Posted by Keith in Washington on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 10:49PM :
In Reply to: New PWA has arrived!!! posted by apb (in NY) on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 5:45PM :
$40K for a restored PW is a deal!!!!!
Just look at the paint job alone. As an example my carryall has 2K in just materials for paint job. Also consider that after the sealing primer was put over all the body work I still had 100 hours of sanding prior to the final color went on. The result was a final paint that went on very well and looks great.
In todays market at $75/per hour for labor that would be $7,500 in sanding labor alone (the diamond pattern in the running boards is time consuming to get all the rust pitting out of and still retain the diamonds original shape). Paint supplies now push 3K (mine was done 6 years ago) so we are looking at over 10K after all the body work was done and it is not a fancy paint job.
Now start adding all the labor for the body work and all the mechanical work plus the cost of parts and the vehicle to start with. Restoring a car or a truck to original or show quality is not cheap if you have it done by someone. The person who pays for the restoration will never see all of their money back. It is done out of love of the hobby and the car or truck.
I am also into Willys. I have talked to a well known Willys restoration place in the Bay area. He flatly stated that he will have $45K into a full restoration on a vehicle that will only sell for less than half that on the market. But people keep him busy simply because they love their Willys or they a special attachment to dad's truck or what ever.
Yes it is a tremendous sticker shock. Why do you think most people on this forum do their own work or do not restore to showroom or show quality.
By the way I am 200 hours into the restoration of my Willys. All I have done is splice a new roof in and repair some earlier accident damage to the drivers side and door. Actual cost I am into to it for under $1K for the body work simply because I found a decent upper body cheap and have only had to buy $500 in replacement body panels plus I was able to sell some parts from the parts truck that I did not need. I will have $4 to $5 K easy into the engine, drive line and axles. I am sure that I will be into it for over $12K in actual cash. The labor is free but I bet it will push 500 hours.
Yes Steve's price may schock you. But he is right on target. But sit down and think about all the work and parts that are needed and start putting a price to it. By the way you will have over 1K in tires into it unless you go with NDT.