@anthony myrick posted recently in a paint cost thread that he never had over $7K in his projects, and that got me to thinking about my future projects and a perfect test case. As my avatar shows, I have two 40 Buick Super Coupes in near identical condition. A fresh 401 Nailhead and upgraded drive train for one, along with everything to make it nice, including quality paint and interior. The second one I now plan to build as cheaply as possible, with a used 292 Chevy, primer paint, and whatever interior I can come up with. At the end I will see which one I have the most fun with. Any penny-pinching ideas would be welcomed. Stay tuned.
Uh oh. I drive old beaters. An old car guy once said “you make your money when you buy” (can’t over pay) I buy cheap junk and make it go and stop. Do all my own work minus machine work. A blanket is a great interior by my personal standards. I also scrounge and trade out metal work for parts. Other folks results may vary
Do everything yourself! If it works, leave it alone. What I mean by this is, a used motor, trans nd rearend that all functioned when pulled. Change the oil, gaskets and plugs and let her rip. If you need interior, find some good seats and work around them. A primered car can look good with no headliner, just clean up the ceiling and spray paint it.
Don't replace parts just because they're old. Only replace them if they don't work. so you probably don't need new spark plugs, oil, etc. But you probably need new brake wheel cylinder cups, a new water pump, a new fuel pump, etc.
Raise the bar? That was my professional life. My personal junk reflects what I grew up with. Current merc build was purchased with a usable interior and decent body. The bulk of the parts I’m using is freebie crap I scrounged or junk I traded for. New rear end? Why. It’s a Dana 44. New front suspension? The original is in great shape and just needed cleaned up and greased. Rebuilt the drums for around $300 Engine? A cheap 283 with an economy rebuild kit. Trans? Using crap I already had. Install kits? Lowering blocks? Brake lines ……..all that crap folks buy, we built. Same for all my other junk.
I do basically everything myself including body/paint, mechanics, design, detailing. polishing, etc. I put $130K in my roadster and another $50k...my wife says $60,000 in the PU. Cool aint cheap and cheap aint cool, IMHO. I like driving wild cars, just not Lambos, Ferraris and the like. Driving a top end Hot Rod (that I built!) is fun...at least for me. You all don't have to agree, this is just how I play the game.
I invest the money it takes to make the brakes work perfectly. Often converting to disc brakes (with everything new) is less costly then replacing all the drum brake parts if they are wore out. I make sure all the front and rear suspension pieces are good and not wore out, replace what needs to be replaced. Good tires are a must, but I often end up buying new tires after the new ride proves itself to be road worthy. Nothing wrong with a good running motor and trans. I will replace the easily accessible gaskets, and freeze plugs that are weak. I hit them with a hammer and punch to test them, if the don't cave in or punch through, they are OK. I would rather replace faulty ones while the motor is not in the car. I replace things like the water pump, thermostat, engine mounted fuel pump, and the belts and hoses with new hose clamps. History has proven to me that if I don't replace these things, I will be with in a couple months. I weld patches on the body, floor, and firewall as needed. (I was a welder by trade). Cheap industrial enamel bare metal primmer is good stuff for protecting the metal. Making it prettier is the next level. I install good junk yard seats, seat belts, and I add peal and press sound deadener/insolation to all the metal surfaces of the passenger compartment. I find that door seals and window rubber are usually in bad shape, but the cost of that stuff adds up FAST! If I need to replace glass, it gets new rubber, but after that, I replace the worst of it as money allows. Doing this costs a bit more, but it solves a lot of problems, and you end up with a decent ride. I had about $7,000 (2021 money) turning this into this. That included all new glass and glass mounting rubber, and door & door window seals (about $1500 alone), and new tires (about $600 on sale). That red oxide primmer is brushed on. The interior is ugly, but it functions, with around 17,000 miles on it now. Someday maybe I'll improve it. The carpet is $50 worth from Menards and the material that covers the doors cost around $50 + what ever the particle board under the marine vinyl and the spray glue cost. Again, all the money invested was between July 2020 and June 2021. A Dakota pick up was the biggest parts donor and its cost and all the other parts costs listed are included the the 7 K.
