Total cost for your restoration

[keniso]

thanks again for all the replys.

I forgot to mention that the shop hasn't even seen the car yet, it was a ball park figure.  next week i will show him some photo of the floorboard trunk, valance, frame.  I think he was quoting on the car been done with nuts and bolts. rotiessture  So when I show him the picture, he will probably have a better quote for me.  Also it's been a couple of years since i torn down the charger and for the life of me it will probably take me 10 years to figure it out how to put it back together lol.  Most of the money will probably be in the labour.  the shop deals with year one, tti, etc. all the top dealers and he does get his discount which he passes it to us. I rather suck of the money, hopely if will be cheaper I had the charger since 1990 so 15 years sitting in the garage is a sin. I rather have it all done then i can drive it finally.

thanks
mike

[mustanghater]

can you restore one for 10g's

[HeavyFuel]

can you restore one for 10g's

Is that a question?

[BigBlockSam]

can you restore one for 10g's   

yes you can. you need to start with a good project. you can restore it to be a good runner. a fun car thats not totaly correct and needs alittle help with the body but you have to be able to do some of the stuff yourself . i restored my 69 satelite with $5000. you can drive her anywhere. but she needs quarters, trunk center and extensions, bumpers, one rocker, body work and paint. she's a blast to drive 440 , 4 speed.

[Dodge Don]

can you restore one for 10g's

Only if the car was already restored last week 

[Dodge Don]

Keniso, what year Charger are we talking about here?

Where are you in Canada?

[HeavyFuel]

can you restore one for 10g's   

yes you can. you need to start with a good project. you can restore it to be a good runner. a fun car thats not totaly correct and needs alittle help with the body but you have to be able to do some of the stuff yourself . i restored my 69 satelite with $5000. you can drive her anywhere. but she needs quarters, trunk center and extensions, bumpers, one rocker, body work and paint. she's a blast to drive 440 , 4 speed.

... but having a good runner is not "restored" car.   You've got 5 large into the car and still need quarters, trunk center and extensions, bumpers, one rocker, body work and paint.   

I think Dodge Don's answer is closer....

[BigBlockSam]

it's restored to driver condition. there be a round two in a couple of yrs. it's on the list. Rene

[keniso]

Don, I from calgary alberta   I have a 68 charger r/t   440, had a 6pck. but a so call friend scam it from me, auto, sure grip, disc brake, cruise, power window, 8 track. rear defroster. i also have an auto dimmer not sure if the pevious owner install it. what it is, is when your driving at nite with bright lights and a car approachs you it will automatice dim it for you.   any one else know about this product.

[FourSpeedRT]

I have about $23,000.00 (CDN) into my RT...I have been offered over two times that in US,but I am reluctant to sell........because it's the car I have always wanted.......my .02 cents.

[keniso]

Hey four speed is your car totally done with that price or do you have more to do to your car


mike

[Todd Wilson]

I guess I will break my 6500$ down since it seems to be rather low.

I paid 500$ for the 71 back in 1987
250$ of my money and 250$ as a high skool graduation present from my grandparents.

So I guess I bought the car for 250$ so to speak!

I got about 1600$ total in a motor,tranny and front end rebuild. All done in about 1988 or so.

I then put about 4000$ in it last winter for the body and paint. All done in my garage. Some of this amount is tools I bought to do the job. In reality about 2800$ of it was paint and body expense. This would be paint and supplys which would include everything from filler,sandpaper,tape all the way down to razor blades. Moparguy01 helped me and I paid him some $ for his work and guidance for me.


I've got about 900$ more in misc stuff like some of the parts I collected for the restoration.

The car has a very decent interior but could use a new front seat cover.  I could have rechromed my bumpers but didnt.


