As a shop owner, all I can say is YES x 9! Spot on! Great article!
By Carl Heideman
Jan 2, 2023
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Ford,
Mercedes-Benz,
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| From the May 2014 issue
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[Editor's Note: This article originally ran in the May 2014 issue of Classic Motorsports. Some information may be different today.]
Restoring a car is a risky proposition.
While TV shows and auction coverage make it look like it’s quick, easy, and without risk of financial loss or frustration, that’s rarely the case. Most restorations require hundreds to thousands of hours of work, an upside-down amount of money, and a timeframe that can stretch on for years. Sure, they have their highs, like the day of purchase, the day the paint is done, the first start of the engine, and the first drive. But they’re also filled with lows, like bad news about unnoticed damage, budget overages, and plain, simple mistakes. The mistakes are probably the worst part.
Buckminster Fuller had it right: If you can learn from mistakes, you’ll be smarter. While your own mistakes probably teach you more, learning from other people’s usually costs less. Take some time to study these nine common restoration mistakes. Hopefully your restorations will see more highs as a result.
Unless you’re up for a big, expensive challenge or you’re sentimentally attached, the right car is almost always the nicest example you can find. Rust, missing parts, collision damage, or extreme wear and tear make a car cheaper to buy but usually much more expensive to restore. Searching carefully for a good example will speed your restoration and keep your budget intact.
Most restorations start with a dream–an idealized view of what the final product will be. The problem is that most restorations, no matter how well executed, are still just old cars when they’re done.
Compared to modern cars, most old cars don’t run as well, stop as well, handle as well, or have the amenities we’ve grown to love. Try to drive your car, or at least a similar example, before diving into the restoration. Find out if you don’t fit, it’s too hot, it’s too slow, or the smells get to you. Some of these things can be dealt with during the restoration, and you can budget time and money accordingly. Others may have you consider a different type of car. Either way, waiting until it’s over to find out you don’t like your car is a mistake you don’t want to make.
Our rule is simple: Don’t rebuild the engine until it’s time to put it back in. We’ve seen too many engines rebuilt early in the restoration only to sit and degrade in a dusty corner of the shop. Not only that, but an engine rebuild sucks a lot of money out of the budget.
If that money gets spent early, it sometimes means cost-cutting in important areas, like paint and body. You can always paint a used engine, put it back in, and pull it for a rebuild later. Try redoing the budget bodywork because you spent too much too early on your engine.
We just dropped a hint about this one. You can redo just about any mechanical job with a little time and a little cash, but redoing substandard bodywork is pretty much like starting over.
Bodywork is usually the most expensive part of the restoration, and too many people try to keep down costs by cutting corners. It’s a false economy–the only way to save on bodywork and paint is to start with a solid car and make sure the work is done properly. If you’re not doing the work yourself, see our next point.
Whether you’re trusting a full restoration to a shop or just subbing out a few things, it’s essential that you check references. Note the plural, as one reference is not enough.
There are three things to ask past customers: Did the shop perform quality work? Was it on budget? Was it on time?
If it wasn’t quality work, walk away. If it wasn’t on time or on budget, that may be okay–quality costs time and money, after all–but you’ll want to plan for these curveballs.
The most important references are for the metalwork and paint. In these cases, you should not only talk to past customers, but attempt to see their cars. A little due diligence goes a long way here.
This is a corollary to our engine advice. Too many people stock up on thousands of dollars’ worth of parts well before they need them.
These parts then get damaged in storage, go missing, turn out to be the wrong ones, or once again suck important funds from the budget at the wrong time. We’ll let you in on a secret: Yes, there may be a sale, but there will probably be a sale next year, too. Buy your parts just in time and in appropriate bundles to save on shipping and keep the project moving. But don’t buy parts you aren’t ready to use.
Without goals, restorations fail. Hopefully, your first goal is to have fun. Beyond that, you may want to get awards, go for great drives, say you did it yourself, or meet like-minded people.
