Opinions please.....Buy a car restored or restore the car yourself???

[Back N Black]

I choose to restore my charger rather than buy one restored because i wanted to know exactly what was done with the car. I spent 2 years driving many hours looking at chargers to find the best possible car for me. I saw allot of chargers that guys would say "complete nut and bolt Restoration" but with a quick look under the dash you see rusted parts and old wiring. Seem to be way too many cars showing up lately than were complete restro's but just polished turds. I know cost wise I'm spending way more money than someone buying a finished car, but for me that was the only way to go. Was it a bigger job than i envision? you bet ya, would i do it all over again  .

[Ghoste]

Both offer pros and cons that are really up to the individual.  In general I would always advise someone to buy a car that is finished but without question there are people who realy enjoy the restoratio as much or even more than the rest of the experience.
Me personally, I somewhere on the fence depending on the car, time, and finances but overall I'm like you, I enjoy knowing what was done to the car.

[skip68]

It's cheaper to buy a car that is already done.  Just takes more cash upfront unless you finance it.   But, you never know what's under the paint.      This is a great time to buy a finished car or a project as people need the cash.   

[Mike DC]

 

What is a "restoration?" 

The term has too many different meanings to say much for sure.  It's almost as open-ended as "what defines a musclecar?"




I think anyone would agree that doing the sheetmetal work and most of the other body/interior restoration work is financially thankless.  It's virtually impossible to recoup bodywork costs in the resale.

[69*F5*SE]

I chose a car that needed a resto on an impulse buy.  I couldn't help myself.  I was GREEN at the time and didn't do my research first.  Now, I know that I would've rather bought a finished car but, I've learned the hard way like a lot of us do.  Worse thing I did was I didn't buy an R/T.      Although, some of the work and experiences in doing the work is a challenge I still feel like maybe it was meant to be this way.   

[Sublime/Sixpack]

Personally I appreciate a car more if I do the work myself. I just don't feel that you can buy that degree of satisfaction!  (Of course if a particuliar restored car that I really liked came up for sale at a price I couldn't pass up, I'd certainly buy it).

[Long Island RT]

I would think most car enthusiast would want to build (or have built under thier supervision) thier own car.  It all comes down to time & $$.  Your lucky if you have both at the same time!

Having a small amount of both - I choose to re-do my car myself. 

[devilgear]

I had $6000 at the time I bought mine so finished was not an option, but I quit enjoy being in the middle of the whole thing too...If I would have bought it done, I would be wasting money in the way that I wanted the car to look like I wantes and not someone elses idea....If I had the money I would buy a car and let Pure Vision Design build it, but my buget is not $1-200,000......

[69bronzeT5]

I like restorating one instead of buying done because it lets you do whatever you want to it to make it your own.

[69charger2002]

i prefer a finished car. too many times i see people go 5-10 years nickel and diming trying to even make their project driveable.. i would rather spend those years driving my dream cars and enjoying a "finished car".. you only live once.. and can't take them with you. so the sooner age you can enjoy them the better. 11 years and counting of DRIVING a charger for me. no regrets. i have 2 projects being done, one is at 3 years already, the other 2 years. if those were my only chargers i'd be pulling my hair out by now. so my vote is finished if at ALL financially possible
trav

[CHRGR SE]

Resto-mod = definitely unrestored
Straight resto = depends on who restored it

[resq302]

Well, my dad and I have been on both sides of the coin with restoring the car ourselves and buying one that was already "restored".

Case 1 : my 69 Charger -  bought it in July of 2000.  body was solid but needed some correcting on details such as tail light panel was painted red, etc.  Paint was in excellent shape.  Interior thrown together and had to have a headliner installed.  Engine ran and lit the tires up in first through third only to find out that when the clutch was pushed in for a lenthy time, the engine stalled.  Turns out someone installed the wrong input shaft that was too long which broke the thrust bearings in the engine and everytime you pushed on the clutch, you were moving the whole crankshaft forward.  Time for engine rebuild.  Then the trans had the synchros go in third gear.  When coasting to a light or let your foot off the gas, the shifter would drop down to neutral.  Time for trans rebuild.  Then the rear axle had to be rebuilt.  The list goes on and on.  Ive learned a lot and prefer to do the stuff myself or send it somewhere who I trust and have seen their work.

