how much $$$ to restore a car

[duster731]

Hey guys I have a 73 duster body in pretty good condition no rust and is on the road complete with a fresh 318 but I was wondering how much does restoring a car to be street pretty cost mainly body and paint plus new parts I can do the rest I would like to do this some day and also convert it to a 4 speed bucket car with a 360 and 8 3/4... thanks for reading

 

[pettybludart]

Your best bet is to take your car around to a few bodyshops to get some appraisals for needed work.This will give you some kinda idea at what your gonna spend.If thats your car in your avatar?,looks like quite a few dents.They should be easy to pop out,but will raise the costs of doing a complete paint job.Good luck.

 

[71dustar]

it took my 2.5 years to finish mine. first year was all body work with the only thing i didn't do was lay actual color. My duster is more a promod old school. I have spent just about every dollar i have ever made into the car especially since i believe im in a great position to have built a car at a young age (completed by 21). My biggest help to building this car was the people i knew that gave me breaks on deals which made the cost cheaper but the final amount of money would have been a nice down payment on a house or brand new car without payments. Don't get me wrong i wouldn't sell my duster for anything. Love it way too much

 

[340plot]

i think it is a almost impossible to answer.
some ahve spent 15,000 or more to restore a a body.
some can do it for a few grand.
depends on how much of the work you can do yourself

i fo example, i took a 72 twister roller that i got through a trade, and i valued my stuff at 1,000.00 and now it is a 340- 4 speed 8.75 suregripped street demon, and i have about 6,000 into it, BUT, I DID ALL THE WORK MYSELF, AND HAVE AT LEAST 300 HOURS INTO IT. FOR 2.5 MONTHS STRAIGHT, I HAVE BUSTED MY HUMP TO GET IT DONE, AND DONE RIGHT
so, the real question is, how deep are your pockets, and how much work can you do?




IT WAS..........................

 

[340plot]

It is..........................

 

[RedFish]

Best plan is dont count the dollars, just do it. Nobody counts what they spend on their hobby whether is fishing, golf, attending NASCAR events, etc,. etc.
My 67 got engine and trans rebuild in 1984, body and paint in 1992, complete interior ( except headliner ) in 2006, new headliner, windshield, and instrument panel in 2010. It's slated for suspension rebuild/brake upgrade this year.
I intend to give this car to my grand daughter when she graduates high school. it will need paint again by then. Gosh, I dont even want to think about the money any longer.
Good luck with yours.

 

[dustermaniac]

best plan is dont count the dollars, just do it. Nobody counts what they spend on their hobby whether is fishing, golf, attending nascar events, etc,. Etc.
My 67 got engine and trans rebuild in 1984, body and paint in 1992, complete interior ( except headliner ) in 2006, new headliner, windshield, and instrument panel in 2010. It's slated for suspension rebuild/brake upgrade this year.
I intend to give this car to my grand daughter when she graduates high school. It will need paint again by then. Gosh, i dont even want to think about the money any longer.
Good luck with yours.

x2

 

[Coyote Jack]

As said, a lot depends on how much you can do yourself. Another factor is how good you want it to be. A trailer queen will cost a fortune. I am north of 20G's with my Demon and that is before I build a blower engine for it next winter.

Jack

 

[justin hughes]

well, i saw a guy give my friend who owned a restoration shop 15k to put new quarter panels and a trunk floor in his oldsmobile then paint it with stripes and replace the vinyl top. that was about 12 years ago when the labor rate he charged was 49.00 per hour. on the other hand, i also saw a guy come in with a buick and say just patch it and paint it for under 2000. it all depends on how far you want to go whether you want a cruiser or a perfect show car. remember though that most body shops will do restoration work in between their crash work (insurance claims that are quick money) so the restoration may take a long time as your car will always be put on the back burner. my opinion would be to do what i did many years ago, sign up for night classes for auto body repair and use your car as a project for your class. it may not get done in class, but you will be able to walk away and feel like you could finish it yourself. just a thought.

