I'm going to have around $20k into just the bodywork and paint on mine. That includes me doing all prep work but not doing the actual paint or metal work (friends with body guy), and it's a fairly rust free car. I'm guessing the quoted restoration is a scuff and shoot, lightly redone interior, etc. That's not a restoration. But nowadays the word restoration is thrown around so much. I see cars listed online as restored. You can see the paint line around the glass and the carpet is worn out, speedometer needle faded, etc. To most, that is considered 'mint' and a nice restoration. Not to me, restored means back to factory specs (essentially).
I had the seatbelts restored. $2k. The speedometer was also rebuilt. Another $2k. Heater box as mentioned above, probably another $1k minimum (unless you do it yourself). Legendary interior kit is around $2.5k ish not installed. New wiring harness is around $1k. Don't forget to rebuild the window regulators, rechrome the vent windows, install new weatherstripping and felt for all the glass, align it all, straighten or replace all the trim, replate or replace all fasteners, rebuild the radio, rebuild the steering column, rebuild the horn, rebuild wiper motor, rebuild wiper motor linkages, replace all the various gaskets, you get the idea. No way $25k pays for that.
