There's nothing wrong with buying an already finished car....

So many people talk about buying and building their dream car. However-90% of these people are not bodymen or mechanics by trade. The chances of "Joe Average" being able to do a frame-off restoration or even just an engine and tranny swap properly are almost nil. The buff magazines are to blame for a lot of this. They constantly talk about how "easy" it is to swap engines or transmissions. Really? How many people have actually pulled an engine out of a car, disassembled it, rebuilt it, and put it back in the car, and had it fire right up and run perfectly?  And that's if you took, say the 350 out of your Chevy truck and put it back in! Don't get me started on swtiching from a small-block to a big block, or swapping a stick for an automatic, etc. Truckin' magazine is a big offender here. They had an article on someone restoring a '55 Ford F100. The guy was doing what "restifiers" ( restore / modify ) have been doing with these trucks for years-using a '74-78 Mustang II front clip. Which gives you front disc brakes and power rack&pinion steering, and motor mounts for a modern 302 / 351W.  Ford guys hate it, but I have also seen these trucks with a Camaro or Chevelle front clip-and a 427 or 454 Chevy Rat Motor under the hood. Again they said how "Easy" it was to put modern steering and brakes on a 60 year old truck. Really? How many people have the garage space and the tools and welding equipment and the skill to actually cut the old frame off the truck at the firewall, cut the subframe off the donor Mustang or Camaro and then weld it onto the truck perfectly straight?  See what I'm saying?  Also avoid engineless cars. And I'm not just talking about a Boss 302 Mustang or a Hemi 'Cuda. Say you buy a '69 Road Runner or a '69 GTO without an engine. Where are you going to find a 383 or 440 Chrysler engine. or a 400 Pontiac?  The 383 has been out of production since 1971 and the 440 since 1978. The last 400 Pontiac was built in November 1977. ( L78 400s were stockpiled for '78-79 Trans-Ams. ) Where are you going to find a complete, running, or at least rebuildable engine that's 38 years old or older??  I know-everyone knows a guy who has one. ( I have a 428 Pontiac in my garage that I took out of a '69 Gran Prix. ) Ok-this friend of a friend sells you a 383 Mopar or 400 Pontiac block. Your going to run Edelbrock heads on it anyway. Fine and dandy. Pray tell-where are you going to get an oil pan, timing cover,valve covers, distributor, intake manifold, carburator, exhaust manifolds or headers,a water pump, a fuel pump,a power steering pump. a starter, an alternator, all the brakcets to mount those accessories, the bolts and nuts, a radiator, hoses, belts etc?  Sure you can probably buy all that stuff-but it gets expensive. And that's on something as generic as a Small-block Chevy or a 302 Ford or 400 Pontiac. God help you if your trying to chase down alternator and power steering pump brackets for a 401 AMC Javelin, or a 428 Thunderbird or a 455 Olds 442. Trust me-it's nice to have all that stuff already on the engine. With most competent shops charging $100 per hour or more-if your not a mechanic and the car needs major work-you can rack up a $10,000 or $20,000 bill pretty quick-and that's not including the purchase price of the car. For a lot of people they'd be better off both financially and in terms of not pulling their hair out in frustration by just buying an already finished car. This past Hot August Nights-yes-I lamented that I didn't see any Hemi Superbirds or Thunderbolt Fairlanes or Boss 429s or Super Duty Catalinas. But barring ultra-rare stuff like that-I saw tons of Mustangs, Camaros, GTOs, 396 Chevelles, Chargers, Challengers,Firebirds, etc that were really nice and had "For Sale" signs on them. If I could have swung a personal loan-( dammitt! I couldn't ) I'd have bought a nice '69 GTO done in Judge style.  ( It was a for-real GTO, it just wasn't an original Judge. Regardless of paint scheme-it was a screaming deal for $16,000!!! ). There's tons of stuff like that out there if you look past the end of your nose. There's no shame in saying that you bought something really cool already done. It doesn't make it less cool that you didn't build it from the ground up!!  Mastermind