 

[RedFish]

Oh I have some input on body shops too. If you see a race car or 2 on their lot, drive on by,during racing season at least. They spend all their spare time on the race ca(s) .
My bro-in-law took the lowest quote on his 66 rag top Impala. He found out the hard way that this guy was renting his shop. He has had the car over 2 years now.There has been very little work done on the car. During this time the shop has changed locations 3 times. In doing so , a few small parts have been lost and a fender that previously didn't need body work, does now.
Like they say, "Money talks". If there isn't any profit in the work it may not get done.

 

[justin hughes]

x2 on the racecar thing, my buddy also spent alot of time on his racecar between 8-5 daily during shop hours, and i mean ALOT.

 

[Rob R]

A 1000 hours for a really nice street car...

 

[rumblefish360]

When I am asked this question at work by the young guns, I say 2 things.

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Like 340 plot above;

If you do alot of work by yourself, it'll be cheap by compare as if you gave someone the work to do. If you have someone do the work for you, basicly figure on the price being about the same as new car, just done your way in a old style. The price of paying someone to do the work varies by the amount of modification and level of excellence you want.

Then I throw out a few figures to droping jaws. I tell'em;

IF you have a decent body to start with, figure on paying someone between 3 & 6 grand for paint. Again, it depends on work needed vs. level of excellence wanted.
If your fine with the drive train, motor/trans/rear, you can save between 10 - 20 grand, again, depends on the level of performance you want the car to have.

It's not unheard of to hear people say I spent 30K on this car. That is also because they did nothing but push a pen writing checks to have the car done.

I finish up telling them;

Expect to pay as much for it as a new car if you do nothing but script your name on checks for it. You can do the work yourself and get a car nicely done as a driver for under 5 grand or pay someone to restore a rust bucket for 30 grand.

I remind them that I do this for fun, cost is a minor consideration in having fun with my hobby. I like to learn to do stuff rather than have it done by someone else. That is what the hobby is about to me. Having fun and learning how to do it myself in a quest to get a nice car out of it.

If I screw up? All well, leason learned. School of hard knocks.
You could allways take a course to learn and pay a few bucks to do so. No harm there. I lean on my freinds and they lean on me in getting things done.

 

['64 Cuda]

I bought my Barracuda in 1974 when I was in high school. My first year out of high school I took a year of Auto Mechanics at a tech school. During that year I rebuilt the engine as well as did a lot of other things to the car. At first I tossed all of my receipts in my roll-away tool box because I wanted to add them up to see how much I was spending. It wasn't too long before I didn't even want to know.

 

[3406pk]

I bought a $2500 Duster and stripped it for body shop. Body man did work as fillin with understanding that it was a driver finish not show car. I helped with some of sanding and tear-apart. We replaced both rear lower quarters and a little rust repair. Removed engine for engine bay paint. Not a rotisserie job. Cost was about $7000 to body shop. So far about $12,000 total without engine & headers.

 

[duster731]

Wow nice stories especially 340plot I have read Ur restore post and seen Ur pics I can do everything except body and paint like you do and btw great job I read that u would prefer to restore them sell and buy another and start over then to just keep them. I Havnt experimented with paint and body yet no experience but I have rebuilt my engine and took auto in high school so I am able to wrench away and have experience on mechanical labor. I guess what I'm asking is how much is body and paint run.. that is the duster in my avatar I would like to strip it down sand it my self then have a shop to do body work and paint it Orange again with black stripes and I can do the rest front suspension tranny engine rear end interior etc. I know a rear would cost an (est) of 1000 a 4speed conversion with bucket and console 3000, rebuilt 360 hipo 2500, and maybe a 1000 for front end with disc brakes I'm just throwing numbers out. Does this sound about right for someone that can do it them selfs

 

[Dustedu2]

