I like your attitude! A lot of people on this board could learn from you, but most of them aren't on this thread, lol.
I got this one for $900 and put about $4,000 into it. I only resealed the engine and painted it. The paint and body was done by me and a friend. The most expensive part was the dash at $250, Oh and the seat was $450! I won't post off topic pics but I have a bike almost finished in the $3,500 and under and my next car will be under $5,000 too.
Yeah I get that. Hopefully there's a few more out there with something to show and share you know. It's all about passing the torch. The iron will be there.
yeah i have a 63 falcon that im almost done with. ive got about 2700 into it and i might put like 400 more just to finish it up.
5K is big money round my place! I'm building a bagged 56 chrysler windsor that will be on the road for under 3K. I buy cheap and trade a lot...and get a donor car that runs and use all you can from it!
i never have any money !!! i'v always tried to fab ,scrounge,swap & make do with the stuff i got under the bench for most of my rods ,but the clunker bill & scrap prices have takin the old parts car out !! the 50 caddy i'm starting on is going to be a low buck beater ,but instead of a $ 500 donor car to part out ,it looks like $ 2,000 is what it's going to take for a half desent runnin' malibu if i can find one !! man i got less than $ 15,000 in my 32 sedan ,but it did take a long time to get there !!
Budget Builder, that's me. Over the last two years I have put together 2 runners and working on my third. All together I have less than $7,500 into all three. How did I do it? Barter, trade, watch Craigslist, and fabricated stuff. I bought two old 40-41 Chevy trucks off Craigslist, sold the 40, dismantled the 41, and sold off the frame and running gear, tires/wheels and made some money. A customer sold me an Isuzu pickup, I dismantled that and turned around sold the sheetmetal, engine and transmission, there again Craigslist, made a few bucks. Used the frame, suspension, brakes, steering, pedals, and put my old 41 cab onto the frame with my own design frame mounts. Bought a motor, had an old TH350 laying around. Married all that stuff together, bought an aluminum radiator and a set of headers, wheels, tires, gauges, mufflers, a free fuel tank, free belts, alternator and pulleys. For the bed, I had the steel from another barter job, and the wood came from recycling the floor from a horse trailer. (on a warm day you can still smell horse crap) . The build took under 100 days I was driving it around the neighborhood for under $2500. While I was searching for parts on the 41, I found another 41 across the state in Spokane, this time it was a 1 1/2 ton truck for $800. Bought it, as a runner. Was given an Isuzu Trooper wrecked, pulled the body, sent it to the recyclers. Kept the nice frame, dropped the cab from the 41 1 1/2 ton over onto the trooper frame. The Trooper had 4 wheel disc brakes, torsion bar front end, coil spring rear end, pedals, locking / tilt column. Bought a motor/transmission, made my own mounts, bought headers and radiator. Had the steel from another barter job, made a flatbed, the wood came from recycling compliments of a a friend. Had a boat trailer torsional axle, added that. Now I have a 6 wheel truck. I put a power steering pump off a Mercruiser boat motor, free, added a Mercedes Benz electric fan- free. Saved a lot of money by doing 90% of the work myself, only farmed out the driveshaft modifications and exhaust piping. The third truck, I'm currently working on, there again it's a $500. Chevy cab (46) and this time I'm using a Honda Passport frame. Isuzu manufactured these Honda Passports. Ya see a pattern here? I am using a 350 Chevy engine along with a TH400 given to me by a customer, free. It killed me, I had to buy some motor mounts. This truck will be down and dirty, no fenders, a short pickup box this time. I use the Isuzu stuff because it works, the frame is the correct width for these old cabs. They are safe with modern steering, adjustable torsion bar suspension, brakes, steering. Talk about price, just this week, I paid cash money for another frame, this time $200 bought it, there again it was found on Craigslist. This will be project #4 . Take a look at the albums I've posted under my screen name for more pictures of the builds on these trucks. If you have questions, I will share what I did. One Crusty One
Man i dont see how you guys do it . i passed the 5k mark on my axled 55 two years ago and its still not on the road. i saw a hot rod pick up in here with a polished blower sitting on a small block chevy. I cant find a decent huffer for under 2500 and thats still needing carbs and intake. let alone the machine work it takes to the motor to run any boost at all . i got a deal on the 396 i have for my car , it was bored 60 , all forged internals ready to go and i still spent $2500 on it . Reciepts for the machine work alone totaled over 3k so i jumped on it . It was being built as a nitrous motor so it oughta handle a good deal of boost from a blower. again , i applaud you guys that can pull this off for so little .
My friends and I built this car on a budget... I doubt I have more than $10,000 in it... the body was $500... the front axle and spring another $400... Quick change rear and axles... another $2500... steel was about $1000... tires were $600... Rims $80... spindles $100, Bell housing $200 on e-bay... Materials for the carbon fiber seat we made $400... guages $500... brakes, lines and slave cylinders $500 Rear ladder bars another $300 and the turtle deck was NOS and it was $800... Wiring was $28 at the swap meet from a guy who sells wire. We borrowed the motor for the first year... I used to get about $400 a month to spend on myself... so, that's a budget. Sometimes I would save the money, sometimes I would just spend it when I got it. I had to save for the last three months so I could even make the trip to Bonneville! We saved a LOT because we do everything ourselves... we have team members that do everything from carbon fiber work to aerospace certified CNC work, and I weld and fabricate as a hobby. I have MIG, TIG, a lathe and a mill in my garage... tubing bender and my buddy bob around the corner has a CNC plasma cutter in his garage... a lot of talent in the Bomb Factory neighborhood!
