Originally Posted by
Jonathan
The restoration rule of thumb has been $1,000 for every year that it sat.
That means it'll cost you an additional $25,000 on top of the purchase price of $4,000 to bring this car back.
There is some variability in what "restored" or "brought back" means. Could be a car that's technically running and relatively safe with just the basic cosmetics taken care of. Or it could be some Concours quality beauty that's pretty much perfect. Meeting somewhere in the middle of that will likely run you $30,000 on this car before you're finished. Some of those costs could improve if you do more of the work yourself. Some of those costs could get worse if you find surprises (like damaged stainless under that paint, or parts you didn't foresee needing and they happen to be ones that got disproportionately expensive).
If you're trying to make this decision with your wife and family, I'd go the honest (and slightly pessimistic) route and see if she's okay with putting $30,000 of your money into. If you hint to her that you can get it all done for something closer to the $4,000, and she gives the go ahead, it'll likely blow up in your face sooner than later when the costs start to add up. And they will. Nice project, just make sure you're both very aware of what's waiting down the road for you with this car.