Anyone Here Restore an Old Muscle Car

kevhed72

Im pushing the age where all the little birds will have left the nest and I will have alot of extra time on my hands. My better half actually has not squashed the idea after we get everyone else "settled" (inside joke). So those of you have done this....how much fun was it, what were the biggest annoyances, and would you do it again? Right now I am digging 72 to 74 Camaros and 76 to 78 Trans Ams. Curious as the other's experiences....

stangman67

I’ve done a couple mustangs, mine extensively. It’s a ton of fun, as long as you go in with the right mindset. Old cars are difficult and next to nothing will go the way you expect it to during the restoration process. You have to be patient and willing to fight through issues. Choose a car that has good aftermarket/repop parts availability as you will need to replace way more that you think you will need to. Also be realistic with the budget. Old car restoration IS NOT CHEAP. Fasteners and other small items will nickel and dime you to death

Best advice I can give is get something with a solid body. Sheet metal work is difficult and repop body panels fit terribly and require a ton of cutting and reshaping/welding to get the fit decent.

I will definitely do it again. The reward of doing it yourself is something else

audioluvr

I did a 72' Plymouth Duster and a 68 Dodge D100 when I was in my 30's and early 40's. It was a rewarding project that I have fond and bad memories of. It will keep you occupied for years, takes a lot of dry storage space for all the parts during disassembly (my 30 x30 garage was FULL!), lots of patience as many parts are rusted together or break during disassembly. Luckily for you Chevy buffs there are literally tons of aftermarket suppliers and you could probably build one from the ground up with all the aftermarket parts. Fords are a little less on the aftermarket supplies but still good. Mopars, well you'd best hope you can find donor cars somewhere in good shape (unless it's a 'Cuda).

Would I do it today? FK no! It'd be like if the ol' lady wanted to have another kid. I'd get fixed the next day!

kevhed72

audioluvr wrote: »

Would I do it today? FK no! It'd be like if the ol' lady wanted to have another kid. I'd get fixed the next day!

Priceless right there....lol

simm

I have thought of doing the same thing with an early ‘70’s Chevelle or Camaro but then I start thinking about the money it would cost and my limited skills and time involved so am considering buying a new Dodge Challenger Scat Pack and just driving it. Tons of power and I really like the retro look. Problem is with current car shortage looking at paying top dollar for one. No matter which way I go I would have the same amount of money in either an old or new car.

invalid

A friend of mine has over 40 classic cars that he restored, he bought most of them out west with no rust, but the interiors were sun faded and cracked. He went out west ever year and filled up a car hauler to get a better deal on transporting them to Michigan. He still buys one occasionally and repaints and restores the interior even now that he is in his 70's, I guess he really likes doing it.

charley96

Save yourself the aggravation,buy one already done.

kevhed72

I think if I am serious about this, I would need another garage. And the garage would require another hi fi. This is already sounding expensive.

DaveHo

Sorry if this is a stupid or demeaning question, but do you have any experience with doing basic maintenance and mods? Do you have an extensive collection of tools? Are you willing to sink more into it than what it's worth? It really has to be a labor of love to restore a classic.

nooshinjohn

I have been down that road a couple times, but the last one ripped my heart out and I don't want that again. I had a 1963 Buick Riviera. It was white over red, 425 dual quad car from the original owner. Harold was a NASA engineer, and the car still wore the Mission Control sticker from Houston on the windshield and the Cape Canaveral sticker on the front bumper. I spent ten years trying to get the car from him. Finally in 2005, he gave in and I towed the car home. It sat so long in his driveway that the tires were stuck to the asphalt.

I spent six months working on the car to get everything back in shape mechanically, finally getting the car roadworthy two weeks before Harold passed away. He took one last ride all over Los Angeles with me and never once lost that ear to ear smile he had when he heard it running again after 25 years of neglect.

I brought the car with me to Indiana when my wife got into Purdue, but was forced to sell when the economy cratered... I never did complete the restoration, and the guy who bought it from me decided to rat-rod the car. It was way too nice for that fate, as all it needed then was paint and some minor interior work. To this day I kick myself in my fat azz for letting that one go....

audioluvr

DaveHo wrote: »

Sorry if this is a stupid or demeaning question, but do you have any experience with doing basic maintenance and mods? Do you have an extensive collection of tools? Are you willing to sink WAY more into it than what it's worth? It really has to be a labor of love to restore a classic.

Fixed it...

audioluvr

But if that's what you want to do with your free time, don't let us stop you. It's truly a labor of love. I've done cars, boats, RV's and a house. Cars are the only one that was a terrible investment. Now if you find an uber rare, highly desirable early muscle car in a barn for cheap we'll all come over to help!
Just supply the beer.

