Cost of Restoration

[Droman]

Hi everyone just bought a 69 Spider with only 39000 miles . I could drive it all day but want to keep mileage low. I might want to pick up another one and restore it for everyday driving. I'm not a mechanic and just wondered how much it would cost to have someone rebuild an engine ,paint and have interior redone. Just looking for ballpark figures. Thanks in advance.

[riverdadd]

i have found unless you can, and enjoy ,doing the work, it is much more cost effective to purchase one already redone.....

cost figures, for any restoration, will vary by location and quality of work you are looking for......

[AFRetired]

I just did paint and interior. My own labor in detrimming and retrimming and initial sand on the body. All my own labor on the interior. Right now I've spent 4500 on the paint, and 1500 on the interior. I'll let someone else speak to the engine

[76was124]

As you would expect it can vary considerably, depending on what needs to be done and how much you do.

Ball park, with assumptions on my part: engine tear down and rebuild labor $600+ major parts, machining,,Paint $3000 to $8000, interior soft materials( door panels cards, center consoles , dash, carpeting), $2000 ++

I am sure you'll get a few more opinions on this topic and a wide range of $ estimates.

[dom]

Hi everyone just bought a 69 Spider with only 39000 miles . I could drive it all day but want to keep mileage low. I might want to pick up another one and restore it for everyday driving. I'm not a mechanic and just wondered how much it would cost to have someone rebuild an engine ,paint and have interior redone. Just looking for ballpark figures. Thanks in advance.

So you have one car that you don't want to drive.
And you want to buy another one that you won't be able to drive much because it will be in the shop and then when it's done you won't want to drive it because it will be too nice. What's wrong with buying a second car that is ready to drive and just driving it?

[chrisg]

My answer would be much more than you are planning on because there are always surprises. Obviously it depends how much you can or want to do yourself. Whatever the case, have fun with it. I'd say rack up the miles on your car &/or get another one and rack up miles on it too if you want to own 2 (don't kid yourself though, they conspire at night and will break down at the same time). The cars are hearty if you take care of them (hell, even if you don't) and I don't see why you wouldn't equally enjoy the car with an extra 100k miles on it. I almost sold my '71 with 43k on it earlier this year and via a weird course of events didn't and have decided to put as many miles as I can on it & enjoy every one! (And truth is, it would probably be worth about the same after the odometer hits 43k again so no big deal if I'm worried about that aspect)

[Frog2Spider]

So my 'take' isn't to different from what has been previously posted.

Ask yourself this. Did I buy a Spider to look at, or to enjoy?
If you bought it just to look at, then the car will be as 'wasted'.

I bought my '81 with just under 40K. The PO had only driven it 5,000 miles in the 15 years he owned it. Yes the paint is original and while not perfect, very presentable. The interior is also very nice. The motor and transmission, while mechanically good, leaked from almost every gasket, hose and seal. The rear end and axle seals also leaked. The break lines were crusty and the the caliper cylinders rusted and pitted. The radiator was rusty and partialy plugged. And all the rubber, under the car, had to be replaced because they had been soaked by the leaking oil on his occasional drives.
So this is a good example of what you can expect from a car with low miles!

Drive it, enjoy it, and do what's necessary over the miles and years.

From your perspective it sounds as thought you want a 'perfect', like new car to park in your garage. To me, it's kinda like the guy you buys the expensive luxury interior package for his car, then buys a set of WalMart seat covers to 'protect' it.

A good quality 'bumper to bumper' restoration, without you contributing to the labor is going to cost you a minimum of $15,000 - $20,000 in my area. Then guess what? You're not going to even want to drive it to a car show! Something might scratch it!

Fiat Spiders are a 'driver's car'. If you like playing on a road with lots of curves, they are a blast! Park one at a car show beside a Turquoise '57 Nomad or a Red '66 GTO convertible, and it will never even be noticed!

Enjoy!
Dave.

[fiat218]

Hm,I have 2 69 now /one I am making a drivable show car out of it, yes it costing me a lot and I really don't care, let's just say I could buy a 2017 fiat and then some when it done
I bought a 2nd 69 just a few weeks back and got it home as of Wednesday , and yes again I will have to put a few bucks into it but I'm sure 2000 maybe enough

[spidernut]

It's all a matter of what it needs and what you want. Paint alone can run from a cheapo paint job from Maaco for $400 to a good paint job for $2,500 to a show paint job for $10K.

The average plain old driver of a car will run you about $20K restored if someone else does all the work. If you have the skills, it will run as little as about $7,500 if you start with a decent car that doesn't need much. If it needs a motor, trans or differential, paint and interior - run away because you'll spend your life savings on the car.

A wise Fiat expert once told me that you can afford to repair only two of the following three without the car becoming a money pit: Interior, Bodywork/Paint, Mechanicals.

[fiat218]

It's all a matter of what it needs and what you want. Paint alone can run from a cheapo paint job from Maaco for $400 to a good paint job for $2,500 to a show paint job for $10K.

The average plain old driver of a car will run you about $20K restored if someone else does all the work. If you have the skills, it will run as little as about $7,500 if you start with a decent car that doesn't need much. If it needs a motor, trans or differential, paint and interior - run away because you'll spend your life savings on the car.

A wise Fiat expert once told me that you can afford to repair only two of the following three without the car becoming a money pit: Interior, Bodywork/Paint, Mechanicals.

I agree on the show paint job, my quote was 15000,00, but I have a brother who does the show car painting

[Droman]

Thanks

[zachmac]

As noted, the cost is between $5000 and $50,000. How good a paint job do you want? Do you want a stock rebuild or engine tuned? Do you want stock interior as cheap as you can get, stock with top notch quality or leather? The only thing for certain as said above is that it is always cheaper to buy one someone else paid to restore than to restore one.

I spent six years and $80,000 with lots of my own labor to boot to restore a 70 E-type Jag to national concours condition. When I was done all I could really do with it was sell it at a slight loss since driving it anywhere, let alone parking it, hurt its condition and value. If you want a car to drive then do the minimum to make it reliable and safe and don't sweat the cosmetics. That way a run to Walmart is in the mix and you'll find yourself making excuses to drive it instead of worrying. Keep your driver a driver and sink any money into the 69.

[mscafide]

Yep, do it right on the 69. They need to be saved and not screwed up.

Drive another one and be happy.

[fiat218]

Yep, do it right on the 69. They need to be saved and not screwed up.

Drive another one and be happy.

Don't drink and eBay? Lol. Love it

[Mick124]

My 67 Spider restoration is nearing completion. It really depends on how far you want to take it.

Full nut and bolt rotisserie restoration (everything new) will cost over $50k. If you want a good paint job and redo the interior, tidy a up the engine bay, wheels etc...$20k+