Hot Rods How much to build your ride over again

Have you ever given thought to what the costs would be to start your build over again after many years? Built and finally finished my 34 after over 40 years of ownership. Yes I guess I work slow LOL. Kidding aside, finished the car about 10 years ago and I figure I had about $45k invested at that time. Verified that with receipts and knowing what prices are today I would think the build today might be double that. Now, who in their right mind would invest that kind of coin in a Hot Rod! I must be really be out touch with reality!

 

Good ? I am just putting mine back together.

 

I have been doing a project per year for the last 4 years. The last one was started on June 1st of last year. I was driving it by the end of December. In March, I was looking at a glass 34 5 window coupe. The same parts that I bought a year ago went up anywhere from 8% to 25%. Last years' project was the 1st that had sales tax on the internet so there was 8.5% added to the total. Freight was double from 2 years before. The cost of engines was considerably higher. However, a Tremec 5 speed was $2600. I purchased the new TKX last June and it was $2800. For a new product, I didn't feel like that price was excessive. American Racing wheels were very close in price to the one's purchased 2 years ago. Most parts had a 10% increase as compared to a year ago. Now, the real getter in this thread is the cost of old tin. It hasn't been a real long time ago that we were buying 50's pickups for less than a grand. I see people paying almost 10 grand for the same thing. 10 years ago, 32 Fords were out of this world. We saw 32 Ford coupes going for 100 grand in complete un-restored condition. I personally haven't seen anything that high in the last few years. The demand must be high or the prices wouldn't be there. My though is that part of the hobby is very healthy.

 

I have no idea what mine cost to start with.

 

You can have a ballpark of what you have in it but NEVER do a total cost on your project, that your wife can see . NEVER!
Guys that do end up buying for sale signs.

 

I’ve never counted my costs.
Mostly because every year the total goes up not because of inflation but I add or change something.

 

The Zipper was $10K as a roller 22 years ago. That will just about buy a frame today. Hot rods are cheap compared to antique boats or horses!

 

Remember my wife asking how much to finish the 34 . Told her I hadn't any idea but she encouraged to go for it! Love that woman and have for over 50 years!

 

My agent just contacted me and wanted to triple the value of my roadster on account of inflation. That was his exact question " How much to build your car over again?" Needless to say my premium will more than triple! I'm still trying to decide what to do.

 

Too fucking much...

 

The first 90% of the project car build takes 90% of the budget.

The last 10% of the the project car build takes the other 90%.

 

When I was building Brenda's Ranch Wagon I kept ever receipt in a folder in a file cabinet, after I had stuffed 3 folders I start throwing the receipts in another drawer.

About 5 years ago I started pulling out receipts and the numbers really started growing and we started with a free car.

I decided I really didn't want to know how much I had spent on the car, besides it's not going anywhere and is not for sale, the car has a long history with the family since it was purchased new off the showroom floor here in Anderson,S.C at Blue Ridge Motors by Brenda's grandmother.

I'm just spit balling here but if I had to rebuild the wagon, it would probably be over 50 grand. HRP

 

I build beaters.
A lot of my costs fluctuate with scrap prices.
materials, welding supplies…… have increased.
Paint? Ouch. One reason I haven’t painted one for myself.
I swap and trade a lot for parts. That’s hard to figure.

 

I don't know about mine either. I started out keeping receipts, but got slack and quit. I do know it's gonna take over a grand for the AC, about $500 for new glass, and who knows for paint, which I will be doing myself. After all that, I'll need to up my insurance too.

 

-as stated, should never total up receipts - except for insurance purposes I guess - remember, only worth what someone is willing to pay for it - sounds like you just need to go out and drive it - why some get finished and stay in the garage most of the time, too much invested then just end up For Sale at the estate sale - good looking ride - post some more pictures

 

I have put 4 different motors, 3 transmission, and 2 rearends, since 2017. All of these were upgrades. It has been a on going process, and not counting labor, I would guess north of 20k, ANd some would say it still needs paint.

Tony

 

I’ve spent about $20 a week over the years on this…….



probably be about $60 a week if I started again, - but I’m not sure that I want to spend another 40 years rebuilding it…..

.

 

My rule of thumb on buying an existing car is take the purchase price and double it to get it where I want it. I never enter labor into it. Often times it’s less expensive to find a finished car that is what I want but that takes all the fun out of it.

 

Bought my '39 in April 2019 for $1500. A rusted out mess, but full of extra parts. Sold all the excess parts for what I paid for the car, so back to zero to start the build. Finished it last summer, and did all the work, including paint, lettering, engine/trans, suspension, and sewing the upholstery myself. So my costs were minimal, and my receipts total less than $6,000 including the original purchase price.
It's not a show car, but it is exactly what I wanted, and I'm happy with the end result.

 

That’s awesome - good job.

 

About $350K. with today's inflation. I kept all the receipts.

