How much did your restoration cost?

[Nate S]

I agree with Fran. Huge differences depending on what you want. For me it’s a rust free, everything works perfectly, body is super clean driver. Picked up the car for $14k in nearly rust free completely original 80,000 mile condition. Rebuilt engine myself (stock) and replaced springs as well as all other suspension components myself (stock but added factory sway bar and sure grip). Removed all glass, trim etc and straightened body and painted myself. Bought a stash of trim to augment my own, sold enough to cover the cost. Right now, all told I’m in another $10k. Photos coming soon, another couple days of re-assembly.

That’s about the cheapest you’ll get. 240- 300 hours of my own free work with solid experience in mechanicals and body work. Nice looking and driving car but nothing like some of the members here do. Had I done that the cost wouldn’t have gone up a whole lot but I would have easily doubled the hours. If any of those hours were paid for the costs would have been significantly higher.

For me I do my best not to get too far in. I’ll do the engine then drive it. The body then drive it. The tranny then drive it. Keeps me motivated. I’ve stripped cars to the unibody but have a harder time staying motivated through the long process.

 

[dla4567]

When I got my car paint was already done and 90% of the parts were there. I just had to buy about $6,000 - $7,000 worth of parts and assemble everything.
Original metal, heavily optioned 6 pack car with 2 build sheets. (Non numbers).
I’ve got under $40,000 total in it.

 

[Fran Blacker]

I do so love your car, sir. You've been an excellent steward of it....what year was it bought?

May or June of 1978.

 

[Wojo68]

Just got into the hobby and I pay 20k for a convertible. Lmao,, at how much I didn’t know about them. I got about 10k more into parts. After removing the dash, I decided to go all the way and have it sandblasted. Reveals all past sins! Thank god one of my best friends does body work. As much as it kicks me in the nuts some days, I love working on her. I’m learning.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Just got into the hobby and I pay 20k for a convertible. Lmao,, at how much I didn’t know about them. I got about 10k more into parts. After removing the dash, I decided to go all the way and have it sandblasted. Reveals all past sins! Thank god one of my best friends does body work. As much as it kicks me in the nuts some days, I love working on her. I’m learning. View attachment 1134228View attachment 1134229

It's a double edged sword... When your done you'll know every detail of the car but it's a long & sometimes costly road.... As we get older it's harder to stay on task, the days of doing a complete car bumper to bumper & top to bottom in a year has come & gone.... But the pride of a job done right remains....

 

[Wojo68]

It's a double edged sword... When your done you'll know every detail of the car but it's a long & sometimes costly road.... As we get older it's harder to stay on task, the days of doing a complete car bumper to bumper & top to bottom in a year has come & gone.... But the pride of a job done right remains....

Call me crazy. After a day of,, WTF now, Gets me kinda motivated to get more done. Working a lot of hours isn’t helping with the progression though. That might coming to an end soon. Tired of working weekends, holidays. Missing stuff in general

 

[beanhead]

You guys that do the nice paint/body work and especially the rotisserie paint-every-inch type jobs always impress me to no end. Every time I get close to even thinking about paint I need another 100hp and the engine has to come out..and then it needs better tires, suspension tweaks, on and on..

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Well I covered my Challenger... Might as well re-visit the fact I'm currently building a couple other cars...

One Mopar..... A 68 Coronet R/T Convertible... Being done to a very high standard.... Truly the most expensive restoration I've ever done, currently in it over 25K & there's still plenty to do...

Link to build thread if your interested.. https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopa...oronet-r-t-convertible.176780/#post-911319390

And a NotaMopar (Ford)....
A 65 Falcon 2 dr Wagon.... I looked for a 63-65 Mopar Wagon but all I found was junk & they wanted allot of $$$ for junk.... I found a pretty solid Ford Wagon for $600..

And I've been gathering parts... It's amazing how cheap Ford parts are especially when your not trying to find stock parts.... I've got a junkyard 5.0HO & an AOD, an 8.8 axle, seats from a Dakota, front discs off a 2012 Mustang GT, rear discs off an Explorer.. This thing is gonna be a cobbled up mess.... LOL. Total investment so far about $7K..... Plenty left to do but it's kinda fun to be outside the rest box....

 

[1STMP]

Into this one about $30K so far.....but everything
under the skin is custom built.

 

[DeltaV]

View attachment 1134306
Into this one about $30K so far.....but everything
under the skin is custom built.
View attachment 1134307

Nice guard pup in the garage!

