That's why you have to be resourceful and be able to do much of the work yourself. I was reading a build thread on a site where the guy was doing the cleaning and reassembly himself, and the guy knew his stuff, but he was sending things out to be "refinished" or buying VERY expensive hardware/fasteners from the few in the hobby who recreate them to be as close to factory as possible. You would be surprised how the repop stuff is nothing close to original... Much of the stuff the guy was spending money on were for parts that were simple enough and could EASILY be replicated through things like readily available stainless steel/black phosphate/etc. spray paints. So you're talking spending $1,000's in shipping, the work done, etc when you could do much of it yourself, especially if you're a mechanically inclined person as most car guys are, and save a ton of money. We just did the headliner in my dad's car. Everyone is "6 months out" and wants over $500 to install a headliner that my dad would be providing. So he's like, forget that I'll do it myself (neither of us have ever done one). So I "assisted" as much as I could. It turned out good, certainly not like a professional did it, but he saved $500-$750 depending on who gave him prices.
Wow there are some really nice old cars and trucks on this thread. I like watching this young man wrenching on his rusty old 318 Dodge Ramcharger and his 12 valve Dodge pickup out in the Canadian bush…sans garage. Reads the repair manual and goes about rebuilding his transmission.
Alot of the restoration process is mindless cleaning/sanding/painting of small parts Its not like on tv where a semi dumps a huge load of parts in your driveway Generally, original stuff fits better, just needs some elbow grease to clean it up, but sometimes it's just too far gone and need new I'm not into the "every screw and bolt has to be perfect/correct " as most cars out there are one of 15,000 that was built
Just visited the Pigeon Forge, TN Rod run...drove thru what seems like thousands of cars with a lot of them being for sale! Scotty Overkill I even noticed a 72 red and black Grabber for sale...14,500..
Thanks for the compliment! Not as nice as many, but more than nice enough for us. We are very thankful and appreciative for what we do have, most importantly the family and friends that join us here!
My '63 Sunbeam Alpine, with warmed over 351W, narrowed Mustang II front end, 9" rear. Full frame and cage. All work done by me.