Cost of RESTORING an old pickup? (vehicle, seats, pickup truck, Corvette)
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Was driving home from work today and the neatest custom Ford F-100 pickup I've ever seen! Absolutely eye catching red/black paint scheme and must've had a massive engine because it barreled by me in my F-150.
It just got me to thinking, what would it cost to buy an old 50's F100 and restore/customize it to rolling work of art?! The wheels in my brain are churning at the moment- it seems like you could buy one of these old trucks and restore it a little bit at a time as one would have the money.
Heres one thats been reasonably restored. (Scroll)
http://denver.craigslist.org/ctd/2934836983.html (broken link)
And another that is ready for restoration
1955 Ford f-250 pickup (http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/2934425149.html - broken link)
If you decided to buy a fixer upper where would it sit for the extended time period it would take to restore?
The cost may be more up front but in the long run its cheaper to buy one already completed. I have restored old cars before and am doing one now. You sink much more money and time into them than what you can sell them for. If your lucky you will break even. I dont restore them because its cheaper, I do it because I enjoy it. If you dont have the time to do it it can get very frustrating which is another reason why for buying a completed restoration. I like taking a pile of junk and turning it into the jem it once was. Trying to get the good ole American steel back on the road one car at a time.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I agree with mustangman. Having done a restoration, the time and money end up costing far more than buying an older restoration when the seller is tired of it and wants to get something else. Rarely do you get what you spent back on a restoration, so the only real advantage is getting it done exactly the way you want it.
That would be an awesome project. But time consuming. I helped a friend rebuild a jeep from the ground up in our after-work time and a little on weekends. It took him a year or two to get finished and it got to be a bit of a burden. Like, "oh I can't relax and watch football, I've got to go do X on the jeep."
Sell one of your fleet of and buy the one on Ebay. As others said, you won't save any money by restoring it yourself.
I agree with mustangman. Having done a restoration, the time and money end up costing far more than buying an older restoration when the seller is tired of it and wants to get something else.
This is great advice if what you want is only the end result and don't care if it was done to someone else's standards or not. But if doing the project is half or more of the fun and enjoyment, then it's not the way to go. Sweat equity gets you appreciation and a feeling of accomplishment that simply buying someone else's finished product won't give you. Also buying it all finished means having the money all at once. Building it yourself, you can do it as the budget allows, over time.
As for the costs? Anywhere from $10k to $200k doepending on level of work and what you want to do and how much you can/will do yourself. (on the high end, you're talking correcting factory fit met issues and creating Lexus levels of panel fitment and tight cut lines, as well as serious amounts of metal work perfecting the body in the metal before laying on a high end paint job)
Heres one thats been reasonably restored. (Scroll)
1955 Ford F100 Pickup (http://denver.craigslist.org/ctd/2934836983.html - broken link)
And another that is ready for restoration
1955 Ford f-250 pickup (http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/2934425149.html - broken link)
If you decided to buy a fixer upper where would it sit for the extended time period it would take to restore?
That one for $16K really is what I'd love to have although not a huge fan of the yellow.
If I bought a fixer-upper, I'd probably get a tarp and park it on that in the third stall of my garage which isn't being used for anything at the moment.
Quote:
The cost may be more up front but in the long run its cheaper to buy one already completed. I have restored old cars before and am doing one now. You sink much more money and time into them than what you can sell them for. If your lucky you will break even. I dont restore them because its cheaper, I do it because I enjoy it. If you dont have the time to do it it can get very frustrating which is another reason why for buying a completed restoration. I like taking a pile of junk and turning it into the jem it once was. Trying to get the good ole American steel back on the road one car at a tim
This is what I feared- that I'd buy a fixer at a relatively cheap price and then end up sinking way too much money into it. Honestly I just got this idea in my head driving home last night, I'm somewhat impulsive and it sounded like a good idea at the time. Right now my bank account wouldn't support me buying a 3rd vehicle so this idea is going to simmer for a bit.
It's just something you don't tend to see that often. I see numerous restored Camaro's, Chevelle's, Mustang's, etc but I rarely see a restored pickup truck so it'd be something unique to tool around town in. I'd really think my little nephews and nieces would enjoy it immensely; they already enjoy riding in my Corvette with the top down. In 6-8 years, it'd be fun to TEACH them how to drive in a restored pickup truck.
Just another neat idea though, maybe in the future.
The extra cost/sweat/blood/tears you'll spend might make it a lot more valuable sentimentally though. I want to restore my dad's old chevelle, and it wouldn't be the same if I just went and bought one with the specs I wanted from someone who's already done the work. The car's body itself holds value as it was my father's car, plus I get to experience it myself.
For most people, the fun in doing it is the actual work that goes into doing it, not the finished project. My wife's cousins husband restores a car every couple of years. He could care less about driving them or whether or not they are "hot" classics (his last project was a '74 GTO, not exactly high on the collectible list), to him it is all about the work that goes into it.
Since you sound more like someone who enjoys driving them more then working on them (no offense meant in that, I lean that way myself), your options really come down to buying one that is already done that piques your interest or buying a good base and then having someone else do the work. It can be a lot of fun to do everything the way you want it, but the cost adds up fast. How much it ends up costing is largely dependent on how "right" you want to do it.
It doesn't cost all that much, relatively speaking, to slap a new engine, trans and rear in a chassis, cover up the body with new paint and have the seats redone. It would look decent from a distance and drive well enough, but it wouldn't be nearly done right.
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. Right now my bank account wouldn't support me buying a 3rd vehicle so this idea is going to simmer for a bit.
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