This restoration was the hardest thing I have ever done physically. I also understand now why a trailer queen paint job costs so much.
My car is not a #1 trailer queen restoration. It was never planned to be that. But it is a driver car that could go to any show without problems. The car was very solid and other then the one dent I had was basically straight and about 99% rust free. Nothing is ever "Rust Free" I thought my car was "rust free" but it wasnt and if theres any car out there with little to no rust this would have been one of those cars!
Floor boards and trunk floor look brand new still so I was lucky in that department. I bought the Charger in texas back in 1987 and it only saw about 2 winters and then ended up tucked away in a garage for about 10 years or so seeing the street 1-2 times a year.

The restoration was a battle  but it wasnt an up hill battle like some of you on here have encountered. I simply got lucky and always felt way back when that I had something and it needed to be taken well care of even 18 years ago before they were really worth a lot.

Todd

[MikeD]

A LOT OF MONEY

[694spdRT]

I have a spreadsheet that I kept track of all the costs on and I have about $25,000 invested in the rotisserie restoration of my '69 R/T including buying the car for $3,500. I completed it about 2 months ago and nearly everything from front to back was replaced or refurbished. I collected parts for quite a while and some things are much more to get now.

I did almost everything myself except final paint, tranny rebuild, and the engine short block assembly. I would shudder to think what it would have cost to actually pay someone for the work. 

[FourSpeedRT]

Hi keniso.....my Charger is all done.....just a couple of little detail things to do this winter....should have done this summer,but I was havin' way too much fun.......

[JimShine]

... but having a good runner is not "restored" car.   You've got 5 large into the car and still need quarters, trunk center and extensions, bumpers, one rocker, body work and paint.   

I think Dodge Don's answer is closer....

I agree. Though one may be in the process of restoring a car, a restoration is the end result of bringing the car back to its original state.

[Big Lebowski]

  I have around $22,000 in 1995 dollars invested, so that's a ton.

[Brock Samson]

BTW: Mine's not Restored, It's "Re-animated" 

[Dodge Don]

I prefer to call mine a Restification. It is a nut & bolt resto but I've modified the car a bit with the addition of other factory correct options. Basically it's a full restoration of the car as I would have ordered it in late 1969.

It will be nicer and faster than when it rolled off the assembly line, but it will look 99% correct. (you'd have to look real hard to find the 1%) 

[Sendero]

My brother owns a 70 R/T SE Challenger. He outsourced the whole job. He will be at 100K or slightly over when it is done. Yep...and that was with a stright and solid So. California body. Do I think he got ripped about 20K on the resto ..yep.

[73rallye440magnum]

looking for 69hemi...

[Purple Haze]

So far I have about $14,000 into mine and that includes the price of the car ($4,500).   I still have the interior and bumpers to go as major things.   I should mention that mine is a low end restoration to be a driver and not a show car.

I know a guy who spent $175,000 on his '57 Chevy conv't and didn't tell his wife until it was done.   Of course his was all jobed out, he didn't do any of it.   Goosh it must be nice to be rich...but he didn't have the fun and satisfaction I'm having in doing most of it myself.

[Telvis]

I have close to $20K in mine and the paints still not finished. I have about everything ready to put back in it when it does get painted.

[greenpigs]

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 frame and floor, I would use something besides sand for the body, like walnut shells. The sand may create to much heat and warp some thinner areas of metal.

I got 6K in mine $1500 more if I add the amount that was given to me to start the project, it was a gift. I will need about 6 - 10K more to get it nice.

[69hemi]

looking for 69hemi...

I've been watching this but have decided not to comment as of yet.   Anybody who has been following my resto at www.69hemi.com knows the extent of the resto my Charger has undergone.   I know in round dollars how much I have in it but that is not what supprises me.   The big supprise is how fast it can eat money on small things.   The difference between date coded wires and un dated plug wires, way too much for a restored wiper motor, and I wont even go into the $15.00 Tiny Clock Nut thingy.   I have been very picky in the resto because it is a numbers matching Hemi car.   If it was not I would have made some different decisions regarding certain parts and procedures.   I had about $15K in my frame up Roadrunner resto and that went very fast keeping in mind I do almost all of my own work in my own shop.   So how much do I have in my Hemi restoration, suffice it to say a lot!