Car Restoration

boffo

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Dec 27, 2002
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Story below explains why people shouldn't waste their time trying to restore old cars unless they have big bucks and a lot of time.
Dan Proudfoot bought a 1978 Porsche 911 in California for about $9,000. and then had to pay about $18,000 to paint and restore the body. Ouch. 3 part story.
Hope he likes the car.

Reminds me of a vehicle I restored about 10 years ago. In the end, a lot of time and a lot of money.

Porsche Restoration:
Part 1
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...h-porschepaint-0517/BNStory/specialGlobeAuto/
Part 2
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...h-porschepaint-0614/BNStory/specialGlobeAuto/
Part 3
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...wh-porschereno-1129/BNStory/specialGlobeAuto/
 
I read a story recently about a guy who bought a couple of classic old Volvos in the last year.
He said, buy an old car after someone else has restored it. You'll get it for 50 cents on the dollar re. what he paid to restore it. That's very true.
 
boffo said:
Story below explains why people shouldn't waste their time trying to restore old cars unless they have big bucks and a lot of time.
Dan Proudfoot bought a 1978 Porsche 911 in California for about $9,000. and then had to pay about $18,000 to paint and restore the body. Ouch. 3 part story.
Hope he likes the car.

Reminds me of a vehicle I restored about 10 years ago. In the end, a lot of time and a lot of money.

Porsche Restoration:
Part 1
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...h-porschepaint-0517/BNStory/specialGlobeAuto/
Part 2
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...h-porschepaint-0614/BNStory/specialGlobeAuto/
Part 3
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...wh-porschereno-1129/BNStory/specialGlobeAuto/

Hi,

I disagree with your assessment, a 1978, 911 doesn't look all that much different from a 2007, 911. In fact for $9,000.00 + $18,000.00 that is actually a good deal for a nice looking car. We are talking about spending $27,000.00 for a car that goes 225 KM. If you want a 911 and that is your dream car, why not get exactly what you want?

I bet higher end classic restored American cars will become very fashionable. Why not get a car straight from Chip Foose if the CDN dollar is at the right price?

EU
 
EU - I think you got it right. For most people, restoring a car is a labour of love. Finding the car that is right for you, for whatever reason and bringing it back to "life" is something that most will not understand. Unless you REALLY know what you are doing, this is not a way to make money.
 
This is a story of a having someone else do anexpensve paint job and body work , doesn't sound like the car is restored (yet) .. I like the 911 , but I bet the first 27,000 is a tip of the ice-berg ...

In my mind a true restore is a labour of love type of restore takes years ...

If your a BMW 2002Tii fan, or know the cars history .. poke around here.. have a quick look if you want to see some details of a full on backyard restore... no prices are ever stated, but I can only imagine.

http://www.my2002tii.com/

It chronicles 5+ years of a ground up restore.... I suspect this car will never be for sale....
 
There is a company in U.S. called Dynacorn that is starting to create complete replacement body shells for old cars like 1968 Mustang Fastback.
These shells are certified and approved by Ford and people are taking old 1968 Mustangs and just using the VIN # to transfer onto new car and basically creating a brand new car with aftermarket engines, transmissions, suspension equipment etc. Starting price for one of these is about $120,000.
And this is completely legal. People have a 1968 Mustang that is basically a brand new car.

Sammy Hagar from Van Halen got the first one from aftermarket company.

http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/ford_models.html

http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/sammy_hagar_mustang.html

http://webridestv.com/showvideo.aspx?video=11492

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/featuredvehicles/mump_0711_1967_mustang_replacement_body/photo_02.html
 
... because it's fun, it's a hobby and people can?
Unless you restore to resell then yes it's a waste of time, but other then that I think restoring old cars is awesome... I've only ever restored one but it was a cool long process that I shared with a few friends.
 
I've actually done a complete restoration of my toy car MYSELF.

There is not one part on that car that wasn't removed and cleaned up, rebuilt, or replaced. It's completely done to better than factory specs. It is a driven car and I've entered it in shows in both Canada and the US. I enjoy driving it and get a lot of compliments on the car.

I did it when I was just out of university working in my parent's garage.

That was 16 or 17 years ago. I still own the car, I doubt that I would get out what I put into it and if you consider that I did 90 percent of the work myself, it truly is a labour of love. (Contrasted to guys in my car clulb who have paid pros to do their cars for them and dumped a hundred grand into a car worth maybe 25 or 30 and they still need work.)

It took me about a year to do the body, then another year to do the interior, and the drive train. And that was working fairly steadily at nights and weekends. (Fortunately, a good friend of mine had a bead blaster - one of the most essential tools you would need if restoring a car.)

In the end, I am very happy with the result, I would have to be very hard pressed to sell the car.

Would I do it again?

Maybe, just not right now.

It actually is a lot of fun and very rewarding. Keep in mind, I am not formally trained, just have a knack for all things automotive and have been laying under cars since I was 8 years old.

BTW, I see the 78 911 as a classic car and well worth the kind of dough in the original post.
 
boffo said:
There is a company in U.S. called Dynacorn that is starting to create complete replacement body shells for old cars like 1968 Mustang Fastback.
These shells are certified and approved by Ford and people are taking old 1968 Mustangs and just using the VIN # to transfer onto new car and basically creating a brand new car with aftermarket engines, transmissions, suspension equipment etc. Starting price for one of these is about $120,000.
And this is completely legal. People have a 1968 Mustang that is basically a brand new car.

Sammy Hagar from Van Halen got the first one from aftermarket company.

http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/ford_models.html

http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/sammy_hagar_mustang.html

http://webridestv.com/showvideo.aspx?video=11492

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/featuredvehicles/mump_0711_1967_mustang_replacement_body/photo_02.html

While I understand the logic of this - you essentially get a new old car, in my humble opinion, you're better off to find an original car and restore it.

What we're talking about here is a copy, a clone, it's not a numbers matching original. That's what is valuable and worth having.

There was a documentary called "The Last Stingray" which chronicled the last 67 vette that ever rolled off the line and how it ended up a piece of shit in a barn somewhere till they found it a few years ago and restored it from the ground up. Fascinating show, especially when some fool dropped the block delivering it back from the machine shop and snapped a corner of the casting off. The guy who was doing the restoration almost had a heart attack.