If you can't afford your dream car....Build it!

The title to this post may sound like an oxymoron, but it's not. There are a lot of cars out there that bring over $100K in original or restored condition. No one uses a vintage musclecar as daily transportation, so a vehicle that is the 3rd or 4th car in a household having a pricetag of a house anywhere except New York or California isn't really feasible for 95% of the population. However you can start with a base model and build a car that you could never afford to buy if it was a "for real" original. I'll give several examples of how you can do this for 1/2 or even 1/3 of what the model you want would cost. #.1 1965-68 Shelby Mustang. You can't touch a decent "real" one for under 100 grand. However 15 or 20 grand will buy you a nice 289 fastback in any state in the union. Year One, Tony Branda, Phoenix Graphics and other companies all sell the scoops and spoilers and body trim, and stencils to paint. Wheel Vintiques and other companies sell the proper wheels. Personally I'd use Hooker Headers and an Edelbrock Performer RPM top-end package ( Heads,Cam,Carb and Intake ) on the 289, or if I wanted to get really badass I'd get a Ford SVT 347 crate motor. Or if you want it to be as "correct" ( as correct as a clone can be, I guess ) as possible-Tony Branda sells the original Tri-Y style headers, Shelby aluminum manifold and 715 cfm Holley carbs. Crane, Lunati and other companies sell the original solid-lifter cam if you feel you need it. The point being for 25 to 30 grand you could have a great looking and performing Mustang that people would only know isn't original if they checked the vin number, or you told them!!  That's 1/4 to 1/3 what a "real" Shelby would cost. I don't know about you, but when I'm roaring up a country road or powershifting in a "stoplight gran prix" I'm not thinking about vin numbers!!  "Man this cool, but it would be so much sweeter If I'd paid another 70 grand for this car." I don't think so!!  # 2. 1969-70 Boss 302 Mustang. Same Thing here. 15 or 20 grand will you buy you a decent '69-70 fastback Mustang. ( Ford built over 70,000 in 1969 alone; their out there if you shop the internet or Hemmings, or the want ads diligently ). The above mentioned resto houses have the spoilers, stripes, louvers, etc. Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer "Cleveland" style hi-performance aluminum heads that bolt up to Windsor blocks. Edelbrock has "E-Boss" intake manifolds that will work with these heads to create a "Mock Boss" engine. You could do a 302, or you could do a 347 inch 302 based stroker, or you could do a "Boss" 351, or a 351W based 392 or 427 inch stroker. The point being you can have a totally badass ride for 1/3 of what a for-real Boss 302 would cost. And-be honest-if you had 100K+ to spend on a "real" Boss 302, you'd be so goddamnded afraid of blowing it up or wrecking it, that you couldn't have any fun with it anyway!!  # 3. 1968-71 Hemi Super Bee. 25 grand will buy you a nice 383 powered '68-70 2-door Coronet or '71 Charger. 15 grand will buy a complete Mopar Performance 465 hp 426 Hemi crate engine. 20 will get you a stompin' 500-600 hp 472 or 528 inch MP Crate Hemi.  Phoenix Graphics has the stripes and emblems. By the time your done you'll have 40 or 50 grand invested; not chump change. However that's way less than the 100-200K that "real" Hemi Super Bees of this vintage bring. That's a 50-75% savings. # 4. 1971 GTO "Judge". Pontiac only built 357 Judge models in '71 so they obviously command a King's Ransom. However there are a lot of '71-72 LeMans models out there with the "Endura" ( read GTO ) nose and hood. Year One sells the spoilers and stripes and emblems, as well as Rally II and "Honeycomb" wheels. Even a 350 model would have the look, and with headers and a factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake ( or a stock 400 ) you'd have the performance to back it up too-you wouldn't have to take crap from little boys in Honda Civics or soccer moms in Hemi Cherokees. If you had to go all the way and have a pounder 455HO-Kaufmann, and Butler Performance offer crank kits to turn a 400 into a 455, Edelbrock heads are exact replicas of RAIV / 455HO heads, and Ames and NPD sell repro RAIV / 455HO aluminum intakes. ( Or you could just use an Edelbrock Performer or Torker II ). Crane, Lunati, and Comp Cams all sell repro RAIII / 455HO and RAIV cams. Hooker has the round-port headers. The point being you could have a very unique car for probably less than 30K, which is about 1/2 of what any "real" Judge of any year will cost. You could also do '69-70 models-but they'd cost a bit more as you'd have to buy the "endura" front bumper and grille from Year One or the Goat Farm. ( '69-70 LeMans / Tempest models had a steel front end that's different. )  # 5. 1969 Pontiac Trans-Am. Only 697 were built this first year and they command six figure prices easily. However-15-25K will buy you a nice base-model '69 Firebird. Year One has the hood,spoiler,side scoops and graphics. Year One and Wheel Vintiques have the Rally II wheels. Again-a warmed over 350 model or a stock 400 would have all the performance anyone really needs. But if you want to "Bad to the Bone" you can easily build an RAIII or RAIV-spec 400, or a stompin' 433 or 461 inch stroker. ( Depending on whether you use a 421 / 428 or 455 crank ). Bottom line for 25-35K you've got a car that will turn heads anywhere and would cost you 3 or 4 times that much for a "real" one.  # 6. 1967-69 Z/28 Camaro. Since only 602 were built in '67, 7,199 in '68 and a high of 20,000 in 1969, and they had a lot of special equipment they command a King's Ransom. However-since Chevrolet built roughly 700,000 Camaros in this same 3 year period there's plenty of base models to start with. 15 grand will buy a decent base model of this vintage. Year One has the spoilers and stripes etc. Harwood sells "Cowl Induction" type hoods and scoops. Wheel Vintiques has the Rally wheels. For power I'd go with a 383 stroker. But if you "Gotta Have" a high-winding 302 Chevy like the "real" ones it's easy. GMPP, Eagle, and other companies sell 3.00 inch stroke crank and piston kits to make a 350 block into a 302. Crane and Lunati sell the solid-lifter cam,and GMPP sells the aluminum intake to this day. This one is so easy to do it's almost criminal. ( Well only if you try to sell it as an original. ) I'm sure there's a few I overlooked, but you get the point. There's a few purists who will harumph and turn up their noses at this saying that clones hurt the value of the real deal. Really?  Because Factory Five Racing and other companies have been selling Shelby Cobra replicas since the '80's, and last time I checked a for-real, numbers-matching 427 Cobra still went for $250,000 on up.  So don't cry that you can't afford your dream ride-go build it. Mastermind