Rolling chassis or keep Gertrude?

[34isgreat]

My uncle who operates a body shop told me once anything can be fixed if you have enough time and money with the key part being the money. If you love the car and plan to keep it till death do you part then I say fix Gertrude. Being a coupe it will be hard to get your investment back but if you plan to keep it then who cares? If you do fix all the rust you then know what you have, a good solid car after that and you get the fun of doing the work. Take a class in welding and body work at your local trade school and do the work yourself. Great project for a husband and wife team or mother and child team to work on. I have fixed some runt on Amber, work I was not qualified to do but I got help from a great welded and he showed me how to do the work. Very enjoyable doing it my self! The bad part is the time, I want to be rolling down the highway now, I am about 12 months for my first test drive, that part sucks.
If the car is just a shell and you want to do the lowest cost restoration you can then I would look for a donor. I saw your picks of the rust around your windshield, I wonder what other rush is hiding on the old girl. Bottom line it's your call, bargins are out there. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[Dne']

I think no matter what "shell" you may buy ,you will spend 15-20k getting it looking good for the street and that's probably a low figure. I know you'd probably rather just drive it than work on it. Find one that's been mostly restored/modded whatever, fork out the money and enjoy. These projects are costly and linger on forever~! you may save money on a few items and make a few mistakes on things you shouldn't buy. I got so far into my stang; I was determined to finish it despite how much money I spent! I could have bought a really nice totally restored "whatever" for what I spent, but I cherish the thought that I did it myself and that's more meaningful! Unfortunately, most of us will never see what we put into our stangs and take a beating! Besides, you still have to sell this current mustang before buying another!!

I say sit down with pen and paper, write down everything you need, make the plan(as stated above), follow it, "never give up; never surrender!" You have a stang, finish it ; )
Just add up stuff you need and double it!
carpet
headliner
glass
paint, materials, primer(hell, a paint job will run you 3-4k(a cheap paint job)
tires/wheels
seats
stereo, etc, etc, etc

 

[Dne']

you can find a more streetable mustang~ patience and being able to "low ball" people on their price helps. I can't low ball, I have a difficult time just asking someone to take less than their asking! But people buy stuff from me and ask without biting their lips and I usually say, "OK" :shrug. Like a Mustang that I'm kind of looking at, he wants 10,800., but if my gut would allow me, I'd say, 8500 and take it or leave it~ and still spend 20k fixing it up! lol This is indeed an expensive hobby! Whereas having cash and approaching someone that has worked hard and spent their hard earned dollars, sweat and years~ you can get a pretty good deal!
I had to re-read the ad~ last sentence, RUST! argh!!
http://houston.craigslist.org/bar/2218050118.html

 

[tarafied1]

I just remembered this thread - http://www.stangfix.com/testforum2/index.php/topic,8416.0.html

Everyone was all like "OH KAT! You need something like that!"and if I could find another shell like that, then I think it might be worth it to get it and use Gert as a donor car. Of course trying to find one $1000 or less (maybe even splurge 1500-2000 which would include shipping if it was too far to go get) within the next couple months might be the hard part. I could wait months until I find one, but my goal is to have Gert back on the road before my clubs car show Oct 8th. Sooner would be better of course, but Oct 8th is my latest deadline.

I like the idea of just keeping Gert and fixing her up, but since my husband brought it up about finding a shell.. I figure it wouldn't hurt to *think* about it. :shrug

The key to the shell in that thread was that it was another Stangfixer and the price was right. It still needed the cowl and who knows what other little things may have shown up once you started. If you find a good roller it is a great option, I just think as others have said, you never really know what your getting unless you know the car or it is stripped to bare metal. Even in this economy "good" deals can be hard to find. They I looked at my car/project was: I knew I would spend more in the long run but it's kind of like financing. The "interest" paid on a loan makes your cost higher. By spreading the costs over time I was making my payments. I was just making them into the car rather than a bank. I roughly estimate I spent over $30K on my car. I couldn't have bought a car for $30K because I didn't have it and didn't want to finance that on a classic "toy". I spread that cost over more years than I had hoped but it didn't hurt so much that way. I may not get $30K if I sell it but I have no intention of ever selling it. If you buy a classic to restore and make money you have to remember it takes money to make money. Buy a good rare optioned desirable car and not spend too much fixing is a tough proposition these days. Some people can make money with their hobby but most of us just spend money. Like golf or shooting or camping, whatever it is, you spend money to have fun. That's how I looked at my Mustang. I was spending money odn a project that I enjoyed doing and now enjoy driving. If you don't like doing the work it takes out the fun and becomes "work"
My wife redid the interior because she wanted to try it, we did a lot of things we had never done before and some I never intend to do again but that all adds to the experience. It has been so rewarding and yes frustrating at times too. I hope you settle on what makes you happy and really enjoy the hobby. We back you either way!