Originally Posted by Gorn

That would make sense if it was his Dads car or if he somehow had an emotional connection to the car. Why on earth you would buy a car that is basically scrape and it is going to cost you 25K+ to fix plus 100’s if not 1000’s of hours when you can buy a completed, fresh car for 18K? Looks at this way, lets say they want $2500, I think that is a fair price. Now if he just looked for a numbers matching SS that is in that condition, sure it will cost 6-7K for the shell but it going to still cost the same money and time to restore but when you are done you have a car worth 35-40K.

2.5K for shell plus 25K restoration = 18k car
Or
7K for SS shell plus 25K restoration = 35K car

Which makes more sense?

I have helped dozens of people with restoration and one statement I have never heard after the cars where done was, “I wish I would have not started with such a solid car” In fact I would say the most common thing you will hear from someone that that has done this is “I wish I would have looked for a more solid car to start with”

All that assumes the OP knows what he is getting into. If someone just wants in a 1st gen I have seen a lot of “not” finished projects that have new engines and all the metal work done for under 10K. Just putting a metal finished car back together can take an average person a year plus and take 5-10K depend on how nice you want it and you still have not painted it.

Originally Posted by camaroteen82

if I'm going to put 25k into a car its going to done how I want it not how it came. I really couldn't careless if its a real ss or a plain jane that came with a straight six. when I'm done I won't care what others think its worth because it won't be for sale for a long time. like I said if your just gonna restore a car for profit then your missing the whole point of getting a classic car.

Originally Posted by Gorn

I was working on these cars long before they were worth a 10th of what they are now but what I am talking about is common sense. Why on earth would anyone buy a car that is going to cost them 27K to get on the road decent when 3 craigs list post down there is another one that could be just as nice for half the cost?

If we where talking about 27K worth of custom mods that would be something but we are talking 27k to get the car a safe driver. This car is going to need repairs that are not normally needed, parts that are going to be tuff to find. Heck it might be cheaper to buy a donor car for the parts he is going to need and it might be cheaper to just fix the donor car.

With 30 years working on cars I can say do not skimp on the car you are starting with. Buy the most solid car you can find, that way you can spend you budget on a hot motor, trans and a mirror like paint job, unless you have an unlimited budget. But then if the budget was unlimited why care what the car is worth? why ask any question about money?

Originally Posted by camaroteen82

Besides there is no common sense with muscle cars. you either build em' the right way or you take the easy way and get someone else's car.