 

I kept every receipt when i built this car. Out of pocket i was in the original build just over 10000$. It had steel wheels and a milder motor in it, but that included the blower and all of the goodies. Today i couldnt but the body for that much. I would guess I would be in it about 30,000$ in parts alone.

 

I like the idea behind the question, that it is for Insurance reasons (inflation) what will a total loss result in todays numbers.
You don't have 40 year more to rebuild it, s cut that out.
At that point have your car appraised again. But your insurance will just about double if the value doubles??
Sometime for insurance and total losses, some owners might just want to get a fixed amount regardless of the overall value. Insurance will make sure it less.
Or do a search for as close of car as you can that is for sale or pro- big auctions end results. It might be a indicator of what the value is.

 

I just upped the insurance value of mine by 80% with AAA Classic Car. Just took photos with the agent it was $60 more a year and well worth it. I doubt I could replace it if it was totaled. I could never get what I have in it and don’t really care at this time in my life as it’s exactly the way I want it now. Drove it yesterday to lunch with car buddies. I sure wouldn’t do it again.

 

I purchased my car as a project for 15K, it came with a 392 hemi long block and some other new parts. As many of us know someone else's project is a nightmare because you don't realize how many items are missing until you start putting it back together. The paint was great, sheet metal done, had to paint engine compartment and new inner fenders I bought, needed a trans, but what got me was all the fasteners I had to buy that was missing! I spent a lot of time locating them and going to buy them. Spent about 5K on parts needed to finish so 20K total for my 40. This is what it looked like when I brought it home.

 

In absolute truth, it comes down to how many hours you had to work back then to pay for the build then as apposed to how many hours at to day's rate at the same job you would have to work now. My guess is that the hours you work at the same job you had then to earn the coin to pay for the parts is pretty much the same now.
Remembering that young people are always saying that "you old guys had such cheap gas back then".
Back then I was making 1.25 an hour and gas was 35.9 a gallon. Today the kid carrying groceries at the same store is making 15 bucks an hour an the gas pump out front reads 4.159 a gallon. he works the same amount of time to put a gallon of gas in that I did 57 years ago.

I had about 600 hard earned dollars if that in my 48 when I drove it to Tulsa from McGregor Tx in 1973 for the street rod Nationals. That's about 3885 in today's dollars and That probably wouldn't the same gold paint job sprayed today. I've got more money tied up in aluminum stuff for the 292 than I had in the whole truck in 1973.
I'd hate to just buy the parts list of what I had on it in 1973 even though almost everything was scrounged at wrecking yards, though adds in the paper, bought from friends and coworkers.
Truck= 1948 Chevy with a decent running Chevy II 194 but a real beater 75.00
Seat done in 2 inch roll and pleat by Bob Russel of Waco in his home garage 35.oo
Rear axle 61 Chev car bought from a coworker for........................................... 10.00
Wheels, 4 15 inch 69 Z28 Rally wheels with all rings and three caps-----------25,00
Tires were used take offs at the tire store I had previously worked at.............40.00
Open drive 3 speed trans with floor shift out of a Chevy car ...........................30.00
Rear fenders, running boards, chrome seat frame and some other stuff from
a guy who had scrapped a V8 powered AD truck after the kid he sold it to
broke the frame by loading cement blocks in the back of the bed then
trying to do a Wheelie the first week he had it an his dad threw a fit to get his
money back. This guy really took care of me after I showed up in my 48. 75.00
Primer, sandpaper, body filler, and the 72 Monte Carlo gold paint 200 and maybe a tad more. I went though a lot of primer and sand paper.
That comes to about 490 plus the hundred bucks or so worth of small stuff.
That was on the budget of a guy working for 3.50 an hour.

 

At todays current prices, my next build would be 4cents per pound cheaper to purchase.

 

The difference in cost depends a lot on how much of the work you do yourself. If you have to hire all or most of the work done, then the cost to do it again will be much higher than before. Parts have gone up, but the biggest cost is labor in building a rod or custom. If you do it yourself the cost has not gone up that much, compared to the person that hires all the work. Except for Paint, that has gone to crazy levels of cost. The paint companies blame the EPA, but I think it is more greed from the paint companies.

 

I suspect most of us forget quite a few incidental expenses we occur when building. This week I bought a tank of welding gas, about 150 in exhaust system parts, 60 in throttle cable and brackets and another 5 in bolts. The basic truck I bought for 750, the motor was a 40 craigslist 350, but the heads, the flywheel, clutch, rings and bearings,
gasket etc sure adds up fast. The rear end was 200, the trans I bought in 1972 for 100 (m20), but the driveshaft had to be custom made. I bought a recovered seat off facebook for 100, and then there is the gauges, the rear brakes, the front brakes, the heat/a/c system, paint, lights, wire kit, patch panels, swap meet front fenders, latch kit, dropped axle and a 100 or so other items I am sure I forgot, like wheels and tires. Probably into it about 10k at this point, but a new basic pickup runs about 30k today so I feel it is a bargain. Of course that does not include the 25k I spent building
a garage to do this in.

 

I’m not keeping track