Projects What did YOU pay

For me, since I seldom/if ever, leave anything stock anymore, I try to spend as little as possible for an entry cost. That said, you hardly ever get anything decent for free. Split the difference ...

My '61 F85 Cutlass was parked on the side of the road, with a price and vague description written on the windshield in some kind of hard to see red grease crayon. It was an aluminum V8 car with the ultra-Hi compression engine 185hp! It was also a 3-speed car. There was a kid selling it for his Dad, who was an over the road truck driver. I offered $700 and they took it.
I test drove it before buying it, it needed a tune up and carburetor rebuild. The front corner of the car was shoved up a bit by a winter-time accident that tweaked the lightly built unibody chassis. My intention was to reuse the running gear only, as there were also issues of rust in the lower extremities.

Now it's here on the Hamb as a build thread! I've changed direction and am reusing most of the body, just radically reconfigured.
How much am I into it? So far about $2500 in costs, (out of pocket cash). My labor has been waay more and there's a long way to go before it's done.

End result, I will have an incredibly unique streetable 'Show-Rod', when it's done. Will I sell it? Sure, for enough cash all of the stuff I do in the shop is for sale.
However I don't expect it to sell. It'll be too much to MY taste, (or the lack thereof).

I think getting started cheaply is a key issue for a radical project, because you don't use much of what you actually bought without lots of remanufacturing.
For a mainly stock configuration you want to buy the best example you can afford of whatever you are rebuilding. It'll save you money in the long run.

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Yep, inappropriate question time....

 

That's the most PC answer out there yet and one I will use in the future!

 

my first car a 52 chevy bought for 800 put about 500 in it. It was then hit by someone while it was parked on the side of the street so i then sold it for 1500. From the insurance check money i bought a 50 chevy coupe for 3000 rolling chassis barn find. I now have over 6000 in the car. And its still not fast enough.

 

it's a 1979, KZ1000, the "hemi cuda" of its day, although not quite as collectible... i don't think it has 4way flashers. i have not really looked very closely at it though. when i get it home, i'll have some fun with it.

 

which is which?

can't beat the old faithfull's

 

Well I'll try and quote Emily Post when my wife asks how much I paid for the next thing I drag home

 

I paid too much for too little, then replaced most of what I bought, then spent even more, now I maybe up to the break even point.

 

i always like to have a guessitmate in what i have in my cars, because i dont ever keep shit and ill find something cooler down the line. but ill give it a shot.

bought it for 800.00 from a buddy ( got lucky there cus it ran and drove, it was proly worth 2 or 3 grand)

200 on interior

200 on wiring and converting everything to 12 volt.

800.00 or so in body work, fixinf some floor rust, shaving all the trim ect. ect.


thats about as close as i get, i thiunk as soon as you start counting all the little 10 and 20 dollar trips to the parts store youll drive yourself crazy.


having trouble with pics heres the link to it finished

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=486616

 

i don't think the guy was prying or trying to be rude by asking the question. again, seems to me he was trolling for stories or insight.
i don't mind disclosing how much i have in my car in dollars,it's my time/manhours of work i have into it that i am proud of. my 47 is no show car,and never will be,but,the folks around me,that have asked me,and know me, saw this turd when i hauled it home. i am proud to say i have a total of $1600.00 in my car including the purchase price.
another reason i don't mind disclosing if asked is, with alot of humor, because of a yearly show we have around here called the frog follies.
one of the biggest displays of over-zealous,over-built,high-dollar junk on gods little green earth (my opinion). at any given point of the 3 days you can sit in hot (usually 90+ degree temps and 90% humidity) traffic for as much as an hour or more,backed up by trailers,or rarely driven trailer-queens,pulled off,stopped dead,puking coolant everywhere. so i have to laugh sitting there, in drive,idling,for an hour,with the temp resting at 180 degrees and not budging.
so,to some extent,i am quite happy to let anyone know what i have in my car. because i built it,did all my own work,and it is stone safe,reliable,and can drive 1000 miles with no worries. not some $50K+ hunk of plastic shit that doesn't get driven 1000 miles a year...........or can't.

 

^^^ and its cool too.
I have a 61 Galaxie that came with a 223-6. I paid 1200 and it was car money. The 351C that I bought for it a friend and I built in the early 80's and I bought it off him for 5k. It had a 74m ranchero wrapped around it. I dont have to ask the wife either. We save and its allocated. Its not even the last thing on the saving list.
I dont think the originator was prying. I wonder how much stuff is too. Kinda like "zillo.com" its not the "end all-do all" but its an idea.

 

I met a guy years ago before I started building who was restoring a '47 Plymouth. I asked him how much he had in it and he told be that he threw away every receipt as soon as he got it, that way he'd never be tempted to add them all up! When I started building I decided to follow that path. Between the two I have now I've spent plenty, but I only spend it when I have extra and I never go in the hole for hot rod stuff. That way I never feel guilty about having what really is an expensive hobby.

