Cost to Restore a Zcar

[Mike]

This is some excellent information as posted to our mailing list:

>Hey guys! Does anyone know a rough estimated price_for a frame up

>restoration?

>The body of my 73 240Z isn't bad off but the more I hear you guys

>talk...I think this is

>the way I am going to want to go. Keep in mind I am not horribly

>mechanically inclined

>so this would most likely be done at a shop. (Need to find one of

>those here in

>Maryland too.)

Hi Shannon:

Let's just assure that the terms we use have the same meaning to both of us.

"Restoration" - to return to "as new" condition. The "goal" of

restoring a Classic Car is to return it in every detail to the

condition it was in when it left the factory.

If you contracted out the entire job - as Nissan Motors USA did with

their Vintage Z program - you would need about $50,000.00 today.

They lost money on a volume deal with the restoration shops - and

they sold the last examples for $29,995.00.

If you supplied most of the "grunt" labor - took the car completely

apart yourself - contracted out the body work, sent the engine out to

be rebuilt (as well as most of the mechanical things like carb's

rebuilt, re-end, tranny, etc etc.). Then purchased all the detail

trim parts/pieces and re-assembled the car yourself... you can easily

spend $25K to $30K in addition to the price of the car - IF you start

with a very nice car to begin with. (remember here we are talking

about "every" detail being OEM")

Let's say you really don't want to "Restore" it - just "Refresh" it.

In that case lets say that you want to keep it stock - you want it

very nice - but you are not concerned with every detail being "as it

left the factory". Let's say you are willing to have a lot of things

less than "brand new" and less than as "original" - but you just want

them to look and operation well. You would be willing to use

reproduction parts for example - and newer parts to replace

superceded older parts etc.

As above - If you sent it out - you might get by with $20K to $25K

having someone else to everything (instead of $50K). If you do the

grunt work - and make reasonable decisions, shop for bargain parts,

etc etc - you might get away with spending between $10K and $15K in

addition to the price of the car today.

The only reason I can think of to "restore" or "refresh" a 240-Z

today - is because you love doing the work... If you want a restored

or refreshed 240-Z it's almost always far less expensive and for sure

far less work to simply go spend the money it takes to buy one that's

already done. (As long as you know what your buying!!!).

Today "restored" or perfect original 240-Z's are $16,500.00 to

$18,500 (and higher) - "refreshed" 240-Z's are $12,500 to $15,000.00.

Less than half what you would spend doing one today.

The guy that just paid $14K for that "refreshed" (poorly refreshed)

70 on e-bay could have put an additional $4K with it and had a near

perfect Z... with 14K miles.. http://ZHome.com/ITSSale/71ForSale.htm

or an absolutely beautiful but slightly modified 240-Z for the same money... http://ZHome.com/ITSSale/Resnick.htm

FWIW,

Carl

Carl Beck

Clearwater,FL USA

IZCC #260

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[26ounce]

Wow, thats some sobering news for those of us undertaking a Z restoration/refresh. Better make sure my wife does not see those figures.

US$50K sounds a bit extreme though, hopefully that is at the extreme end of the restoration market.

[Saint]

That sounds about right...I have had my 71 restored and paid about £10000 all up. That's about $15000 US. This was a completly out-costed job. I spent a further £3000 on new seats, wheels, tyres and various tweaks that I wanted to the car. You can see pictures of the kind of detail in my gallery.

[moyest]

Pardon my flagrant self-promotion, but...

Z's are obviously much cheaper "down under", here in Australia.

I purchased my 1972 Z from the guy who restored it. It is "refreshed", not "restored". It was originally poo brown, and was automatic. Apart from the paint change to metallic red and the gearbox change to manual, the car is all original bits.

I purchased the car for the cost of restoration - i.e. not including the original purchase price of the car. Not bad for AUS$10,500 (that's about US$8,100). And every time the car is up on the hoist, people admire the excellent condition underneath! The restorer obviously spent quite a bit of time under there!

Of course, I've spent more dough since then, but only to "customise" it to my liking (e.g. suspension set-up, leather interior, and triple carbs).

[240Zdragon72]

I'm up to $10,000. and that is just the engine. I still have interior, and bodywork to go.:stupid:

[seerex]

I expect to be around 12k give or take a bit, for refreshed , but I think you could spend 50k if wanted but I would be hard pressed to drive a car I had 50k in around town , I think it might ruin it for me , would rather have a very nice 15-25 k in it

[26th-Z]

I agree and have budgeted between $20,000 and $30,000 for my project. This will be a complete frame up restoration. To rid Her Majesty of the rust problems, I found a place to dip the chassis. That place also restores cars to museum quality and I think Carl's $50,000 is a little low for that kind of service. My strategy is to play "general contractor" and outsource the restoration of many components while doing most of the grunt work myself.

I am also seeing higher resale values lately. Now, my project will go on for a couple of years, say three. If you look at monthly payments for a $25,000 investment over three years, the cost of restoration is not so bad. I took the strategy of buying parts first and it has paid off with the increasing parts costs over the last two years.

I'm not doing this for resale investment purposes. Perhaps "Enjoy the Ride" is the best way to put it.

[RB30-ZED]

I've spent $8500 on body and paint, this was the only work I had done for me, then about $13000 on parts, engine, gearbox, brakes, suspension, wheels and tyres, dash, rubbers, emblems, and a hundred and one little bits you forget about.

Note Aust dollars. $1 AUST=78cents US

Steven

[TKR514]

I just finished a 79ZX for $4,000 USD.

I did all the work myself including the engine rebuild(see my gallery).

I would guess that if you farmed out the engine and paint work that it would be closer to $10,000 for a bone stock restoration.

[240zguy]

I am planing on refreshing my 71 240z and I have a 280z for parts about how much money do you think I can knock off with that?

[xbox]

not much the 280 is a different beast,I had one here and I basically couldn't use anything except the engine,tranny,rear end,i think most of the body parts interchange and the glass but the interior is different and won't work without modification and why would you want a 71 with 280 parts mishmashed into it?

[Zhorse]

Bill Reagan of the Z Club of Texas restored a 240 10 years ago. (It was supposedly the model for Franklin Mint miniature Z.) He did the major amount of work himself, including stripping, rustproofing and painting the body, and though did not replace everything, he put a lot of new stuff in the car. He wrote a book about it that is still available from Z Club of Texas (http://www.zcluboftexas.org/) and it is a really helpful guide to anyone contemplating a restoration. Anyway, he estimated $12K for the rebuild and ended up spending I think $14K, which is what he sold it for. That's 1994 remember, so I reckon you'd need $15K or slightly more for the exact same job today.