I've never done a restoration, but I've purchased cars done by others. The first one, a 1960 Chrysler 300F I owned in the late 90s, illustrates the money pit a high end restoration can become. The car was an original, zero rust (with the exception of some pin holes in the trunk lip) desert car, that had been mechanically restored to perfection (previous owner was a mechanical engineer), engine compartment and undercarriage painted, new gorgeous interior, still had decent original paint and chrome. Previous owner had bought the 300F as a running project car in the late 80s for $5000, and over the next decade, generated a file containing $63,000 worth of receipts. Still needed paint and chrome work for show, but I was happy to keep the patina on my driver for special Saturday nights. I bought the car for almost $50,000 less than the previous owner had in it, and owned it for two years without spending a dime on it other than gas and oil changes.
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