How NOT to lose your ass on a Musclecar project.....

I've talked to a lot of people lately who say they've lost a ton of money on musclecar projects and it makes them hesitant to do another. One guy had $35,000 in a Road Runner that he sold for $21,000 because he needed the money to buy a house and no one offered him anywhere near what he had in it. Another guy had $25,000 in a Camaro that he sold for $15,000-he'd max'd his credit cards building the car and then his wife had a medical emergency and couldn't work for a while and the car had to go to pay bills. And again-he took the highest offer he got out of desperation but it was still a huge loss. The reasons they've lost money vary-but it all comes down to three things-I'll list them and then address them one by one. # 1. They picked the wrong type of car to do. # 2. They took on a project that was beyond their mechanical capabilities. # 3. They went way overboard replacing everything whether it needed to be replaced or not. # 1. The wrong type of car. How do you pick the "wrong" type of car you ask? There's several different ways this happens and I'll explain each one and how to avoid it. #1-They pick an ultra-rare, premium model that's missing some key components. Three easy examples-a Hemi powered Chrysler vehicle missing the Hemi engine, or a Boss 302 or Boss 429 Mustang missing the "Boss" engines. The cost of trying to find an engine and all the correct parts to finish a project like this is so prohibitive-that even if you had Donald Trump's bank account-from a financial standpoint you'd be better off just finding a complete car and buying that. # 2. This is almost as bad-even if the car is basically all there-they pick something so obscure that any parts are going to be obscenely expensive and almost impossible to find. Things in this category would include 427 Thunderbolt Fairlanes, 426 Hemi Darts, 421 SD Pontiacs ( with the aluminum front end!! ) Charger Daytonas and Road Runner Superbirds, 429 Mercury Cyclones,Shelby GT500s, Two-seat AMX Javelins,Studebaker Avantis or R3 Challengers-you get the drift. Yes, the cars are worth a lot when their done, but they cost a lot to refinish-way more than a lesser model. # 3. They picked the wrong brand. Like it or not, Chevys are by far the easiest to restore because the parts are readily available and are way cheaper than they are for anything else. Because of the popularity of the GTO and Trans-Am, ( and parts intechangeability with Camaros and Chevelles, and Impalas ) Pontiacs are a close second on the list of being cheap and easy to restore. If you have a Ford or Mopar, it's going to cost substantially more to build than a Chevy or Pontiac, period. And if your building a Buick or an Oldsmobile or an AMC offering, their going to cost way more than a Ford or a Chrysler. I'm not saying this in a "Chevy rules, and everything else sucks" way. I'm just stating an irrefutable fact-restoring a '70 Buick Skylark GSX is going to cost double what it will to do a '70 SS Chevelle. A '68 Cougar will cost you more to restore than a '68 Camaro. A Duster 340 will cost more to do than a Nova SS 350.  Live with it.  # 2. Taking on a project beyond your ability. This is 90% of the populations major goof. A car with major rust issues or one missing the engine and transmission, or one that needs major bodywork is not a deal no matter how low the price is. Especially if you are not a bodyman or mechanic by trade-your better off spending more money initially and just starting with a better car. Most professional restoration shops charge $100 per hour or more. It's awful easy to rack up a 10 or 20 thousand dollar bill on something that needs a lot of work. If your not a guy who can pull and rebuild an engine and transmission in your own garage with your own two hands and own tools, be very careful. Even if you found a completely done car-sans engine and tranny-your in for a HUGE expense. Here's why. 1st off-even if you don't care about matching numbers and plan to buy a badass crate motor-that's 5 to 10 grand depending on how radical you get-and then you have to pay a shop to install it. And that decreases the cars value at sale time-not having the original engine. God help you if your trying to go numbers matching. Where are you going to find a 327 Chevy with 1962 date codes to put in the Impala SS that you "stole?" Or a 1969 Date coded 440 for that engineless Super Bee you got such a "great" deal on? Then you have to chase down all the tin and brackets, and have someone professionally rebuild it for you. And that "Six-Pack" setup you "GOTTA HAVE"-yes Edelbrock sells the manifold, Holley sells the carbs, and Mopar Performance sells the throttle linkage and air cleaner, but by the time you buy all that-your out $2,500 for just the induction system. Hmm....Maybe you can live with "just" a 4bbl??  # 3. Going overboard on the restoration. Here's what bites everyone in the ass. Apparantly-these people never heard the saying "If it's not broken, don't fix it." I had a friend who did this on a Charger he was restoring. The car needed paint and a vynil top and the front seats re-done. Otherwise it was remarkably well preserved. He went shithouse crazy. Even though the car ran like a scalded cat, had good compression, didn't smoke and didn't use or leak oil, he pulled the engine and had it rebuilt. He replaced the radiator even though the car wasn't overheating, and the radiator wasn't leaking. He replaced the power steering pump even though the one on the car wasn't leaking, wasn't making any noise and worked perfectly. He replaced the alternator and starter even though the car started every time you turned the key and the battery was always charged. Even though the car had good brakes and stopped like a dream-no squeaking or pedal vibrations, no leaks anywhere in the system-he replaced the rotors,pads, calipers,hoses,drums,shoes,wheel cylinders and hardware, and the master cylinder and booster!! He replaced every nut and bolt whether it needed it or not. Why??? This drove the cost of his resto WAY up, didn't bring extra money at sale time. He ended up having almost 50 grand in the car-( a 383 model, not a Hemi!! ) and he was crushed when he sold it for $30,000. If he'd listened to me and just did the cosmetic work he'd have had less than 15 grand in it including the purchase price and he'd have been happy as a clam driving it and showing it, and when he sold it-he may have only got 15 or 20 grand for it, but he'd have broke even or made a little instead of taking a $20,000 bath!!  That unnecessary new radiator, alternator, starter, brake system, etc didn't bring him any more value. I just sold my Hurst / Olds. It needed a new vynil top and the swivel buckets recovered and a new coat of paint. Otherwise it was in great shape, it was legally registered and I drove it and raced it often. It ran like a scalded cat with the Chevy crate motor in it, and it wouldn't take much to put the Olds engine and tranny back in it if you wanted to. The guy went over it with a fine-tooth comb, nit-picking every little thing-( I had Center Lines on it instead of the original wheels, and the white knob on the Hurst shifter wasn't the original one ). We agreed on a price and he drove away. He emails me a week later and says-"I've the got the body off the frame,the frame's on the rotisserire being cleaned and powder-coated, and I'm having the body stripped to bare metal." The Olds engine and tranny are being re-built." I'll send you pictures as we go."  1st off-I don't give a shit what he does with the car-I sold it because I didn't want it anymore. But what gets me-If he was going to do a frame-off resto and replace every single nut and bolt-why did he fly across the country and search the galaxy for a two-owner remarkably well-maintined, rust-free Nevada car,pay a premium price for it, and the cost to ship it back to the midwest?!!!  He could have bought a beater one for way less and started with that? By the time he's done he's going to have 30 grand in it-and even pristine-a '73 H/O 442 depending on equipment only brings about 12-18K at the Barrett-Jackson auction. They just don't bring the money that the '68-72 models do. If he's going to keep the car forever-who cares-he did it his way. But if he ever trys to sell it-he's never going to re-coup his investment. Anyhow-remember "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Hope this helps out. Mastermind