On 3/24/2017 5:55 PM, J. Clarke wrote:
In article MomdnWLWe_muA0jFnZ2dnUU7-
, lcb11211@swbelldotnet
says...

On 3/24/2017 12:58 AM, wrote:
On Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 7:25:48 AM UTC-5, wrote:
.
Except for rare vehicles, it NEVER makes any financial sense (and yes,
I HAVE restored some old vehicles, including a few "basket cases"
Even at Barrett Jackson auctions, you can usually buy very good to
excellent cars for significantly less than the cost to build - even
strting from a reasonably good junker.

One of my long time friends would certainly give you an "AMEN" on that. He loved early Mustangs and the old 240Z from Datsun.

The amount of knowledge needed to "authentically restore" the cars correctly was staggering. The money needed to find original parts, just as much. The time to learn what to do, which parts went on which variant (depending on manufacturing dates, etc.) and on and on was a full time job. He gave up on the last Mustang and sold it dismantled for parts as he couldn't get it restored to his standards. After about 5-6 years in the garage, his wife stepped in, and that
was that.

He got two 240s up and running and couldn't find the parts needed to restore them. He found that certain pieces from 260s fit the 240s, so he went that route. Now all he had when finished was a running sports car.

He lost money on all of his efforts. Restoring is 1) a labor of love and/or 2) a full time job.

We went to a local car show after that, and he was crushed as he found what I had told him all along, you can buy a finished product for about 1/2 (or less) of what it costs to restore one in your garage by yourself. He hasn't turned a wrench to restore a vehicle since.

Check out the prices on some of these mid 60s Mustangs:

https://goo.gl/d0Hsfv

Check out the '69 Ford Fastback Mustang with the 351 Cleveland V8 and less than 19,000 miles. Great paint, Cragar mags, new shoes, and $28,500. No muss, no fuss. My boy had 25K in the engine rebuild, transmission rebuild, new drive shaft and rebuilt rear end of the '67 he was last working on. That did include the J.C. Whitney (remember them?) interior kit that was formed carpet, door panels, and seat covers that were sitting in the car when he sold it. He needed
a new steering wheel, appropriate AM radio, all knobs and handles, badges, body work, paint, and the correct age rims. He figured another 10K and a couple of years of his elbow grease and he would have it finished if he had found the time.

He sold the car (not running) with the papers on the rebuilds along with all the parts and pieces he collected for $5500 after coming down on his price many times. The guy that bought it was a lucky break for him as he bought it as a project for him and his son that was a 16 year old motor head.

Robert


WOW! Things have changed. My son and I used to visit "Street of Dreams"
in Sugar Land about 10~15 years ago. Old Mustangs were going for $40K+
They only had American that was 30+ years old and the average price was
about 10 times original. I remember $65K for an old Road Runner with
painted wheels and hub caps.

I think one thing that has changed is that
American cars 15-20 years ago were a shadow of
their former selves. Now the performance is
back with a vengeance--who'd a thunk we'd ever
see a _stock_ Caddy that does sub-12-second
quarters and tops out at 200?


It was all about getting rid of carburetors and adding electronics.
Those two things added HP "and" fuel economy.