Total cost for your restoration

[keniso]

Hi!! To all the members who finished restoring their Charger, How much did you spend to restore your car?
And to all who's still working on their car, how much do you have into your car and what do you figure will be your total cost when finish?

Why i'm asking this question, it that I got a ball park figure about $60,000 canadian to restore it?  I just want to justify spending this much.


mike

[moparguy01]

I'll have around 15k into mine by the time im finished with it. but I do almost all of my own work.

the cars at the rod shop i work at routine have bodywork and paint that goes into 10-12 grand alone. then you have drivetrain which is easily another 10 grand by teh time you get wiring, engine, trans, rear, new lines, etc. more if you put a hemi in it.

depending on how bad your car is, 60k canadian might be a decent deal. but without knowing what the car knows i couldnt tell ya.

[JimShine]

My '69 is currently at $11,500. This was for the car, tranny rebuild, new trunk pans, partial resto of the interior, new tires and rims, front end rebuild, fuel pump, water pump, oil pump, headers, grille, some trim that was missing, gas tank, fuel sending unit, straps, and a low grade paint job to keep it from rusting. The car still needs  some engine help, and lots of body work and a prefessional paint job. Most of the work has been done by me or friends did things. It really helps to have a buddy who is willing to lend a hand!

[AKcharger]

I took the courage to add up all the reciepts for my '70 and it's over $15K, $4400 was in engine/trans and $2000 Labor to pals for welding and portions of body work I couldn't everything else I did myself.  My car was a complete restore, there is not enough room in this post to list everything I changed/replaced/repaired. If you have the money to spend on a shop the quote doesn't sound too bad, especially if there is lots of body work.

AK

[472 R/T SE]

Hello Mike and welcome to the board.

60k Canadian.  I know it's Canadian but that seems like a lot of money to me.  Are your needing a lot of metal work done?

[69bananabeast]

bought my car 3 years ago $7000 , Ive had it repainted, currently in a SB to BB swap and have about 8-10K in the motor, gear swap + Posi another 1200, rewired car 500 , future disc brake swap 1000, new carpet and shifter 250 , new wheels 1200,  and Future Tires 300.

so about 19,450- $21,450

[bluesfool]

19K, give or take. Given that today's exchange rate = 1 usd to 1.15 cdn, 60K seems way too much. Are you doing alot of the work yourself or are you paying someone to do a complete resto for you? If you're having all the work done by a shop, and only if they are doing a rotisserie resto, it might be justified. As for myself, I would never be able to justify spending that much on what I get...that's just one reason why I did most of the work myself.

[Mefirst]

I dont even want to think about the cost.. -Allot ! But once I have my beast on the road, it will be worth it

[Dodge Don]

60k Canadian is about right for taking a low #3 driver and restoring fully to a high #2/low #1 condition if you do most of the work except body/paint and drivetrain. The cost of parts from the US, plus shipping, FX, Duty, Brokerage Fees etc all add up.

[keniso]

thanks for your input. to date i have pull the engine/tranny, the interior is all out except the dash, steering column and headliner. the fender, hood, trunk, i have sandblasted. what i need is the floorboards, trunk, extension, rear frame, rear valance, corner as well.  I have started to do the work myself but i find that i have only limited time to work on it. it still depends on how much time they put into it for the bodywork, they charge 70 dollars an hour. but this include everything done with new parts from year one.  I know it's alot of money but i would like to drive the car. so if it's around 60 thousand  what another 5 years to pay it off, you only live once and i would love for it to be on the road.  The shop is book for a year so i have a year waiting time, maybe i can cut down the cost by working on the body like sandblasting it myself and save some of the labour over the next year. The shop won lots of award for other vehicle they have done.

thanks again
mike

[moparguy01]

For the record I have seen MAYBE 3 or 4 TRUE #1 cars. These cars as rare and far between. if someone runs the car and drives it, it'll no longer be a number 1 condition car.

[Todd Wilson]

I got about 6500$ total in my 71 cost of restoration and the price of the car!   



Todd

[BigBlockSam]

five times more than i thought it would cost   

[6670charger]

I've spent somewhere in the mid 20K range to restore my '66 to number 3 condition.  


Reminder to self:  Don't EVER do that again!

[4402tuff4u]

I think I'm going to have around 18 - 21 K invested by the time I'm done and that's without the price of the Charger.
Number matching Charger R/T: $ 11,500 w/ new interior in boxes included.
Body work and paint (car was apart-no interior, media blasted and no rust: (quoted $ 7,500) w/ adds $ 10,000
Engine work - total rebuilt, balanced and upgraded racing components for street use (lab & mat): $ 5,500
Transmission - Seals replaced, tranny in good condition: $ 500
Gauges/cluster rebuild: $ 650
Media blast car: $ 880
New gas tank w/ sending unit: $ 150
New exhaust from block to tail: $ 750
Tail stripe: $ 160
Power booster rebuild: $ 170
New brake & tranny lines: $ 280
New front end bushing kit: $ 350
New shocks absorbers: $ 200
New motor mounts: $ 150 ? (I can't remember)
New tires and rims: $ 1,500 (I'm going to have to wait on this)

Keep in mind that I'm doing a lot of the restoration myself of the ancillary components such as the heater box A/C unit, polish trim, restore all small interior pieces, assembling of the car when I get it back. I'm not doing the engine. The engine is being done by a professional. I'm probably missing several things that I have been buying for the car and the unforeseen things too. This will give you a rough idea. I had to get a second job to make this happen, but I think it will be worth it when I'm done. 

