GTV near Minneapolis

Never mind: here's the deal. The owner emailed some good honest pictures. The car is not that bad, but too far gone for me. What a shame. That interior is so nicely preserved, but as friends have pointed out, the cost of restoring the body would leave me stranded. My Alfetta projects are enough!

Somebody in the Midwest where labor is cheaper should rescue that very deserving classic. Hey, in England they would call it "nearly rust free"!

Regards to the Alway Looking brotherhood,

Restore?

By the by, what do you (or your friends) think it would cost to restore that one, granted it is only from the pictures? What would be the bottom and what would be the high end if you were trying to get it into original shape, assuming it hasn't been in an accident.

I've always been curious what restores cost. And I'm sure there is a huge range. Maybe I should ask this in another thread, but I wanted to see what people thought based on the pictures of this 1750.

Thanks,
John

In California just the body and paint work by a good reputable craftsman would run about $15,000 to get this deserving example back to "original shape". The problem is that since our cars don't normally rust all that much, our cratmen are not highly developed in this subset of the bodywork art. It would probably be much cheaper elsewhere.

I wouldn't think you'd be that much less here in Rustworld. Repair panels alone are probably going to run maybe $4k including rockers, floors, sills, and spare tire well. Labor to install same would likely run $4k (100 hrs @ $40/hr) and a decent paint job another $4k on top of that. Give or take $12k without knowing what you'll find once the car is in your drive. Including the purchase price you're at $16k before the inevitable surprises (engine and suspension surely would need some attention). Nice GTV's are going from $15k to $30k so you could justify putting that kind of money in it. Of course you could shell out $15k and start further up the ladder.