great articles in Classic Motorsports and online recently


http://classicmotorsports.net/articl...t-really-cost/


quick highlights


When I first looked at this car, the owner was asking $10,000–and boldly told me that it was worth $25,000 when it was done. I explained to him that he was absolutely right: Once I bought his car for $10,000 and put another $25,000 in it, it would be worth $25,000.
He sheepishly cut his asking price in half and I bought the car.

Fast-forward a few years, and we are nearly done restoring this cool little numbers-matching 1967 Mini Cooper S. On the plus side, in concours condition it is now worth more like $40,000; on the minus side, it was (of course) way rougher than we originally thought. We just got finished with nearly 200 hours of welding and fabrication just to make the shell perfect again.


So we bought a Mini for $5000, and spent $10,000 at Mini Mania for parts. Let’s not forget the used door and other pieces we got from Heritage Garage–better add another $1000 there. We spent a few thousand in machine work doing the head and rebuilding the transmission. We bought Vredestein tires and Koni shocks; this set us back another $1500 or so. We spent another $2000 rebuilding the rest of the suspension, since we decided to stick with the original displacers {wet suspension}. A paint job is going to set us back $5000, and that‘s only because our paint guy takes real, real good care of us. We got a new wiring harness from British Wiring, an insulation kit from Quiet Ride Solutions, and we had the original heater rebuilt by Ron Jernigan. Chock up another grand or two. We sent the gauges to Nisonger, and while they come back perfect every time, that cost a few bucks as well.


Add this all up, throw in the additional $5000 in miscellaneous expenses that I know this car will need before it is done, and we have a grand total of nearly $35,000. Right off the bat, we’re $10,000 over the $25,000 cost I quoted the original owner when I bought the car. We always seem to underestimate costs–plus, as we have mentioned, although this car was very original and had all its numbers matching, it had been ridden hard and put away very, very wet.


At least I can comfort myself with the idea of a $5000 profit on my projected $40,000 sale, right? Yes and no. Notice that we haven’t talked about labor. Along with my buddies Jere and Tom, I have some 500 hours in this car already. At $20 an hour, that’s about $10,000. At a more realistic $50-$70 shop rate, that’s a cubic crapton of money

B4 anyone says they would have saved money by not using Mini Mania ..... they were a "partner" in the series and are an advertiser ...
{and u can use code LITTLECAR for 10% off .... until they catch me}

It CERTAINLY can be done for less ... these guys can write the whole thing off to business expense! But note the hours .... you can do the welding and maybe some of the fabrication and much of the paint prep ... but if you scrimp on it expect to see the result in the end.

{and if you read the full articles note that todays 'best' paint jobs require filler . . . . . something you might have seen if you watch the hot rod builder TV shows}

 

And you could do it in ol Blighty for about 25% of that....


Makes me wonder why people bother fixing these old cars up anymore, and who would pay $40K for ANY old Mini!


(I know, others have gone for even stupider money)


But, we love 'em, don't we?

 

very cool article

if you space the work out over a few years and do it piece by piece it shouldn't be too bad though. at least you'd feel it less than going all in all at once.

I'd probably spend about 20K on a well done classic, but it would need to have a vtec so I could daily drive it. without the ability to reliably drive it I couldn't justify that kind of money.

 

Well...guess if you want to make a trailer queen rich mans toy, that is the way to go....
A driver from the parts list, not orgional enough to be a show car...
Guess somebody might want a $40,000+ Mini...
But spending that kind of $$$ on a rebuilt economy car built in great numbers is kinda odd...
Sure I love mini's...but new, they were pretty cheap, lower build quality cars...
To rebuild one PERFECTLY is making a mini something it never was, even new.
Reminds me of a ugly girl getting $300,000 in plastic surgery....pretty on the outside, but still the same under it all....

 

so you're against improving it just because when it was made originally it wasn't made top quality? I guess if that's what you're into.

 

You do it because you enjoy it as a passion or hobby, not for profit usually. Most of the car shows on tv usually show scant profits and even then they rarely account for labor. I wish I had the skills to do a full restore job.