Cool has no price tag. I’ve seen 6-7 figure rides that wasn’t cool to me. Same with some low buck junk Ya either dig it or ya don’t. the worst mistake is building what other people like. If you dig shiny perfect paint. Do it If you dig beaters. Let it slide and enjoy the ride. I don’t give a flying crap in a hurricane what style you like. Enjoy the build. Make it go and stop properly. Anyone that don’t dig it can go pound sand. Including me
I don’t have “tip” for ya, but my take on it is I bet you have more fun in the beater. Everyone’s in the hobby for different reasons, so to each his own, but I had a 100% rust free beautiful black on black OT muscle car convertible years back. Got lots of looks and compliments on it. The more I worked on it and cleaned it up, the more anal and stressed I got while driving it. I went to a car show once and there was a 200-300’ gravel driveway to get in. I got pissed! Why the hell have a car show with a gravel entrance? ( I still think it was a bad idea), but I turned around and went home, not wanting to spend hours under my car detailing it. That car wasn’t fun anymore. I decided to sell it and get back to wrenching instead of polishing. Today I own 3 old cars in various conditions, but I drive the shit out of all 3. If I see rain or gravel I keep driving. NOW I’m having fun again.
Several years ago I had an OT sand rail.... was talking to a guy who was bragging about having $20,000. in his rail.... I asked him if he had 10 times more fun than I did with my $2,000. rail..... He didn't have an answer for me.... LynnW
I’m going to find out! I purchased a 66 dart from @Lone Star Mopar for a very fair price, the body is straight and clean needs a windshield, engine, transmission, paint and body and tires, I think I can complete for 6 to 7 k total doing most of the work myself. Show car No, drag car No, I believe I’ll be in the high 11s ,low 12s and be very good on the street, with a fun index of 10. I have seen a few candidates with fair prices, I don’t believe you are going to build a Tri five anything, 32 anything and so on without spending a lot of money Dan
Find a car that is visually acceptable as it is to YOU, meaning sheet metal condition, paint condition, glass, trim, upholstery, ready to go, but the mechanicals are off, say a cracked block, dead trans, ghetto wheels, etc. Then find another car that is rusted out or wrecked hard, but the mechanicals are good. Combine the two, sell the dross. You'll probably come out way ahead with the rubber band tires/"rims" sale. Don't buy any new parts. I have actually put used brakes from one car onto another. Depends how poor you are. I don't resort to this stuff any more, I can afford better, but I once was a world class scrounger. YMMV *note: the 2 cars don't need to be same year, make, model, but it sure makes it go easier!
I've always scrounged and driven beaters, if I can't haul the mail down a dirt road with it then I don't want it. I will say though, to me I get paranoid about wearing out rare oddball parts even if they are in scrounged beater condition to begin with. So cookie cutter hot rods are more fun in a way, you know you'll be able to find cheap replacement parts as you beat on stuff. So I think you're certainly on the right track with the Chev motor. As far as penny pinching ideas you can substitute a roll of Velcro for window fuzzies. When I pulled the vent windows out of one of my OT cars there was no rubber weatherstrip, just several layers of electrical tape. Sealed fine and never knew until I took it apart lol.
Cars as a hobby is great thing! Some people spend 100k on a wedding.it’s 1 day. Pics and memories, maybe some cool stories and many times a nasty crash. They can’t drive those memories and pictures around the block, take them to the show, or ever really live the moment again. Same thing with vacations , some go on a 10k get away couple times a year never to be enjoyed in the flesh again. Your ride is there every day at your disposal for any reason or excuse to get in and have fun with over and over again. Even if you just want to sit and stare at it. There’s great joy and excitement in building stuff yourself. There’s also a lot of time invested and it’s usually countless hours. It all changes the perspective when the love of a hobby gets involved in making a living. Every hour you spend doing something you enjoy isn’t exactly free anymore. It’s probably something that can only be seen or realized once you’ve stepped thru the veil and then look back. There’s some folks who really really want a nice car but don’t have the skills, equipment, or facilities. I tell them get a part time job doing something they can do and work it relentlessly, as much as they can. Sacrifice family time, couch time, learn to sleep when they can, and don’t stop. Take every nickel from that part time job and a good amount from the day job and put all towards funding the project. Theoretically there’s no difference of the time/project aspect of doing it yourself but it’s the emotional aspect that might be way off. On the flip side of that same coin is the project you’re building yourself with not much cash isn’t exactly a low cost adventure. Many say that they don’t count their time and I get that but it doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t counting those hours. I can make build fabricate repair damn near anything but time.
I grew up building cars with junk yard parts or entire drive trains taken from a cheap rusted out car. My 49 Buick has the complete drive train from a rusted out 70 Cadillac that had 90,000 miles on it. New head gaskets and timing chain, and a rebuild on the transmission after driving it for years. I did all the bodywork, chop, and paint welding, fab, myself. My daughter and I did the interior. Is it a trophy winner at a big show? NO. But it will take a first or second at a lot of local small shows, and I love driving it. But I get to say when asked who built it? I did. Unlike the gold chainers who have a $100,000 shop built car they no nothing about, other than writing the check.
