Most expensive mistake you have made when restoring a car?

Started on the 55 26 years ago and the first thing I did was throw a LOT of stuff away thinking it would get replaced with better parts (things like the inner fenderwells, etc...)

At that time, they weren't worth much money and it was easy to find nicer stuff.

Ended up paying a fortune 20 years later to buy the same quality stuff in order to restore it properly and put it back in where the old stuff was...

Duh...

 

That was six years ago, besides I was thinking something painful on the wallet.

 

X 2 .........I still question why the politicians called it "Free trade"

 

Hey Give the guy a break. I've got a Vair project too. It's gonna have a 301 in the back seat.

 

The most expensive thing was always thinking it had to be better then it really did. Decide if your makeing a show car or a driver. Don't limit yourself to a clock and feel you need to spend a ton of money just to get it done. Budget , Budget , Budget ....

 

Starting on a pile of CRAP, not taking the time to restore a GOOD CAR. Current '65 GTO I'm helping a friend with is a textbook example.

 

Haven't read the whole thread...Do the mechanicals first (drive it and work bugs out) put in a working seat for this and start on upholstery..paint it LAST..or every move will just scratch it up

 

Get them married.

 

Thinking that I could restore one myself cheaper than buying one already done and ready to role.

 

1- Took it to a professional shop for bodywork and paint based largely on the shop's reasonable hourly labor rate. I shouda gotten a written estimate of the number of labor hours required. It ended up being waay more hours and $ than I would have expected!
2- Shoulda gottin it driveable and driven it around ugly for a while before I had the paint and bodywork done. By the time the body and paint were done, I was in way over my head financially, never got to enjoy driving it, lost interest, and unloaded it at a loss.
3- My disassembly and storage of parts was unorganized, resulting in lost pieces, wasted time, and confusion trying to put stuff back together.
4- Not being realistic considering my skill level and resources before embarking on a major project which took so long that it stalled, and my interests changed.

I'm much older and wiser now!

 

Good advice, thanks.

 

When I painted my T'Bird several years ago, bought all the PPG supplies at the jobber I had been buying paint from. (Backstory to this is, at most I paint about 2 cars a year.) Took home the basecoat, a black pearl, clear, the candy topcoat, and the proper reducers for all.

Painted and cleared the basecoat as per the label and tech sheets I'd gotten. Waited a day, color sanded the clear, and shot one coat of candy. The basecoat color wrinkled everywhere, instantly. Paniced, I called the paint store, thinking I'd gotten the wrong reducers. "NO", I was told, "These are what the tech sheets call for".

I called the PPG helpline, "No, you used the right stuff. Park in the sun for a day and reshoot it."

Did that. Started to shoot the candy, WRINKLED!

Called PPG again. Same advice. Let it set. Called back after thinking about this for a few minutes. Got a different person, who said, "What hardener did you use?"

"I didn't get any", I said, "The tech sheets and lables don't call for hardener, and the counter guys didn't sell me any."

"Oh", was the reply, "This is a brand new system, the tech sheets aren't updated and are wrong, we have new ones coming out. You'll have DA all the clear and basecoat off down to primer and start over."

WHAT? It's true, that was exactly what had happened. A brand new system, new chemicals, error in the tech sheets, no updates to their dealers, even most of the techs at PPG didn't know this. No help from the jobber, absolutely no help from PPG, I had to strip over $500 worth of materials off the car, buy new, and start over. A weeks worth of labor and materials. Very upsetting.

Needless to say, I now use Sherwin Williams paint.

Brian

 

Buying a model with no aftermarket parts support

Throwing things away before being done with the car even though you're sure you don't need them.

The two best things you can do, as mentioned, bag & tag and get plenty of pictures. I would also suggest a service and parts manuel. Many places use the OEM part numbers when stocking theirs.

