The thread where the member asked "how much is enough" got me thinking....Total cost & factors for purchase....


BACKGROUND OF STORY: I did my research on buying a C3 vette many months before I bought the current car. Obviously I wanted a 68-73 first of all, preferably an Oregon/California car due to the lack of rust issues. Sadly, there aren't very many Vettes here in the Northwest to begin with, especially the chrome bumper cars. Of the chrome bumpers that were available, many were already listed as "classics" which ran from $18,000 to $40,000. This was too much discretionary cash for a fun "third car."

So, I had always liked the tail end of the 80-82 vettes & had a leaning that direction. But really, I was just looking for any really good, strong, unmolested C3. I had driven a few, tire kicked and done due dilligence on my reasearch of this forum and other Vette forums. PLUS, I did the ebay research thing. I wanted a car that was all there, which ensured that I wouldn't be dumping of erroneous cash into a bottomless pit.

I ended up buying a super tight, clean & unmolested 1980 with brand new tires, a new engine & tranny. Everything on the car is there. No Bubba, no hacking, hooked up the battery and just like that....BBBrrrrummm! It fired right up!




The car sat in an old warehouse, under an older but rarely used Wolf car cover. I bought it for a KICK@SS price of only $7,200 from a person who's family member had been the original owner but had a life ruining illness.


Since it was supposed to be "perfect runner" and not require any additional money here's what it really costs

Vette: $7200
headers: $399
Custom exhaust: $1200
Aftermarket carb: $300
Aftermarket Intake: $400
Tach repair: $100
Bilstein sport shocks: $300
Poly Bushings: $100
Stereo & Speakers: $300
Chrome stuff under the hood: $500
Steering Box: $300
Arm rest console: $40
New tools (timing gun, tach, dwell hand tools etc): $400
New tool boxes (craftsman baby! ): $600
Emblems: $85
Armor all/ cleaners/ polishes/ wash mits: $200
Fuel Pump: $70
Labor for certain above items: $1,100

===============================
About $14,000 in one year alone!

Thank god my wife isn't reading this thread


How much has your "project" cost this year?

 

Well, my 1980 ia an original Calif car and this year I have sunk $5,000 into it with a new crate 350 and exhaust. Now it is alos an Oregon cruiser and I love it!

 

i did an interior/exterior color change ZZ4 crate in my '79...only thing i didn't repair or replace was radiator and A/C system and rear end....bout 24k.....looks like i'll have this one a lifetime trying to get my moneys worth

 

I'm going to leave my answer at: A lot more than that.

I'm not just counting this year though. I have a stack of receipts that I'm not willing to add up. I'm also doing a full frame off though. I've been wondering when enough is enough but I haven't found out yet.

 

I feel your pain brotha!!! I bought my my 76, ( 3 years ago for $6200) for a "project car" that only needed engine work to make it nice. The paint was decent at 10 feet, interior looked decent, engine ran ok but smoked like 007.

Since then:

new 383 stroker ~$4000....which has since seen a cracked block
dewitts aluminum radiator, new interior, .........I would keep talkin here but I don't have the 20 minutes to type all the money I have spent. I mean crap, I even bought a 20 ton shop press to press out my U-joints and etc. I probably have $16000 in the car and $5000 in tools.

The worst part is:::::My vette is sitting in my garage with no motor or tranny



BUT this spring: 500hp, rebuilt super t-10. Maybe I won't feel so bad then.

 

Ok, this thread got me wondering so I went ahead and added up that stack of receipts. $18,500 and still needs a ton of stuff:

Hooker Side Exhaust
Finish the engine
Paint & Body
Interior

Not to mention the parts I didn't have the receipts handy for, the misc nuts and bolts, the tools, etc......

What are you gonna do? These things always cost more than you originally planned.
I'm estimating $25 - $30K before it's all done.

 

Most of us have more in to our cars than they are worth if we tried to sell them. I could have bought a nice new car for what I have spent on my "Vette in the last 2 years (probably around $20K) and the car is far from being finished.
I look at it like purchasing art and antiques (and these cars are both), it doesn't matter how much you paid as long as you enjoy it.

 

 

If you restore a plastic bumper car for $20,000. Your fine.
Take $20,000 down to a dealer, and see if you can score a VW or a Toyota, or whatever. $20,000 doesn't get you s__t. But for $20,000, you have a brand new Vette.

 

$20k in receipts not counting the $12k in paint or the purchase price of the car .....you're not supposed to count, just enjoy.

 

Amen!! Good perspective.

 

And that VW or a Toyota ain't worth squat 5 years from now and the Vette will be worth more

 

$1200 for custom exhaust????? Got any pics of this system? Is it stainless?

Just built my own custom system...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1629872

If I could charge people $1200 bucks for that, I'd be in heaven.

 

We spent 8900 on ours. Sounds similar to yours, sound mechanical shape, good running engine, nice interior, but ours had ****ty paint and a cracked fender. We did all the paint and body work, bought new bumpers and trim, new hood and new wheels/tires and managed to get back on the road with $15.5 including the purchase price.

Now by the time we do the upgrades to the suspension we want and clean the frame and paint it we'll have 20k in it...and then we have this LS2 pipe-dream in mind for the engine...and then, god it goes on forever with these cars

 

Don't ask...

The exhaust was done...TWICE!


At first, I just wanted a new custom system & kept the shorty headers... (I got cheap & thought the Shorties would suffice). BAD IDEA! I should've just had the new headers put on while the rest of the new exhaust was being built

So, now, 5 months later I had the shorties taken off and the exhaust re-routed to the stans Tri-Y headers...more $ spent.:o


Word of wisdom....Do it right & spend a few extra dollars the first time. Because now I am double paying for new fabrication to replace some of the old/new materials AND LABOR.

 

i have kept all the receipts on the vette.......well for my current project i am not keeping ANY!!!!!

 

I pulled my front calipers with full intention of rebuilding them myself to save some $. By the time I added it all up it was clearly smarter to drop a little extra cash and get the full package fron VB&P...just spend the dough the first time and get it right, especially in critical safety areas. If I break down, oh well. If I don't stop, OH S***T!

I spent 7K for my 79 in August 2005. I recently added everything up (I kept every receipt) because in my mind I felt like I had only spent maybe an extra 2K...turned out to be more like $4500. No problem cause I feel like it's all valuable work, and I'm almost done with phase 1: safety and reliability. Now as I find the extra time and cash I'll work on cosmetics and performance. No rush...fix what needs to be fixed and enjoy the ride.

 

Women just don't understand mens needful things. My priorities are babies (the vettes), beer, fishing, and of course sex. I'm over fifty and the latter is not as high on the list as it once was.
The hardest thing I have to do is to make sure the postman delivers after she goes to work and keep a healthy balance in the cunning kick (private money)

 

We all seem to focus on the cost of the Vette and the truth is our DD's, on average, cost us more!...We all know about financing and depreciation but rarely think about it...If we did, it would surely make make us sick to our stomach. The truth is.... a 20-30K loss over 5 yrs is not too uncommon.

 

I got it down to $7995.00 since I would not have made some of the changes you did, do my own work so there would have been no labor costs, and would probably have rebuilt the steering box myself.

I'd still have about $5K in my pocket.

Whatever floats your boat!