Nesmith98

I have a 1970 Camaro that I've been working on for a few years(longer than I want to admit), and yes it is a lot of work. You have to decide what you want to do with it...i.e. driver, street/strip, show car at the local shows or an "Auto Rama" type car that is pristine condition. I always preferred drag racing instead of the car shows, so I'm going for the street/strip type of car that looks pretty good but not going to win any trophies at the local car shows. I prefer to drive it and have fun with it rather than have it perfect and always sitting in the garage.
@charley96 is right, sometimes you can find a deal on one that is already finished or near completed.

rtart

I've done several. Favorites are a 67 Chevelle Super Sport and a 72 corvette LT-1. Unless you already have a car, or one that has been in the family-owned car (or some other sentimental reason) I'd suggest looking for a 'real' classic. For example, while a 74 to 77 Vette project car might be cheaper to buy than a 68 to 72, the parts, paint, labor, etc. are going to be about the same price. It's not fun to put umpteen hours and several thousand dollars into a car and then discover it's worth less than the parts you bought. I'd also shy away from the 'matching numbers' cars, since you will pay a fortune for them, and then probably not want to risk driving them. My 72 Vette is matching numbers, 4 speed and every option, (and I rode home in it from the dealership) but it's not the one I would choose for a project today. I'd find a decent 'driver' and drop in the drivetrain from an LT-1 or later, for reliability's sake.

Unless you REALLY want to do it all yourself, buying a classic with new running gear is the way to go. You may spend $30k plus on a 60's era musclecar, but it won't depreciate like a new car. You can drive it for a few years, enjoy the heck out of it, then sell it and probably make money. Try that with a new car.

kevhed72

DaveHo wrote: »

Sorry if this is a stupid or demeaning question, but do you have any experience with doing basic maintenance and mods? Do you have an extensive collection of tools? Are you willing to sink more into it than what it's worth? It really has to be a labor of love to restore a classic.

Well, I am pretty handy but not at car stuff. My old man built an alcohol dragster back in the day and set some speed records at the time at US 30, but I never got into all of it when younger. The extent of my car fixin includes changing a battery and replacing headlight bulbs....lol.

TEAforONE

My wife suggested that I restore an old muscle car when I retire. She said it would be a fun project for me. I showed her my buddies 55’ Chevy. I told her that he had approximately $80K into it. She said audio is a nice hobby!

oldrocker

I suppose it's like re-doing some old vintage audio gear except more costly, but the reward seems worth the cost to some.

My ole beater is a 1976 L82 Stingray, has 69k original miles, is all original.
Not a muscle car by any means but in extremely good shape with very low miles.

It was scheduled to have a full blown re-do about 8 years ago, but my old school mechanic buddy sadly got cancer and passed away right before it was going to happen.

Before he passed, Terry had done some minimal work on it and was a great experience working with
him on it.

Terry told me to have the right expectations, find the right mechanic and have a good relationship/communication with whoever is doing the work along with plenty of money to do it right.
Know what you expect when it's done and enjoy it.

Even in its, fully un-restored condition it's a blast to go to the ice cream shop a few times a year.

I can't even remember how many guys have come up to me and said, "I had one of those years ago, wish I'd never sold it".

Toolfan66

Too old for that these days, I would rather buy a car already done than work on one till I expire so someone else will benefit from it before I can even enjoy it. I semi restored a 70 Monty Carlo in the 90’s, I fully enjoyed working on it, building your own motor is a blast, and IMO the best part of the build, body work, sanding, and prepping is the worst..

dromunds

I restored a few in the 90’s, rebuilt the motors too. Did a bunch of tractors and other stuff in the 2000’s Sort of like audio, you are way better off buying one that somebody else already rebuilt. Wait and save up until the economy goes to Hades which probably won’t be all that long and then there will be all kinds of vehicles available that are already done, and probably cheap. Happens every time there’s a recession. Even those will probably need some minor work but when you get into full rebuild it will add up unbelievably quick. Mostly fun but when unexpected problems pop up it’s no fun and can drain your wallet fast.

verb

kevhed72 wrote: »

Im pushing the age where all the little birds will have left the nest and I will have alot of extra time on my hands. My better half actually has not squashed the idea after we get everyone else "settled" (inside joke). So those of you have done this....how much fun was it, what were the biggest annoyances, and would you do it again? Right now I am digging 72 to 74 Camaros and 76 to 78 Trans Ams. Curious as the other's experiences....

Do it! The journey is awesome! I started out doing the 59 Bel-Air, got it running, major mechanical stuff, but time got in the way, so I started to farm things out. Paint/Bodywork/Interior wass beyond what I can do at that time.

But I tell ya, now that it's finished, I just tinker around with it, drive it during the summer, still love it, but I miss the journey!

Who knows, maybe once retired, I'll certainly have a lot more time to do another one - Nah, I'd have to build another garage!