whats the cost of your build ????

[maxspeed]

hi folks i am from norway and been here at lateral-g forum for a while just watching all the amazing projects and builds. So many people with amazing skills here.
What i was wondering is what is the cost of a build of a pro touring car ??
I know it is a stupid question becouse of the difference in the builds, but if you start with a good clean car and want a nice finished pt car that you can use, dont have to be any show queen.?
And i am thinking of if you let some proffesionales do it for you, becouse i dont have the skills it take to build a car like that..:_paranoid

any ideas ???

[Vegas69]

Pick a car on the site you like and I'll guess.

[skatinjay27]

Pick a car on the site you like and I'll guess.

YOUR CAR!!!!! mmwhaaa;)

[maxspeed]

Pick a car on the site you like and I'll guess.

I was thinking of a 69 camaro and get and ls engine and some DSE treatment...

[GregWeld]

Nobody can really answer this question because it so DEPENDS... depends on the base car quality - and what has to be done to it - floors? Wheel tubs? Rust repairs? How well do you want margins to be? Does it need stripping and full paint?

THEN you start with the drivetrain -- Motor? trans? rebuild or new? Fuel Injection? Turbos? Pro charger? Big block - or LSx? How much bling? New radiator and core support?

Front clip -- use the exisiting one and new A arms etc -- or start with trick clip and all the goodies?

Rear end -- rebuild exisiting or all new trick stuff...

Tires and wheels -- THEY can be had reasonable OR you can spend 6 or 7 grand...

Interior alone can cost 20 grand... new gauges - new seats - harness - wiring - all leather and trick stereo - and Air conditioning and on and on.


So you see why it's hard to answer the question.

BUT -- I would say you're going to spend EASY 150,000 USD to have a real nice build with some goodies and interior etc... MORE depending on the base cost and how fancy you get.

[RECOVERY ROOM]

Pick a car on the site you like and I'll guess.

You still got it:lol:

[GregWeld]

You still got it:lol:

Tracy --

I can't figure it he's a man of few words.... or he can't type worth a damn...
:rofl:

[notorious1970]

One Million Dollas!

[6spdcamaro]

You could build a solid protouring car for 40,000 -50,000. It would probably depend on the level of build and how many cool things you want. As greg said 150,000 is also easy to spend.

[elitecustombody]

You could build a solid protouring car for 40,000 -50,000. It would probably depend on the level of build and how many cool things you want. As greg said 150,000 is also easy to spend.

only if he does all the labor and get parts at wholesale prices and the car still won't stack up to the high end builds,don't get me wrong, it can be very nice,but to have impressive car with quality components can set you back alot more than $50k,set of nice wheels can cost $6-8k,turbo motor,clutch,tranny can cost well over $30k,suspension $10k and we still have body, paint, interior, lighting, audio and little de
tails that can make a hell of a difference and can cost thousands, so depending on what your vision is, your quality standards and plans for the car,the outcome may not be as impressive as some examples here

[Vegas69]

You still got it:lol:

That was the best I could come up with in the 30 seconds I had between golf and beer drinking. :rofl: I just thought it was valid, show us what you want and I can give him an educated guess. Way to many variables. Price cars, parts, and double it will get you in the ball park.

[RECOVERY ROOM]

Tracy --

I can't figure it he's a man of few words.... or he can't type worth a damn...
:rofl:

I cant type worth a damn.Takes to long,I'm getting better:thumbsup:
Every one is right about the expectations,The more work you have done the more it cost.Most of the time a pro built car will cost more.

[Flash68]

You can have great intentions of sticking with a 40-50k budget (I did) and then 2-3 years later you have doubled it... :_paranoid

I like Todd's idea too... pick a car or 3 and let the guessing begin!

[Mkelcy]

It's unbelievable how much these things cost. I've got $15K or a bit more just in the suspension, with me doing all the labor. Starting with a pretty decent body, and me doing the mini-tub and DSE SFC install, another $6,000 before paint not including the cost of the car. Drive train (bought cheap) probably $10,000. And it's not the big stuff that kills the budget, it's all the little pieces you need from the Camaro (in my case) restoration shops. Heck, I've already got all the big stuff, and I'm still spending money like a drunken sailor.

Suffice it to say, if you have to ask . . . .

[COYBILT]

It can cost up to 150,000 if not more.

