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240Z blanche £23k
- Thread starter SeanDezart
- Start date
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
Your wallet is your limit.
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
£10k for the restoration AND tech spec ? Who does it all for that price then ?
s2k_adz
Club Member
The cars Chris has and many other LHD imports are cars that really don't need restoring IMO. Maybe a paint and interior freshen up. Call it £4k max. £6k worth of upgrades?
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SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
£4k for a decent paint job ?
Strip off parts, strip off paint, sand, dip or bead blast, repair, prepare, paint and laquer....
Interior parts and bumpers, new windscreen - basically all to lok fresh and new AND then the engine, carbs, gearbox, clutch, diff, suspension, wheels tyres and , and
I think that you're new at this game or your last resto was done 20 years agao....with respect.
s2k_adz
Club Member
At this game?? I disagree.... I've been working with cars for years and have a pretty good grasp on what things cost. I've had many cars painted.
In my 14 years of experience I'd say budgeting £4k on a good paint job would easily cover it. That's pretty much what mine is costing.
The restoration on my 260Z will have cost around 12k in total when it's done. That included lots of welding that simply wouldn't have been needed on a LHD dry state car.
Why would you replace a perfectly good windscreen? Or bumpers? Rota wheels are cheap as chips.
I guess maybe I'd be willing to do more of the work on the car myself than you. It also might help that I live in the South West. Skilled labour here is much cheaper than in lots of places in the UK.
On top of that, whatever spec it is, its still LHD.
It's a personal opinion... you don't need to try and prove me right or wrong.
In my 14 years of experience I'd say budgeting £4k on a good paint job would easily cover it. That's pretty much what mine is costing.
The restoration on my 260Z will have cost around 12k in total when it's done. That included lots of welding that simply wouldn't have been needed on a LHD dry state car.
Why would you replace a perfectly good windscreen? Or bumpers? Rota wheels are cheap as chips.
I guess maybe I'd be willing to do more of the work on the car myself than you. It also might help that I live in the South West. Skilled labour here is much cheaper than in lots of places in the UK.
On top of that, whatever spec it is, its still LHD.
It's a personal opinion... you don't need to try and prove me right or wrong.
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
I respect your opinion - my experience is different - that's all.
Albrecht
Well-Known Forum User
s2k_adz said:
Hopefully common sense and hard economics will show the difference between right and wrong in this case.
That "£10k is a full restoration" will go down as one of the forum quotes of 2015 for me though. It's shaping up to be a vintage year for the did he really just say that? moments...
s2k_adz
Club Member
If I can restore a car which had several thousand spent on metalwork to an excellent standard for around £12k give or take £1000, restoring a dry, rust free LHD car could easily be done fully for £10k. Respray, bush refresh, interior cleanup. What more does a really solid import with good bumpers etc need??
If you're paying more, thats fine, I have no issue with you spending your money!
Maybe if you lack the ability to work on a car yourself that quote could be hilarious.... to others, perhaps not so much. Surely if someone knows what they're doing they could fully restore a car for material costs alone?
If you're paying more, thats fine, I have no issue with you spending your money!
Maybe if you lack the ability to work on a car yourself that quote could be hilarious.... to others, perhaps not so much. Surely if someone knows what they're doing they could fully restore a car for material costs alone?
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SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
We agree to differ and I believe that the majority wouldn't be restoring their own cars.
Most bits on a 'rust-free' import will be naff and need changing....so I've seen on most project cars cheap enough to warrant more money and effort thrown at them and keeping '73 bumpers is (for me) a non-no even if they are in good nick-ish.
Most bits on a 'rust-free' import will be naff and need changing....so I've seen on most project cars cheap enough to warrant more money and effort thrown at them and keeping '73 bumpers is (for me) a non-no even if they are in good nick-ish.
s2k_adz
Club Member
That's fair enough Sean, though if I look through the restoration section there's a lot of people doing a lot of work.
I have to confess I don't have lots of experience with imports but was led to believe that the entire point of getting an import was so that it was rust free.
Buying a complete car like the one listed is certainly a lot easier and much less stressful I'd imagine!!!
