More advice for 1st time restorers.......

Had some requests for more advice for first-timers, but it's relevant even if your doing your 50th car. #1. Don't waste money on something weird. Some cars are not unique or collectible, their just weird, and not worth anything. This includes two-speed automatics, three-speed sticks, column-shifted bucket seat cars, four-speed bench seat cars, two-barrel step-down engines, cars with no power steering or power brakes, and radio or heater-delete cars. There's probably a few things I missed, but you get the Idea. I previously spoke about my friend who owned the import car parts store that said "A rare turd is still just a turd." Wiser words were never spoken. I mean do you really, really want a '65 Corvette with a Powerglide? Or a '68 Olds 442 or Pontiac GTO "Turnpike Special" with a 265 hp two-barrel 400 V8, an automatic and 2.56:1 gears that can't outrun a V6 Honda Accord sedan in a drag race? I mean its rare, right? I saw an article in High-Performance Pontiac magazine. A guy had a 1972 Trans-Am with a 455HO / TH400 powertrain. It had no console and the automatic shifter was on the column. He boasted that it was the only Trans-Am in existence that didn't have the automatic shifter on the console. ( Apparently the console was an option in the early years.) Ok. Does that make it worth more than a numbers-matching SD455 '73 model with a console? After all their are 252 1973 SD 455s documented, yet this '72 is one of one.  See what I'm saying? Just being rare and / or weird doesn't make it cool or valuable.  # 2. A car with a premium option is only worth extra if it still has the premium option. Good examples would be a 440 Six Pack Road Runner that had a non-original 440 with a 4 bbl on it. Even if you didn't feel like chasing down a 1969 vintage block, a complete Six-Pack setup from Mopar Perfromance costs about $2,500!!. A similar thing would be a 1965 Pontiac GTO that the serial number says is a tri-power 389, but it's got an Edelbrock P4B manifold of indeterminate age and a Carter AFB on it. You check the block and heads and find out it's got a 400 out of a '74 Gran Prix. A complete Pontiac tri-power setup easily brings $1,500 at a swap meet. And try to find a 389 Pontiac engine with 1964 or 65 date codes. Another would be a '73-76 Olds 442 or Chevelle Laguna that DOESN'T  have the swivel bucket seats, or a 1969-70 Mustang Mach 1 that doesn't have the "Shaker" hood, even though the Marti report says it should. These aren't insurmountable issues, but I certainly wouldn't pay top dollar for a say-a Six-Pack Super Bee that didn't have three Holley two-barrels on top of the engine! # 3. Lower your sights a little. Sometimes a less-than-top-of-the-line model can be a better deal. I know a guy that passed up a nice 400, 4-speed, T-Top equipped 1978 Firebird Formula for $3700, and paid $6995 for a 403 Olds, automatic hardtop '79 Trans Am. When I pointed out that I though the Formula was a better deal both from a performance standpoint and investment value-he sneered-"A T/A is ALWAYS worth more than a Formula." "Really?" I replied. "A '74 T/A with an L78 400 and an automatic is woth more than a '74 SD-455, 4-speed Formula?"  A non-Turbo 301 Automatic 1980 T/A is worth more than a 400, 4-speed, 4-wheel disc braked, WS6 suspensioned '79 Formula?" "I wasn't aware of that."  He muttered some profanities and stomped off. Here's what I'm saying-a pristine, fully restored 351W '69 Mach 1 for 25 grand is better deal than a rough, not running Boss 302 that needs another 30 grand worth of work. A nice SS396 Chevelle will give you a lot of joy for about 1/3 of what an LS6 model in the same condition would cost. # 4. Shop around. Sometimes the real deal or a premium model is a better deal. At the last Hot August Nights auction I was at some idiot paid $32,000 for a 1970 Challenger T/A that the seller admitted was a clone, and had a 360 crate motor under the hood. At the same auction, the same day, a smarter guy bought a numbers-matching "real" 340 / Six-Pack '70 Challenger T/A in almost the same condition for $24,000!!!  Huh? the real deal was 8 grand LESS than a clone??!!  Happens more often than you think. #5. Get over serial numbers and model names and recognize a screamin' deal when you see one. I know a guy that passed up an immaculate,1971 400, 4-speed, LeMans Sport CONVERTIBLE because "It's still not a GTO."  Another Idiot passed up a 1966 Mustang GT with the 225 hp 289, factory a/c, factory front disc brakes, the rally pac guages, the "Pony" interior and the original "California Megaphone exhaust with date coded mufflers intact,  ( for $2,500!! ) because it was a coupe and he wanted a fastback!! I wanted to slap him. In  fact-I'm not even a Ford guy and I bought the damn thing and sold it for a tidy profit a couple months later. Like Forrest Gump said- "Stupid is as stupid does." Don't be that guy. Mastermind