But if you forget your goals and get too hung up on schedules, budgets, problems or other distractions, your restoration will risk major failure. Keep those goals at the forefront of your mind, and adjust things quickly when you stray. (And you will stray!)
We believe that most cars billed as “restored” are really about 50 to 100 hours from finished. Sure, they look nice and drive pretty well, but are they sorted?
A good restoration ends with a lot of test-driving and list making. The lists will note rattles, things that don’t feel right, parts that don’t fit correctly, and cosmetics that need attention. They may even include a big job, like removing the drivetrain to fix something. You may be out of money or sick of working on your car, but sorting makes a decent restoration into a great restoration–and can save you from a bad restoration
This is it, the big one: If you’ve made mistakes in your restoration, admit them, learn from them, fix them, and move back to your goals. Don’t get hung up on why you made the mistake. Get hung up on how to get back on track with the lesson you learned. You’ll be wiser and happier for it.
As a shop owner, all I can say is YES x 9! Spot on! Great article!
10. Losing momentum
I have a friend who has been restoring his 196x Ford Mustang for at least 20 years.
It is setting on a rotisserie waiting to be completed...someday
Thanks, Ralph and TexSquirrel. It freaks me out how many stalled restorations I see in my travels. Most blame it on money, but the hard work cost very little on a restoration, if you are doing it yourself.
Great article. Focus is really the biggest thing in completing a restoration. It's easy to stay focused during the first phase of readying the car for bodywork but after the reassembly begins it is hard to keep your eye on the ball. I find that I start looking for the next project when I'm about 80% done with the original one! That makes it really hard to stay focused on the first one. I won't take on a project if it requires a lot of money. Of course what exactly is a lot of money? My wife thinks I spend a lot of money on cars but I don't!
I have have hauled home many cars that I parked in my shop did some exploratory disassembly on and decided that the job was beyond my skill set or price range to do a proper restore and sold off. Now I am focusing on my SVT Focus, clutch and suspension finished. Timing belt, brakes, wheels, tires and finally paint. There are plenty of small, one hour or so inexpensive jobs I can complete so I keep thinking that I am making progress on the project while I find the funds for the next large job (timing belt and water pump). I chose this car based on your recommendation in several GRM magazine articles.
More on point #7: A money saving tip is to decide beforehand how deep you want the restoration to go. You will save heaps of time and money if you decide intentionally to not be a perfectionist and ignore some of the flaws that you (and probably only you) notice. And you will worry less about taking your car to the track.
On point #8: Get a few other people to drive your car too. A mechanic specializing in the car you are restoring can fast-track diagnosing some issues. My wife who is no mechanic at all does a very good job at pointing out why my car still dives like an "old car". Thanks honey, I didn't even have to ask you to do that for me, lol. Now that my classic has most of it's squeaks, clunks, bad smells and other quirks I had been willing to put up with all gone I do enjoy driving it more.
How about Rule 3a: Don't disassemble the car until it's time to disassemble the car. Lots of people tear the car apart and do a poor job of cataloging what goes where. If it's not a full body-off or rotisserie job, perhaps doing one section at a time (like,say, the rear suspension) and reassembling it would serve the first-time restorer far better than ending up with a pile of parts in the middle of the garage floor with a forlorn-looking body on jacks.
11. (my nemesis) Bouncing around too much! Spend a few hours in the garage on something, next time go do something else, a month later everything is 1% closer but nothing gets done.
Pull a fender, bang it, smooth it, prime it, set it aside. Next.
#1. If you can’t afford the nicest version of the car you want, you almost never can afford the cost of restoration. It’s a thing on the C3 Corvette forum. Guy wants a C3 Corvette, but won’t spend money for a running driving example. He’d rather spend $3000 for a pile of crap than spend $8000 on a good runner. Project takes years to complete or more likely never gets finished and is parted out. Funny how those guys think their time isn’t worth anything. My time is worth $$$. I’d rather have a car I can drive and improve than wait years and $$$ to drive.