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I have to confess I don't have lots of experience with imports but was led to believe that the entire point of getting an import was so that it was rust free.
Buying a complete car like the one listed is certainly a lot easier and much less stressful I'd imagine!!!
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Albrecht
Well-Known Forum User
Do you not see the point here in relation to the car in question? It's DONE. It's a known quantity, a ready-to-go package. It's not a "you could do the same for less" proposition to somebody who can't or simply won't DIY.
A few posts back I saw you mention 14 years or so of experience with old cars. Well, I've got something like 25 years with S30-series Zs and the best part of 40 years of 'old car' ownership, DIY repairs, make-do-and-mend, engine builds and swaps, tuning, body mods/repairs (roof chops, welding, painting) and everything that goes with that, and I can tell you that we are a dying breed. There are PLENTY of people out there who simply want to step into an old car without all the hassles of coordinating and project managing a 'restoration' that will often go over time and over budget.
Flick through the back pages of any major classic car magazine and you'll see hundreds if not thousands of ready-to-go cars for sale in this country. Who buys them? Not people like you (or me, come to that...) who either prefer to do it themselves or who simply can't afford to do it any other way. That doesn't mean the cars that are for sale are "not worth it", does it? Many of them find willing buyers. It's what happens with the majority of 'classic' car sales in this country.
At some point in the distant past S30-series owners in the UK got into that Monty Python 'Four Yorkshiremen' mindset, convinced that good cars could be had for 3k to 5k and that they were not worth much more. We are still - evidently - living with the fallout from that. It's one of the reasons why there have been so few S30-series Z specialist restorers in the UK able to survive and make a living out of it. Contrast that with any other make and marque. It's a bizarre and depressing situation.
s2k_adz
Club Member
I do agree with that Albrecht as I said in my last post for someone looking purely to buy and own a Z it's perfect I guess. I personally wanted a project to restore. To save a classic from rusting away, making sure everything was done as I wanted along the way.
I am really glad Z values appear to be on the up.
I never said that I thought the car was wrongly priced or wouldn't sell at that price, just that I wouldn't buy it for the afformentioned reasons.
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I am really glad Z values appear to be on the up.
I never said that I thought the car was wrongly priced or wouldn't sell at that price, just that I wouldn't buy it for the afformentioned reasons.
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SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
So, and with all respect, yours and several other's here opinions are purely personal and specific to your/their needs/wants and competences.
What I and Alan are trying to point out are the general issues and the 'I wouldn't pay that kind of money' kinda clouds the issue because I wouldn't either, nor would Alan - we already have Zs like you.
But someone will and people have and a car is worth for what it sells and there are cars selling out there within the UK that would obviously shock and seriously upset some people and their views of 'worth' here.
I thank you for honestly saying that you're glad prices are on the up....you've just joined a minority.
All done apart from the wrinkly trans tunnel and whatever is holding the centre console off the tunnel. As a matter of interest how much will that cost to redo properly.
richiep
Club Member
That is such a minor issue, I can't understand how it is seen as a cause of drama versus everything else done to a high standard on that car tbh.
The cost: as I suggested before, is the price of a can of spray adhesive. As for console, it might not be fully tightened down at the back for whatever reason. Or it could be that the padding on the tunnel is not quite thick enough around that area to close the gap. Could be fixed by changing/adjusting the tunnel insulation. There's nothing some DIY time couldn't sort.Anybody that needs to get a professional in to sort that out needs to get out of classic car ownership IMO. But that's just me - as mentioned above, there are plenty of people who don't want to lift a finger or do anything, no matter how simple, themselves. I personally can't identify with them tbh.
It was initially just a casual observation, now I'm on the wind up.That is such a minor issue, I can't understand how it is seen as a cause of drama versus everything else done to a high standard on that car tbh.
Anybody that needs to get a professional in to sort that out needs to get out of classic car ownership IMO. But that's just me - as mentioned above, there are plenty of people who don't want to lift a finger or do anything, no matter how simple, themselves. I personally can't identify with them tbh.