of me saying I did that. Arrogant, I think not, I look at it now as a right of passage to buy whatever I want, when I want. I've gotten $30k worth the fun out of it already, if I gave it away tomorrow it would have been worth it. What's a good vacation cost................
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Ulli, you and I have both lived a life of swapping human capital for financial capital. In the 90s, I loved wrenching on my daily driver Imperials to save money. I haven't wrenched on a daily driver in years. My wife never blinked when I laid out the cash for the last few GTXs, but she had a fit when she found out I was changing out a temperature sensor without using my crutches.
I married her sister!! Theresa is always on me about me being careful and just go buy it. She says we deserve it all the time, but yet, she buys nothing for herself. LOL
torredcuda
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$30k is not really a lot of money today in comparison - most new vehicles range from $25-50k and a lot more and only depreciate as soon as drive off the lot while most classics are still going up.
Oh, I play and you never know what I may do or buy. I just don't see myself shoveling the grime out the door with dust all over the place anymore. On top of that, I gave away my plasma cutter years ago! Now that's a tool!!
Coelacanth
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Good point, sometimes it's more about one's love for the car than profit.
A couple years ago when I was just browsing through local classified ads checking out parts/cars for a 1970 Charger, I was flabbergasted to see absolutely clapped-out rust-heaps, ratty interiors, no floors, missing powertrains, etc. asking $10k to $15k (Canadian). My project '70 Charger 500--numbers matching everything, 383 Magnum--was in far better condition than these crapmobiles, so I had to wonder "What is my Charger worth?" and had an independent appraisal done. I was shocked to see it was valued at $33.5k. Of course, my car had been sitting for a few decades just waiting for motivation and money to restore it, so I was totally out-of-touch with the valuation. But seeing that my car, when completed, could be worth $60k or more, it was a no-brainer to take out a $27k loan to get body & paint done.
Fortunately, I'd gathered up nearly all the parts (and spares) over the years that were needed to reassemble everything, at prices that were a lot more affordable and before the asinine shipping costs of today, and it's my first car I bought when I was 18 back in '86, so it all made sense for me, financially. But I concur with the advice of many of you, I wouldn't undertake a clapped-out project car nowadays, and would have the same advice to buy as decent a car as you could afford; spend that $40k - $50k on a car that needs little work.
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when "profit" enters the equation; quality and longevity goes in the toilet....... my biggest problem is my love for the cars; I spend time on things that will never be seen, because I spent the time on them.
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