Going to be starting on my '69 Road Runner soon. Was wondering what a realistic expectation should be regarding how long it will take start to finish? I know there are a ton of factors, but assume a person is working on this 20 hrs a week. Full nut and bolt restoration. Engine and transmission rebuild would be sent out. Needs a new fender and patch panels on both lower quarters. Everything is there but a lot of sandblasting of parts and buffing of trim. Have a lift and access to a rotisserie. Would include final body prep and paint, and re-assemble. Just looking if my expectations should be 5 years or 2 years, etc.
At 20 hours per week, 1000 hours would be 50 weeks...
:wrenching:
Yeah: Bodywork and paint will take longer than you think, also you'll be running into long waits for parts. I budget one year to do a resto but you have to figure on 2 years these days accounting for delays.
Don't loose focus, do something every single day without fail. I also recommend restoring assemblies as you remove them from the car and store them in completed form. Anyone can completely blow apart a car in a weekend and figure they have it half done, then sell it in the same state 10 years down the road.
My last restoration took about 5 years to complete. 4 of which were it sitting in the body shop. While not typical (and I'll never go back to that shop), it's a good example of taking it to a shop that doesn't specialize in restoration work - i.e. insurance repairs. If you can do most of the body/prep work at home, you will be better off. Hence I now learned to weld (still practicing) and am learning proper paint prep.
If it's your first, and you stick to it....under two years is more than reasonable...any longer and you're likely to lose interest..
Only advice....start ordering your parts NOW....most everybody is back ordered or out of stock on a lot of items....and if you're shipping a lot of stuff, be prepared to be raped on shipping costs these days. I was just quoted $204.00 shipping for two mufflers :o
Sheldon's advice is solid....Make a commitment to do at least one thing everyday towards the restoration....even if it's just searching parts or ordering parts....get something do everyday...
I did mine in about three years. At the time, the major thing causing it to take that long was cash on hand to buy the parts.
To do it again I would stock up on at least half the parts I need before starting and have an 'order of purchase' for the second half of parts before I start.
To do that, first, you really need to thoroughly envision what your goal is, and stick to that goal. Otherwise you will find yourself buying different parts, rendering some of what you bought previously...redundant.
Mine took 16 years versus my 2-3 year estimate. :pullinghair: :headbang: :crying:
In my case, I did a fair amount of disassembly, plus parts chasing and getting components restored, then a restoration shop picked it up to do the body and paint, and then the problems began.
If you can do body and paint at least you don't have to worry about a shop hanging you out to dry. Sadly shops flaking out on clients happens a lot. Which throws a wrench into many projects!
Age factors in too. Sadly as years go by energy and ambition often go down.
In my case after I finally got the car back as a painted rolling chassis, I got a good start on reassembly the following spring. Things mostly went on hold all summer as I couldn't get motivated to work in heat and humidity. Then in late summer I got back into gear and managed to get the car together and running a week or so before showing it at MCACN.
Having that show commitment certainly drove me to work on it rather than procrastinate!
I was 8 years for the round trip. The first 1.5 years was in a body shop (with my agreement, the shop owner used it as "fill in" work while things were otherwise slow). It was mostly weekend work for me from then on, excluding winters when it was usually too cold in the garage. I had a couple of 40-50 hour weeks towards the latter stages in large part that I was self-quarantined for 2 weeks based on NY travel rules at the time. The work included nearly every nut and bolt, new suspension, wiring, fuel system, interior & dash overhaul.
If you can sustain 20 hrs a week - bless you. I certainly couldn't do that before I retired.
Good luck!
I had my cuda torn down and started but really didn`t get into the real work until I bought my first house with a garage to work in back in `92. I had the car up and running in primer in`95 and on the road in `96 with everything done but the interior and that was only due to lack of funds. Now that I am a bunch older my time/ambition for working on stuff is lessoning so it takes me a lot longer and lack of money always seems to be a hold up both then and now.
Here are a couple of examples. The Dart took two years. The Cuda took six years.
To many variables. Mine was 9 years from purchase to maiden voyage. But three years off for major surgeries and recoveries. My best friend did the initial body work on the side so I was at his mercy as to when he had time to work on it. Money? I did all the disassembly and reassembly myself. Engine was at machine shop for rebuild for 4 months. After initial body work at my house, was three months at body shop for final paint work. Etc. Etc. And as they say, "It's never really done." Always tinkering and making small upgrades and trouble shooting gremlins.
It took me 14 years, been driving it ever since (summer 2014), worth every minute.....
