Wow! Looks like it would be a labor of love, your estimates seem to be accurate but with old cars there's always the surprises. Some good, some not.

Be a fun project just to get back on the road, even if it's just a tribute to the drag car it once was. With the vintage speed stuff where it is in today's market, could be more profitable to go that route.
I would go for the full factory resto, but that can be a headache in itself. Only been working on my dad's for 26 or so years. I however can't bring myself to blow it apart completely to do the rotisserie thing yet.

If you're looking for a project I'd say go for it. If you already have a project, well then I'm not sure... but most likely won't be mad if you have two.

 

Wow! Looks like it would be a labor of love, your estimates seem to be accurate but with old cars there's always the surprises. Some good, some not.

Be a fun project just to get back on the road, even if it's just a tribute to the drag car it once was. With the vintage speed stuff where it is in today's market, could be more profitable to go that route.
I would go for the full factory resto, but that can be a headache in itself. Only been working on my dad's for 26 or so years. I however can't bring myself to blow it apart completely to do the rotisserie thing yet.

If you're looking for a project I'd say go for it. If you already have a project, well then I'm not sure... but most likely won't be mad if you have two.

Im not looking for another project. I feel any way you cut it your taking a 60-65k loss if you take this car to concourse. 40-45k if you make it original but not concourse. Restomod/custom is too difficult to estimate additionally its a K code if you were to do a resto or custom you could get a cheaper starting platform. This is a major project and in my opinion its priced too high.

 

I think you're light on the final value of that, particularly since it's a fastback.
I also think the resto will not be a joyride by any means and makes sense only back to concours. And, that said, it's one you would want to
do yourself because professionally done, you'd be keeping it yourself forever or losing money selling it.

 

I think you're light on the final value of that, particularly since it's a fastback.
I also think the resto will not be a joyride by any means and makes sense only back to concours. And, that said, it's one you would want to
do yourself because professionally done, you'd be keeping it yourself forever or losing money selling it.

You still lose 40-45k if you do it yourself unless you do metal and paint work yourself. If you do everything yourself you still lose 15k minimum.

 

I am talking with a shop to hand my car over to, for restoration, and IMO the shop I am talking to has low overhead. So that said,

I am looking at 25K for teardown and body work (and media blasting before body work) (all parts labeled and I come pick them up)
Paint is on me and I am getting quotes from 15-30K
Final assembly is 20K

All parts, / motor rebuild are extra.

That should give you an idea of a "low overhead " 2 guys who love mustangs kind of shop.

 

Ok so like 100-150k in that shop.

 

There are easier ways to lose money. But if you hold on to it after building it eventually you’ll break even. But as a fix and flip, not even in todays crazy prices.

 

Honestly for most restorations by the time they are finished the car is worth what you have into it. But its a loosing investment because you could put that money in the stock market in a conservative growth fund.

 

Get it running , fix as you want and drive it.

 

do you want it for investment to sell later or keep until your dead ? Thats the important question when you put lotsa money into one uh these cars. also survivor cars can be worth more. That was considered a cool as hell mustang back in the 70's. repairing the rust and keeping it like it is would be really cool. so many have been restored to original young people have no idea what we did to them back then

 

The other day on Barrett Jackson there was a red 1967 Shelby GT500 that was actually a true Shelby car, which was nicely done and believe it even had the original drivetrain. Long story short, the car only sold for $150k I believe it was, and it was a real Shelby. On top of that, it was also sold on Barrett Jackson which typically, although not always, has pretty nice cars with usually a better than average restoration. Although again, there's always exceptions to be made. If what Cason says above is true and shops are charging $60k-75k+ then I think you'd be very much upside down on this car, unless you simply don't care what it costs to do. Now you can obviously save a ton of money if you do the work, or the majority of the work on your own, but not everyone has the knowledge, time or space to do that. I think that a pristine K code fastback could likely go for more than the $70k-75k restored value that you stated above but I honestly don't think it would be much more than that? Maybe with a perfect restoration and being sold on BJ or something similar with a very "motivated buyer" could get you to see six figures? But I don't think that's too terribly realistic and even if you did sell the car for $100k, you'd still likely have at least $110k-115k into the car, if not considerably more.

