what the cheapest you ever got out with on a build?

$3,000 and 4.5 months.

 

$4,400 but that was then and this is now. It did run record off the trailer.

 

Love it!

 

For me i just do it then the wife see's the credit card bill then i heear it...

 

$195,a c cab model A w/B engine, lots of my old parts. my son traded it too a man for $10,000 worth of equipment he needed....have all the parts to build a 27 T chopped coupe w/ flat motor,columbia od and other cool parts have less than $3000 complete, just need time to build...buiild cheep ,have many........

 

I'll have about $3200 into this all said and done. Everything was going smoothly untill all the little shit started to add up....brakes, hardware, tires, fittings, hard lines.....

Im also a welder by trade, and alot of the parts i had laying around or were donated. That helps alot

 

As someone said earlier depends on skill level to a degree,
Project management skill over and above everything,
good planning will save thousends on any build,
but in order to have something that works at the end,
at some stage the project will need money,
I would aim to spend at least two or three grand near the end of the project on new tyres, brakes ( new drums, new shoes, new cylinders, lines, everything ), new shocks, new...... etc,
Everything else make, beg, borrow, swop, for as little money as possible and it's often amazing how little money most of the build costs in actual folding, time how ever is a whole diffrent thing, custom building is mostly about big numbers of hours, the cost of those at any hourly rate going massively excedes the cost of parts in any build.

 

My first 46 Ford truck that I bought in 1972 I paid $125.00 for. I still own and drive it, it now has a 327 block with later heads, a 350 turbo and a 9" rear end and I doubt if I have $5,000 total in it after all these years.

My current 46 Ford truck project....still on jack stands I probably have close to $9,000 invested and will need more to finish. I also do all the major work on my stuff

 

This is a great read, knowing that I'm sharing the roads with folks more concerned about dollars, than safety and lives. I, for one, think this is a BAD approach.

 

I don't have pics yet but i can tell you (or your buddy) that I've sourced alot of the parts for my choppped/roadster (haven't made up my mind yet) pick-up project for pretty cheap.. Had a late model frame laying aroung that i'm gonna modify to take a suicide front I-beam axle, Picked up two motors that i can make one good Y-block out of for $70 total so far, then found a rust free 47 ford truck cab and hood for $500, grabbed a vintage Y-block 4 barrel manifold for $50..Got a 56 Ford Rear-end for free.. The deals are out there so tell your pal to just be patient.. Like Johnny Cash said,"I got it one piece at a time..," And BTW.. A working man with a family to consider that wants to build a hot rod on the cheap is about as traditional as you can get so this guy might have the right idea about the HAMB.. he probably just called it a Rat for the lack of a more educated term... Be a good friend and teach him the difference.. I used to call them rats until I had a good hearted old school hot rod builder take me under his wing.. now i know and appreciate the difference..

 

How cheap is cheap to you ? Some people think a $10,000 rod is cheap while others think it is way too expensive. What will keep the cost down is based on what work can be done at home...and I mean done right. Unsafe welds, drivelines that are out of alignment, exhaust pipe hitting the master cylinder and so on. Price shouldn't be the issue, building a safe, streetable car should.

 

You have to scout out the deals, the freebies, and buy stuff you can sell things off from to make your money back, is all.

I have an O/T Suburban I picked up cheap that needed a trans; I bought another one with a bad motor for the trans, parted it out and scrapped it and ended up with $75 total invested. Had we gone to the other scrapyard with it, I'd have zero dollars invested in it, they were paying a little more a ton that week.

 

I like to give the benefit of the doubt to other guys trying to build something on a tight budget. I don't automatically assume that the guy is more concerned with $ over safety. It's a bit disheartening to see how negative a lot of responses are to posts here when it comes to things like that. Fortunately, I don't worry too much about what other people think or say.

I'm still under $4k on my build of my 32 Ford cab / 55 Studebaker frame truck. That includes real values assigned to parts I had laying around, too. It was cheaper to build a truck than to sell off the parts all at losses. I'll throw some more pics up soon.

BTW... the single biggest ticket item I had to pay for so far was the brake/clutch hydraulics.... about $400. Front and rear brake cylinders are totally separate. Far safer than any "juice" setup but not traditional. Tradition never overrides safety in my book.

 

I too don't know why there are so many people giving others crap about building on a budget. Yes, some people throw together cheap cars that aren't safe. But I thought the whole point of this is to show off a builders ability to build a good low budget rod. Instead of using a drilled and polished axle someone could use reuse an original. Instead of spending a few grand for a faux drum brake disc conversion someone could use some older but SAFE drums. Instead of that sweet vintage steering wheel that costs $$$$$$$ maybe someone could use a more common vintage wheel. Instead of $500 a gallon paint, you could use $50 a gallon paint (or not even use paint and save even MORE!).