[maxspeed]

Thanks for the answers :hail:
Another thing i was wondering, i dont see many finished pt cars for sale people dont sell them or i am searching in the wrong places ???

[deuce_454]

hi folks i am from norway and been here at lateral-g forum for a while just watching all the amazing projects and builds. So many people with amazing skills here.
What i was wondering is what is the cost of a build of a pro touring car ??
I know it is a stupid question becouse of the difference in the builds, but if you start with a good clean car and want a nice finished pt car that you can use, dont have to be any show queen.?
And i am thinking of if you let some proffesionales do it for you, becouse i dont have the skills it take to build a car like that..:_paranoid

any ideas ???

it also depends on what car you are building... and how much you can build yourself... you can have my malibu without forgeline wheels and a 305 sbc for 12000 euro... delivered in oslo

[Jim Nilsen]

Thanks for the answers :hail:
Another thing i was wondering, i dont see many finished pt cars for sale people dont sell them or i am searching in the wrong places ???

Finished PT cars is an oxymoron thought, they are never finished. Look at Bad Penny and you will understand.

When you build a car you spec out for your own needs you rarely want to sell it.

When you do all the work on your car it makes it even harder to sell.

Thinking of buying your way into the PT car of your dreams will make you broke and has done exactly that to those who have unfinished ones just sitting waiting for $$$$$.

It is the age old saying if you have to ask how much, you probably can't afford it. If you can afford it, $150,000 won't scare you but $500,000 might.

If you want to get the best deal you can buy one at auction and redo it a bit to personalize it and you can then have one for the least amount for what you like.

If you want all the fun of renderings, picking out the newest latest greatest parts and want it done in time to still be new when it is done. $250,000 seems to be about right.

Now if your head is spinning with numbers over this and you have entered the room and closed the door behind you, welcome to a brave new world!!!

I'm still a member of the under $30,000 club and I have done everything and it has taken years to do at a $2,000 a year budget. You can figure out how long it's been by that!!

I forgot to add that it has been appraised at $65,000 for resale/insurance and $150,000 to build.

[57hemicuda]

I do think with a well thought out game plan and some fruggle shopping,you can build a respectable car on a reasonable budget. I do think you have to have patience though, as soon as you start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on your build,it seems you just start ordering stuff.

My original budget was 5k, the build came in at about 9k. Broke the trans., lost my brakes on the road course, then granaded the motor. Upgrade,upgrade,upgrade, now floating around 21k, Over quadrupled the original budget. But, it is a totally different car then I started with,handling ,stopping and power are greatly improved. When you stop upgrading the car its time to put a for sale sign in the window. Ron
http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38420

http://troyboy468.smugmug.com/Other/Run-Through-The-Hills-09/IMG1818/657349708_Yy6SJ-L.jpg

[DOOM]

I think if your going all out $150.000+ is the magic number. If you going budget wise $55.000 to $75.000. will get you a nice car.. I have close to $40.000 in parts waiting to install on my car and I think this just brings me to the half way mark. When I started I THOUGHT I could put one together for around $40,000 thats until I found this site!! You have some pretty smart people on this site that will steer you in the right direction. I would call Frank at PRODIGY tell him what you want and he'll set you wright up.:unibrow: :cheers:

[GregWeld]

I cant type worth a damn.Takes to long,I'm getting better:thumbsup:
Every one is right about the expectations,The more work you have done the more it cost.Most of the time a pro built car will cost more.

Tracy -- I was referring to TODD... but talking to you!
:woot:

[GregWeld]

Thanks for the answers :hail:
Another thing i was wondering, i dont see many finished pt cars for sale people dont sell them or i am searching in the wrong places ???


Go to the "for sale" section here in the forums --- you just missed 3 or 4 cars that were REAL REAL nice cars - DONE - for way under 100 grand... and had all the right stuff.

With the economy the way it has been - there have been some fire sales... so if you are looking for a done project - check the for sale sections here and over at Pro-touring.com.

As you can see - there's just no way to tell you what something like this will cost - without a full description of exactly what parts you're wanting to use.. what your base car is - and it's condition. (I just checked in... to see what condition my condition is in.... :rofl: ).

