Any one out there restored their Vette? About how long did it take and any pointers?

 

Your question is very broad. You need to decide how far you want to go and how much your budget is. How much of the work can you do yourself and how much of the restoration is going to be done by somebody else? When I did my 76, I listed everything I wanted done to the car. After that, I made two columns on a sheet of paper. One was the things I had the ability to do and the other column was what I was going to farm out. You can get prices on parts from many different vendors but try to buy the best quality parts you can. Cheaper parts usually cost more in the long run because you will have to replace it sooner than a quality part. Cheaper parts also cost more time because of fitment problems. It's more important to do it right not fast. It can be a fun project and if planned properly, some of the project can be done without taking the car off the road for extended lenghts of time. Do as much research as possible on the different areas such as interior, paint, engine work, etc. I also tried to spend as much time with the people I had to use like the engine builder and the painter.Although I couldn't do those jobs, I learned alot from these people and learned to appreciate the work they do. Some of these people are true artist in their own profession. Good luck.

 

took the body off 5 months ago. ( 6 week holiday to the USA and other things held me back).
Finally taken everything ( chassis only) apart ready for sandblasting. At this rate another 36 years

 

I am on year 3 and still figure 2 more with living life every day. Keep in mind this is a hobby and as much as we all love it, we still have more important resposibilities that are necessary to maintain a balanced karma. Mine is a every nut and bolt frame off restoration and hunting the parts is half the adventure. Time really doesn't matter, just enjoy the trip and keep prespective. Good luck.

 

A true "nut and bolt" restoration will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $17 to 20 thousand dollars if you do most of the work yourself. You will then have a very nice car which might sell for 12-15K on a good day. Unless the car is a family heirloom, or you wish to learn the resto trade by starting with a relatively low value vehicle, or want to do it just to see if you can it makes poor economic sense to go that far with a 76 (or my 77) for that matter.

Perhaps it would be nearly as rewarding, and much more practical to do a frame on rehabilitation so you can also enjoy driving the car some as you upgrade it? How much work does it realy need to make your "great driver, not show car" list?

 

Depends on how much you bought the car for and how much of it can be restored rather than replaced with bootleg reproduction parts(yes, save for seat covers, most every repro part i have bought i have either had to return or modify). If you have the skills and the car is solid you can restore it for decently cheap. If you cant do most/all of the work yourself, do yourself a favor and buy one thats been restored already or markids77 extremely high prediction of costs could be right on the money.

 

There are two or three Corvette restoration books. Buy all of them, read through them to learn what others of have, then use the best items out of each. There is no one single source How To for these cars.

Good luck.

 

Hi mk,
The more work you have other people do, the faster the restoration can go; but the more it costs. Since it's all to easy to spend more on a restoration than the car is worth, many people do things themselves.
Rather than think 'calendar', I believe a better estimate is hours spent.
Since there are many definitions of 'restoration', the time spent by you or others can vary greatly...500 hours?.... 1000 hours?....4000hours?.
If you're going to do the work you can try to determine a realistic amount of hours you'll actually spend each week, month, or year, to come up with a finish date. For many people that date turns out to be off by months or years.
When I restored my car I really didn't think about a finish date... when it was done it would be done. That was fine with me, but obviously is not acceptable for most people.
What are your plans for your car? That will affect the time involved.
Regards,
Alan