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Restoration projects are a fantastic hobby to have if you have a good knowledge of car and their components and can be a great thing to start with a friend or member of your family. Before you start splashing the cash though it’s important that you choose the right car and don’t just invest in the first restoration that you come across.
Do You Have a Few Favourites?
Most of the people I speak to that are looking into car restoration projects have their hearts set on one particular make and model of car. Letting your heart overrule your head when choosing a car is a mistake made at your own peril as the look and feel of the car will outweigh the difficulty of the project, the possible scarce availability of parts and the possible costs of the car restoration.
I usually suggest that those interested in restoring a classic car make a small list of around five models of car that they would like to have as a project. You should then do your research on these cars and look into the availability of parts for them and what the associated costs for the parts you will most likely need are. If possible you should try to drive or at least get a really good look at each car on your list, the cars of today are a great deal easier to drive and handle so it’s important that you know that you will enjoy the car you are restoring once it’s finished.
If you really do have your heart set on a car that is notoriously difficult to restore then you might choose to hand the car over to a professional car garage that deals with classic car restoration. I recommend those interested that are local to me to a small garage called CBR Motor bodies, not just if they want someone to complete the work but if they need parts as most classic car restoration specialist garages will have the ability to either source or manufacture parts that you might not have otherwise been able to get hold of. There are of course many more garages that offer car restoration services and you should do an online search to find those local to you.
What Do You Want From It?
If you are looking for an old car to restore into something that you will regularly drive then the things to look for are; relatively little rust, good quality body panels and a clean history with no accidents. Parts being original doesn’t matter as much in this instance unless that’s something you are personally interested in.
On the other hand if you are looking to restore a car as an investment then you should look for a project that is as close to original as possible. Another thing to look out for is matching model numbers on parts and refurbishing the parts on the car will prove beneficial in terms of the sell on value. This also applies if you plan to use the project as a show car.
How Much Can You Handle?
Do you think you would fit in nicely on a pit crew or does an oil change confuse you? You need to be realistic with yourself about what you can handle with the project. If you’re knowledge is okay but not great then I would suggest targeting cars from the 1950’s over cars from the 1970’s as the mechanics and electrics are much more basic.
Ascertaining your budget for the project will depend on what you can do yourself and having to hand over the car to car restoration professionals will cost more money that if you were to do it yourself, however, if you don’t have the necessary equipment and working space then it makes more sense. Budget can be a killer so spend all the time you need working it out, getting it wrong could mean that your project never makes it off the bricks!
I hope this article has helped clear up some of the basic issues for you, deciding to restore a classic car is a big step due to the necessary financial investment so you need to make sure you are ready for the investment.
The author of this article is Ben Greco, an avid car blogger who developed his love of cars from his Italian roots!
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