I worked for a year and a half with a buddy that had NO LIMIT... he just knew exactly what the end result was to be. He did NOT want a car that had to have any bodywork or paint... but EVERYTHING ELSE was to be replaced. So a new Art Morrison frame w/Ford 9" - LS2 motor - Tremec 6 speed - Wilwood brakes - Budnik wheels - full new interior (stock appearing) - all new wiring - power windows - power door locks - new steering column and wheel - new stereo and speakers - Vintage Air - Billet specialties Tru Trac serpentine belt - new SS fuel tank w/internal pump - SS brake and fuel lines - new crossflow radiator and core support - new HID headlights - new driveline - new fiberglass inner wheel wells - SS exhaust "kit" - STOCK headers slicked and porcelianized - new windshield wiper system - every square inch of interior covered with Dynamat - including trunk - new factory appearing gauges . Cost of base 55 chevy 2 door post car - $25K - fuel to fetch it - 1 grand - total parts INCLUDING the cost of the base car and fuel - $99,700

NOW FOR LABOR (in this case FREE)

Body was removed from stock frame and mounted on my rotisserie - gutted - floor and trunk pan mods - new tunnel for tranny - firewall slicked and painted - Chassis lines and electrical run and SS exhaust with trick hangers built - blown apart and powder coated then reassembled. Modify rear floors (raised) - modify trunk pan - built mount for E brake handle - Body undercarriage scraped and cleaned - painted with POR 15 - and undercoated - Body required ZERO repair or paint except the firewall and inner fender wells - cover in Dyanmat - install motor and trans in chassis - drop body - install core support - mount reservoirs - scribe and cut inner fender wells - remove for paint - re-install - complete new wiring - dye headliner - rebuild door hinges - drill for door looms - rebuild windows (rear) - install new power windows - rebuild wing window regulators - install power door locks - install all dash items and trim - install custom hoses for A/C and heat - build custom closeout for trans shifter - build custom mount for DBW throttle - rebuild clutch and brake pedals - custom fabricate hydraulic clutch reservoir mount - modify steering column mount in firewall.... and a whole host of little things which I can't even remember now... my point -- MOST of these mods done with the body in white (ie not finished) required many assemble/disassemble/reassemble check for fit/modify/reassemble with proper hardware (polished SS)..... So the amount of LABOR in a build like this is double or triple the amount of time that would be used to just "R&R" a stock part. AND THIS IS NOT A FANCY BUILD!! It's a very nice modified STREET hot rod. I have EASILY 1000 hours in this build with all the cleaning - and assembly / reassembly. Wiring alone took two people two full days (long days) to finish. Here's the deal on that - It's a 1955 --- with everything new - we get to the bulbs in the turn signal/parking lamps... and I end up rebuilding them with new receptacles.... no way you're going to do all this and leave stupid little stuff like that go "untouched"... but it takes LABOR.... and more little "un budgeted" parts and time to find and fetch said parts....

So - If I was keeping track of all our labor - and charging for it @ $45 an hour - you'd add $45 GRAND to the parts bill - and we'd be at $145,000 "so far" ---- and that is with NO PAINT OR BODYWORK....

Thus my "$150,000" real money - real life - guesstimate. You'd have a real nice - nothing fancy - very squared away car - that wouldn't win ANY trophies... but you could drive without fear and enjoy the heck out of it.

FIRST PIC -- AS bought -- second pic -- "near" being done...

[Steve1968LS2]

I keep thoughts of how much I've spend out of my cranium.. no good can come of it.

[HRBS]

Greg... you got some set of balls hangin wheel dollies up like that. I hope your wife or kids dont come home and hit the garage door opener on their way in.... :wow:

In regards to the thread... I always tell people for a "decent build", "you're $50k in parts alone before a wrench is even touched". From there, we can build a "bolt together car" or fabricate our own design (which is simply time x hourly rate).

[GregWeld]

Steve -- Truer words have never been spoken!

Italian bookeeping (3 Sets of books):

#1 - Actual costs

#2 - What you tell the wife

#3 - What you report to the government

[BonzoHansen]

Did they repeal don't ask don't tell yet? That is how it works here, my wife does not ask and I do not tell.

[GregWeld]

Greg... you got some set of balls hangin wheel dollies up like that. I hope your wife or kids dont come home and hit the garage door opener on their way in.... :wow:

In regards to the thread... I always tell people for a "decent build", "you're $50k in parts alone before a wrench is even touched". From there, we can build a "bolt together car" or fabricate our own design (which is simply time x hourly rate).


My wife is the one that put them there!

She had them over my office chair before I asked her to move them.

