Should I buy a new car, or restore an old one?

[Zeuski]

As a new driver, i'm contemplating as to whether i should look into buying/leasing a new car, or driving the family cars for a few years while I restore an old junkyard car to a great car that i'd drive for years.

the problem is, i have no idea how to find a car that i would want to restore. My dream car would be (dont laugh, i know its rediculous) a wrecked ferrari 250 GT series, but since that's probably impossible i would be willing to settle for an american classic, like a '71 Chevelle SS or a '69 Camaro Z28.

where could i find a cheap restorable car? should i even invest in a vehicle that I might not be able to complete? Any advice would be appreciated.

[sickcallawayc12]

Restoring usually takes a lot of time, work, and a good budget, though budget depends on the car. It does make for a nice hobby though and you certainly will learn a lot about cars. One of my uncles has restored a few muscle cars, can't remember what ones cuz i was really young at the time. The last one he was doing he couldn't finish cuz he didn't have the money to finish, but was my grandma's old Dodge Dart. I say don't do it only because you're a new and young driver. For now, save money towards a project like this and get some knowledge about cars and its components before you begin. Perhaps there's some automotive courses at a nearby community college or something.

[odqlesz]

Originally Posted by Zeuski

As a new driver, i'm contemplating as to whether i should look into buying/leasing a new car, or driving the family cars for a few years while I restore an old junkyard car to a great car that i'd drive for years.

the problem is, i have no idea how to find a car that i would want to restore. My dream car would be (dont laugh, i know its rediculous) a wrecked ferrari 250 GT series, but since that's probably impossible i would be willing to settle for an american classic, like a '71 Chevelle SS or a '69 Camaro Z28.

where could i find a cheap restorable car? should i even invest in a vehicle that I might not be able to complete? Any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry to tell you but a '71 Chevelle SS or a '69 Camaro Z28 are not cheap.
Even ones that need restoring are about $10,000 If you want a cheap
restorable car, consider a nova.
When/if you get this car, easily tripple the amount of time and money it
will take to restore it.

[sarah2007]

if you dont have millions of spare hours then its better to buy

['97ventureowner]

Why does it have to be a new car? There are plenty of "almost new" (one to three year old vehicles) out there for sale at much lower prices (and monthly payments) than brand new. Also a large chunk of the depreciation has already been taken off by the previous owner, and your insurance bill could be lower because it's not considered brand new any more. The auto industry has changed so much in the last decade with the influx of "off lease","program cars" trade in, etc flooding the used car market.In fact there are many dealers now that deal exclusively in these vehicles and a couple in my area gave up their new car dealerships in favor of selling these cars alone.
You can get many vehicles just 2 to 3 years old that are over $10,000 off the price they were new, and many of these vehicles have low mileage.
By buying one of these vehicles, you can save money, and then take that "saved money" and buy a car to restore later on. The best of both worlds.
Something to consider.

[oedipussy]

Honestly, in the long run, I'd recommend restoring an old classic if you're up for it, since you have other forms of transportation to fall back on while you do it and it should cost you less than buying a brand new car. Restoring cars is very rewarding, especially if you enjoy doing the work. You end up with a cool, uniqe car with character that you know inside and out, as opposed to a soulless hunk of metal from a dealership.

First off all, forget the muscle cars for now - due to the demand for them they're ridiculously overpriced, especially Chevys. If you're going to buy a project car, especially for your first one, don't spend much more than $1,000 for it. You can find a solid, complete car to restore for less than a grand. Ebay would be an excellent place to find a project car, just search through Vintage Car & Truck Parts>Parts Cars and see if something peaks your interest. Save your money for the actual work that you'll have to put into it, as that's what's going to cost you. I don't recommend putting more money into it than the car is actually worth. It depends on the car and what you can do yourself, but if you have the right equipment you should be able to complete the project very comfortably with a $10,000 budget. I'm nearly finished restoring a '58 Desoto and currently I've only spent about $7,500 - well under the high retail value of the car - and a year or so of hard work on it.