Projects Cars (Or Trucks) For Under $10K

We live in the times where really bad 'Deuce roadster and coupe bodies bring over $10K. Then you have to add all the good stuff...a wealthy (or credit card poor) man's hobby.
How many have built yours (Ford, Chevy, steel, 'gl***...anything) for under $10K turn key ready to go, drive it anywhere?

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"El Cheapo Hemi Roadster"

 

Im sure mine (33 ford pickup) will be done for well under 10 grand. I really dont keep track cause I dont want to know if it goes past $10,000.00

Look at all them zeros.

 

I hear ya. It's best not to keep track and it's even better to keep it a secret from da boss.

 

6k or so in my old '34 p/u, I think...

photog by hotrod jen

 

My Ranchero still is pretty well under ten G's...
I can drive it anywhere, and it even gets 20 + mpg.
Of course, it's still wearing ugly paint, and barely acceptable brightwork...
But...it WILL go anywhere.

 

The last time I said that I could build a car for around $9500, you know, stripped, 6 cyl., 3 speed man., steel wheels, cheepo tires, the most basic of everything, I wound up spending around $35,000, hating the car when I finished it because of all the money and it still wasn't what I wanted, and selling it for $15,000. STUPID HURTS.

 

Oh, by the way, it was a damn T-bucket

 

Im under 10,000 on my 50 and still have a few bugs to work out. But the 35 that my brother and myself are partners in that's a different story. It has a whole lot of work left and we have decided that it isn't low enough. Meaning more time and money.

 

I saw it at the showdown, looks perfect to me!

 

You spent 35k on a 6cyl T bucket?! WTF?!

 

I wish I could have keep my motor build under 10k

 

Never spent over 10 grand on ANY vehicle...ever! whoops,... Last new one was a 85 Ford PU work truck and that may have been 12thousand ordered it in 84...The biggest expense was buying a house with a shop and spray booth so I could build the dang things....that was like 60 grand...Sounds real cheap at todays prices though!

 

Why thank you!
I'm just itching to paint it, I suppose...man, at dusk, under the street lights, I can almost imagine it in shiny new black.
Gotta finish my other painting project first, though....

 

How about a Hamb freindly (pre 64) all steel full bodied nostalgia race car.Im running 11.40's with an all motor iron headed ,10 to 1 small block for less than $6400 total investment and thats after paying for all the safety stuff (5 point seat belt ,rollbars ,etc.).I managed to off set the cost of the safety upgrades by selling unused parts from the car to restorers ,steering wheel ,front bumper ,door gl*** ,heater ,wipers,etc ,etc ,turned into parts money for it.At the same time off seting the weight of the rollbars ...

 

Yeah I'm hear ya!

 

I'm in for under 10K in the '46 in my avatar. Not completely HAMB friendly and it's in primer, but a do it yourself paintjob should get me finished just under 10k. I'd take it anywhere, anytime. I'm not as talented as many of you, so the key for me was buying a more talented builder's project. If I'd been skilled enough to do it all myself, I'm sure it would've been around $6k.

 

I have less than $9K tied up in my Es*** so far. I bought it for $7K and put about grand into it to get it driveable. The future rebuild will probably double the amount, though.

 

The wagon, right around 10K. The '36, way under. The '48 Pontiac convert, WAY under although since I've it had since '74, it's not all in todays money. The Diamond T pickup, pretty close to 10K as it sets. I try to keep a reasonable budget, and have way to many sort of nice cars, that all need something, rather than one really nice, finished one....

Brian

Oh, the trailer is way under that mark too.

 

I'm at mayyyyybe $7K on the '63 in my avatar...and that's $3K worth of paint and bodywork. It's not perfect, but I can drive it anywhere (except over big speedbumps) even with my kids, gets a decent amount of attention when I drive, and it'll get 20MPG on the highway even with a 292 spinning at 3 grand!

 

about 8k in the wagon

 

The Peter Beater. First time....$3k. Second time....Still under $6500. Lots of donations and homemade parts.
The first build was with a Flathead Merc and a 5 Speed!

 

I have about $2500 in my truck so far. by the time I do a few more upgrades and some paint, I will be around the $4000 mark.

 

Your cars and trailer are way beyond "sort of nice".

 

If you're not worried about a high end show car, you can still build a Model A or an early 50s Chevy or Ford for well under $10,000. Part of that is getting the deals on stuff, and part of that is being resourceful, buying things you can take what you need from and sell the rest and at least come out even on for instance. I still don't have $1000 in my '50 Chevy, although I probably will when I get a set of motor mounts for it.

 

My 34 Ford truck $5500 and still adding to it but I'm getting close to where i want it to be.

 

lol my 59 el camino< been driving it for 25 years,3 motors ,1 paint job,still ain't got 3500 in it.of course you can tell that i don't.but i have a helluva good time with it to

 

before i built the engine and ****** that are in it currently i was able to build my 31 from ground up for about 5500 im way beyond 10 grand now

 

and the 56 im still into for only about two grand, only because i cant charge myself for labor you want to do it cheap youve got to do it yourself

 

total : $2500.00 , including the price on purchase...

 

Love this thread!


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