I just registered to this board to ask for some insight into my situation. This site seems like the best place for that!

I havetheopportunity to purchase a 67 RS/SS.It is a numbers matching, all originalcar with original paint. No kidding. As I just read what I wrote, I can't even believe it, but it's true. Some veryminor body work has been done so as it is now, probably 70% of the car is original paint with NO RUST and the rest has been touched up. I am not extremely knowledgeable about the 1st gen Camaros but Iknow some. But more of a concern about getting into this is I'm not a mechanic in the least. I am mechanically inclined I suppose as I'm a facilities technician butthat is not as helpful as I wouldlike it to be!

Specifically, the car is a 325hp 396, auto, 12 bolt posi, RS/SS and came red with white stripeand white interior.The car as it sits has the motor in it with the tranny and the rear end. Everything else is completely out of the car. It does however include everything that is original to the car, all the wiring, all the seats, glass, etc. The motorwas actuallyrebuilt many years agobut has not been ran, obviously. It's been painted orange and all.

I'm not really in a financial situation to purchase it, and my time is tight with young kids but I understand this is an investment, a much better one that say...oh, my 401K! Haha.

Would you be able to give me a ballpark idea on the cost involved with this project if I gave you an idea on what I will have done and what I will do myself? I don’t know what I should even do myself being that I’m not experienced, like wiring, interior, etc. Perhaps you could help me there. I would estimate the body work as being very minimal to prepare it for paint.

Thanks for any help you can provide me.

 

What type of proof of this is there? There are more 67 RS/SS Camaro’s today then there was in 1969. These cars were being cloned in the late 70’s. The only real proof isknowing the complete history of the car. Meaning it was owned by a friend or relative. You said yourself you are not a expert. We have all seen experts fooled. Is it a great deal to the point the guy does not know what he has? The price on project cars has been dropping like a rock. Make sure you do market research on the current price.
Again you are not an expert, there are certain area that rust on these cars. The touch up you describe could be hiding real issues unless you know exactly what was fixed and how it was fixed you do not know this for sure. Floor board and frame rails are common problems even with car that look fine up top. Talk to anyone who dips or media blasts cars for a living. 80% of the cars they get in they are told the car is rust and damaged free. You find that very few end up with no major repair. In fact as many as 10% go to the scrap yard. There was great series over at V8TVshow on a 69 rag top. They searched ebay for the best 69. They thought they had a solid one. It was almost not repairable 2 guys worked 6 weeks just to get all the metal fix. These where full time pros that inspected the car.
Next you want to look at what you want to do with the car. To get the big money for a 67 RS/SS 396. The restore is going to have to be mint. Everything correct this is tuff to do, you will spend 100s of hours on research. The big money wants a prefect car and with professional shops out there the bar has really been raised. Use the wrong headed bolt on the fenders and it will be labeled an amateur restore.
To amateurs these project cars rarely make money. There will be so many tools you will need so many supplies. For someone not already in the hobby it’s a huge undertaking.
If you cannot hear the engine run assume it will need a major repaired. A friend of mine bought a 70 El Camino that just need paint and the seat redone it had a new motor. When he got it back to his garage we got it fired up he made it around the block before it started knocking. We pulled the motor apart it was all new we found out whoever assembled the motor forgot the clean out the crank. It wiped out the Crank and the CAM. That is a pretty common mistake. If the motor has been sitting it should be pulled apart completely.
Get the body Perfect $????
Paint job after the car is perfect $3-4K
Interior $2-3K depending on what you have.
Tranny 1-1.5K
Rear $500
Motor tear down inspect, reassemble $1000 assuming it need nothing
The rest of it gets kind a fussy. Simple stuff like getting the headlight all working can cost anywhere from $200-$1000. You can drop another 500 on the steering colum. Another 500 on the brakes. Gas tank fuel lines, park brake. Somethings are pretty easy like the front suspension but if you pay to have someone else do the entire suspension you could have another $800-1000 in that. You would need to replace the complete wire harness so everything needs to come out of the dash. Just the weather striping can cost $2500

This is a great hobby but to jump right in on a big investment as your first car? If it’s a real good deal buy it and one of two things will happen,you will get sick of it and be happy the day someone tows it out of your garage or you will become a car guy and this will just be your first restore.
Good luck

 

You'll notice Gorn mentioned about 12000 in restoration I'll feel that's pertty accurate give or take condition. But, keep in mind a true numbers Matching rs/ss and the 396 is a high dollar car. Fully restored probably 40,000 minumum. consider what you'll have to pay for the car plus restoring. You may love it and keep it or sell it and make a dollar or two.

