May as well buy a restored Mopar.....

-

'68cuda416

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
2,284
Reaction score
3,111
Location
kansas city
for what a lot of guys want for complete train wrecks of projects......the cost to have everything restored and even worse to acquire what pieces are missing makes most of these over priced projects not even worth looking at. Sad thing is the people selling them won't think rationally about what they have, it's current condition, what it needs, the cost to restore etc. versus just writing the check and having fun. Lets not forget too the supply chain woes as of the current era which either are making getting parts almost impossible and or an incredible long wait time plus the cost of such parts and or services have been inflated. If a project was a running and driving patina or reasonable looking car then that would be one thing too as you might be perfectly fine with, I sure would in some cases, a patina look if the rest was there and functioning but these start from scratch projects and they want a third of what you can buy a nicely restored one for is ludicrous.
 
It has always been that way, where have you been? I bought my 69 GTS in 1978 for $740 original paint running and driving fine, those days have been gone for 20 years now...
 
Honestly unless you can do the majority of the work yourself and outsource as little as possible then you pretty much are better off buying one thats done
 
you are absolutely correct. I waited 8 months for interior door panels last year. What a joke! People are nuts. To put it in perspective, I purchased a 51 GMC pick up in 2017 for $250 (fair price) but it cost me around $50k in parts to finish it as a restomod and I did ALL the work except mount the tires!
 
The only reason i do them is im a body man by trade. And i have friends in the paint industry. Needless to so i get the paint free. I did a rotisserie restoration on my 71 twister and its all numbers matching. Including purchase price im in it for 9k. God knows what it would of been otherwise
 
The only reason i do them is im a body man by trade. And i have friends in the paint industry. Needless to so i get the paint free. I did a rotisserie restoration on my 71 twister and its all numbers matching. Including purchase price im in it for 9k. God knows what it would of been otherwise
I would like to know how your restoration on your Duster broke down of 9k including the cost of the car........you must have some kind of magical powers
 
Bought the the car from the 2nd owner. 2100 bucks. He had already bought all new suspension for it but didn't know how to do it. This included brakes. He gave me everything. I bought 2 full quarters and and a rear tail light panel from clasic. I did all sandblasting and body work and paint myself. The paint was all free from top to bottom from my connections. Engine i had a buddy rebuild had about 3k in it. Interior again was redone by a local guy i know for 700. I had to order a twister stripe kit. All glass work done by my friend who is a glass installer. I have all my receipts from everything in a folder. The car was a complete car. I converted it to power steering by buying a complete column from uncle tony. The pump and brackets came from a buddy with a salvage yard. Oh and the guy i bought it from was going through a divorce. Before and after pics

Screenshot_20170524-190624.png


20200606_131331.jpg
 
Used to be, if you could do a lot of the work yourself, you could come out good. Now that gap is closing fast.
 
It's gotten worse

Not really

similar percentage.
everything gone up. so difference gets greater.

Also the level and expectations of a restoration has gone up.

And the cars leftover now to start a resto are not as good as 20-30 years ago naturally. People pick the best apples first.
 
Bought the the car from the 2nd owner. 2100 bucks. He had already bought all new suspension for it but didn't know how to do it. This included brakes. He gave me everything. I bought 2 full quarters and and a rear tail light panel from clasic. I did all sandblasting and body work and paint myself. The paint was all free from top to bottom from my connections. Engine i had a buddy rebuild had about 3k in it. Interior again was redone by a local guy i know for 700. I had to order a twister stripe kit. All glass work done by my friend who is a glass installer. I have all my receipts from everything in a folder. The car was a complete car. I converted it to power steering by buying a complete column from uncle tony. The pump and brackets came from a buddy with a salvage yard. Oh and the guy i bought it from was going through a divorce. Before and after pics

View attachment 1715931742

View attachment 1715931743
You got deals fro. Guys you know, each with their own talents. Your "cash" cost may be around 9K, but if you put a value on your time, doing the body and paint, I bet you are well over that; and really - you should do that and put that value on your car, it speaks to the work you did. Looks great by the way.
 
Thank you. Tbh i dont want to know the hours i have in it lol. But if i ballparked it id say just double the 9k to 18k
 
Yea, I noticed that the price on some parts have almost doubled
 
Really nice 73 Challenger in the for sale section right now.
 
I think your probably onto something
If you put a price on and refurbish all these systems it all add up. It’s easy to drop 20-30k at a minimum doing the work yourself. In my case I started with a rolling shell pos.