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

If I told you I'd have to kill you.....


At least my wife wold kill me!

I have almost 30k into mine

[alenglish]

low to mid  20's  and still going Big Al

[CB]

us$12,500 into my '69.
That is the car, overseas shipping and taxes, rebuild radiator and new fuel pump.
It 'll add up quickly.

[andy74]

OVER 12,BUT LESS THAN 15,ACCORDING TO THE STACK OF RECIEPTS IN MY SECRET CAR FOLDER,STILL HAVE INTERIOR WORK,BUT THAT INCLUDES 2 ENGINES,1 OF WHICH I HOPE TO SELL AND RECOUPE SOME CASH

[69pistolgripRT]

I've got about $30-35 thousand in mine.

[Blown70]

I will say this,  You will have to do some work your self.  PERIOD.  I mean I stripped my car but at the time had no knowledge of body work. So I had to have that done.  They DID A GREAT job.  I had the machine work done on the motor and put it together with my neighbor.  I did a lot of the tear down and put back together myself.   I personally could not afford to have someone do all of the work.

I would suggest thinking about that, unless you have a lot of funds around....

Another suggestion.... Buy a running and driving and sell yours if you do not want to spend the money.  Sometimes that is a better deal.  JUST A THOUGHT...... I know you may have you mind set on a car so understandable if you want to keep her.

[Brock Samson]

I'm gonna go with a $30,000+ investment total, (and that's high California dollors too) but i been driving mine since i bought her stripped '84, it took two parts cars, a   $2K '70 500 (for the inital S.B. drivetrain and running gear) and a stripped $500 '69 S.E. (for the missing S.E. interior) and I have $8K+ in the motor (500/500 + 440 sixpack) but i'm including the TTI exhaust and complete B.B. cooling system plus Misc.stuff like driveshaft and solid motor mounts etc. so even if I include insurance and piddly normal Maint. costs, and pump it up to $40K that's not bad at all concidering I've been drivin my dream car for 20 years!  
After reading about how other folks projects go, I think i did real good. She may not be perfect, but I ain't afraid to drive her...
...except in the rain...  

[dodgecharger-fan]

$60,000 CDN sounds high unless you're talking about a complete nut&bolt rotissierie restoration. Then, you have to ask yourself is the car the right car to be doing that level of resto on..

Admittedly, I am going way beyond what my car deserves, but I had to go to a certain point just to get something to work with. At that point, I figured why stop. Still, I don't think I'll get anywhere near 60K (I'd better not, or my wife will throw a hairy caniption all over my arse. I'm the man of the house, yes, but I'm smart enough to avoid those... )

I haven't added things up lately, but a rough guess would be around 21,000 CDN so far.

That includes:
Initial deal for the car and a load of parts: 5100 US (there was about 4200 in receipts for new parts that I received still in the boxes and a recent engine build, so the car cost was only $900.)
Replacement sheetmetal and fram rail repair pieces $1725 CDN
Shop Labour and supplies for the metalwork: $11000
two used fenders about 1200

There's a lot of smaller stuff that I've purchased here and there over time that I haven't really added up. So maybe my real out of pocket so far is closer to 22 or 23 thousand.

It's not in paint yet and I need to do some more shaping on some of the body panels and frame rails.

I think if I can do the paint myself or get a great deal from a friend to do it, I might get this thing done for under $30000 CDN.

I'm not counting the tools and equipment I've purchased since I've started this project. Man If I did that, I'd have to paint it white, put a long snout on the front and feed it peanuts... 

http://home.cogeco.ca/~dhogan2

[Dodge Don]

Just to clarify, the question was "how much would a restoration cost" and was referenced in "Canadian $$"  Maybe I'm picky but a restoration to me is a complete nut & bolt job, every single nut, bolt, washer, part, wire, trim etc restored (if possible...or replaced with NOS or Repro parts).....not replacing the odd part here and there. I'd call that regular maintenance.

If you are a body guy with your own first class paint facilities then the price would drop. Otherwise I can gaurantee that you can easily hit 60k Canadian.......you want concourse 100 point resto...figure to hit six digits.

[bull]

This is the one part of the hobby I don't really like to think about too much. It can be pretty disheartening. So I'll just write and not think. So far I'm into the car about $6,500 USD. I paid $5,500 for the car and have spent about another $1,000 or more collecting parts and adding a disc brake upgrade. This Jan. I am taking the car to the paint shop and they will do all the rust repair, body work and paint to the tune of about $10k. While that is happening the 383 will be rebuilt for about $2,600 because I want it balanced. A friend owns a trans shop so I'm guessing he'll cut me a deal on the 4spd rebuild. No idea on that. So far, as of about next July, I'll be up to about $19k or $20k. Then I was quoted $1,000 for having the seats, headliner and carpet done. The grille will probably cost me $500 to restore, and then I'll be on my own buying and/or restoring and installing bits and pieces. I hate to say it but I assume I'll be in the mid to high 20s by the time it's rolling. Dang! Why did I have to lay it all out like that? I'm going to go beat my head against the wall now.