 

And yet someone can buy that car, spend less than $20K, and have a nice looking, repaired with most things intact, because they know what to do, who to contact, and how to do it.

This is a 68 J code that just came back from paint. It is still on the dolly from Unique Performance, and had sat for 10+ years. It needed a lot of body work, and was painted completely apart, including the engine bay and interior.

$8K and it looks really good.

 

Is this 8k number recent. Your telling me someone is willing to do all that work for 23$ an hour? Most cars take somewhere around 250-300 hours especially the K code which is more like 400-600 due to metal work.

Theres just no way you can strip a car of paint, repair/replace the amount of metal this fastback needs, and bodywork and paint for 8K. They would go broke. Additionally if you know someone and they are doing it then they will expect something else in return which may not be money but a another service from you at a discount which still equates to money.

 

It seems to be listed at the "I don't want to sell it" price.

 

As the owner of a 6cyl car my car will never be anywhere close to the value of a V8 fastback. $45k for that in its current condition not including the restoration estimate is mind boggling. Although I recently read where some guy tracked down the first 6cyl car that rolled off the line for 65 and he had it restored. It's value was like $500k and I was blown away by that being a 6cyl.

 

Ya the first 6cylinder car is a museum piece hence the price tag. If it was the 50th for example it would have went for a normal price.

Also give it a few more years the value of your 6 cylinder car may surprise you.

 

I will make this clear I’m not looking to buy to this car. Nor did I say I was even considering it. I just was to discuss restoration costs. This car is similar to the condition that a lot of fastback projects sell for so it was a good way to start the discussion.

 

Restoration costs…

 

...excluding the purchase price, will be at, or more than the restored value of the car.

 

Be careful what you wish for, it could come true. So let’s say you restore it, then what?

 

If it were me, I’d flog the snot out of it
😜

 

For $10k-12k you should be able to get a nicer, better than just a daily driver paint job that has some actual care and decent work put into it. Cason's earlier post of ...

"I am looking at 25K for teardown and body work (and media blasting before body work) (all parts labeled and I come pick them up)
Paint is on me and I am getting quotes from 15-30K
Final assembly is 20K
All parts, / motor rebuild are extra."

... is just absolutely insane. It sounds like those guys either don't need the work or they're going to charge someone so much money that they'll do it, if the owner is that desperate. You should be able to find someone that can do a decent body/paint job for less than $15k. Which is body work, prep, materials and everything else... if you can't, then I'd look elsewhere or consider taking a road trip to someplace nearby that will do it for considerably less money. $60k-75k for a restoration that doesn't include parts or a refresh of the motor is just absolutely mind boggling to me.

 

For the people claiming that you can get paint and bodywork for < $20,000 if you are in Wisconsin or a neighboring state please let me know which shops.

I live in Madison, WI and I was shopping around a few years ago and all the reputable paint shops were at $20k as a starting point. I would say my car is in similar condition. Better overall paint but some rust repair needed I am sure.

 

Restoration costs are wild and varied. I interviewed a lot of shops in MN during the last two years to get a realistic benchmark for my 67 fastback.
Bottom line for me is it comes down to hours. Some places put a lot of hours in, some don't. In my area most shops were around 70/hr. The thing that I noticed is that body shops and restoration shops in particular do work to a certain level and they do not like to do a lower quality job on a car to save you money as their name is 'on' the car. The first thing someone asks when they see a recently completed car asks is 'who did the paint work?' then they create an opinion of that person based on what they see. Good bad or ugly...