Complete car hardware
Body
paint
Glass
Exterior trim
Complete Electrical
Engine
Transmission
Driveshaft
Rearend
Cooling
Exhaust
Suspension
Brakes
Wheels
Tires
Interior
Bright work

And the big one. Change your mind a couple times and a pandemic
 
Yes,if you got money you can buy a piece of metal that was built by someone else,if you have fun doing that go get a 800 hp hellcat. But to me half of the fun tends to be like a scavenger hunt,trying to find the one piece that you need. There's also the satisfaction after spending years putting it together knowing every screw and bolt was turned by you. It's called pride to me, I paid $1400 for a 74 duster 4 years ago, put new floor pans,new truck pan,turn downs, taillight panel,new gas tank,new brakes all the way around,rebuilt tranny,rebuilt a 67 model 318, new crank,,bored ,cammed,new high rise,new 600 cfm carb new radiator,new carpet,headliner,covered door panels,upholstered seats,new windshield and door glasses,new paint job. Granted some parts was used and it's not a show car but it was a learning experience and the car turns heads. I have about $12,000 dollars invested,not another car in the condition of this car that I can purchase would give me the same satisfaction. So as I said ,lot of the fun is in the hunt, a perfect example is the passenger side mirror, I drove 3 hours to buy it,but purchased 2 other cars from the junkyard and pulled them home, sold both for enough to cover alot of the cost of building my Duster....just saying,whatever floats YOUR BOAT may not float mine.
 
Yes,if you got money you can buy a piece of metal that was built by someone else,if you have fun doing that go get a 800 hp hellcat. But to me half of the fun tends to be like a scavenger hunt,trying to find the one piece that you need. There's also the satisfaction after spending years putting it together knowing every screw and bolt was turned by you. It's called pride to me, I paid $1400 for a 74 duster 4 years ago, put new floor pans,new truck pan,turn downs, taillight panel,new gas tank,new brakes all the way around,rebuilt tranny,rebuilt a 67 model 318, new crank,,bored ,cammed,new high rise,new 600 cfm carb new radiator,new carpet,headliner,covered door panels,upholstered seats,new windshield and door glasses,new paint job. Granted some parts was used and it's not a show car but it was a learning experience and the car turns heads. I have about $12,000 dollars invested,not another car in the condition of this car that I can purchase would give me the same satisfaction. So as I said ,lot of the fun is in the hunt, a perfect example is the passenger side mirror, I drove 3 hours to buy it,but purchased 2 other cars from the junkyard and pulled them home, sold both for enough to cover alot of the cost of building my Duster....just saying,whatever floats YOUR BOAT may not float mine.
I agree with all this for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which, I really enjoy making something roadworthy again. It's just a lot of fun and way more rewarding than "just" buying something.
 
The way i look at it we are saving history 1 piece at a time. Its because of our upbringing. My dad had a duster in high-school. It got me addicted. If it wasnt for him, places like this site and all of the guys older than me with invaluable knowledge im sure i would of never completed it. At the end of the day do what you prefer. For me i had the skills and i was able to restore this car with my dad and my son. Now when i die my son will get 2 dusters and the memories will live on
 
I think your probably onto something
If you put a price on and refurbish all these systems it all add up. It’s easy to drop 20-30k at a minimum doing the work yourself. In my case I started with a rolling shell pos.

Complete car hardware
Body
paint
Glass
Exterior trim
Complete Electrical
Engine
Transmission
Driveshaft
Rearend
Cooling
Exhaust
Suspension
Brakes
Wheels
Tires
Interior
Bright work

And the big one. Change your mind a couple times and a pandemic
Yup......you know.......and so does everyone else that starts off where you and I have and does all those same things.......ADDS UP FAST AND GETS WAY OUT OF CONTROL.
 
I agree with all this for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which, I really enjoy making something roadworthy again. It's just a lot of fun and way more rewarding than "just" buying something.
The one thing I would like to say about buying something in it's defense is that I consider my work to be pretty good but I have limitations in a lot of areas so for me there are cars that I am interested in that i'm actually impressed by the work and the build and know that it was done probably better than I could have built it myself but also when you look at those type cars I will steal some ideas for future use on my own stuff.
 
The one thing I would like to say about buying something in it's defense is that I consider my work to be pretty good but I have limitations in a lot of areas so for me there are cars that I am interested in that i'm actually impressed by the work and the build and know that it was done probably better than I could have built it myself but also when you look at those type cars I will steal some ideas for future use on my own stuff.
There's nothing wrong with buying, I was merely saying what my preference is. Mostly because I'll never be able to afford buying something already done.....unless a sack of money falls outta the sky. And even then, I'm not sure.
 
-
Back
Top