Seriously --- they're on SS CABLE... over 8' high - and nowhere near the door or anything that can hit them or that they interfere with. Pictures never show the "actual" depth etc. I wasn't born yesterday - or the day before either.

[GregWeld]

Count the panels on the door - that first door is a 10' er -- the second is a 12'...

[HRBS]

Relax. I was being sarcastic.

[realcoray]

hi folks i am from norway and been here at lateral-g forum for a while just watching all the amazing projects and builds. So many people with amazing skills here.
What i was wondering is what is the cost of a build of a pro touring car ??
I know it is a stupid question becouse of the difference in the builds, but if you start with a good clean car and want a nice finished pt car that you can use, dont have to be any show queen.?
And i am thinking of if you let some proffesionales do it for you, becouse i dont have the skills it take to build a car like that..:_paranoid

any ideas ???

If you have professionals do it for you, 75k+ and it would go up quickly. If you do it, you can certainly build a very solid car for 30k or less. It won't have the fanciest wheels or a shiny new engine but could it look great and perform as good as the cars that do? Yes.

[tones2SS]

Steve -- Truer words have never been spoken!

Italian bookeeping (3 Sets of books):

#1 - Actual costs

#2 - What you tell the wife

#3 - What you report to the government

lolllllllllllllll...............:lol:
Very true Greg!!:cheers:

[Vegas69]

Good one Greg.... I was out golfing with a good buddy yesterday. He said to me,"I'm hoping my accountant can get me down to .......net this year". I said, "If yours can't, mine can." :lol: I won't go there, but I know a bunch of guys that do.

[GregWeld]

Relax. I was being sarcastic.

I didn't take it wrong... was explaining incase someone else looked at the same thing - once you mentioned it... and thought maybe I was (I am) an idiot..

Not to jack the thread... but the skates are hanging in a "snare" built with stainless steel rope - (working load exceeds 1000 #'s) and the "snare" gathers them all up - when lifts - using an electric lifting winch... which is hung on thick walled tubing welded to the I beam - and gusseted with a properly notched tube running down at a 45*....

It actually works really slick - because those skates are bulky AND heavy - and are a complete nuisance when not in use. So this was my way of using space (narrow) that wasn't good for anything else really - and had the height to make sure you have head clearance.

I didn't add my usual ROFL face -- which I should have.

[6spdcamaro]

only if he does all the labor and get parts at wholesale prices and the car still won't stack up to the high end builds,don't get me wrong, it can be very nice,but to have impressive car with quality components can set you back alot more than $50k,set of nice wheels can cost $6-8k,turbo motor,clutch,tranny can cost well over $30k,suspension $10k and we still have body, paint, interior, lighting, audio and little de
tails that can make a hell of a difference and can cost thousands, so depending on what your vision is, your quality standards and plans for the car,the outcome may not be as impressive as some examples here

Im not saying 150,00's hard to spend, but if you be very careful you can keep the cost down. CCW classics 18's with 265 and 315 mounted and balanced shipped for under 3000 as apposed to 6-8,000 for other wheels. CCW's are still very nice. You could get a used ls1/ 6-speed for around 4 thousand basically turn key, with all accessories wiring harness, coil packs, oil-pan as opposed to spending 15/16,000 on that all brand new. The engine will only be brand new until you start it so you might as well save the money. Suspension can be vastly improved while still maintaining a "low" budget. A tvs kit with a-frames and subframe connectors, about 3000 with a steering box. To build a 10/10 car will cost you twice as much as a 9/10 car because that last bit of perfection is so much harder to get. If you want the best of the best,you have to pay for it, but you can still vastly improve the handling and drivability of the car without blowing 100,000 on it. Making the budgets easy, sticking to its the hard part. :cheers:

[GregWeld]

Ken --

Well said. And right on.

It just depends on what you want.

Most of the builds on here - can kick some serious butt in a number of venues AND still win trophies at the better car shows... and THAT is where it gets expensive in a hurry.

Mary and David Pozzi's car will swamp most PT cars on this site in an Auto X - uses leaf spring suspension and a "crate" (I think she said) 383 motor - and looks great and handles better....

My point being - just "depends" how you want to go....

[chr2002ca]

Every single stinkin' dollar I ever coughed up to obtain, build, license, and drive my pro-touring '69 Camaro are detailed on my site, down to the last nut, bolt, and piece of sandpaper:

http://www.69camaroproject.com/project_details.htm

Of course, I could have saved money here and there, but I was a newbie at the time and I'm not perfect.

