What would you do?

[Matt67C10]

My 67 LWB stepside is at the shop (a guy who specializes in classic/antique vehicles) to have the motor rebuilt. It's my wife's grandfather's farm truck and has been in the family since 1970. We are sticking with the original 250cid 6 and 3spd trans. Since the motor is out...the guy at the shop wants to know if we want to restore the truck, body off frame. Now, I'm 31 and want to be able to drive this truck when I'm 70... he has given us (me and my father-in-law, the guy handling the $$$- BTW, he's the coolest inlaw in the world) the option of redoing the engine compartment (sandblasting, painting) and putting the motor back in (approx $800, not including cost of rebuild) or pay-as-you-go restoration that will take one year and approx 20K. I've never done anything like this before...the other option is just put the motor back in and drive the thing. I've attached pics, it's the original light green. The guy at the shop says it must stay that color for "restoration" or do any other color I want. My wife wants it red...I need to talk to the man with the $ this weekend and I'm not sure what to do. The truck has sentimental value and will stay with us forever.
Matt

[stllookn]

Do what you want with it...it is your truck! If it were a very high option or very rare truck you might want to do a 100 pt restoration and keep everything stock...even the color. Since it appears to be a low option truck and you are going to be driving and enjoying it...do whatever color you and your financial backer think is good. As for the shop doing the restoration...that is up to you as well. I prefer to do the work myself and save the cash for new parts as I need or want them.

[Daxcor]

I work in the restoration field. Here are some points to consider:

1. it will ALWAYS cost more than they say! they are not out to screw you, they can never atticipate all that needs fixing.

2. it is more enjoyable to do the work yourself and more gratifying.

3. these trucks are pretty straight forward to work on. other than body work it really is a nut and bolt truck. before I knew what I was doing many years ago I did a frame swap with only a 40 dollar tool box.

4. to do it yourself you should have some sort of garage/ shop that can be used for 1-2 years.

5. it will cost you more in the sense of having to buy some tools, but they are an investment not a cost.

6. dont forget you can save a ton of money if you rent the specilty tools and equipment for just the time you need it. I have a good shop compressor but when I was doing sand blasting I rented a big on that ran on gas.

7. if you do get someone to do the restoration for you make sure you have all the money to do the job upfront. I don't mean to give it all to them right away but have the money available. If you try to fund it with saving day to day, you will always find other stuff that needs the money more. Truck take forever to do then. You lose interest and so does the restorer. I have seen more projects that get about 10K worth of money spent on them then the wife pulls the plug on the cash. the project then gets sold as a "project car" and you get .50 on the dollar for all you hard work. If you would borrow $15,000 to buy a new car why wouldn't you borrow the same to restore a car you really love and plan to keep.

8. HAVE A PLAN. If you are doing it yourself or someone else is doing it you have got to have a plan. As restorers we make some color choices and quality choices on our own without the client being involved. This is not to hide anything but if you had to call the client each time you would spend more time on the phone than working. Most people pick a body color but what about a frame, underhood, or underside color. What about gravel guard on the bottom? The more info you give the restorer the less money you will spend and the happier you will be with the final job.

7 HAVE A PLAN!

8. tell the restorer you want to keep and see all the replaced metal. The idea here is that if you don't know the guy you want him to be able to justify the metal work. You metal work is pricey. To put in 3 patches that totaled about 16" of dressed welds took me 2 hours @ $45/ hour.

crap I have to go to work. I have more to say so I will try to post later. I have often thought of making a FAQ on how to pay someone to restore you truck. Any how take care. hope this helps

Brad
68 shortbox stepside
73 Nova SS Hatchback (2) One is a parts car
77 Nova Hatchback (race car)
01 Chev Duramax

[panhandler62]

Bear in mind that you can do a functional restore that will preserve the truck and make a nice driver from it for far less than the cost of doing a correct, show quality restore.

I would budget at least $30k for a show quality restore if you are farming the job out.

I don't know how to budget a "budget" restore without examining the vehicle in minute detail since a budget job is everything in the ~ $30k job that "has" to be done. (The ~$30k job is a complete redo to "new" status even on bits that still have a lot of life left in them.)

This is more opinion than wisdom here.. just things to think about.

[Tynee]

I know from your father-in-law's perspective it might be nice if you were to offer to help with the cost. I'd sure love to have somebody offer to cover half the expense of one of my projects.