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1617770/1.html
As mentioned, time, motivation and money can be large deterrents, but nobody's mentioned aptitude. It makes a huge difference what your skill sets are. If you're farming out body or mechanical work, then the money and timeliness factors come more into play. If you can do the work yourself, that'll make a big difference. I'm an old, heavy on the old, bodyman and the year I retired at the end of April, I went into my garage and worked every day, all day and manys a time into the night, to get the car ready for an Old Boys Reunion in the middle of August and my one son was still bolting the wiper motor in the morning of the Friday of the OBR weekend.
I replaced both frt aprons, the rt frt frame rail, firewall and cowl, both door hinge pillars, both front doors, frt whole floor, both 1/4's, inr and otr whlhses, trunk floor, deck lid and gutters and rebuilt the rockers, rear floor and reinforced the roof, added subframe connectors and frt apron braces and torque boxes. I only quote this to give you an idea of the work done in the time quoted.
You can see where that took a trained man in a warm, well lit shop about 3.5 months, so extrapolate from there into your own situation. Based on your description, you'll have an easier and quicker resolution, but also be advised, that if you look at all the visible repairs you think your car needs, and multiply by 2, you'll be in the ball park. Ditto for the budget and don't be too surprised if it ends up X3. LOL Good luck :cheers:
How long is a piece of string !! :haha:
Mine took 29 year before I started to work on it while promising the whole time I would get it done , once I started it took 9 months , while the body was being done I was rebuilding everything else , reassemble was quick with everything just needing to be put back together !
We plan on pulling the GD around the southern States next winter Capt, maybe I'll stop in and check on your progress. As well as see the new IS on the Solitude. :cheers:
Well if you start the restoration clock at the time you buy the car, then I've been restoring this one for 5-1/2 years already!
Back in 2016 and having the 'cuda already that was already restored when purchased, I decided I wanted a '69 Road Runner to do myself when I retired in 5 or 6 years. As the 'cuda isn't all original, wanted a numbers matching RR if possible. Started going to Carlisle and of course back in 2016 I see a '69 RR (painted sublime so entirely wrong) that was a 10 foot car at best. Got thinking instead of buying one that needed immediate restoration, what if I bought one that I could drive now and restore later. Hadn't been shopping, so go back to the hotel that night and search the interzwebs for '69 RR. Sitting in a hotel in Carlisle, I find a '69 RR, numbers matching, 383 4-speed, original owner, build sheet, fender tag, original bill of sale, etc. needing full restoration located 20 miles away from my house back in Kentucky! Auction was ending on Tuesday and I wouldn't be back in KY until Thursday. Contact the seller through ebay and he gives me his phone number. Call him the next day and turns out he isn't the owner but is selling for an older guy that doesn't know ebay. Tells me all about the car and the fact that he would buy it but doesn't have room. He is currently restoring a '68 Super Bee. Also tells me not to worry about the auction since the reserve was set high. Just testing the waters. Car didn't meet reserve. Went to look at it on Thursday and bought it on Friday. Met the original owner of course and he bought it when graduating college up in Flint, MI. He moved around dragging the car with him. He got divorced and remarried. Current wife is from Florence, KY so they moved there when he retired. Car had been sitting in a storage unit right around the corner from where I work for 15 years! Drove by it every day. Didn't want a RR so soon, but how could I pass on this one!
The guy who listed it on ebay, Tim, was a building inspector for the county. He had just been to my house back in April for final inspection! Tim does concours quality work. He paints outdoors with the understanding of having to rework due to the occasional gnat stuck to the paint. He was invited to a concours show in Cincy with his blue '68 Bee and the only ding in judging was that the hood latch was painted and not zinc plated (something like that).
Tim is willing to help me with the RR. I will do most of the tear down myself here along with component restoration. When time, will move the roller to his place to put on the rotisserie for body work and paint. Tim will charge me $50/hr which is great. Equally important, he knows where to go for parts dipping, block/head work, transmission work, etc. He will come to my place to help as needed, and I will go to his place to learn and help on the bodywork/paint side.
Tim is retired too and is currently finishing another '68 Bee. He is searching for his next project now. My RR will help fill the gap. Both of his Bee's have taken him about 7 years which is why I asked the original question. Based on the comments above and me doing some of the work, I'm really hoping it will be more like 2 years.
Well that's a great story, but unfortunately now I see one major RED FLAG in your plans, if not a red flag then at least a possible "fly in the ointment" ....
