Buy restored OR restore it?

[Renegade]

Hi car ethunsiasts!

I'm in muscle cars for a few years now. Althought I don't own one ... yet That's mostly becouse I live in Europe. The sea or the distance isn't a great problem. The biggest problem is, that we don't have inches, but centimeters And that a GREAT problem when restoring an good old American Muscle. A second problem, not as big as the first one, are the parts - in USA you have whole bunch of muscle parts from new to used but here in Europe the items are very hard to find.
So I'm wondering what's better. Buy an item for 5-10 thousand bucks or spit from 30 thousand on and get restored item?

If there is someone from Europe present here I would be very grateful for some info on importing a muscle or even restoring it here in Europe.

Oh yeah, I'm looking for years 69-71 Cuda, Challenger, Cutlass, RoadRunner, Super Bee, AMX ... anything BIG!

[MagicRat]

In Canada, we love the muscle cars too, but we have centimeters! They are not so bad, 15 cm sounds a lot better than 6 inches, n'est ce pas?

Generally, buying restored is cheaper in the long run than doing it yourself. With few exceptions, people will end up with more money put into a restoration project than the car is worth.

However, a poorly done or incomplete restoration presents its own problems. Such a car has repairs that are either not authentic or correct, which lower true market value or can be downright dangerous.
The key is research. Learn about what is authentic in terms of VIN numbers, equipment, options etc and inspect any potential purchase throughly.
Good luck!

[PeteRR]

One of our Mopar guys is Swiss. He bought a '71 Road Runner just by the pics. He sent it to a restorer we recommended. He bought a ton of parts, including a 440. He came over here on his vacation, loaded everything in a container, and shipped it home to assemble it himself. Here's his email: [email protected] His name is Michel. Here's the car the day we picked it up at the shop:

Just my opinion, but I'd buy a complete car.

[Renegade]

WHOAA!!! 440 you say

The location in the pic seems very familiar to me. I think I already saw it once with some other restos on the way ... but I'm not 100% sure it's the right one.
Anyway, thank you for the contact. I appreciate it.

About the centimeters ... I was thinking of hard to find tools. Right now I don't know anyone near me, that would have one inch wrench. No matter ...

Hmm, I guess looking into some good resto would be the best.

[Musclecarclub]

I too would go with a documented restoration. Too difficult to do it yourself in Europe.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by Renegade

About the centimeters ... I was thinking of hard to find tools.

Ahem <cough> my wife says the same thing <cough>

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by Renegade

About the centimeters ... I was thinking of hard to find tools. Right now I don't know anyone near me, that would have one inch wrench. No matter ...

That would be least of your troubles.
Here in NZ we get a whole range of differnt cars from all over the world, and so we all just have two sets of everything. One in metric and one in imperial.
But tools being tools you always lose the one you need. Forunatly in 90% of cases you can use a metric tool on an imperial nut (vice versa). For example 13mm is 1/2 inch and 19mm is 3/4 inch.
About the only time you need spefic tools are when your dealing with things like allen keys and other special fastenings.



As for restoring a car in Europe, well its not really that differnt than doing it anywhere else in the world.
The trick is to choose a model that has lots of parts surport.
For example I of know someone who is restoring a 60s Caddilac here in NZ useing parts sourced entirly from mail order in the US.

The downside of course, as already mentioned is the cost.
Not only are you paying for the parts, but you also have to pay for freight and import dutys etc.

The advantage though if you know exactly what condition the car is when its completed. If its a car you plan on keeping for a long time and enjoying then spending 3-4 times its value restoring it can be worth it. The extra cost is paid for by the extra enjoyment of having a car that you know is perfect.


That said if you find a well restorted car, with a fully documented restoration (it should includes lots of photos) then can not pass up the opertunity.
Unforunatly finding such cars can be hard, especialy if you are looking for a specific make and model.

[Renegade]

@MagicRat:

@Musclecarclub: Hi! I have a coment for your. The reason becouse I'm here right now and bothering people about restoring cars and subscribing to american mopar magazines is YOU and YOUR page Great page! It helped me out with definitions, model years and other info about the rarest, fastest, ... Truly awesome work.

Originally Posted by Moppie

The advantage though if you know exactly what condition the car is when its completed. If its a car you plan on keeping for a long time and enjoying then spending 3-4 times its value restoring it can be worth it. The extra cost is paid for by the extra enjoyment of having a car that you know is perfect.

Hehe, this is the exact same reason I would go into resto. And even so, the resto could not be done here in Slovenia, becouse we don't have a resto shop.
If everything goes as planned, I'll be seeing California next year. Mostly of my life-wish going to USA. Of course, meanwhile I'll check for some mopar stores and dealers or so

[mischa]

I agree for european, pay for a restored car. If you want to have experience with building your own car, don't worry, becuase with your restored car, something will break soon enough. you'll be ordering parts from yearone as soon as you know it. Maybe i'm wrong.


hopefully i am wrong.

so, if i am wrong, instead, build up your restored car to your desires. exhaust... hmm. i cna't think of anyhting else, but u know what i mean. keep it original and clean ,but make it yours.