I think most of us enjoy the building, even if I had 100000 to buy a car , which I would do if I could, I’d still be tinkering in my garage with something on my own Dan
Glad you brought this up. My '47 Plymouth has sat dormant for so long that it can now be considered a barn find. When and perhaps if I get back to it, I realize that I shouldn't update it but keep the drivetrain I adapted into it way back then. No point taking it back down to the bare frame either. Been there, done that and don't need the bragging points. Would be great to get it back on the road because it was a fun car.
Stuff that isn't perfect and shiny is 100% more fun, in my experience. A lot of projects get stuck because people want them perfect before they use them. There's an argument for using it as you go. Get it running and driving and roadworthy and decide if you even like it before you sink time and money into perfect paint, a perfect interior, etc.
“You’re lazy if you dont make it nice” “drive daily or in the rain? No it’s too nice to drive like that”
Heck, there's a small subset of the old car hobby (muscle car, mostly) that believe getting your car wet at all is terribly destructive to it. They wash without water and they don't take them out in the rain. Sounds mind-numbingly stupid, but that's just my opinion.
How people enjoy their ride is up to them. but looking down on others because they like something different escapes me. but I made a good living building crap for those people.
I don’t understand the don’t get wet and never wash thing, I’m with Anthony and I certainly don’t look down on them, a couple of friends have such cars, they are a lot nicer than anything I own or will probably ever own pending a lottery win. One buddy does take his car to shows and drives it once in a while however he is a nervous Nelly the whole time, the other friends car has never left the shop, sad story one day he was getting something out of the garage loft and the ladder fell dinging the car - golf ball size ding- on 30 k + paint job , I felt for him ,to bad he didn’t at least get to enjoy driving before the DENT. Dan
The way to build a hot rod cheap is pretty straight forward if you have already invested in a basic home shop(welder,grinders torches hand tools) Buy a body and chassis and buy a complete drivetrain donor car. Smash the 2 together. A donor car keeps you from nickel and diming a lot of stuff. I just picked up a free f1 frame a dude yanked out from under the body to build a street rod. That yields juice brakes, steering, crossmember with pedals andwheels for a model A or T project. It can be done,
I wasn't clear, I meant that it's a marketing gimmick. My comments were regarding the people that claim that's the only way to go in order to sell products.
I had an old 400 firebird, drove the crap out of it and had a blast! Dirt roads, drifting corners, tire rubber stuck to the rear quarters, hot girls sitting on the hood etc etc. After about 4 yrs, new quarters, trunk floor, new paint, vinyl roof, wheels etc and a bunch of money later I had one very slick driver (if I ain't/can't drive it anytime I don't want it). The thrill was gone, she looked slick sitting there, drew a lot of attention but she wasn't fun no more, had numerous offers to sell her but she was a part of me but she had lost her "fun" factor. Didn't want to scratch it (too much money in paint) no more wild date nights (mostly new interior), no burn outs ( no rubber on quarters) etc etc. Looked at how nice it was detailed out so no more off paved road adventures (which helped lead to the wild date nights). So she became pretty to look at but not much fun to experience.... So I say to each they're own and whatever floats your boat but I can say I'll have more fun in one of Anthony's beaters than I would a 100k+ park queen... .. .but hey hot rods are meant to be driven not showed off to me... ...
I know guys that love to polish paint and chrome. I like hitting em with hammers. Some don’t understand anything but their own personal tastes. I guess others have peer pressure issues. if I were marketing a product I guess I’d use the best example that represents that product. some think low cars are a fad I havent drove my 49 gmc in over 20 years cause a younger me thought it had to be torn completely apart and made perfect. I’m glad I moved past that nonsense
It can absolutely be done. In fact, I put a thread up about that notion; a reliable cost-effective car that can actually be used. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/needed-like-a-hole-in-my-head-55-ford-mainline.1273763/ Starting with a car with a solid drivetrain is a good start. Starting with a car that has either a SBF or SBC is a real good start. Then move onto fixing things that can leave you stranded or put you in an unsafe condition; reliable fuel delivery and spark, solid brake lines, rebuilt wheel cylinders, etc. A fresh wiring harness. New radiator with good fan. A new water pump. Once you have reliable fuel and spark, good cooling, and strong brakes, and quality electrical, the rest of the car is basically extra.
I learned the hard way to NOT buy things unless you are 110% sure you are 1-going to use it and 2-it will DEFINITELY fit. I learned alot when I built the Chevy but I am proud to say I built it all myself and have less than 8k in it, total. The roadster was made from pieces in my garage and I have just over 3k in that. The key to save for me is don't spend money on things that may not work and do everything yourself.
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