Case 2 : our 70 chally vert -  Bought May of 2008.  Car was supposedly restored and an excellent show car.  The car had headers, aftermarket edelbrock alluminum LD340 intake, chrome air cleaner, etc.  The car had lots of things that needed to be addressed for safety concerns.   Lots of nuts and bolts were not even hand tight.  Upper shock nuts and bolts, tranny cross member bolts, ya know, things you need to stay in place in a car when you are driving.  Now granted, we wanted to bring this car back to original so we had a lot of work to bring it back that way time wise but the prev. owner gave us the original factory parts with the car.  The car is a #s match car with broadcast sheet also.  We just got it back together and running again but still have a lot to do to bring it to the level that the charger is.  We will have it out to Carlisle barring any unforseen problems so feel free to stop on by in the E body section and check it out.  As for the charger, that will be on display inside the retro dealership display.

[American Muscle]

I bought my Charger for $6,000. It's a 318 but the condition it came in was very good in my opinion. I don't have to do much with the body and the engine only needed a tune up. My mechanic is very trust worthy only because he loves muscle cars more than I do. He has a 1970 Monte Carlo. Everytime I bring in my Firebird or Charger he'll end up doing extra work on them for free for me just because he enjoys working on them so much.

Anyway, back to my Charger. Even though the car was in pretty good condition and my mechanic told me I didn't need much I still decided to invest an additional $3,000 into the chassis and minor mechanical work as soon as I bought it just so I know for sure, myself what was in there. The car still needs a lot of interior work and some nuts and bolts and odds and ends on the body.

I work with investments so you know I have had a pretty rough year so far but things are starting to pick up again. I'm thinking I'll be able to bring him my Charger about once every month or two and invest a little into it. I love the fact that I have my Charger and I love the fact that it's not perfect. The most important thing for me is the fact that I can drive it right now and get a lot of head turns. The feeling of knowing I drive one of the baddest cars in the streets of  New York isn't too bad either.

When I first bought this Charger I told my self that this isn't an overnight thing. This will be a project that will at the very worst last about 21-22 years as I plan to give this car to my soon to be born first child on his 21st birthday. Hopefully it will be a whole lot less than that. If not, it will be his job to finish it. Rest assured, I will make sure he grows up with great taste in cars and fine american art among other things. 

[suntech]

I  would not by a ready restored car, for 2 reasons:

1. I am not into completly standard, or "out of the factory" restoration, so if i had bought one like that, i would have done changes, to make it my own anyway.

2. I enjoy the "journey" of figuring out how i would like to have it (and i am extremly picky about how i want it), and since i can drive my car this summer, i will do that, and have most of the parts to start tearing it apart in the fall.



Bottom line is: to get it as you want it......do it yourself

Rolf

[1969chargerrtse]

I used to buy Muscle cars for a living back in the 80's and 90's I've had easily 50 and the only one I lost money on was the one I did a 4 year restoration on.  It won trophies and made magazines and I have no real regret, but I thought back then I would have about 12k in it and I ended up with 24k in it and sold it for 17k at the time. The other cars I bought smart and sold smart.  They were cars others were losing money on after all their work and time.  I'm positive if you buy something today and restore it by the time you sell it, you'll lose money.  Just like the one I'm restoring now.  But I don't care, it's personall.   

So if your just looking for a car, now is the time for a great deal, you will always find reasons to do some things better on it.

[41husk]

I have said this many times, My advice would be to purchase a car as close to finished as you can afford.  I doubt I could get my money back from any of my cars, with exception of the 70 Challenger convertible and that because it was purchased a long time ago as a daily driver at a very reasonable price.  Even that one would be close.

[Go Hogs Go]

My advise is to buy a car that is mostly done. So many times people will spend big money on their projects and get so much time and money in them they get discouraged and dump them. I've bought a couple cars like this, finished them the way I like for a couple thousand, and ended up with a NICE CAR in only a couple months. The only cars I've lost money on is the ones I've built personally from the ground up. I've been doing this long enough to tell a good car from pig in lipstick. You just have to take the time to be thorough before you pull the trigger. 