Being rather frugal, I save lots of money and time by not trying to reinvent something. I use as much of the donor vehicle as possible, frame, suspension, steering, pedals, plumbing, etc. You won't find any expensive aftermarket wheels or tires on my budget beaters, nor will you find any trick of the month expensive stuff either. We reuse the donor steering column with tilt and locking device. Remember that also comes with horn and turn signal switch installed. This last truck I did was a 4 wheel drive, no big deal, cut the front differential out, leaving the spindles, hubs, brakes, intact. I've got 4 wheel power disc brakes, power steering. at no cost to me. Pop the hood, no high dollar bling, I run what ever I've got laying around. I did step up and purchase a good aluminum radiator to keep my cool, and a set of headers to fit this combination, money well spent. I try to do all my own work, welding, fabricating, wiring, etc. I save by not painting my vehicles, I just leave the exterior as is. Saves a ton right there. I bought a glass kit, but bartered for it to be installed. This hobby has been most enjoyable for me. Remember K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid.
Building an OT '66 Galaxie 500 and a '53 Chevy 210. I'll bet I've got less than 3k into the two together, and if I could tell you more about the OT '66 Galaxie and what's under the hood/what I paid for it y'all would soil yourselves. I have had some VERY fortunate finds out at salvage yards, and made some very good friends who are willing to help see the project through. Hoping to make it to Z-Max dragstrip in Concord NC by mid-summer.
Budget??? Hell my middle name is Budget or even Cheap! Been building this Nash for 3 yrs (almost done) Narrowed rear end, pinto engine & trans, Mustang ll front disc brakes, rack & pinion, power brakes, forward tilt hood. All that & have only $1,500 invested....I make all my own parts work. This car is American Made...Pinto, Mustang, T-Bird, Chevy, in a Nash Metropolitan.
I know it's not everyone's cup-o-tea on here, but I bought my caddy for $4500, running, driving, good interior, etc... sure, I've changed a whole lot, and dropped even more in maintenance and repair, but yes... as long as your patient, it can easily be done here's what it looked like when I got it
budget builder, you say? I hope so. I "told" the wife we could do it for under 5K and I'm off to a good start. $1700 for a 30 tudor, sold extra parts for $440 so the car cost me $1260. My problem is I need to take my time and shop price.
Paid $2000 for my 62 4 door bel air. Me and my Neighbor painted it, total was around $500 for all that... got a super t10 for $350 and a good running 350 Chevy for $200. Just need to finish up the interior which Im estimating about $500 worth Left to do... Before After
Working on a '53 Chevy 210 that I picked up for $600, and with everything I've put into it so far I'm right at about $1200. Should make its maiden voyage tomorrow afternoon after sitting dormant since circa 1986. Once it's rolling (and stopping) under its own power, I figure I should be able to get some good rubber under it pretty cheap via local junkyards, and the interior I will do myself, and with a patina paint job to finish it off, I should be able to keep it right at around $1500. Eventually it'll get more thrown at it (lowering kit, better exhaust, etc.), but to accomplish my goal of making a solid daily driver that is reliable AND is something cool to look at, it should just about hit my pre-set mark of $1500 + or -. Also building an OT drag car with a fresh-built 4V FE 390 +0.040 over, forged aluminum pistons, monster cam, fresh worked heads, Holley 750 double-pumper and a plumbed Garrett GTP38 turbo, bolted to a rebuilt FMX transmission and a 4.11 9in. w/ a 9in. ring and spool. I've already assembled all the pieces and we're not far from firing it off for the first time. Paid $900 for the complete running/driving car with a 352 and a Cruise-O-Matic in it (plus $900 worth of repair panels and $500 worth of body shop air tools thrown in for free), and so far, less than $500 into my new driveline (and that INCLUDES the polished Cal-Custom finned valve covers and fluids). All good junkyard finds. OOOOPS! Forgot I had already posted to this thread above! My bad, sorry for the redundancy!
i'm into my 1929 couple for around $5k, started with a pile of parts and a craig's list body, very liitle off the shelf products, all i have left to do is brake pedal, driveshaft and wiring..
Everything I've ever built has been done this way. It means learning to do stuff yourself (engines, body work, paint, wiring, etc), being flexible enough to change directions when the right parts pop up cheap or free, and knowing when it's time to stop. The most important thing I learned is not to listen to people who'll tell you it can't be done. I've had lots of fun and built lots of cool cars. None were ever perfect, but as my knowledge base and skill improved, so did the end results.
Normally I don't really care about budgets. Having race cars before hot rods taught me that. However this roadster body is different. I've been buying really nice 30-31 roadster pieces in hopes of building a complete body to sell. I've budgeted $3000 for the parts which leaves me around $1500-$2000 profit when I sell it. So far I have $2100 sunk into what you see here but I still need a right side quarter, deck lid, and below deck lid panel so it's going to be close. It's all original, super nice sheet metal so I should be able to make a few bucks.
The Jalopy Journal
