Need help with classic pontiacs

[cmcalpin2002]

I just bought 2 fixer uppers. A 1960 pontiac ventura 4 door hardtop and a 1960 pontiac catalina 4 door coupe. I want to restore the ventura and the catalina is for parts. Does anyone sell new aftermarket sheetmetal for these? I mean fenders rockers ect. Or do I have to settle for good used ones? The floor on the ventura is mostly rotten and I had to airchisel the seat bolts out which tore through the floor. The trunk is also rotten. Is this easily fixed with sheet steel or do I need to find an actual trunk pan and floor pans. Any advice would be appreciated as I never realized how rotten these cars were until I started pulling up the carpeting. Cory

[65Ponchoboy]

Ames Performance "www.amesperformance.com" has a catalog for 55-76 Full size pontiacs. hope it helps.



65 Tempest Custom

[cmcalpin2002]

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but when you got a car such as these with rotted out floorpans and a rotten trunk pan, is it easily fixed or are these cars too far gone? I know these cars especially the ventura, are not found just anywhere. So I sort of feel like I have found something kind of rare even if they are in need of major surgery. Cory

[65Ponchoboy]

it depends if u really like the car or not. well what u should really do is jack the car up and check for frame rust. if its rusted through the frame rails really bad get rid of the car unless u want to take it to a professional welder and have the frame fixed. for the pans just take the body off the frame and out it on a rotiscorrie (dunno if i spelled it right) and cut out all the rust. get some sheetmetal and fab some peices to fit the spaces where it rusted out. weld it in and u have a new pan. but as they say "restore em dont junk em"

[MagicRat]

Sure these cars are rare, but they are not worth very much. If you like the car and like working on it, its probably wothwhile. But it will cost much more money than the car will be worth in the end.
You could probably locate a convertable which needs the same amount of work and end up with a valuable car, for the same time and effort.

[cmcalpin2002]

They are not really worth that much? I seen a 4 door restored to original which sold for 12,000 dollars. Maybe that was rare that it sold that high. I have dabbled with later 60s model trucks when I was younger but never anything older than 65s. And those were chevy pickups so something like this is new to me. Cory

[65Ponchoboy]

heres how it is man if u like ur car keep it and restore it if u dont want to spend all the time restoring it just get rid of it.

[Andrewh]

The problem is that pretty much any car runs around 20k to restore. That is starting with a good car, and going for a full resto, including dipping or at least media blasting.
The better the car the less you have to do. No one ever makes money off restoring a car except professionals that already have a name. So while 12k is a lot of money, it is not enough to invest in the time to restore a rusted out car. I say this even though I have one that probably isn't even worth 12k when I am done, even though I expect to spend near 30k to finish it. The few that are worth money would cost a lot(like 8-15k) in worse shape then what you have described, but they bring in 60k-200k when finished. Like e-body mopars, and corvettes, or any shelby type car.