Restoration question - terrible idea?

In reply to tuna55:

There's a cruise in every Sunday night (around 6PM) at the DQ on Wade Hampton, next to the Lowes in Greer, SC. We dropped by last night on the way home from Katie's parents' house (Easter dinner). There were about 8 or 9 cars there, but there's typically more- it was slow due to the Holiday. The guys who go are not your typical big money car guys who go to shows with their over-restored '63 split windows, they are working car guys and lots of them do their own paint and body work. We just stopped by for 45 minutes or an hour or so to chat, not a big commitment, and everyone's really friendly. You can drive one of my Amazons if you want. ;-)

Five Craigslist replies over the past few weeks. One passed after seeing detailed pics, one showed up but won't return phone calls (and this is before he has my truck), one coming tonight, one tomorrow and hopefully the last (and best) option will visit this weekend.

Group one came over last night. $2600 to finish everything and put it in primer, $800 more for paint. That's a bit steep. Guy #2 comes tonight, I think.

Is sending the wife and kids on a week vacation an option? Then you can just finish it up.

I've had bad luck with these deals in the past, so now do it all myself. It takes me forever, but I got tired of getting screwed over.

Also, post pics of the truck.

Cotton wrote: Is sending the wife and kids on a week vacation an option? Then you can just finish it up. I've had bad luck with these deals in the past, so now do it all myself. It takes me forever, but I got tired of getting screwed over. Also, post pics of the truck.

I can't. My wife is past eight months pregnant, taking grad school classes and teaching.

By the way, before looked like this:

During (now):

$3400 to go from that to a well finished truck sounds like a good deal.

dculberson wrote: $3400 to go from that to a well finished truck sounds like a good deal.

Not finished - painted. I still have to get a fuel tank in there along with a custom filler setup, get the right radio/seat/steering wheel/seatbelts in it, rebuild the transmission, fab up the crossmember to fit the one piece driveshaft, rebuild the carb, pull and pretty up the engine, put the door handles and door panels back on, figure out how to make the grill look presentable and replace the vent windows (already did the seals).

Plus, I really don't have $3400. Not at all.

Okay, I'm sorry. I thought the price was to finish it completely! For just body work and paint it's not highway robbery but also not a great deal.

Three quotes for bodywork and primer:

$850

$2400

$4500

Seriously. Now what?

Sell the truck, start saving for your kid's college educations, besides, the free time you have now you'll most likely be spending with your wife and child...

Raze wrote: Sell the truck, start saving for your kid's college educations, besides, the free time you have now you'll most likely be spending with your wife and child...

Try again. Not an option. There is no way I am taking a loss on a relatively promising project car/truck. The whole point of this thread is to get it done without losing some of that free time. If I wasn't spending it with my kids (three of them in a few weeks here) I wouldn't need to ask the question.

In reply to tuna55:

I HAD to go and look this thread up. Kid #4 is here in November. At least the wife is staying home now, and finished with grad school.

Congratulations on the newest arrival! Clearly, the universe is sending you a message. The message could be that you should give up on the pickup and get a Suburban, or it could be that you should definitely finish the pickup because there will be times when being able to bring only part of your lovely family with you will be worth their weight in gold.

Congratulations on #4! I learned my lesson the hard way after taking on a major house renovation shortly after #1. What would have been a 2-3 month project without kids took over five years to complete (#2 and #3 were born in the interim). In that time, I sold all of my fun car projects because I just didn't have the time to work on them the way I would have liked to. I want to pass on my love of cars to the kids, but it'll be through basic maintenance (not major projects) for right now. As it is, I still struggle to get the basic maintenance done, and have three oil changes that need to be done in the near future.

But the kids make my lack of progress all worth it

Tuna: Sell the truck to me, I'll do the bodywork and sell it back to you ready for paint for $1500 more than my purchase price. I'll even let you decide how long you want me to take/how long you want your garage empty.

