Grave Yard Cars will build you a tribute to your specs.

[benlavigne]

I love that show!!

  You have to have a car that is valuable. Yes, plan on 100K for the cost, and 2 years to have it done. That eliminates 99% of the population.   

Two Years???         They've had a guy I knows car for over eight years....

Nick's Garage is doing an original-owner 1969 Charger 500 right now, that the owner had shipped from California to Quebec.
The car has been carefully stored inside since 1974.
He'll be doing a full restoration, with drivetrain improvements, in a year timeframe.
Customer, who is 72 years old, wanted to be able to enjoy the car for a few years, GYC said send us the car, we'll leave it outside until we look at it, maybe in a year, then it will take at least 2-3 years to finish...
Not everybody wants (or can afford) a 1000-point show poodle (And I don't even recall one of GYC cars going through judging at the Nats, Carlisle or MCACN....), this car will look right and correct, drive perfectly, within the owner's budget and timeframe.

Ben

[1 Wild R/T]

I love that show!!

  You have to have a car that is valuable. Yes, plan on 100K for the cost, and 2 years to have it done. That eliminates 99% of the population.   

Two Years???         They've had a guy I knows car for over eight years....

Nick's Garage is doing an original-owner 1969 Charger 500 right now, that the owner had shipped from California to Quebec.
The car has been carefully stored inside since 1974.
He'll be doing a full restoration, with drivetrain improvements, in a year timeframe.
Customer, who is 72 years old, wanted to be able to enjoy the car for a few years, GYC said send us the car, we'll leave it outside until we look at it, maybe in a year, then it will take at least 2-3 years to finish...
Not everybody wants (or can afford) a 1000-point show poodle (And I don't even recall one of GYC cars going through judging at the Nats, Carlisle or MCACN....), this car will look right and correct, drive perfectly, within the owner's budget and timeframe.

Ben

What Color??  There use to be a EB7 blue one in my area that disappeared back in the late 70's... Always wondered where it went..

[anlauto]

In the last ten years since quitting my full time job and starting full time at the restoration 'gig"  I've started and finished around 30 complete ground up restorations.   So you can do the math. Why a restoration is measured in "years" not months is beyond me. 
There used to be an old saying that a full restoration takes about 1000 hours....hate to tell ya, but there are 2000 working hours in one year.

I won't lie, I've had some cars take over two years....most recently was because of my metal guy moving his shop and his life....It took for ever to turn around a car that usually would have taken three months...At the time it was okay because it played into the customer's budget better....

I've also turned out cars in as little as ten months  too....

[Cuda_mark]

In the last ten years since quitting my full time job and starting full time at the restoration 'gig"  I've started and finished around 30 complete ground up restorations.   So you can do the math. Why a restoration is measured in "years" not months is beyond me. 
There used to be an old saying that a full restoration takes about 1000 hours....hate to tell ya, but there are 2000 working hours in one year.

I won't lie, I've had some cars take over two years....most recently was because of my metal guy moving his shop and his life....It took for ever to turn around a car that usually would have taken three months...At the time it was okay because it played into the customer's budget better....

I've also turned out cars in as little as ten months  too....

My car has taken about 6 years to get it to it's current state and the engine/k-frame aren't even installed yet (it's close...any day now). The reason it has taken this long is that I only spend my "extra" money on it and the guy doing the work has been very accommodating working at my pace. He has stored the car indoors the entire time and it has moved to several different spots in his shop depending on what they are working on. He has never had an "oops" while storing it. I suspect that most restoration shops wouldn't be this accommodating so I consider myself lucky.

[benlavigne]

I love that show!!

  You have to have a car that is valuable. Yes, plan on 100K for the cost, and 2 years to have it done. That eliminates 99% of the population.   

Two Years???         They've had a guy I knows car for over eight years....

Nick's Garage is doing an original-owner 1969 Charger 500 right now, that the owner had shipped from California to Quebec.
The car has been carefully stored inside since 1974.
He'll be doing a full restoration, with drivetrain improvements, in a year timeframe.
Customer, who is 72 years old, wanted to be able to enjoy the car for a few years, GYC said send us the car, we'll leave it outside until we look at it, maybe in a year, then it will take at least 2-3 years to finish...
Not everybody wants (or can afford) a 1000-point show poodle (And I don't even recall one of GYC cars going through judging at the Nats, Carlisle or MCACN....), this car will look right and correct, drive perfectly, within the owner's budget and timeframe.

