I spend money until I run out, or the wife catches me...whichever should come first.

 

Budget?? Spend until the job(engine rebuild, 'glass work, rear diff, etc.) is done right. If you don't have the $$ on hand to do it right, save until you do. No shortcuts allowed

 

You are not a 'cheapazz', just being careful about the spending.

Actually, setting up a 'budget' upfront for a project on your car does not make sense. What you need to do is make an 'estimate'. Before tearing stuff out. List out everything you think it may need, check prices and add an additional 30% for unexpected items.

Setting up a budget works before buying a car. Say... if you have 20k. You can find a body style that fits your price range. You may decide to buy a restored car for the whole amount or buy a basket case for 5k and spend the rest on restoring it.

 

Therapy might be good for keeping you sane, but people who spend $50k on $10k cars just aren't very bright, especially when they try to sell them for close to that.

 

"Experienced" Corvette owners kinda cringe when budget questions come up. That's because we all probably had some numbers in our heads when we started buying and working on these old cars. Those numbers barely get us started. So we are really laughing at ourselves. FYI - If you wanna keep to a budget, buy a car that's already done...

 

I'd say it depends on the reason for buying the car. Collectors have to keep a close eye on purchase price and cost of repairs to make sure they can get a positive return when they sell. It's more of a business than a hobby in this case.

If you're buying for yourself, a hobby, up to you what you want to spend. Have to keep in mind when you sell, you may not find someone who feels you car is worth as much as you may have invested.

I have a friend who buys and sells high priced vintage Mustangs, Shelbys, Boss 302, Boss 429, etc. He buys them as low as he can even if it means waiting a while. I don't think he ever really drives them, just tinkers, and sells later for a profit. More a collector/trader than a hobbyist.

 

If your not trading cars to make money, and this is a hobby or the car is for yourself, chances are you'll never be done anyway. It's really a case of "Scope Creep". You want to upgrade something or fix something, and next thing you know, the project is twice (or more!) what it started to be. You see in posts all the time. I was doing brakes and found this.... I was putting on shocks when I saw....it was a small noise from the rear end... Really hard to budget for that. That's why it takes so long to do these things. You do what you can when you can.

 

Controlling the money you're investing in your car is certainly a sensible goal. I don't have the willpower for it, but if I did I'd figure out what percentage of my income I was willing to spend on the car and use that as the budget.

 

I guess I'm outside the norm on this thread.
I believe setting up a budget at the unset of a project makes perfect sense.

"Budget" & "Estimate" are closly related terms.
A detailed inspection of the car will identify components that need to be replaced or refurbished and can be priced accordingly.

The theme of the build should also be identified at this point.
Stock or modified themes impact the restoration costs differently and should be priced accordingly.

In addition to the budget, a detailed schedule should also be developed and married to the budget to plan the cash outlay and man hour allocations.

IMO going into a major restoration project blind is an invitation for scope creep, cost overruns and ultimately a stalled project.
If planned correctly, you should not need more the a 10% contingency.

Most of the "project cars" you see on Ebay are a result of poor planning.

 

I don't know how big the budget may be for a typical restoration but will say there are many costly surprises you may run into. In the Northeast, rust is an issue. You can't find some of it until you take the car apart. Some repairs can be very expensive. If you're planning to spend $20K, maybe $30K on a restoration this may not be a significant hit.

Other unknowns as well. When I bought my 70 big block, the seller supplied a pile of receipts for engine work, brakes, etc. I ended up having to do the motor over since it was done so poorly. Didn't know this until I had a problem and opened it up, had tolerances checked. Some idiot replaced all pistons without boring the block. Standard bore, out of tolerance. Wrong lifters for the cam installed as well.

The safest buy would be to buy one which has already been restored, assuming the restorer knew what they were doing. The budget then would be much smaller I'd imagine. It always seems to cost more than you estimate to do an extensive overhaul. Quite often buyers do not want to pay for what it costs to restore the car unless it's something rare.

There are many hobbies which do not pay you back later on, probably a loss if the hobbyist decided to upgrade or drop the hobby, selling off gear, etc. For the hobbyist who enjoys cars I see it the same way. Spend what you're comfortable spending. Be realistic about what you expect to accomplish and if resale is in the near future, then keep an eye on costs. Many hobbies do not make any money at all.

If your interest is more in collecting/trading, buy as low was possible, keep a close eye on what goes into the car before selling/trading. Less of a hobby, more a business.

 

$10,000 over budget is significant on most projects.

Setting up a budget for restoring an old car should include an allowance for refurbishing or replacing drive train components.

The initial inpection should dictate the allowance.

Whether it is a $20K restoration or a $100K restoration, proper planning is the key to success.

 

True, if you plan to refurbish or restore the drive train. In my case this was not the plan. Seller had already done so. Found out later, done poorly. Maybe assume the drive train will need refurb or replacement regardless of what the seller claims?

Maybe, but only so far as we can detect serious problems by inspection only. Rust as I mentioned cannot always be detected by casual inspection. I found a few spots only after taking trim off and poking around.

Maybe be quite pessimistic when generating an estimate? I don't know if I'd ever start a project in this case. Assume the worst, buy one already done?

