Rad Rods by Troy - Close to me.

$600,000 invested - You can own this for only $175,000 (or make offer). So who took the $425,000 loss on this? It is good to see I don't play in the big leagues......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1969-CHEVROLET-CAMARO-Rad-Rides-Troy-car-/140900410620?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item20ce51a4fc#ht_1092wt_1021

Wow! $600k on the custom build. Even if I had Bill Gates $, I don't think I could come off that kind of cash for an impractical, designer styled, pseudo-drag '69 Camaro. Just couldn't do it.

I realize that it is now up for much less, but I just can't wrap my head around the original build cost.

Some people have way more money than smarts. I've gotta think you could've built that car somewhere else for way less money.

it might seem like a big loss, but i'd bet that some company commissioned the car for marketing purposes and is getting rid of it now that it has served that purpose.

Or it's an in house build and they're counting labor. I can't see 600k in that car.

I used to work in Manteno. It was fun to watch them pull stuff in an out of the shop on my lunch break. Met Troy once fixing his cable. The whole family are nice people. They said that you can just come into the shop and they'll show you around.

There is a lot of cool stuff that's come out of that shop.

Don't get me wrong, the man can build, I just wonder how the hell that Camaro cost over a half-mil to build.

Maybe the 600k figure included money lost in the divorce over it?

They had that at mecums Indy auction my first year driving, cool guy to meet. Very well built car. The detail was astonishing.

It's all hours guys...

Thanks to the magic of television, you don't get to see things being put togther and taken apart over and over again for the umpteenth time to get it right.

Troy's cars are all about detail and detail takes time.

We had the body on and off a '34 Ford about 7 times last year to get everything just right and we don't go into the detail that those things do.

Every build will be assembled and disassembled completely at last twice before it's done.

Think about it:

Initial disassembly

Modifcation and assembly to check that everything is working as intended. If you're lucky, you'll only have to do this step once.

Disassembly for paint.

Re-assembly and disassemby a couple times to correct all the fit troubles from paint buildup.

Final assembly.

It's not like screwing a track-rat miata together.

I've had the damn frame covers on and off the Packard at work at least four times now and they have to come off one more time still.

There's a lot of difference between a 20 foot car and a 2 foot car. Troy's cars look good from 2 inches.

Shawn

Its very similar to building an airplane in your garage: there's the pieces you berk up, there's the piece your perfect, and then there's the piece you put on the plane.

It's said that a homebuilt airplane gets built at least three times.

I'm sure a top grade pro build is no dfferent.

Troy Trepanier brought the car they called the Chicayne (1962 Biscayne with a 1200 hp twin turbo) to the 2003 Power Tour. It drove the entire route. I had plenty of time to gawk at it and talk with him about it.

I was admiring the rear bumper (note that it is narrowed, and it still wraps around the sides, but is recessed flush into the rear quarter panels). He told me they had over 150 hours of custom fabrication time in the bumper alone.

I asked what a car like that was worth. $150,000? He just laughed.

I asked how someone can afford a car like that. Troy explained the Chicayne is owned by Glenn Grozich (owner of Billet Specialties). Billet can pay up to $20,000 for a full page ad in a national magazine. The Chicayne had dozens of 5-6 page feature articles written about it in multiple magazines. Plus, as our friends at GRM will testify, you can't buy a magazine cover at any price. It is reserved for the sole discretion of the publishers. The Chicayne earned more than a half a dozen cover photos.

Mr. Grozich simply wrote the car directly into his advertising budget. The cost of the car was cheap compared to the cost of the advertising he would have paid for.

Trans_Maro wrote: It's all hours guys... . . . There's a lot of difference between a 20 foot car and a 2 foot car. Troy's cars look good from 2 inches.

That's it in a nutshell. Unless a person is very talented, and has the time and facilities to do this sort of work they're going to have to pay someone else to do it. Getting to 90% of perfect is one thing, but the cost goes up exponentially when you're looking for that last 10%.

SVreX wrote: I was admiring the rear bumper (note that it is narrowed, and it still wraps around the sides, but is recessed flush into the rear quarter panels). He told me they had over 150 hours of custom fabrication time in the bumper alone.

I don't know what his shop rate is, but for discussion's sake assume it's $50/hour - there's $7500 of fab time, and then probably another $2000 for a show quality chrome job. That's nearly $10k, just for the rear bumper.

SVreX wrote: Mr. Grozich simply wrote the car directly into his advertising budget. The cost of the car was cheap compared to the cost of the advertising he would have paid for.

Excellent point - I have looked into advertising in some of the plumbing trade journals and a $5,000 page is a basic start. So a $500,000-$750,000 car coud be your advertising budget.

Secretariata wrote: I realize that it is now up for much less, but I just can't wrap my head around the original build cost.

I misspoke, what I meant to say was I can't wrap my head around paying the $600k. I can see how it is possible to put that much into a car like that.

They must be including the labor. We all agree on that.