First car!

[15-73finally]

Thanks paul, there are lots of cars but hardly any in Utah where I'm at!

 

[jbojo]

Welcome from TriCities, WA

 

[M Beauchamp]

My advise is to keep looking for a good daily driver

Everyone on the site will help you fine one and or help check them out for you. This will give you the benefit of years of wisdom

I bought my first 69 coupe at your age which took a bit of work to safety it but, i was able to drive it as i worked on it.

Good luck

 

[Boss1Ray]

The body is fiberglass?

If so then this is not really a Mustang anymore. Very hard to turn into a comfortable and safe street car. With it not running you are looking at $$$ to turn a cut up race car back into a daily driver.

I am not saying a 15 year old should not start with a project muscle car as a first ride - all of my kids did it and my grand kids are doing it now. You just have to get some guidance as to what is the right car to get.

Share with us:

Your exact location

Your cash in hand to buy a car

Your incoming cash from jobs or other sources

Do you have a garage or shop to work in?

Friends and family members who own tools and work on things

I have also helped several of my sons friends find old Mustangs and will do the same for you if you want. Several people in this group will join in and maybe even be close enough to you to assist in person.

If I was looking for a car for my grand daughters first project today (she is 13) this would make the list.

http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/5345584712.html

This one is extraordinary.

http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/5340621031.html

Let us know what you think.

Let the adventure begin!

- Paul of MO

Dang Paul - those are both very decent buys! That Grande is NICE! I'd remove the front spoiler and roll that baby to any show and be proud! Thanks for posting!

Ray

Sorry let me rephrase that, , the hood and front fenders are fiberglass sorry, just asked the original owner, said he used it as a tourer but put the big engine in it so that he could go to the track once in a while, said engine seized because he didn't use it for roughly 2 years. I have 1500$ cash in hand, and was trading my 327 v8 extra intake manifold, crank and camshaft. I have all the tools needed, dad has a lift, I have engine stand and engine crane, also have a golf cart to take it places

You are getting some great advice. Good luck on however youy decide to proceed.

And welcome from Oklahoma.

Ray

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Like you I built my first car before I had a license. I did any work I could find mostly manual labor clearing brush, digging ditches anything. I was the only kid in school that built his own car in 1966 when I graduated.

Like many have said you need to go with a car that you can start out driving and do gradual upgrades and improvements. If you start out with too much of a basket case you will loose interest and it will never get finished.

Your biggest enemy is rust stay away from a car with rust in the floors, cowl and frame rails. Yes they can be fixed but should not be your first attempt.

Don't be afraid to look outside where you live. A couple tanks of gas and a car dolly will get you a long ways. I have purchased 2 cars off eBay and 3 off craigslist this year and all were great deals. They are out there just don't get in a hurry they will come to you.

Ask questions that is the only way you will learn these cars or any car if you go a different direction.

No 6 cylinder car is a good investment at this time costs the same to fix the body of a SCJ 429 as a 6 cylinder.

David

 

[Mister 4x4]

Yeah, but if a 6-cylinder runs, and the 429 doesn't... 6-cylinder FTW (you can always swap in a V-8 later).

BTW - Welcome from West Texas. I grew up in Sandy, UT myself - miss it every day! ::thumb::

The one bit of advice I would offer that I would really hope you consider is to not fall in love with the first one you find - especially if there are issues. My advice comes from personal experience with my '71 I am still in the process of restoring/building. It was the only one in town, and San Angelo is 90 miles from the nearest similar sized town - over 200 from anything that resembles a big city. I saw several decent cars available on Craigslist in some of the bigger cities going for fair prices. I was against going out of town, didn't want to spend a little more for an actual running car, and didn't want to trailer it from a big city. Little did I know that mine was pretty much a rust pile with a seized engine & blown transmission, and realistically should've been salvaged and crushed. I've spent the past 5+ years cutting, welding, grinding, removing, reattaching, installing and restoring almost literally every piece down to the nuts & bolts of my car... spent approximately 16 hours of every other weekend (on the average) and over 25-times the purchase price in replacement parts & the body work/paint job. I saved money doing all the labor myself, I have over 2,000 hours into it - and I shudder to think of how much it would've cost had I paid someone to do it for me (a conservative $50/hour says, "over $100,000.00"). I don't even want to know how much in the way of shipping costs and sales taxes I paid, either - I only factored in the prices for the parts.

If this car is the one you simply must have, then be prepared to have a long-term project. A seized engine is a big thing that can run lots of money. I took apart and rebuilt my engine myself, but still spent over $3,000 at the machine shop just getting it ready to go back together... along with another $5-6K in new parts.

Throughout the project, there were many times I was in danger of losing enthusiasm - I never gave up, of course... but I had days that I simply just did not want to work on it. After having it torn apart for so long, it literally lost value to me as an actual "car." It was, for the longest time, just the pile of rusty sheet metal that I would visit every weekend and do 'something' to it. Long term projects will sap your energy and enthusiasm, and eventually threaten loss of interest. That's why everybody is suggesting maybe you should consider a different car.

If there's one thing for sure, you can count on everything you do to the car costing more than what you budget for.

Something to consider; if your high school has an Auto Shop program, you might see if the shop could take on some of the things it needs as class projects. I remember a lot of my friends in high school used to do that with their cars, and it helped save them all sorts of money.

Good luck with it!

 

[15-73finally]

I'm looking at a 66 at the moment, running and works just needs paint, how much is usually charged for paint?

 

[73pony]

I'm looking at a 66 at the moment, running and works just needs paint, how much is usually charged for paint?

That is a wide open question. What kind of paint job do you want? A quick sand and spray can be cheap but you get what you pay for and it will not look nice. A proper paint job will be a log of blocking and smoothing then the paint, sanding and polishing. A good paint job is not going to be cheap. If done right you are looking at $5,000 easy as a min. At least that is what you would pay around here for a reputable shop. A show quality paint job is going to a lot higher.

 

[Paul of MO]

I am glad it looks like you are passing on the 71.

http://www.searchtempest.com/ will let you put in your zipcode and then get craigslist listings closest to farthest from your city. Stay in search tempest if it tries to switch you to auto tempest (auto tempest does not work very well)

Search for cars and trucks by owner (avoid dealers) and then search the year only such as 1971. This will give you all 1971 vehicles - do not be afraid to road trip with your parents or old car buying advisers. It will be fun.

Scroll through the years you are interested in and see what is out there.

You can also search for Fastback and get all the fastbacks available within 1000 miles or so.

Gas is cheap, car dollies or borrowed trailers are available, you have all the time in the world to find a great, fun, and drivable vehicle.

- Paul of MO