[HRBS]

http://www.69camaroproject.com/project_details.htm

That is the most incredible documentation I've ever seen.
Want a job ? :lol:
Nice work ! :thumbsup:

[chr2002ca]

Thanks! The website took almost as freakin long as the car. :lol: Just wanted to pass along real details to the next newbie like me. :thumbsup:

[96z28ss]

Go to the "for sale" section here in the forums --- you just missed 3 or 4 cars that were REAL REAL nice cars - DONE - for way under 100 grand... and had all the right stuff.

With the economy the way it has been - there have been some fire sales... so if you are looking for a done project - check the for sale sections here and over at Pro-touring.com.

As you can see - there's just no way to tell you what something like this will cost - without a full description of exactly what parts you're wanting to use.. what your base car is - and it's condition. (I just checked in... to see what condition my condition is in.... :rofl: ).

I worked for a year and a half with a buddy that had NO LIMIT... he just knew exactly what the end result was to be. He did NOT want a car that had to have any bodywork or paint... but EVERYTHING ELSE was to be replaced. So a new Art Morrison frame w/Ford 9" - LS2 motor - Tremec 6 speed - Wilwood brakes - Budnik wheels - full new interior (stock appearing) - all new wiring - power windows - power door locks - new steering column and wheel - new stereo and speakers - Vintage Air - Billet specialties Tru Trac serpentine belt - new SS fuel tank w/internal pump - SS brake and fuel lines - new crossflow radiator and core support - new HID headlights - new driveline - new fiberglass inner wheel wells - SS exhaust "kit" - STOCK headers slicked and porcelianized - new windshield wiper system - every square inch of interior covered with Dynamat - including trunk - new factory appearing gauges . Cost of base 55 chevy 2 door post car - $25K - fuel to fetch it - 1 grand - total parts INCLUDING the cost of the base car and fuel - $99,700

NOW FOR LABOR (in this case FREE)

Body was removed from stock frame and mounted on my rotisserie - gutted - floor and trunk pan mods - new tunnel for tranny - firewall slicked and painted - Chassis lines and electrical run and SS exhaust with trick hangers built - blown apart and powder coated then reassembled. Modify rear floors (raised) - modify trunk pan - built mount for E brake handle - Body undercarriage scraped and cleaned - painted with POR 15 - and undercoated - Body required ZERO repair or paint except the firewall and inner fender wells - cover in Dyanmat - install motor and trans in chassis - drop body - install core support - mount reservoirs - scribe and cut inner fender wells - remove for paint - re-install - complete new wiring - dye headliner - rebuild door hinges - drill for door looms - rebuild windows (rear) - install new power windows - rebuild wing window regulators - install power door locks - install all dash items and trim - install custom hoses for A/C and heat - build custom closeout for trans shifter - build custom mount for DBW throttle - rebuild clutch and brake pedals - custom fabricate hydraulic clutch reservoir mount - modify steering column mount in firewall.... and a whole host of little things which I can't even remember now... my point -- MOST of these mods done with the body in white (ie not finished) required many assemble/disassemble/reassemble check for fit/modify/reassemble with proper hardware (polished SS)..... So the amount of LABOR in a build like this is double or triple the amount of time that would be used to just "R&R" a stock part. AND THIS IS NOT A FANCY BUILD!! It's a very nice modified STREET hot rod. I have EASILY 1000 hours in this build with all the cleaning - and assembly / reassembly. Wiring alone took two people two full days (long days) to finish. Here's the deal on that - It's a 1955 --- with everything new - we get to the bulbs in the turn signal/parking lamps... and I end up rebuilding them with new receptacles.... no way you're going to do all this and leave stupid little stuff like that go "untouched"... but it takes LABOR.... and more little "un budgeted" parts and time to find and fetch said parts....

So - If I was keeping track of all our labor - and charging for it @ $45 an hour - you'd add $45 GRAND to the parts bill - and we'd be at $145,000 "so far" ---- and that is with NO PAINT OR BODYWORK....

Thus my "$150,000" real money - real life - guesstimate. You'd have a real nice - nothing fancy - very squared away car - that wouldn't win ANY trophies... but you could drive without fear and enjoy the heck out of it.

FIRST PIC -- AS bought -- second pic -- "near" being done...

The car would probably be done by now if you weren't on here so much!! :unibrow: :lol:

[GregWeld]

Being retired has its perks...