Choosing a Build Type
The following is a quick rundown of the various types of build you may want to consider for your truck.
A daily driver is just that: a truck you drive every day, say, to the office. It’s relatively reliable, all the parts are in good working condition, and you could park it anywhere without concerns about it starting when you return. The paint job, although nice, won’t be worth tens of thousands of dollars because you’re going to be driving it, and that can bring chips and scratches into the mix. This type of build also means that the interior is in good shape, but you may not have used the highest quality materials. And if something breaks, you don’t feel weird about heading down to O’Reilly’s to grab the parts.
A show-quality truck is slightly different. The goal here is to build something that doesn’t look out of place at a car show, which means that all of the finishes meet higher standards than for a daily driver. The paint job is flawless, or close to it, with little to no orange peel and everything from the engine bay to the doorjambs is covered. The bodywork is straight as an arrow, the interior is spotless, and the number of overall flaws is minimal, at best.
Now what kind of show you’re planning to attend changes things from there. If it’s a custom car and truck show, your truck might have a few custom touches. If it’s the local cruise night at the mall, you could probably spend less money. The point is, you have a wide range of choices.
A concours restoration is a whole other ball of wax. The term comes from the Concours d’Elegance, a show that has gone on for centuries (back to the horse and carriage days), and at which only the highest of standards are considered worthy. Typically, the goal is to imagine that your truck was bone stock, just rolled off the line, and was being judged on that basis, but better. So if the bumpers were chrome to begin with, they’re chrome now, but the quality of the overall finish is higher. Long story short, a concours restoration can involve tens of thousands of dollars in costs, which, if I’m super honest here, is not something you should do to one of these trucks. That is why I focus on the daily driver and show-quality aspects in this book; not one that requires you to take out a second mortgage on your home.
At the top end are concours-style builds. These trucks are 100-percent authentic and are virtually identical to the way they rolled off the assembly line. When entered in a show, they score the proverbial 100 points because they are just perfect. These trucks take years to build, and, although the results are immaculate, it’s just like any other car or truck restoration, which means that they’re worth a lot of money and shouldn’t be driven excessively.
It’s likely that your build will sit somewhere between those two extremes. You may want a super-clean truck with a varnished wood floor, immaculate paint, and a killer interior, but you may upgrade to disc brakes for drivability and put an LS engine under the hood to keep things modern and more reliable. Maybe you purchased a base-model 1982, but you prefer a V-8 and the front end of the 1973 model, so you bolt one on.
Let me make one thing clear: This book does provide the tips and tricks you need to restore a 1973–1987 Chevrolet or GMC truck to a reliable and correct weekend driver, but it does not cover a concours restoration. I discuss all of the pertinent procedures for disassembly, component repair, parts installations, and assembly so you have a faithful stock restoration.
Set your goals according to personal preference, budget, and level of restoration. Some people restore vehicles for the resale value, and they expect to invest a lot money on the front end to get the results right later on. Others don’t care about the money; they just want a truck that works. You decide what you want.
Whatever type of restoration you plan to perform, it’s a major investment. If you’re going to do a low-budget restoration, you can get away with buying a lot of parts secondhand, online, and at junkyards. You’re going to sink a decent amount of cash into the project no matter how shallow the build. Unless you’re a painter, paint and bodywork can be one of the more expensive costs in the process, and if your project needs paint, be prepared to pull out your wallet.
The level of restoration determines the budget of the restoration. Depending on your situation, you may feel that spending $25,000 on rebuilding a project is ridiculous, and $5,000 seems more in your price range. But if you’re going for that 100-point winner, $25,000 is on the low end for sure.
Ultimately, the budget of your restoration is going to include the cost of your parts, materials, and time. Most hobbyists don’t factor in their time as a cost, but you probably should; the hours you spend on your truck are ones you’re not spending with your family, friends, work, etc. After you do a thorough inspection of the truck and create an inventory of what you need, you can start pricing out a budget.
Project Component Pricing
There are some basic numbers that you can discern by doing some groundwork before you pick up a single tool. Start by breaking down the process into the individual components, bodywork, paint, interior, etc. Then determine what you can do yourself and what you need to farm out. When it comes to the work you have to rely on others to do, visit local shops for some general estimates. Don’t worry about the specifics; get some broad ranges of prices so you know what you will be dealing with.
Your carpet should run a few hundred bucks with installation. The headliner and door panels are inexpensive in the aftermarket, so expect to spend a few hundred dollars there. If you want stock seats, you can either buy a refurbishment kit for $200 or so, or take it to an upholsterer who charges anywhere from $500 to $1,500, depending on the material used. (Even though vinyl is stock on many of these trucks, many restorers go with leather for the quality.)
Basically, stock seats, carpet, headliner door panels, and related parts could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000, and that amount varies based on the amount of stuff you have to purchase new and what materials you use. On average, however, you’re probably looking at around $2,000 in materials and parts. Alternatively, find a shop that gives you a firm estimate, and go with it.
Paint and bodywork make up the lion’s share of restoration expense because both can widely vary. Often, you find a project truck that appears to be perfect, but by the time it’s down to bare metal and the layers of paint and bodywork are stripped clean, you discover a world of rust repair that you may or may not have budgeted for.
To do a faithful restoration, you need to cut out all the rusted sheet metal. Some restorers prefer to retain as much original sheet metal as possible and install patch panels. Other restorers replace entire body panels. I don’t recommend a cheap fix-it job with a quick coat of body filler and some primer. Those types of results often don’t last, and the problem is that sometimes what you think you’re paying for isn’t what you actually get. There are many show trucks out there that don’t pass the 10-foot test (where you can’t see a flaw from 10 feet away), or ones that look great today, but don’t last because of the poor build quality.
Body Shop Estimates
When it comes to finding the right body shop for your project, research its history and past work thoroughly. Find out what jobs they’ve done in the past, and ask what was included in those prices.
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