JohnInKansas wrote: Tuna: Sell the truck to me, I'll do the bodywork and sell it back to you ready for paint for $1500 more than my purchase price. I'll even let you decide how long you want me to take/how long you want your garage empty.

John (in Kansas), figure out a way to transport it (to Kansas) and you've got a deal.

Kid #4 is here.

I am sore in a sort of way that ensures that #4 will be it.

So now, GRM, I ask of you, a slightly different question.

I started on this restoration hoping to discover that I could do everything in my little attached garage and restore cars from time to time. Well, I (as a team, obviously) have prepped numerous Lemons cars, saved cars from the junkyard, kept cars running that shouldn't be, as well as a host of other projects that make me feel somewhat skilled in this same time. I seemingly cannot get this rather major undertaking done as quickly as I would like to, despite this. I had hoped I could invest about 5k into this truck and have it be worth 10k or so, not counting labor.

Most of you have seen the pictures of the beast. All of you know what a 72 GMC looks like. I ask this: Since a show quality sheetmetal restoration seems out of reach for now, is there anything else worth doing to this hulk? The chassis, brakes, rear end, transmission, engine, blah blah blah is basically good. What can I do with that to make it a driveable vehicle that would allow me to skip the bodywork? Truck based exocet? Cab swap? ZAV (only 2WD)? be creative. It has to:

Be cheap

Be easier than the bodywork

Be worth something to someone when it's done

Be street driveable

What say you? Pics are encouraged.

Tube frame/Exoskeleton "Dune Buggy" / Sand Rail / Summer Vehicle? A lot of planning up front in order to re-use everything from the truck, however the end result if you've already built a few cages could be fun.

tuna55 wrote: Be cheap Be easier than the bodywork Be worth something to someone when it's done Be street driveable

I think you can find a solution that is 3/4 of this, but making something that is worth something to someone else will be hard. Every debodied truck I've ever seen is homemade hell ugly. It may be fun to drive, and you can probably do it cheap, but i have yet to see one I'd give more than scrap value for as a buyer (I hope other GRMers can prove me wrong with pics, because it would be awesome.)

Unfortunately, making something valuable to someone else usually requires some fair investment in build parts, or some mad fabrication skills to build from scratch. I generally have neither.

Having said all that, I do hope you can find an amenable solution. I don't mean to be a downer.

The pictures all turned into red X's at some point, so it's hard to make recommendations based on the truck's condition.

Doing a home made body thing you'll spend as much time, effort, and money as restoring what you have. When you're done it will be worth basically nothing. Only do it to have fun, not to save effort or make any money.

Personally I would rather fix up the truck or pass it along to someone that would. A truck seems like an awful foundation for an Exocet type project. But that's just me!

If the body deterioration is anything like on mine, the cab corners and rockers are rough or gone entirely.

Replace 'em. It aint that hard. New ones weld in, and if you get the pretty close and rhino-line the bottom 6 inches of the body, it'll help protect the new pieces and remove the need for perfect bodywork.

Also, if I remember right, the cab supports were a little flaky (?). Dunno how nasty these are to replace. My truck needs a set. I want to say there are sleeves that slip on over top of the crappy old ones that weld in. Don't know if that can be done without removing the cab...

I'd say fix the exterior bodywork, fresh (cheap) paint, sell it.

JohnInKansas wrote: If the body deterioration is anything like on mine, the cab corners and rockers are rough or gone entirely. Replace 'em. It aint that hard. New ones weld in, and if you get the pretty close and rhino-line the bottom 6 inches of the body, it'll help protect the new pieces and remove the need for perfect bodywork. Also, if I remember right, the cab supports were a little flaky (?). Dunno how nasty these are to replace. My truck needs a set. I want to say there are sleeves that slip on over top of the crappy old ones that weld in. Don't know if that can be done without removing the cab... I'd say fix the exterior bodywork, fresh (cheap) paint, sell it.

This, halfass the fit and finish, as long as the rust is cut out and the new metal properly protected, it will last. Odds are it will still be straighter than when it was was first built in 1972.