In reply to maj75 :
True up to a point...Wont work for me. I am in the hobby for the project, not so much cause I dream of driving and maintaining the finished product. I consider my time spent on the car in the same way that others consider their time on the gold-course; money well spent. Not like you get to sell the scorecard for a profit after the 19th hole is completed.
Pete
Great article with a lot of truth. I have just gotten back after 4+ years of restoration and modification, my 1972 De Tomaso Pantera. I think one of the most important things you must decide early if not before you begin is "what are your goals?" Do you want an absolute original, concourse quality car or do you want one with tasteful modifications that make the car easier and more enjoyable to drive. In my case, I simply was never driving my gorgeous Pantera because it was such a pain in the rear. First, getting it started nearly always meant pulling the air cleaner, dumping gas into the carb, running back into the car to try and start it, running back out to screw the air cleaner back on, and hoping the car was still running. You couldn't drive it in termperatures above about 75F and you had to make sure there was little or no traffic lest you overheat the engine. On the track, it would run all day long without any issues, but on the street, it was always nervous time. So my goals were either I make this car something I can actually drive without hours of thought and planning or I sell it to someone who would do those things. My 5.0L Jag XKR was quicker, more agile, easier for me to drive on the street and on the track, and I didn't have to worry about all of the external conditions as well as whether or not it would start. But (a big but), that mid-engined brute that ferociously barks behind your ears wrapped in a spectacularly sexy Italian body was too much for me to give up. But even knowing what I wanted to do, I still kept adding things besides the original goal. such as a new built engine of 500+hp, headers, new exhaust, complete leather interior along with new seats, harnesses and a respray even though the old was in beautiful condition. I wanted it all! And I can say that in the 4 weeks I've had the big cat back, I've driven it more than the previous 5 years prior to the restoration. There are still a few things to do, but they're going to get done in the next few weeks while I can still continue to drive it and have fun.
I think it's important to set goals for what you want and pursue that plan.
I've made several of these mistakes along the way, but #6 wasthe most embarrassing. I did forget what I already had. I inherited a pickup truck load of surplus MGA parts from a fellow enthusiast who was moving across the country and couldn't take with him all that he had accumulated over the years. These all sat in my garage for six or seven years, and when I retired, I had a little more time and began working on the car. I began looking through the parts that Tom had given me, and discovered that along the way I had unnecessarily purchased, when on sale of course, some of the same parts that were in some of those boxes of parts that Tom had given me. So I stopped dissassembly and did a complete inventory of all the parts on shelves and in boxes, put the info in a spreadsheet (312 lines so far). I'm also adding parts to the spreasheet inventory as I remove them now. Hopefully this will help me avaid buying another extra carpeting kit or set of horns or bumper support bracket.
Good reminder. Thank you for article and comments.
I hope I'm not mincing words here, as I give 2 big thumbs up for the article.
I would propose that asking yourself WHY you made a mistake...in any endeavor...Is key to preventing a repeat performance.
I was trying to save time
I was trying to save money
I thought it was OK
I didn't think ahead 3 steps
My friend thought it looked OK
The guy at the (store /track/swap meet) said it would work
I didn't want to wait for the right part/ tool/ help
I saw someone else do it
.....
This is some excellent advice that anyone contemplating taking on their first restoration project should read!
When I was young and keen I could restore a car in 9-12 months, going at it methodically and steadily. Now I keep saying I never want to do another restoration and try and resist when a tempting candidate comes up.
I'll add a couple of things to your article.
1 - Do NOT take the car apart before doing a good survey and taking necessary measurements. I've seen people that removed everything on a car leaving a bare frame, without first doing things that can be a whole lot easier first. Replace those inner and outer rocker panels on your roadster while the doors still more or less line up with the front and rear bodywork rather than turing it into a giant Tetris puzzle that requires endles tack welding and fitting of new panels that may or may not bear any resemblnce to original factory panels..