[68charger383]

My advise is to buy a car that is mostly done. So many times people will spend big money on their projects and get so much time and money in them they get discouraged and dump them. I've bought a couple cars like this, finished them the way I like for a couple thousand, and ended up with a NICE CAR in only a couple months. The only cars I've lost money on is the ones I've built personally from the ground up. I've been doing this long enough to tell a good car from pig in lipstick. You just have to take the time to be thorough before you pull the trigger. 

If rebuilding the car in the garage is your church and form of relaxation-so be it.

If you bought an unfinished car now because you didn't want to wait and save up to buy a finished car, big mistake. You can buy a finished car with any color, motor etc. on ebay so that doesn't add up for me.

I've rebuilt cars and now I would rather pop my garage and just drive them. That is my church now. As noted above, even with finished cars, they still need upkeep to keep them driving.

I bought mine about 80% done and next time will just buy it turn key

[mjwebb]

finished, hands down for me anyway...I got lucky, found a local car that was low miles, numbers matching and recently fully restored that I was able to spen alot of time looking at and driving. It was appraised at $40K and I was able to get it for alot less than that and with the economy the way it was I figured stike while the iron is hot

[challenger70]

I like to get a running/driving car I can upgrade/personalize as I drive it.  Then it's only down between projects.

[Nacho-RT74]

If you want to feel your car, restore it yourself

[bull]

i prefer a finished car. too many times i see people go 5-10 years nickel and diming trying to even make their project driveable.. i would rather spend those years driving my dream cars and enjoying a "finished car".. you only live once.. and can't take them with you. so the sooner age you can enjoy them the better. 11 years and counting of DRIVING a charger for me. no regrets. i have 2 projects being done, one is at 3 years already, the other 2 years. if those were my only chargers i'd be pulling my hair out by now. so my vote is finished if at ALL financially possible
trav

Yup. Knowing what I know now I would have much rather spent the past five years driving one than working on one. I will stick it out on this one but never again.

[mopar0166]

best way to know what you have for a car and to know it better then any one else is to just do it your self  plus its a good excuse to buy new tools and parts

[mopar_nut_440_6]

I would prefer to buy one completed after a thorough inspection. There will always be something to repair and this is the most cost effective way of doing it unless you have purchased somebody else's project.

I am currently working on a car which had 45000 invested which I purchased for 15000. By the time it is complete I will have 35000 - 40000 into it. This is with me performing ALL of the work with the exception of having a friend of mine who is an exceptional body man and painter give me a hand with the final prep for paint which will likely only cost 1000 for his labor. So the initial investment before I purchased it was 45000 plus another 20-25000 to complete is 65000 - 70000. This is 20000 more than a restored 68 RT is going for in today's market. Of course my investment will leave me at a bit better than break even point and I know exactly what I have. I am not planning on selling but if I did this would pay me nothing for my 1000 hours of work, cuts, scrapes, bruises, grey hair etc! I enjoy working on these cars but it takes a lot of effort and perseverance to get through them. I would much prefer to be beating the snot out of them.

[RAC95054]

Even for cars I bought that were "done" (and let's face it, unless they are concourse, they are never "done"), I disassembled all of them to a significant degree (except the engine, unless there was a noticable issue) to find out exactly what I had.  In some cases, you find people lied about what they were selling you (and you find out too late).  In other cases, you discover cool factory things they missed, and at the same time realize you got a nice deal.  So whether the car was done or not, I would know what I had, and what is really needed, by digging into them.  It's only when a seller purposely tries to hide body/rust damage in a restoration that it ends up being a headache (just ask jb666... the BKAUTO thread).  Otherwise, as long as all the parts are there, in good shape, and the drivetrain runs well, an unrestored car might be the way to go if you don't mind doing some body work, and know a good paint guy/place.  If you aren't overly mechanically inclined, or just don't have the time, then buy one that's done... but inspect it *very* carefully!  Then drive it like you stole it!