I'm north of $20K on my 65 coronet body work alone, all told will be north of $45K complete resto'. About $15K on my rust free Duster with economy paint job. Body was 99% rust free

 

[340plot]

right, and right there you will have 7500.00 into it, and let me tell you, it will be alot more than that as you go replacing things.

i built mine so cheap cause i also, buy/sell/trade/ nd do auto work to feed my frenzy, and even take mopar parts in on trade for my work. so i get alot of stuff, alot cheaper. to where you will have to buy everything you need at what i call "used retail" prices.
and putting 7,500.00 into a car for me, would be to know i can get it back out of.
i was building a 71 scamp. orig a /6 car. but i do not think i would have gotten my money back out of it. yea, this duster was only a 318 car, but it also is a twister, which has a little more value than a plane jane scamp. that is why i dropped the scamp project, and used all the stuff on the twiser instead.

if you are not pressed for time, just go one bit at a time. buy the trans swap, then later on, pick up the engine and parts for build. you get the point.

body work is another that the real question is, how deep are your pockets.lol the sky is the limit, and anymore, it could be beyond that!

out here where i am, i got a base-clear paintjob, with a few rust spots taken care of, all said and done was 900.00
now this was a very clean presentable driver.

 

[Purple Haze]

How much you got?

 

[daredevil]

lot of difference in price to paint between taping things off and completely tearing down for paint. Complete teardown requires all new gaskets and such. Can make a lot of difference on time and cost. Unless its a 340 car you will not get your money out of a full blown restore. If you want a nice driver a tape and shoot is a lot more affordable.

 

[340plot]

^^^^^ well, most things can be taken off, but leaving all the panels on the car.ie: mirrors, bumpers,trim,doorlock and handles,grille..........

and let me tell you, i think a car looks so gaudy when there is tape up marks on everything!. it took me a day to pull the car apart, and almost two to put it back together, but so well worth it!

 

[duster731]

340plot that black one is nice and I guess what I should do is one part at a time like you said.. the duster I have and talking about was my first car from high school and I want to keep it for as long as I can. it runs good now but I would like to see it nicer then what it is lol my pockets arnt deep but I have a full time job so I should start saving and just do one part of the car at a time

 

[340plot]

340plot that black one is nice and I guess what I should do is one part at a time like you said.. the duster I have and talking about was my first car from high school and I want to keep it for as long as I can. it runs good now but I would like to see it nicer then what it is lol my pockets arnt deep but I have a full time job so I should start saving and just do one part of the car at a time

i bought the black one for 5,000 72 340 numbers matching auto car. i put 1,100.00 into it for paint and stripe kit, and sold on ebay for almost 12k less than a week later!

 

[hw612]

best thing you can do is spend ALOT of time researching. start making lists, prices. decide what is essential and what is not. to save money on parts, keep watching the classifieds here on FABO, also ebay and craigslist are your friends. maybe some swap meets?
the local maaco here will do an excellent job (bare clean body) for 5,000 and they will also put it on the frame rack and make sure everything is 100%

 

[green1]

Just body work; 70 Duster, needed right partial 1/4; part 700.
Need $500 mig, $ 300 0f dics, 3m sandpaper, Sherwin Williams primer, attendant more $200 (ospho, etc). Then 80 hours of work, since this is getting a cherry on my poor azz.

Then, buddy's 60 Charger. Sigh.
2 !/4's, $1400, Floor pans, $200, valance, $200, Trunk $200. Then us with 2 migs going, for a month. And the tools; add $700 after the welder.

But, you can save so much $ by doing it yourself. Sure, it costs; but cheaper than body shop.

Rear end rebuilt, $1600, trans $2000, engine $6000, (that is hp stuff).

Paint, if you got the body close, $4000.

and damn, now I need tires, new gas tank, new fuel line, new everything.. $3000.

But, when you finish, you have something that will beat the ford and chebby boys, and look better while kicking butt.