Mine may be an unusual case? Could have been a case of a saavy seller putting money into what ever can be seen? If the car is bought to flip, the seller will put as little into it as possible. Money spent on making it look good. If the car is being bought for yourself, it seems money is first spent to ensure the basics are sound, paint, etc, comes after the rest of the restoration is complete. A bit off topic. Just saying it can be tough to anticipate what the costs will be unless you're buying either a survivor or a reasonably well done restoration.

My budget has always been what ever I feel comfortable spending each year. Considering options once in a while, sell and buy another or keep going. Sometimes considering sell and drop the hobby altogether, spend my money elsewhere.

 

Budget? Really? then Baby would never get completed....We spent ~$30K last year, and the only reason I know this, is the wife seems to keep a running tally, but she is good with it, just wants to know. and another $10K is ESTIMATED for near completion this year..... now I did say estimated... if its more, its more... o' well.... And I also said NEAR completion, because a C3 is NEVER really complete or done, there is always something else to mod, upgrade or fix....always...... A C3, is the "Never ending story"

the trick? get your wife to buy in... mine loves to race and go on runs... nothing gets the looks of a C3, nothing.... and she likes that, and that lets me spend more $$$$$$$$$

 

I'm truly sorry your motor turned out the way it did. Blind faith and trust in the seller can kill the costs of any project.
What did your initial compression test reveal?

Rust issues are common on most project cars and must be taken seriously when inspecting the car.
A "casual" inspection will not always reveal what is hidden, but a "detailed" inspection usually does.

IMO the planning stage should start before you buy the car.

Knowing the cost to restore each area of the car really helps in the selection process.

Typical estimates could include the following ares:

Frame/body mounts
Suspension (front/rear)
Steering system
Brake system
Fuel system
Drive train
Wheels/tires
Cooling system
AC system (if applicable)
Emission system
Electrical system
Body/Paint/trim
Chrome
Glass/Weather seals
Interior

As you know, each area can be broken down further for a more accurate estimate.

The cost of tooling, hardware and shop supplies are also often overlooked.

Having this type of information available to you takes the guesswork out of the inspection, minimizes the contingency and gives you a benchmark to track your progress/spending.

 

I didn't do a compression test. The reason I had to tear the motor down was because a retainer clip had popped out of a lifter and wound up in my oil pump. Snapped the shaft. I wasn't sure of the bottom end so I tore the motor down and had a local, very reputable machine shop evaluate the parts. Ended up buying a new set of pistons, 30 over, new crankshaft (couldn't find a used crank back then), cam, bearings, etc. IMO the rebuilder was either an idiot or was putting minimal $$ in to claim the motor was rebuilt.

Sort of. I found some rust on the header of the windshield frame. Can't tell the extent of rust until the glass is removed. I will be dealing with this soon....

I'm really not unhappy with this car. I bought it 27 years ago, many of the surprises I found long ago. I don't know off hand how much I have in it to date. I do all work myself when I can. Farm out only jobs I don't have tools or expertise to handle.

Another observation I can offer is my goals have changed considerably from when I was in my twenties to now. I expect much better quality than I did way back then. Another contributor to cost. Goals, priorities may shift over a long period of time.

Getting back to the original question, I never really had a budget other than what I feel comfortable spending each year, how much cash I have on hand. I do think about what my goals are now, how much would I expect to pay for a vehicle which meets my current expectations. How much might I get for mine? If it's cheaper to sell mine and buy another, that's a possibility however I'd be quite cautious having been slightly burnt years ago. I know every square inch of the car I own now. Overall it's in much better condition where it really counts (not just cosmetics) than when I bought it.

 

My equation goes like this:

Disposable Income-Work on Vette=More work on Vette.

But seriously, I agree with Mudbone on paying too little. You're gonna have to live with the result of your project-funding, whatever it is. I went cheap a couple times and now have to look at it, until I get tired of looking at it, and pay more $$ to fix it.

 

I started spending money and havent finished...

Just about ready to puke....but I can do it once right....or mess with it over and over until I want to throw enough cash at it to do it right...

So it's take a huge bath...or a "huger" bath....

 

Come on guys,you know that there is no budget on these cars.If a person were to put a million dollars into his c3 ,it still would not be done yet.There will always be something that needs to be done ,or down the road after having your car for 20 to 30 years you will have to do a rebuild again,so it never stops.You all know this is true.So having a budget really doesnt exist with these cars.

 

I guess another way to look at this is what a paint job costs. The guys that have been doing this for a long time and are still in business must know how to "budget", or quote a their work. The good ones are few and far between. And their prices are sky-high. In fact, I only know of 1 really good one here is the SF Bay Area. He is well known, respected and filthy expensive. He once told me to start with a better car...

 

Not sure I agree totally. Yes, costs can grow over 20 years, but you're speaking of multiple projects on the same car.

We've be speaking of starting and executing a new project.

If you ever took a car to a professional shop for a restoration, I would hope they could develop a detailed estimate for the scope you define and stick to it.

As amateurs, adopting the ability to estimate and execute within a budget makes sense to me.