Ben

What Color??  There use to be a EB7 blue one in my area that disappeared back in the late 70's... Always wondered where it went..

It's Y2 Yellow, was sold new in NJ, stored in 74 and followed the Army owner around the country. Owner has retired in Texas, car was left in storage in California before getting shipped to Nick's
You can follow the progress on Nick's Garage on YouTube!

Ben

[anlauto]

In the last ten years since quitting my full time job and starting full time at the restoration 'gig"  I've started and finished around 30 complete ground up restorations.   So you can do the math. Why a restoration is measured in "years" not months is beyond me. 
There used to be an old saying that a full restoration takes about 1000 hours....hate to tell ya, but there are 2000 working hours in one year.

I won't lie, I've had some cars take over two years....most recently was because of my metal guy moving his shop and his life....It took for ever to turn around a car that usually would have taken three months...At the time it was okay because it played into the customer's budget better....

I've also turned out cars in as little as ten months  too....

My car has taken about 6 years to get it to it's current state and the engine/k-frame aren't even installed yet (it's close...any day now). The reason it has taken this long is that I only spend my "extra" money on it and the guy doing the work has been very accommodating working at my pace. He has stored the car indoors the entire time and it has moved to several different spots in his shop depending on what they are working on. He has never had an "oops" while storing it. I suspect that most restoration shops wouldn't be this accommodating so I consider myself lucky.

...and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that....last Summer I finished a 70 RR that I started with the owner 10 years ago....working with his small yearly budget....I never stored the car though, he always kept it at his place   I think you are lucky with the guys you have working with you.

[Racer57]

In the last ten years since quitting my full time job and starting full time at the restoration 'gig"  I've started and finished around 30 complete ground up restorations.   So you can do the math. Why a restoration is measured in "years" not months is beyond me. 
There used to be an old saying that a full restoration takes about 1000 hours....hate to tell ya, but there are 2000 working hours in one year.

I won't lie, I've had some cars take over two years....most recently was because of my metal guy moving his shop and his life....It took for ever to turn around a car that usually would have taken three months...At the time it was okay because it played into the customer's budget better....

I've also turned out cars in as little as ten months  too....

How many cars is GYC working on at the same time ? I'm sure its a hellva lot more than what we see on TV.

[anlauto]

How many cars is GYC working on at the same time ? I'm sure its a hellva lot more than what we see on TV.

I would hope they have at least 10-12 cars on the go at any given time based on the size of their business.

There's a small shop near me known for their extremely high detailed cars that notoriously take for ever to get restored (like 7-8 years).
A couple of years ago, I had them paint some interior convertible panels for me....at that time, they had 22 cars they were working on OR SUPPOSED to be working on....that's two life times worth of work for them I feel sorry for their customers.

My record was 7 at one time, thankfully they're all finished and gone now.

[gzig5]

The small 3-4 man shop that I had my car in seems to have 4-5 cars at a time going.  He can't fit more than that and be efficient.  I kept the removed fenders, hood, and doors in my storage for him because he was getting a little pinched for space and my job was a short term filler.  If GYC isn't finishing a couple a month I don't see how they stay in business, that is an expensive looking place they are in now.  I don't doubt that GYC has the talent to put out a nice car, but after watching the shenanigans of the first couple seasons with those clowns, you couldn't pay me to have car done there. 

[Fish Tale]

The staff has changed since the beginning.  A few times actually.  They don't seem as clownish now...

[djw383]

How many cars is GYC working on at the same time ? I'm sure its a hellva lot more than what we see on TV.

I would hope they have at least 10-12 cars on the go at any given time based on the size of their business.

There's a small shop near me known for their extremely high detailed cars that notoriously take for ever to get restored (like 7-8 years).
A couple of years ago, I had them paint some interior convertible panels for me....at that time, they had 22 cars they were working on OR SUPPOSED to be working on....that's two life times worth of work for them I feel sorry for their customers.

My record was 7 at one time, thankfully they're all finished and gone now.

That's body shop prison, I witnessed the body shop owner pull a car out, blow the dust off and call the customer and say we are all in on working on your car but we need $x,xxxx more dollars. Once they receive the money by the enthusiastic client they move on to the next car to do the same.....