I don't know the old makes of pickup trucks by sight. What is it?

 

[1STMP]

Thanks! That would be Tripper. He is a great dog.
Knows his boundaries.

 

[1STMP]

Nice guard pup in the garage!

I don't know the old makes of pickup trucks by sight. What is it?

Sorry, it's a 1940 Plymouth PT-105.

 

[1STMP]

The Mods are gracious and allow me to post
here as this is obviously not a B Body. It's
not a rat rod either, but it is Mopar thru and
thru. Started this project 26 years ago, it's
about time to finish it.

 

[barbee6043]

I have seen the city.....thats why I live way out in the country.
I have restored high end Mopars to perfect, Hemis, V and M codes, AARs, etc. back year ago, when it was WAY cheaper....thats why I drive more door poly cars today!!!!!

 

[INTMD8]

I set a strict budget of 10k for my Charger build starting from a rusted out barn find.
Included in that budget is the $2800 I bought the car for. I am doing EVERYTHING myself except for the machine shop doing the machine work on the engine block. I am only using used parts from swap meets and eBay with the exception of bearings and gaskets in the engine. Every other part on the car is used stuff bought for pennies so far. Speed parts are cheaper! So I only have about $3k into my 383 build including machining and it'll have around 600hp N/A with 12-1 compression, ported 915 heads, a tunnel ram, solid roller cam, roller rockers, electric water pump, MSD programmable ignition, milodon gear drive, and milodon pan.
I rebuilt my whole 8-3/4 rear end and brakes with 4:11 gears for $500 total which I am not counting into the equation because I won it in a class action lawsuit over a defective cellphone (Nexus 6p)
Front suspension parts were included with the car.
Bought Direct Connection 3800# super stock springs for $200 from a FABO member.

Bought wheels and good tires for $1 on a eBay auction (15x12 and 15x7 Cragar Starwires and BFG T/A tires) from a guy who was cleaning out his garage. No shipping cost because I drove there.

Only have paint and body, transmission, and plumbing left.

I am a good body guy and will paint it myself in single stage white paint with a harbor freight air compressor and paint gun.
Know a pipeline welder who will give me a near nothing price to patch up my front frame rails and transmission crossmember.
My dad is a plumber and will help me out with running hardline.

I'll be done next year and you'll never know looking at it that it was built out of trash and will look like I dropped 50k into it.

I'll have a period (day 2) street racer/show car for less than a used Kia!

You're making my point to a degree. What does a phone lawsuit have to do with it? I mean if I won a million dollar lawsuit and spent it all on a car that doesn't make it free "

"Good tires".....that are over 40 years old. See where I'm going with this?

To get a car together as I described is going to cost more than 10k whether or not you get a car on the road for less than that.

 

[451Mopar]

I am pretty interested on how yalls Mopar build cost came out to?

I'm interested too, but I suspect costs will be all over the place depending on how much work was done, and to what level of "restoration" was done.

None of my cars are "restored", they are modified with a bunch spent on the drivetrains, and all still could use paint and body work to bring them upto a higher condition.

I did the body and paint on the '71 Charger back around 1988. The paint and body work have held up pretty well, but the car has some hale damage, and nicks, chips and door dings now. No to mention the clear coat is getting thin in some areas.

The Convertible was bought with some questionable prior body work where it looks like someone riveted rear quarters onto the car.
The car body really needs a rotisserie restoration with new quarters and trunk, and likely the front passenger compartment floor too. That is alot of work and expense even if I do the work myself.

 

[moparedtn]

Just got into the hobby and I pay 20k for a convertible. Lmao,, at how much I didn’t know about them. I got about 10k more into parts. After removing the dash, I decided to go all the way and have it sandblasted. Reveals all past sins! Thank god one of my best friends does body work. As much as it kicks me in the nuts some days, I love working on her. I’m learning. View attachment 1134228View attachment 1134229

She's gonna be a sweet one!

 

[Wojo68]

She's gonna be a sweet one!

Thanks Ed! That’s what I’m going for!

 

[moparedtn]

Thanks Ed! That’s what I’m going for!

I have all the faith in ya, my friend!
Fred can be that ones' "no-good stepbrother".

 

[mrhemi]

I am pretty interested on how yalls Mopar build cost came out to?

$30000 Canadian. That included $9000 for the Hemi Charger R/T.
BUT, that was 1981-1982. So, with inflation adjusted dollars, might be about the same as current costs.