 

yeh but everybody must think rust free means free rust

 

For me, I've learned to NOT settle for something other than what I want. If it isn't what you REALLY want, you'll lose the drive to finish the project and can easily become distracted and/or project direction will wander - both of these are project disasters. You'll end up trading or giving away the project. If the project is what you really want, you'll more easily deal with the hurdles. This is a lesson that I had to experience more than once in order for it to "take". The other lessons mentioned above are important, but I'd have to put this one at the top. If you've covered this issue, you'll deal better with the mistake of forgetting the other mistakes.

 

I trusted a local "pro" to handle some of the sheetmetal work on my car based on what he said he was capable of doing, not to mention the fact that he has thousands of posts here on the HAMB full of his advice, etc for the rest of us mortals. I figured that anybody who posts here that much must be a full fledged hot rod fanatic who couldn't possibly be a poser. That was mistake number one. The greater mistake was in not trusting my instincts, in that he didn't keep his committments, kept my car for months, and all the time I'm thinking "something is wrong with this guy" yet I didn't go and pick up my car and cut my losses. The "finished" work was so bad that I've had to take it to another guy (who knows what he's doing) and have it all done again. I should've trusted myself, not him, and saved myself a lot of money and aggravation. If it walks like a duck, etc, it probably is. If you're in central NC and want to know which shop it is just PM me.

 

letting your kid sister wax your car for $30 and not pointing out ...don't use the rubbing compound ....to a kid it looks like wax....to me it looks like your $3,000 paint job was buffed with 220 grit...thanks kiddo

 

28 Chevy's have wooden framework. Nuf said.

 

Gotta agree with that statement.
Best advise I ever got from an old timer was to NEVER buy a car to build/resell unless it is one you would like to keep for yourself, because you may have to keep it.

 

Hmmm I have this '22 Dodge project... Okay it's a frame(18-22 Dodge), axles('52 Olds Rear, Mopar Double Dip), wheels('36 Olds Artillery), engine (223 Ford Six), trans(4spd OD Toploader), and a '28 poncho grille shell, oh and some lever shocks, still need front spindles and brakes... And it was all free.... Sweet right? sure... My mistake though is I don't have a body.. I have a decent pile of parts but with out a body it's kind of hard to figure out how all those parts should be mounted... I need a Dodge touring body, or front half......

Another mistake... I had this great idea to take an engine apart (okay 3 engines) I was smart enough to stamp the main caps and keep them with the right blocks and all that... But I took all the bolts from 3 engines and threw them in one bucket... I don't remember were any of those bolts go, except for the headbolts....

 

Agree 100%

 

Restoring the parts car because i did,nt have the heart to cut it up. Things have changed now .

 

x2

 

Giving a complete running 409/425hp engine away figuring I would never use it. Complete with cast iron headers, carbs to pan, water pump to bellhousing. Still regretting that.

lg
no neat sig line

 

Do stuff right the first time. It's easier than going back and fixing it again later.

 

Most expensive mistake I made when restoring a car? Restoring a car.

I can build a hot rod for less money. More fun too.

 

When I was 17 I worked as a frame restorer for a corvette restoration shop we had this guy who knew everthing according to him. Well he did not know everything about gravity I guess. We had a 65 stingray convertable off the frame (using the lift in the shop) I was young so the boss told me do not open those doors for any reason. I did as I was told. The other old boy that knew everything did not. He even told me to shut up and go back to doing what I knew welding frames when I tried to tell him not to open the doors. well needless to say he opened the doors and the busted the stingray in half. After the boss got back me and few of the other guys were told to go home for the day. I never did see that guy again it is a good chance he may be under the shop somewhere.

 

would that I had pictures. I did a 70 jag E type for a guy a few years back. Had just finished the final assembly and was awaiting pick up. moved thing around in the driveway and parked the car. a few hours later working on Dad's willy's had a need to move his sport track to get a better view. need-less-to-say, the jag was NOT in my field of vision. backed right into the middle of the nose piece. Only said one word (it did have four letters) when I realized what I'd done, then went to work repairing it. we debated whether to tell the owner what had happened, but in the end we did--he found it as amusing as I do in retrospect.

 

Painting the car outside in the hot sun! Man! The car was sssmokin'!

 

crashing it on its test drive!