 

I've never kept track of how much I have in any vehicle I've owned, I've always been broke so it probably wasn't that much. I have taught my wife about cars on my current project, a '52 Chevy coupe, so she wants it done badly, maybe even more so than I want it done, so what has been invested still doesn't matter.

 

I usually hate it when I'm at a show and some ass asks what my car is worth, like he is keeping score or something. You know?

There is NO price tag you can put on the satisfaction of building the thing yourself along with the "smiles per gallon" you get.

 

1951 plymouth belvedere purchased for 149 dollars , have about 1000 dollars more in it. dont know if i will ever finish it as i cant drive


Jen

 

Sheesh some of these folks act like your asking for their social security number or something. I swear some people would get offended if you asked them what time it was. I've found usually when someone doesn't want to say what they paid they paid too much.
Anyway back on topic, I got 5 HAMB friendly cars laying around my place.


1950 Ford F-6... paid 200 bucks and sold 75 dollars worth of parts off of it.

1952 Chevrolet 6400 ... $500

1953 Willys Aero ... $450

1957 Chevrolet 210 ... $500

1957 Chevrolet 210 ... $500

 

Paid $1 for the cab...really $250 for the steel for the frame. The motor and trans were free the rear end $20. Msc. steel for patches and floors $150. Box free. everything else has started to cost me. Think i have around $5500 in it now not including my time. But who's counting.

 

Let it go, Homeschool. I appreciate manners, and Internet manners can suck. But, in this case it's irrelevant because you weren't asked directly.

 

I didn't say "home school". Home training is what your parents are supposed to do before you start school. [By the way, that would be Mr. Homeschool to you (actually, Dr. Homeschool), since we have not been properly introduced. ]

Those that say anyone who thinks its rude to ask are embarrased by what they've spent are lying to themselves, in order to delude themselves about what should be their own embarrassment at being uncouth.

Again, manners are traditional. You can't really be into traditional without them.

And, that's all that I'm going to say about the subject.

 

anyone who thinks it's rude to ask, is embarrassed by how much they have spent.

I'm personally all over the map. But I save every receipt. I cold tell you down to the cent how much I have spent on any given car...

1979 Ford f250. My nicest vehicle... Grandpa gave it to me and I promptly spent $5000 on rebuilding the motor....

1972 Blazer. I've owned this one for 10 years....Including wear items I have about 12,000 in it now.....and it looks like a POS. that is 2 engines, 1 trans, re-wire, tires, and the $500 dollar original purchase, etc.....

1967 GTO $6000 bucks running and driving.....still needs everything.....

1931 Model A I'm at about $2000 bucks, I have almost everything I need to complete it. I hope to be done under $6000

 

I bought my '57 for $5500. Sold the extra front clip for $750 & got $5000 when I sold it. Actually made money

 

I count the cars ........ not the money

 

$10 for the '50, $200 for the Nova.

 

This has got to rate way up there on one of the most stupid questions ask on the Hamb.

I believe it ain't nobody's business what you,me or Joe Blow paid for anything HRP

 

Oh common HRP he's probably writing a book.

I no doubt posted on this already but just in case I didn't make it clear I very seldom pay retail.

 

I know this thread has been beaten to near death more than once, but it's fun to see what stuff costs in different places. And why would someone be offended over such a general question?

Anyway, I paid about 800 USD for this rust bucket, but it had a title, which is essential for registration over here. I paid 250 USD for the front clip, 250 USD for the rear axle, 250 USD for a Peugoet 4 cyl Hemi engine, steering column and seats.

So I'm a little more than 1500 USD into this car so far, and I hope to get it finished for less than 8000 USD. I'm in school and have little time, money and storage, so I need to buy parts over time. This is more expensive, but everything costs here and I'm fairly happy with what I paid for everything.

 

I've spent more on credit card interest than the car.

 

i ain't dead yet .....never enuf......dunno?

 

i like to build cars on a budget ...lots of times i will pull someting out of a scrap barrel and spend two days fixing it ...was it really free? 16 hrs labor ...whats that worth?...if i end up telling somone i only have 8grand in a car...that is all they hear ...when i go to sell it and want 30k they say ya but you only got 8 grand in it your trying to rip me off...i'll give you 10k you still make a profit.. really... what about 2yrs of labor?... i think thats why people are not answering your question ..

i remember when i was in junior high... dave frieburger was in charge of car craft... and he did really cool budget builds those were awsome one i remember was going 12s for 3grand when you are a young punk seeing that list and seeing its possible even on a teenagers budget was really inspiring...rarely will you see a hotrod/streetrod article throw the budget out there like that...it would probably scare people away

 

$400.00 for the car. $500. To have it transported to me. Sold the engine & trans for $400.00 so i got it for $100.00