A person needs to pick a shop that matches your budget and quality expectations. I went with a shop that has a great reputation and detailed out the estimated hours based on activities performed. He was definitely not the cheapest but I liked his approach the most. Now I'm afraid that it will be so nice I won't want to drive it... Ha

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Paint varies, and It depends if you want solely a "color change" or a restoration "paint job".
If you drop your car off to a good shop, and do it right-- media blast to bare metal, epoxy primer, replace rust (b/c its going to be there), black out pinch welds, slop grey the underside, and put it back as a roller -- you are in the 50k range (IMO this is what you do with a K- Code)

There are guys who paint out of a shop at their home (and do great work), and they have quoted me 15K, but they want a straight car with the body 95% ready. But you still have to pay for the body work and reassemble so it evens out.

If you shoot with top notch materials, supplies alone can hit 5K -- I am hearing Color code T (Red) is over $1,500 a gallon right now.

This is the reality I am seeing if you want quality work -- and I have not mentioned the multi year wait to get into a quality shop.


Side Note: If you have the money, buy this and hand it over to the OVC crew and get a modern Shelby--- I think you could come out ahead if you auctioned that in 5 years.

 

If you drop your car off to a good shop, and do it right-- media blast to bare metal, epoxy primer, replace rust (b/c its going to be there), black out pinch welds, slop grey the underside, and put it back as a roller -- you are in the 50k range (IMO this is what you do with a K- Code)

What?

 

My car has been blasted, rust repair done, and primed. Every nut and bolt removed. It is a shell right now.

Estimate of 32k for the following.
Paint 2 stage
Undercoat the bottom
Complete assembly to finish

All parts, engine and power train rebuild is in addition to that number...

Hours and parts, it all costs money. It is either hire someone at 70/hr and get it done in a reasonable timeframe or spend all my free time working on it and hope to get it done in many years. Opportunity costs.

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Not my listing, and it has been a long time since I painted a car from scratch, but

Pardon Our Interruption...

They have sold hundreds of kits of various red automotive paint for $150 a gallon with reducer and hardener.

I have seen this brand on cars, and it looks good, and It is probably better paint than was on the car originally.

 

Not my listing, and it has been a long time since I painted a car from scratch, but

Pardon Our Interruption...

They have sold hundreds of kits of various red automotive paint for $150 a gallon with reducer and hardener.

I have seen this brand on cars, and it looks good, and It is probably better paint than was on the car originally.

That is a very low quality acrylic enamel single stage paint that is about the lowest quality two part paint you can buy. Sure, it will be shiny and red when you spray it, but then so will any red spray can paint too. It will fade/lose color rapidly, it will get chalky and require frequent waxing and polishing, and I would not expect it to last more than a few years unless you really baby it and keep it garaged all the time. That is not what I would choose to paint just about any vehicle, except maybe a beater car for a teenager or something.

A decent or high quality paint that uses toners and base that will actually last a long time and provide good color depth and shine will cost much, much more. A middle of the road quality paint that would be commonly used on a nice driver quality paint job can easily be $3k in materials without breaking a sweat. That does NOT get you high show quality paint today, it gets you a lot of the typical good paint jobs you see at car shows and cruises. I'm talking about all the regular but nice drivers, not the six figure pro-built cars behind velvet ropes. Those will have five figures into paint materials alone.

Anything with a paint job nice enough for anyone to comment on it at a show will have a couple-few thousand into paint materials today.

 

I'm doing a 67 GT FB right now that I bought in 85 and drove for many many years. 20K paint 30K driveline 2K driveline incidentals, 5K front Suspension, 3K rear suspension 2.5K wheels/tires untold $ over the years in welders, frame connectors, floors, panels, yadda yadda. this is me doing all work except the paint. it will always be upside down. it is a labor of love. (have not even started to con$ider the interior)

having said all that - the guy is smoking crack asking 45 for the starting point... IMHO

 

I am also restoring a 67 GT FB. Currently the game plan is to do everything besides body and paint. Current paint has a cool patina but will eventually be redone. Im expecting 10-12k for driveline, steering, suspension, and brakes. This is assuming the engine and transmission are good internally if not the buget will shift up to 20k.