Seeing how you are "outsourcing" the body and paint, your project will now be at their mercy....by your description, the guy sounds like he does really nice work, but admittingly it took seven years to do his own car, and he's now older and retired ? Can he put fourth the effort needed to get your car done in a reasonable timeframe ? Hopefully it doesn't take YEARS just to get the body done...sometimes having "friends" do work for you is not always the best scenario :dunno:
ON A POSITIVE NOTE: With the body and paint being done elsewhere, it gives YOU plenty of time to restore all the components :twothumbsup:
How long IS a piece of string? yea that nailed it for me. LOL a good laugh on that one!
Well I bought the '74 Cuda back in January 1998 - WTH 24 years ago - well fitting it was 24 years old when I bought it and it might actually see the road this summer.
I had the garage space to work on it and it went straight in there on that day as the fellow I bought it from had to move it. And I started on it right away - and I started buying parts I knew I needed right away - from the old buy and sell (kijiji on paper) - and my first trip to Moparfest that year.
Initially I started a "quick" reconditioning - being my first (and only) such project. Thought I'd get it done by 2000 - next target was before it was 30 years old in 2004 - LOL - somewhere in there I realized if I am going to do it I should do it right so I ripped the whole thing apart - and around 2004 was sandblasting the whole thing in a poly tent in my garage - with my little compressor.
I did not follow the "do something everyday" for sure - sometimes months when by and I was just too busy at work or had other things to do (like rebuilding the tranny in my '95 Intrepid ... ).
A few years ago I realized I would not get it done till I retired. Well here I am - 3 years plus into retirement and it should be done this year. I still had a lot of body work to do when I retired in 2018.
And I am still finding parts I need - well now mostly fasteners and such details - and buying parts I knew I would need to replace a long time ago - like the headliner today. Being a rookie I spend as much time researching as doing - but love every minute of it and very happy with how its coming together.
Add one thought - is it just me? - seems it is easier to find parts for this car now than when I started - sheet metal for sure is more available - and the internet has helped for sure. At the start it looked to me like Year One was the only game in town but I really have not bought much from them. I remember my first time going through swap meet at Moparfest and there did not seem to be much for e-bodies - so I made the trek to Carlisle a few years later and that proved more fruitful and I got better at recognizing it. Seems to be much more reproduction stuff available now.
You mean that it actually happens? Finishing one? :notsure:
So when I did my wife's 65 mustang I was retired just flying part time and as it was her car I didn't have to worry about the budget. I did the work (she actually helped quite a bit) and I sent it out for paint. I did all the metal work after dipping and rebuilt the eng. I did all the assembly and working out the bugs. This took 2 years. It took 25 for me to do my numbers matching 66 vette. So with her writing the checks and me doing the work 2 years is not bad. I've done a number of old airplanes so if you stick to it they get done. Good luck.
Not sure when I officially started restoring and I don't really know what will constitute done. LOL. I've had the car for 30+ years. It sat almost all that time. About 20 years ago I tore much of it down. about 10-12 years ago I would get cash here and there and do some things. I've been seriously spending time and money for the last 5 or so years restoring. Almost "done" in the sense that the interior is redone, the car is painted, and the motor in in the garage waiting to be put in. Then the last few final things and it should be on the road this spring.
I guess it depends on how bad the car is, how much money you have, and how much man power/hours you can throw at it.
Triple your budget, well that is what happened to me.
Yes, find a body shop that will complete it within 2 years.
2 years seems reasonable for the restoration, it just seems hard to find a body shop that honors their word.
I'm currently on year 4 for mine.
This is a loaded question. It all depends how fast YOU will move, how fast OTHERS handling portions of the resto will move, how much work it REALLY needs after getting it down to metal, and how long it'll take to get PARTS given the current supply chain issues.
I'm 3 years into mine with the goal to have it running this summer, and while I really cranked on it the first 1.5 years, the second half has been a lot of hurry up to wait. My car is currently at a body shop awaiting final paint, and while they moved fast on it initially to final fit the panels and put it in primer, I think it is collecting dust while they work on other cars with owners jumping up and down. I'll be hounding them next after I get my garage cleared up enough to fit the car in again.
It took me 2 years to do my 67 GTX--18 Months in the body shop. Just keep at it. It is easy to get discussed especially these days with parts shortages and crazy prices. Order everything you can afford now to avoid waiting on parts. While it is in the body shop Just spend the time cleaning-polishing-buffing-painting what ever you can. It will be worth it in the end.
JS27