Hot Rods How much to build your ride over again

It is hard to keep track of the money spent on the car. Do you include the parts that you bought but later didn't use because plan A morphed into plan B?

 

Money wasn't much , time was ridiculous .

 

I paid a local shop to build the Corvair the first time. I’m guessing $30k plus. About another $10k building an outrageous engine. Then, I cut it up, added the V8 / th425 transaxle, then did the interior and now a ****load of metal flake……and still building it

I will never know the true cost and do not care

 

I built my 39 chevy 2-dr. sedan about 22 years ago. Started with a stock body & drivetrain. I paid $800 for it & put over $18,000 in it. When I sold it after having it for 3 years, I got $18,000 for it. The guy I sold it to repainted it, put new gl*** in it, (I had all tinted & some states don't allow that.), changed the taillights, mirrors & wheels. He sold it for $35,000 to a guy in S.C. The guy contacted me so he could get build information on it. I figure it would cost me at least $25,000 to build it today. The sad part is I didn't take a friend's advice when I talked to him about looking for a old car to build. He said for me to buy a used hot rod, don't build one, I'd lose my ***. I could have bought a 37 Chevy 2-dr. sedan with the original front axle a year earlier for $8,000. All it needed was some freshening up. Maybe $5000 worth. Problem now days is half the companies in business 20 years ago are gone, Half retired & closed up shop, the other half sold their businesses to someone else who more than likely ran the company into the ground. Cars aren't bringing what they are worth now either. My personal opinion is the sport is dying out.

 

back in the early 70's i dragged race a buick i bought brand new. i used to work p/t in auto parts to pay for my parts, etc. back then oil came in 24 qt cases, a rather big box. i filled it up with my receipts from the store for the race car. one day i started to add it up, mind you i refinance the original car loan 3 times, the numbers were growing. screw it. didn't want to really know. lit the box of receipts on fire.
now if you asked me how much i have in my dragster buick 350 engine, without receipts its over 25k. if it blew up, i couldn't replace it because of all the none buick parts in it that are basically one off.
now i just don't care. now the proverbial roll of toilet is getting faster and smaller and i don't care no more. the fun is more important than the cost.

 

With the rack and pinion I'm adding, I'm going to have about $29k in my Ford. For hardware at Ace Hardware alone, I'm probably $400 into that.

In parts purchased, I figure everything has gone up at least 25% since 2015, the good old days when everything was in stock. So I'll say it would be about $40k to do it again.

 

In 2019 I finished building a truck I found out I didn't fit well in. When it sold, I got most of my money back out of it.
Then I started building a replacement two weeks after (July 18, 2019) the first one sold. I had the full sale price to fund the new build, plus I was able to add an extra $200 a month to the build fund. I bought the next truck with all the sheet metal except a tailgate, along with a different frame that was ready to install (the original was bent), it also came with a ***le. I was into it for around $1300 when I started. Then I stumbled across a great drive train with only 44,000 mils on it still in the truck that turned out to be a great donor for $400. Most of the parts I had to buy were replacement suspension and brake parts for a more modern ch***is. The next biggest expense was all new gl***, weather stripping, and paying to have the gl*** installed. The gl*** was $1500 by the time it was in. Progress on the truck was fast, I had just retired and had full access to my closed welding shop. Other then the gl***, I did everything else on the truck myself. The last two events was the plates and insurance, and new tires all around. The tires were $500. The truck was licensed and insured June 2, 2020. There have been a few things done since, and the truck will get body work and paint (maybe), and there is some money set aside for the paint (but likely not enough to pay for the supplies). Counting the paint money set aside (the last truck was painted), this truck has cost me $2600 + more then the last truck cost, for nearly the same parts. That total is very near $10,000!

The way the prices have increased over the last 6 months, I wouldn't be surprised to find this same build (***uming I can find a deal on the replacement truck and the drive train again) would cost an easily $3000 more then this one cost.
The sad part is, I can't even post pictures because the truck has unacceptable factory aluminum wheels on it. Even if I has factory steel wheels, they wouldn't be accepted either, too many wheel lugs per tire. Gene

 

We have kept track of every car we have done. My wife uses an old check register and logs all costs no matter how small. To do another 40 like the one in my avatar would probably cost 30-40% more today. Her 55 we have had for 44 yrs--many updates/revisions over the years. Total expenditures since the start excluding tires. oil change etc. is approx $22K all in. Could not buy a cherry roller for much less than that today. Would probably cost maybe $45-50K to duplicate-no labor.

 

327 power, A/C, auto transmission, Chevy rear...One of the best handling, riding, braking and overall pleasant driver for short or long distance road trips...

Hello,

In this day and age, if we decided to get another 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery like we owned when we were 20 somethings, it would not be from scratch. As we bought a project car, the newer version would be a recent project that we would do some different looks. The color red was pretty cool as 20 somethings and the SBC motor was reliable and enough for our needs. The A/C was important and both of the newer models are in the same market.

Despite the darker color and the required weekly maintenance that is necessary, we would still consider either of these builds. They both are cool looking hot rods with everything we had in place, except for being 46 years newer. The new technology would have been our changes as the years rolled by for us, if we continued our ownership.

As nice as those that are for sale are, to us, they still are a project, just a little closer to what we want in a cruising hot rod. The initial cost for the latest ones for sale would definitely be higher in dollars, but, the build technology would be a little better than a 1960-70 version. So, the cost, negligible… it is the end result of a cool looking, driving, comfortable and reliable hot rod that is the goal. If we bought any of the 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery hot rods, it would still be a “work in progress.”

OR... we could start with this HAMB 1940 ford Sedan Delivery and go from there. The project would have to be farmed out for us old folks to enjoy later...

Jnaki

In the old days, it was nothing but a two door something or other. But, these days, even a two door or 4 door 1940 Ford Sedan with an SBC plus A/C, would be fine for our pandemic cruises and frequent daily road trips.

OR

 

"We will pay the price, but we will not count the cost", from a song by Rush.

 

I've been working on my Model A for about 16 years, although the first 2 or 3 was a lot about decisions and collecting parts. Last year I finally got it to be a driving car. I've done everything I possibly could myself. I've probably got around $18,000 invested. Everything on it is new or fully rebuilt. I'm estimating that I will probably invest another $5 - 6,000 in it before I'm finished. It's down to body work, paint, upholstery and a top. I can do all that except the top, although I may take a stab at that.