Money

[not2old]

With all these great pic's. is there some kind of general dollar amount we spend on our cars and say "I'm done." I'm just getting started on the engine that was not even in the plan. Interior, body and paint are now on hold, but I really want to drive my car. As we see on the Posts to each his own, and I don't want a show car just and fun piece of history to drive

 

[RocketFoot]

I don't think a restoration is ever done! There are always things that you will want to add on or fix as budget allows. The only exception might be a high dollar concours restoration. Once that is done, there wouldn't be anything else to replace or add...LOL!

 

[CrashOverdrive]

Yeah the restore is only phase one for me. I'll probably be wrenching on my car forever.

 

[not2old]

Yeah the restore is only phase one for me. I'll probably be wrenching on my car forever.

That's ok with me. I was a Ford line teck when these cars were new so It's deja-vue. What my mind lets me recall...LOL:angel:

 

[72HCODE]

That's ok with me. I was a Ford line teck when these cars were new so It's deja-vue. What my mind lets me recall...LOL:angel:

Oh, so you were the guy that 'forgot' to install all the missing hardware in my car :angel: .

I used to have a budget and a plan.

originally i was going to do this in 3 stages.

stage 1 was get the car road worthy.

stage 2 was enjoy the car for a few years, and make repairs and improvements.

stage 3 was total restore, most likely save up cash and farm it out.

i figured stage 1 would take a few weeks and stage 2 over the course of a few years. the goal was to keep the car on the road and drivable.

my budget would be low and when i started the project it was under the assumption that the car was in good shape based on what others told me.

the secondary goal was learning about cars before 7 years ago i never so much as changed my oil myself on any car i had.

well things quickly went out of control in 2 steps.

first the car turned out to be another persons project basket case with so many problems you couldn't even count them.

this turned into something between a rolling restoration and a sitting on jack stands never moving car. it took 2 years just to get the car to a stage 1, the budget went out the window because i needed to move the car to its new residence.

once settled into its new home, more and more problems. just when i thought i had them licked up poped 2 major ones, engine and structure, and basically the car was striped down to the chassis.

what was interesting was the car actually forced me to get my banking affairs in order. while the budget for the car spun into oblivion my personal life was put in order.

so 4 years to get to the stage 2 point in my plan, and major problems still crop up because of incompetence of others.

i guess it depends on how burned out you get on a car like this, its just as easy to stop fixing something when its got 35$ in damage or 3500$ in damage if you want something bad enough you make it happen, and make sacrifices.

I'm still looking at this as a learning experience for myself, the education so far has been priceless.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I know that I'm probably over $10,000 into my Jeep, and I'm still not 'done' with it... so I envision the same for my Mach 1. But I suspect that the $15K point will be somewhere in the ball park of 'restored.' That's the point where I won't be dropping major money into 'necessary' items - it's all fun stuff and maintenance after that.

 

[Tnfastbk]

Well mine has went just doing a stock rebuild on a 351c to somehow to a stroked 408 all forged crank rods and pistons, aluminum headed(AFD's), roller cam, etc... rebuild.

So who knows where the point of "I'm done" is at.

 

[jorgem2]

With all these great pic's. is there some kind of general dollar amount we spend on our cars and say "I'm done." I'm just getting started on the engine that was not even in the plan. Interior, body and paint are now on hold, but I really want to drive my car. As we see on the Posts to each his own, and I don't want a show car just and fun piece of history to drive

THe best thing you can do is have a plan for the end result right away and budget or build to that goal.

Unlike me that I started restoring then got into drag racing, now I have the third engine in the car cause I want to go faster and faster.

If its a driver, or restomod its never done. Only a councourse restoration can be "Done" once its back to factory new appearance.

 

[not2old]

With all these great pic's. is there some kind of general dollar amount we spend on our cars and say "I'm done." I'm just getting started on the engine that was not even in the plan. Interior, body and paint are now on hold, but I really want to drive my car. As we see on the Posts to each his own, and I don't want a show car just and fun piece of history to drive

THe best thing you can do is have a plan for the end result right away and budget or build to that goal.

Unlike me that I started restoring then got into drag racing, now I have the third engine in the car cause I want to go faster and faster.

If its a driver, or restomod its never done. Only a councourse restoration can be "Done" once its back to factory new appearance.

My budget for body and paint just got trashed when I pulled the engine and dropped it at the machine shop. Now it will be less beauty and more beast.

 

[69 Rustang]

'69 Rustang's Dictionary: Done (duhn); fallacy; Def: 1) when one declares a project to be complete, only to come up with new plans for tomorrow. 2) Out of money for now.

 

[Mister 4x4]

'69 Rustang's Dictionary: Done (duhn); fallacy; Def: 1) when one declares a project to be complete, only to come up with new plans for tomorrow. 2) Out of money for now.

I believe "#2" is the more accurate and likely definition.