2 - yes, I know that you are a young mentally alert person today and that you think you can just toss parts into a box as you take them off the car, but if you are one of the people that winds up having a 'stalled' (as opposed to the worst, an 'abandoned) restoration, by the time you get back to assembling what you took apart maybe years before, you may have little recollection of what went where. Ever notice those posts on bulletin boards of "What the f*** is this thing and where does it go?" When you take apart a car buy a lot of large ziplock bags and labels and put a label in the bag or wired to the larger parts, written in ink that will not run and disappear if it gets oil on it. Then 5 or 10 years later you will have a clue what the parts are and won't become an object of sympathy in one of those threads.
3 - talk to other owners before you make irrevocable decisions about what you are going to do with the car. I have seen people that had the brilliant idea that putting an obsolete siamese port Ford V6 into a rather nice Jensen Healey instead of rebuilding the much higher output and much more interesting original Lotus engine. Looked like a much worse decision when ten years later they found out that while a Jensen Healy with original engine, warts and all is probably worth less than it should be, a bastardized JH is basically worth only scrap metal value.
I'm sorry, I approach things differently
#1.
Buy with your heart. Not your wallet.
If it's about only money do something else. 10 hours a month could always make me more money. But Money couldn't make me work on something I don't love.
#2
Life happens, when they do you can set the project aside for better times. You cannot forget your obligations just to focus on your hobby anymore than an alcoholic can forget his family when he's sitting in the bar.
#3
When opportunity presents rare parts either have the cash or credit to take advantage of that. You don't know when or if that part will be available again.
#4
Do the most hated jobs early so you can reward yourself with those you enjoy later.
Yikes! That struck a nerve. Distraction is a deterent, too. Almost like dating you see one that looks good but then the beauty wears off and you see another one you can't live without. In various stages of 'restoration' there are a 1968 SRL311, 1974 260Z, 1991 Miata and '77 XJS waiting for me to finish. In one case start.
This might be a form of insanity. I'll contact a shrink and get back to you.
... I think a distinction should be made between "restored-restoration" (Judged - compared to as when the car came off the production line) versus "resto-mod"(what is in the minds eye of the builder)
Let me just put these here..... Note the engine build began 1st....
btw, Surreptitious, my current "resto-mod" began as an engine build too 
1) Starting With the Wrong Car - hahahahaha... it would have been nice to start with a "better" car... but sometimes you get what you get - you take a leap of faith.
2) Not driving it first - That is a big part of resto-mod is making them more current road worthy. It helps that I've driven many cars from the era of my projects
3) Rebuilding the Engine Too Early - As I've already noted... both of my resto-modded projects began with the engine. The engine build motivated me onward.....
4) Skimping on Metalwork and Paint - AGREE 10,000%
5) Checking (Not) References: If you have been inside the car biz for long, you learn who to trust... with what.... or what not.
6) Buying Parts Too Early - I beg to differ... this ASSUMES the parts will be available later...... if there are parts houses that stock YOUR cars parts... all well and good.... but if you aren't restoring a car with a parts supply... you get what ever you need, and deal with potential duplicates if it occurs.
7) Forgetting Why You Started - motivation... it isn't easy to stay motivated... In my case most of my builds are about some kind of creating... making it unique.
8) Skipping the Sorting Stage - The one area in Surreptitious that could have been better... The current project I want to be much better
9) Not Admitting Mistakes - the only one you are lying too... is yourself.... unless you are a shop 
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10) Budget - expect(PLAN ON IT) to spend 50% more then your best estimate - when all is finished, if you spent less than 50% more be happy
Don't do it. By now there have been enough of us and getting old "been there, done that" to satisfy most needs and wants. Use your time and money looking and networking patiently for one that is 95% of your wish. The 5% compromise with yourself is the best bargain ever! Time is too precious and can't be restored.
In reply to Carl Heideman :
My big mistake is starting too cheap. I used to have a $300 buy in price. ( my last one I raised to $500).
Then I tear out most everything and sell or throw it away.
I typically buy spare engines, trannys, rear ends whenever I see great deals. trade interior parts stock wheels for race wheels etc.
It goes up on the rotisserie as I remove the suspension. That's body work time.
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