 

The 67 has a cowl tag that list the options it came with. Its the last year for the detailed cowl tag. You can start your research. There is tons of info in the bellow links


http://www.camaros.org/index.shtml
http://www.holisticpage.com/camaro/index_fs.htm

 

Gorn did a great job of covering cost and areas to be concerned about. If you're planning to do much of the work yourself, work space is another concern. My car sharesa 2 cargarageand I can tell you that depending on what you're working on, things can get just too cramped. Anotherthing to determine is how long and where the car has set idle as that could determine how much you might be investing in time and labor. Since you won't be able to take the car out to some pro's to assess the condition orunless you knowsomeone,you might consider paying proto go look the car over.
Depending on what you're wanting to build there is a lot to consider but when it's ready to be seen by others, there's a lot of gratification in the attention even a nice driver will bring you.

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: 67rsss


I'm not really in a financial situation to purchase it, and my time is tight with young kids but I understand this is an investment, a much better one that say...oh, my 401K! Haha.

This could cause some problems with the wife, I can say from experience. Its tough to try convince someone of theinvestment opportunities with the collectors market. Whether its Disney memorabillia, or classic cars there is a risk.As with any part of the investment world, buy low and sell high. You could probably get this Camaro at a good price, compared to just a year ago. Alot of classic car investors missed the profit boat. Wait and see where the prices land with the upcoming Barret-Jackson auction this January. We could see prices come back down to a reasonable price for those of us who just like the hobby of owning and working on an old car. Most if not all of us here in this forum are not investors. Just tight budgeted, hard working classic car inthusiasts.

 

I did not have any idea what I was really getting myself into when I got the brilliant idea to buy an old camaro and restore it. From the beginning it looked like it has n rust and the body work would not take me very long to repair or that my husband and I could do alot of the work ourselves. But after tearing it apart the big rust discovery began. Especially after we had the car blasted. Then the real reality check came. I had someone professional do all of the body restoration work which cost me $9000. I have yet to tally up who much all the body panels, interior stuff, and a long list of nuts, bolts, and parts cost me. I started with a loan of $25k. When that was gone I put another $10k out of pocket in it. I have about another $1500 to go to finish and I'm not even changing out the brakes or using top of the line parts.

This car will in no way be a show car but a really really nice DD.

 

Gorn did a great job quoting your project and I really like the question marks he placed on getting the body perfect.Expecting to replace the floor pans and passenger side quarter on our 1968, we ended up replacing practically every boby panel and endless hours preping for paint - Our poject ended closer to what orocker posted. I'm sure we have $10k to $15K in the body. Don't be supprised to spend $20K ~ $30K on your project; depending on what you uncover when you start digging and what you can salvage.
And just as Gorn posted - I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to throw the towel in on this project.
No Pain - No Gain!
Good Luck!

 

You are raising very meaningful and not often thoughtabout question. My67 is my second project and I spend 10K to buy the unrestored car and spent 30K to make it a nice daily driver. I will never get out what I put in but that was not the plan. I love the hobby and all of its ups and downs. I have good days and really bad days with the car but that's all part of the package. I was advised not to get into it because I had no restoration experience and not the tools or the real place to do the job properly. I do what I can and farm out the rest where most of the money is spent. I have worked with some really good knowledgeable folks and real dangerously ignorant folks. It is all part of the package. I have learned a lot and love the hobby. Set low expectations and you will surprise yourself pleasantly most of the time. If you really love cars then the downs will not last and you will keep going. If you just found out love cars then start with some 1-18 scale diecast until you find out if you really like cars. You really have to like them to survive the hobby.