luvw30

great site yall have, I just aquired a 1970 442 w-30, car is very rusty, needs floorpans quarters and cowl area. Car is matching numbers with F heads and correct intake, my question is what is a ballpark figure on a complete restoration of everything. Got to see if I can afford this or not. thanks

Jamesbo

Welcome aboard

Add you every part you will need and then X 10 if you're lucky

seriously, that almost impossible to determine

csstrux

This is not intended to be belittling, but the car is worth what the market will bear. It will depend on the economy, the whims of the public, and the quality of the build. If you own a shop, and can do a good/excellent job restoring the car quickly, you could probably make a decent buck, advertised in the right places, but money is tight right now and likely to get tighter all around. I personally would be looking at what I wanted, and my budget, and making my restoration decisions from there. If the car is in really tough shape, you may want to get an entirely different shell, assuming the frame is acceptable, but would look it over carefully before going too far into the project. Note of caution. I have seen cars re bodied, using the tags from the rare/performance car on the base model body. In these instances both cars were legaly obtained, but gathered from a post here on this site that that may not be enough, so you may be looking specifically for a 442 vet body to replace the one you have. If you post pics more specific info would be forthcoming, and from people who are much more knowledgeable than me.

citcapp

Restoration cost has a lot of factors to consider. Restore as a daily driver or a show car. 100% correct or to please personal tast. length of time spent in restoring the car. If time does not concern you then you can spend time gathering the parts you need while trying to get the best price. If you are in a hurry you will spend a lot more money on the restore. How much of the work can you do yourself verses sending out to a shop to get done. This is why its so hard to put a cost on this. I am restoring my 1957 to daily driver status with a modern drive train disc brakes, etc. It may be worth less then a true restore by I can drive it anywere and by the parts if it brakes down at a local parts house. Your choice on where you do with this.

gearheads78

If you want to trailer it to a quality shop and drive it out perfect a year or more later expect to shell out 50-60k during the process. Most good shops are $50.00-$75.00 per man hour

Where in TX are you?

Olds64

Don't purchase an older car hoping to make money on it, especially if you don't know much about cars. Drive it and enjoy it.

luvw30

thanks for the info guys, Richard I am in katy, I want to keep and enjoy this car but if I spend 50k on it I dont want it to be worth 25k

csstrux

If you are patient it will cost much less assuming you can do a lot of the work yourself. How rusty is rusty? are we talking rusty for Texas, or Wisconsin rusty? Patients and the ability to read and follow instructions will save gobbs of money and heartache. The first investment should be a good shop manual. After that it will be a series of little projects that lead up to a nice car that you can honestly say you built. Welcome to the site!

Jamesbo

On a scale of 1-10 with 1 is poor and 10 is excellent, How are your welding skills?

How bad is the rust in the cowl area? Pics would be helpful

Oldsguy

luv,

Welcome to our site. Hope you decide to keep you car regardless of which direction you decide to go.

Olds64

IMHO, 50k spent on a car is too much. I hope to have a nice head turner and occassional show and shine winer with about $10,000 spent. If you spend so much on a car that you don't want to drive it in the rain then you have a piece of furniture not a car.

gearheads78

Lets see some pics. I have seen some Houston cars that would make me rather find a Michigan car instead. The chemical plants of murder on sheet metal down there.

You can save a lot of money doing things yourself if you have the time space and ability. If its a complete all original car its worth doing unless its really really bad.

oldsdroptop

I'll tell you what they say....the 3 most important things in setting up the value on a collector car.....documentation.....documentation....documen tation....its got the right heads which are very valuable in themselves....correct transmission? what about that rearend?...it could be a W-27....never know....it would be a greater possibility in that year and model (if in fact it is a true W-30) The value of the car will be set by what someone is willing to pay for a W-30 which is much rarer than just a 442....so your already ahead of the curve there...I have a 70 Cutlass SX convertible (1 of 793 built) that I have the window sticker, protecto plate, and build sheet for, I sunk well over 20k in it after purchasing it for 10K but it was a clean southern car, and all original with special ordered #20 paint. I would say it pretty much worth what I have in it. I only drive in on nice weekends probably around 1000 miles a year. I keep hagerty's insurance on it (declared value policy) so it's an investment and I can drive and enjoy also. I did a frame up myself in my garage with my own skills and saved a lot money there. The motor and transmission was already rebuilt when I bought it in 95. Research the values of similar cars and come up with a budget on what it's going to take to get in #2 or #1 condition and enjoy it. good luck with it and just remember, they only build these cars once and once only!!

oldsdroptop

I forgot to post this with my previous response....I did mention that rare W-27 rearend....heres an ebay auction that may give you some kind of idea what the value of that particular rearend is worth....


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-...1%7C240%3A1318

hope this helps....

70Post

Hard to tell really....when you say those parts are "rusty"...well how bad??

Look everywhere those parts (QP's, floors, cowl, etc) CONNECT TO ANOTHER PANEL....how are THOSE PANELS (where the they meet). It's one thing to replace a floor because the footwells are rusted through. It's another thing to repair a car where the rust has literally "spread" to the seams and into the adjoining panels.

You may see what I'm getting at.....none of those panels are impossible to replace if you have decent metal to weld to. At some point it becomes a real nightmare (physically and financially if you're paying someone else).

DETAILED PICS WOULD HELP or a more detailed description of the extent of the rust.

Here's an example...helped a Buick nut pull a GS out of a salvage yard over a year ago. During the process of jacking the car, trying to get wheels/tires on it, etc in the junkyard, the floor jack slipped off either the frame or out from under the differential housing. The floor jack ended up under the gas tank as the car came down...pushed the tank right up thru the trunk floor. All the braces and metal that the trunk pan tied into were also real rusty. The trunk hinge box braces had rusted away from the tops of the inner wheelhouses inside the trunk. Lots of stuff just "flapping" loose on the car. The rear inside ceiling/roof bracing was doing the same thing. This car was RUSTY. Cowl and adjoining areas (structural areas like A-pillars, etc) were real bad. Layer after layer, the more you dug, the more rust you found.

Thus, it's hard to really know "how bad" yoiurs is with just a brief description and no pics (at a minimum).

luvw30

thanks for all the info gents, I have had one bodyman look at it , He said it was not as bad as I described but He may just be looking for some work. I do have a mig welder but my welding skills are nil so I would want this done by a skilled person,I will try to get some pics when I figure how to load them thanks, Terry

marcusa

You need to bring it up here to Humble (by Bush airport) and have the guys at Deerbrook Collision take a look (deerbrookcollisionrepair.com). They are not a restoration place but I have seen some of their restoration work they really do a great job, several cars they've done have gone on to win at shows. Heck, I saw a black 55 Chevy they restored - that thing was straighter than when it rolled out of the factory.