Some people can afford to build a $50,000+ ride without worrying much about it(or more often HAVE it built for them), but some of us either don't have the finances to build a high dollar ride, or just want a lesser expensive project to enjoy without the worry of messing up the $$$ part that took 5 years to locate etc. So before anyone else knocks on the budget minded builder, take a minute to think about what it really means...just because you can afford to have someone else do it, or can afford to get all the 'cool' new stuff, doesn't mean that a lesser expensive project isn't safe or doesn't deserve respect. It's easy to throw money into a project (trust me, I KNOW!), but it can be damn challenging to build something on a tight budget.

 

I do agree with you are saying, but what I said was safety isn't something you should scimp on. I had a good friend of mine get seriously hurt because he tried to build on a tight budget and parts that were questionable, he said were good enough. Well, a control arm/ball joint failure sent his car into a roll over...loss of a car, and almost loss of a friend, al to save a few pennys. Which is the point I was trying to make, if it is a budget issue, stretch the built out for a couple more months to save up some more money, whatever you go to do.

 

I cant believe how cheap you guys can build a car for, my last project was a super cheap one by Australian standards $18,000.
Doc.

 

If you keep it, you never stop paying. I've been driving my current ride for more than 22 years, yet I spent over 65 bucks on it over the weekend.

 

Precisely. This is not a contest. Don't be stupid, fellas.

 

I just got this one on the road. Drove it from Indy to Louisville (200 miles+) and back without a hiccup. Lots of bodywork to do, but she's safe, runs well and a grand total of $1500.00.

 

So far its looking good.

The 37 Original price $ 1300.
Sold parts -$600.
grill +$235.
metal +$150.
rear tires free
y block +$150.
So far total $1085
a bit more to buy. But it should be under 5k

The sunbeam Alpine... $250.
Engine Free
trunk lid $ 90
roll bar $ 50
total so far $390

Trying to keep it under $5k

 

Built a "bobber" truck for under three grand, Got a 429 Ford in it and it will kick the shit out of a Desoto powered Model A. Homebuilt frame. It's safe, shiney paint on the frame and running gear, flat black body and bed, not primer, flat black. If the mood hits me i will paint the rest of it shiney too, not a big deal. Do most of the work (all of it if you can) don't get any aftermarket stuff if you can avoid it. Don't spend three grand to rebuild a 50's boat anchor engine and use regular wheels ad tires, it's not really that hard to do. Get a donor vehicle for the driveline, swapmeet for most of the other hard parts. Spend the necessary money on the steering brakes and suspension to make them safe. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE traditional rods, but they are EXPENSIVE to build if you're really gonna build a trad rod. It's exactly like restoring a car to perfection, the parts are scarce and they will cost you some real money.

 

I don't think one has to forsake safety or a decent appearance to save money.

It does take doing the majority of the work your self, shopping for the parts very seriously and not using items that run the cost up but don't add to the basic functionality of the vehicle.

It means snooping around and finding decent cast offs from other guys projects.

It also means not buying the pieces that are considered the holy grails of cool traditional hotrod parts. No updated Lincoln backing plates, no Hemi, no quick change, no "rare" engine dress up or performance parts and none of those highly collectable vintage wheels.

I'm talking about a presentable and safe rod with paint (flat or shiny) a civalized interior that you can do road miles in that is legal to drive in any state or Province that it meet the local regulations in.

True it will be very plain with oem style wheels and on sale tire store tires. It won't have a trick engine or highly desireable engine parts on display.
There won't be a large number of name brand performance parts inside the engine. The trans won't have come from one of the perforamance trans builders advertising or promoted in the magazines. The rear end will be what came out of the parts car you junked for the engine and trans. But it will be a decent appearing but maybe not mainstream ride that one can get in and go without having to take a second on the house to do.

 

Tip: When you buy a donor car for motor and trans, look on eBay and see if you can part other stuff out off it. Even if you sell a half dozen things out of the interior for $20 or so each, that's another $100 you're ahead and one piece of junk scrap will make up for the weight off the car at the scrapper. Something like an '80s Monte Carlo you can probably sell the shell to a stock car guy for more than scrap price, you won't get rich, but you'll be further ahead.

 

Rustoleum white paint thinned with gasoline on my $200.00 1970 Ford Maverick! Best car I ever owned!

 

I thought I got out cheap at $5000 for the customizing of my 57 Olds including body mods, paint and upholstery. But it looks like I might have overpaid by $4950.

 

I think $5k is a good goal for a running vehicle that you atually like. But it won't necessarily be pretty I'd rather have five $5K cars than one $25k car!

 

I'm not keeping track of my costs. When its done (?) it will never be for sale. I drive a co. truck so I'm able to do things a little different. Still being built in my garage with my hands and abilities.

 

I know you aren't gong to believe this but I had the equivilent of $2075 in this T I finished 9 years ago. Thats just parts as I dread to think of the labour costs. There were a lot of deals done to get the cost down low & I had access to an excellent engineering workshop. This is how it looks now painted by the new owner, I painted it Dark blue. The only stuff I didn't do were a few pieces made up on a lathe as I didn't have acess to one, but I had a friend who did who made them free.