I'm new to this forum and hope to take a moment of your time to introduce myself and explain what I'm doing here.

I've joined this forum in hopes of gaining as much knowledge as possible in my search for a 1st gen Camaro. Although I've had and let go of a few muscle cars in my youth (455 HO Trans AM was my favorite), I've always loved the 1st Gen Camaro RS. I'm now in a position to try and aquire one. And, I've even been able to convince my wife that it is a good idea. I should say that I won't be able to buy an already finished product and will need to do it slowly step by step, buying what I can when I can.

I can see already that this forum is a weath of knowledge. I will need it. To be honest, I know just enough to realize that I don't know enough about how to do this correctly and in a manner that makes financial sense.

I've already browsed the FAQ portion and see that I wil need to go back often. I hope that you guys and gals won't mind if I ask question time and again and use you as a resource.

From what I can gather, the best a guy can do is to find a car that is fairly well still put together, with as minimal of rust as possible and as much accessories as possible for a reasonable price. Then use this foundation to work towards the finished product.

Again, I plan to use this site as a resource and am open to any suggestion anybody would offer.

Thanks, in advance.

Terry

 

hey welcome to the site. I see that you are from south dakota and i was just wondering what town. Im going to school in sioux falls and it good to see a fellow south dakota boy on here

 

Hey Terry,
There are some very helpfull and very knowledgeable guys on here. Don't worry about asking questions, everyone will be more than willing to help. I never hesitate to ask questions and always get very good input, especially from "Camaro 69" and "shevrolay".
Welcome and good luck with your search.

 

I live in a small town West River (that is west of the missouri for those of you not from these parts) named Philip. Thanks for the welcome.

 

So with that in mind, I have a very broad and open ended question for the veterans.

From a financial standpoint, is it better to buy a car that is already restored or buy a guy that needs a bunch of work and then pay for the restoration?

I see the advantage of having it restored in that the car will be exactly as you want. However, as someone who has limited skills in rebuilding cars, will the cost of paying someone else to rebuild it make the restoration far too costly.

I'm open to opinions.

 

Sounds like you sold the wife on the "good investment" story, good job!
What is your budget, or are you planning to slowly chisel away at the car? Try and find a car locally if you can. I just saw a couple of real rust-bucket 69's sell for between $6-8k on ebay. Yeah, I gagged too!!! One was a real RS, but still, they were bad.

 

Actually, I showed her a picture of a nice looking 67 RS convert. and commented that I would like one and that she would look fantastic riding in it. Done deal.

I don't have a budget but (I think) I'm being realistic and know that I should plan to put $25 -30K into one. I would prefer to do so over a year or two. However, if is going to cost more than that to rehab one, than I may as well put that much into one already finished (which I have seen many).

Tell me if I'm off base here. I value good advise.

 

If youre not looking for a project, dont buy one lol

if youre shooting for a year, or two, id say get one thats atleast well on its way

 

Oh, don't get me wrong. I have no problem with taking on a project. I am only being honest with myself in that I have neither the skill or time to do all the work myself and will therefore need to hire out most of it.

 

which will take a long time, shops enjoy taking their time on stuff that isnt theirs, id suggest get one maybe half done or that was restored like 10 years ago, then go through and clean up and finish it