Quote:
Originally Posted by The Art Doctor
The nit pickers on the paint have to realize that the era of point restoring cars is dead. Even Kube is doing the rolling patina thing! Material, parts and labor for specialty work has exceeded market value. Preservation of what you have and actually driving them are where its at for the next generation of caretakers. And this car would make a great driver as is.
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You are spot on. There never were very many restoring cars to a true #1 level. I did seventeen of them and was fortunate enough to profit from each I had parted with. Most, well, probably all, were done for the love of it as well as the challenge.
With the seemingly rapid devaluation on most of our beloved old cars, I doubt there'd be a profit these days.
Oh, um, profit if I don't count labor.
Paint, materials alone, ran me over $8500 (wholesale) for the last car I had done. If I was charging for bodywork (on a rather nice car to start with) figure an easy $40k additional cost.
Of course, that's metal work, not bondo. Like I'd said a
true #1.
Me rolling the patina thing? Well, partly due to cost but only slightly. Mostly due to burn out. It was a tough decision for me to stop doing full restorations. I'd always enjoyed the personal challenge.
Having been so deeply immersed, I did not realize how stressful those projects were at the time.
Now that I'm "rolling the patina thing" I have actually experienced the huge difference in stress levels.
Hey, at my age, I believe reducing stress is probably a wise choice
