Thought i'd make a post for restorations, because I've always wondered how much people have spent on their dubs to get them to a certain standard, for example I have spent about 5k since 2004 keeping my stock 67 deluxe on the road, and bought it for $2200, havn't changed anything (yet) and it still has some way to go, mainly the windscreen wipers....

so if you could tell us what you did and maybe a rough estimate of the cost I reckon it could make an interesting post.

hmmm do we add up the first time we replaced things $$$........or the second or third as well

Not game to publish costs, the missus reads this site as well. mind you had some good buys mags for a couple of hundred, new this and that all about the same price a couple of hundred, $20 bucks you all know the bargains out there nudge nudge wink wink

I advise people NOT to do Restoration as 99% of them have no idea what they are in for, there must be thousands of good Veedubs out there that were good solid cars until some body tried to restore it .
now they are just boxes of bits soon to be on ebay listed under UNFINISHED PROJECT.
I own a restored bug and the bloke I brought it off spent $35,000

Thats so true, the thing I've hated as i've found out more and more about my bug is that previous owners have really *&^%ed around with things and it just ends up costing more money

how big is your wallet?......
& how much can you do yourself?
Cheers
D

NEXT QUESTION!!!!

How long is a piece of string ?

I think my Ragtop has over $50,000 in receipts..........and that doesn't include Alan's (dasdubber) labour.

i could of bought 2 new cars! And i bought the car semi restored - off pan and painted! I haven't finished yet! Probably never will.

Close to 10 gees I think, including purchase.

if i couldnt do the work myself i dont think i would ever afford it

iv done every little thing myself on the car and still lost track after a few months, its been almost 4 years now and im about to start body work for the 3rd time, well sort of, or rebuild the new motor thats only got 1200 miles on it as im bored already

there's a big difference between "restoration" and "modification". people start doing one and end up doing the other. mods are what cost $$$$ mostly. well that and paint anyway.

I used to read Hot VWs magazine a lot, and the immaculate vintage Beetle restorations always interested me. They always looked like museum quality pieces, better than new in most cases. But the thing that struck me is that they always got the pros to do them. ABC Body Shop did the stripping, panel beating and painting; XYZ Motor Trimming did all the interior; Fred's VW Workshop did all the mechanical work, etc etc. None of these guys ever seem to do the work themselves, like we seem to do here.

They never said how much it all cost, but to pay pros to completely rebuild an old car, to better than new condition with all new parts - I shudder to think. More than the cost of a new Golf GTI I would bet.

Actually reading an old VW trends mag, they had an article about west coast classic restorations, and they said that a resto would cost around $20,000 USD, so that is for a stock resotration, but modifications would add alot more....

http://www.classicvws.com/index.htm 

What started out as a quick paint and a clean up inside ended up a major project. Once you start digging at and old car the cost goes up fast, real fast!
Spent $15 000 and could of easily spent double that. The Beetles nice, but not awesome.

At my work we have been involved in restorations of rare vehicles costing up to $300,000 dollars. You can have anything you want for a price.

i think most of us stop counting after a set point as it gets too depressing
ive done everything to mine cept the paint and gearbox and i still coulda bought something brand new

altho 4 interiors, 7 engines and too many sets of rims later havent helped keep the costs down

but i dont regret it for a second

I go buy the saying 'if you have to ask , you can't afford it'
T54

"Restoration" as a word is totally abused.
Having said that though, my old shop Volksrestore did many, basic from 10k or so and we had a few full on jobs that went over 50k. That was back in the 80's and 90's at $35/hr. These days at $80/hr or so I shudder to think what a top of the line job may cost.
Many of these jobs are done on an individual basis as it depends on so many variables, car to start with, owner involvement, how much new etc etc etc.

Quote:

Originally posted by Turbo54 I go buy the saying 'if you have to ask , you can't afford it' T54

Restoration..... a few grand, one cheapish respray plus rubbers etc. But i need to spend about 5 to 10 and get the body back to a resonable condition and make sure all the rust is gone.

Modification........... I don't want to know. have to be 30 to 40k now (9 years) The reciepts are hidden from the GF for good reason. there was the interior seats, harness, steering wheel, the wheels, suspension, brakes, the first 1776 engine, then the 2l which i know the amount but won't say much except it could have bought a brand new car.... then there will be the new brakes, suspension wheels, diff and maybe play with the gearbox again... and thats jsut the major sutff....

Well if iam off to indo soon, maybe i can bring the car over and get the body work done. Labour is cheap cheap cheap. We have teams of 5 guys for site work that cost $30 a day.. including meals for all for guys!