Project Charger: How much do you think the restoration cost?

[skyditch1]

Im in about 45K at a shop, still got electrical, chrome, interior, glass, all the nads on my metallic bronze 67,,,

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Must be kind of hard to work on with the car fastened to a side wall.

[alfaitalia]

Im in about 45K at a shop, still got electrical, chrome, interior, glass, all the nads on my metallic bronze 67,,,

Its scary figures like that , that make me glad I do everything myself. And I mean everything (well except the actual application of the paint paint to be honest....I used to do....but no longer have access to the facilities). It might take (a lot!) longer as I have to fit it around a six days a week job, a wife and an eight year old son......but I think I will have a pride in the car that no one with a cheque book restoration will ever have. No offence to the members on here that got their cars done this way......guess to be honest I'm only jealous that I could not afford to do it that way even if id wanted to!!! LOL!

[Kern Dog]

Must be kind of hard to work on with the car fastened to a side wall.

Yeah...Strange way to work on a car.

[bull]

I consulted Smith Bros. restorations about this and they said $50k-$80k depending on many variables. That's what it costs them (including farming out various big jobs) minus their labor. In my case I'd say that's true, maybe on the higher end because I had someone else do all the body work and paint which was $20k by itself. Body work, and especially paint, is something I had no desire to experiment with on this car. I also sent the engine off to be rebuilt as well as having a friend rebuild the 4 speed and rear end at his transmission shop. I did all the nickel and dime stuff myself like getting every little part located, restored, shipped, manufactured, powder coated, rechromed, polished, assembled, etc. Obviously the more you can or are willing to do yourself the more you'll save.

[gtx6970]

I haven't added up the hours on this one yet. But I did ask the owner a few weeks back if he had an idea where he was out for total costs so far.  Cost of the car, parts, my labor, paint work , engine work etc etc.
he said he was just north of $50k . Just the final body work and painted was nearly $10K alone. Tires and wheels were nearly $2K

I think he'll be done and all in for less than $55 k
My labor rate is $45 hr.



Now compared to a very early on photo I have handy

[alfaitalia]

That's a good way of saving cash shown clearly in that second picture. Don't buy one in that condition. Spending jus a few grand more on a solid shell...or even one that someone's done the metal on then life has got in the way and had to sell. Might cost a few grand extra initially...but boy it will save you lots in the long run.

[elks]

Up here in Canada its like $100 hr or higher.

[Chargen69]

10,000??

i've got about 3,000 just in paint materials

[gtx6970]

10,000??

i've got about 3,000 just in paint materials

Yep, All he did was final body  work , ( adjust gaps and seams. block , primer and paint / buff.)
Took him about 13 months start to finish in his 2 car garage .  It looks REALLY nice. Not perfect ( under hood paint is a little dry for my tastes compared to exterior finish ) But the cars owner is super happy with it and thats all that counts imo

I work out of my own 2 car garage . It can get a little tight at times. But I make do. Im not the slowest but the fastest either.

[charger-project.com]

Hi

I spend 7 years on a complete bolt of restoration, but I literally take everything apart (even the wipermotor and soldered the wires again).
see  www.charger-project.com.

This cost me without purchasing the car itself only on parts 72.000 EUR. This is without labor from myself but only on welder and bodywork labor costs which for some complex points I required real expertise to get the body as straight as an arrow.

2nd thing is that I live in Holland which means I need to pay taxes for a certain %percentage of the total amount of the product price when I ordered parts + shipping costs, which almost doubles the total price of the product in most cases.

Even with spending so much I was lucky because back then most of the time the dollar exchange rate was low so I could buy more parts (in dollars) for less EUR, which is not today.
It all just comes to the point of how far you want to go with the restoration, because I paid just 1700EUR for a new dash plate set and a steering wheel.  because there were small cracks and destroyed chrome on it. To me this was painful to buy as I already repaired the replacement parts but they didn't came to the condition that I was expecting. Still this makes me happy as I am looking at this every time I drive the car.

Hardest thing to find for a 1969 charger is the ORIGINAL heather-control-valve from ranco (not the remake, as this will have the same purpose but not the same shape as from factory).
Tip: try to find a Volvo AZ/PZ (EU = Volvo amazon) with s/n SKU: 673452 replacement one as this is very close to the charger made by the same company and during the same period: 1955 - 1974

Good luck,

PS. please feel free to send me pics of your restoration status or ask me any technical/ electrical questions about a 1969 build as I had the complete car in parts in my hands.

[alfaitalia]

As a fellow European (at least for the next few months and I voted to stay by the way!...never mind) I here you about the silly prices if you want something close to a factory finish build. Which is the main reason Im going the resto mod route....anything goes within reason. I won't change the shape of any of the external panels though...lots of patching to keep the original panels...and to avoid the cost of new ones! In my case, if something like your heater valve fails on me, I can use pretty much anything that fits and does the job.....saves loads of cash for my engine build where lots of my build money is going. Going to be worth it though!

[Lennard]

Hi

I spend 7 years on a complete bolt of restoration, but I literally take everything apart (even the wipermotor and soldered the wires again).
see  www.charger-project.com.

This cost me without purchasing the car itself only on parts 72.000 EUR. This is without labor from myself but only on welder and bodywork labor costs which for some complex points I required real expertise to get the body as straight as an arrow.

Dat is een bak met geld.

[VegasCharger]

Dat is een bak met geld.

That's a bin with money. 

[Lennard]

Dat is een bak met geld.

That's a bin with money. 

[rydog1130]

I just picked up that book and hope to give it read before diving into this project. Unrealated I had a 68 bronco that I restored and that was about 30k doing everything myself plus it was a complete rust bucket

[Kern Dog]

I liked the book but one picture and caption showed the author using a cherry picker to remove a steering box...""your back can't take it..."
Really ? What kind of limp wristed wimp can't lift a power steering box?

[rydog1130]

I liked the book but one picture and caption showed the author using a cherry picker to remove a steering box...""your back can't take it..."
Really ? What kind of limp wristed wimp can't lift a power steering box?

ha ha