Fixing up a D: Is it worth it?

["Dave Stragand" <dave.stragand@xxxx>]

Hi All,

I've seen my name come up a few times in the last week about restoring a
D. Here's my standard advice: Are you looking for a project car so you
can get a D at a lower price? If so, that's false logic. It just
doesn't work that way. In fact, it's exactly the opposite. I'll
explain:

An important bit of wisdom was imparted to me early on in auto
restoration: "The difference between a $15,000 car and a $20,000 car is
around $10,000." It's strange but true. You can almost always get a
better deal (when all told) by buying a car that is great to begin with,
than by fixing up one that needs work. I'm at around $22,500 into the
Vixen project, and I'm not done yet. The "Rule of 20" has been just
about right in my case. The "Rule of 20", if you are unfamiliar with it,
is Cost of DeLorean + Cost of parts and service = $20,000. That's about
$5,000 more than a D in nice shape to begin with...

Now I, on the other hand, bought -my- car for the express purpose of
fixing it up. The process itself is what I'm interested in, more than
the end result. Will I have a $25,000 car if I spend $25,000 restoring
it? Most likely not. And to make financial matters worse, I will have
invested a couple-thousand- hours of work to boot.

Sometimes though, the journey is better than the destination. My '58
Plymouth has around $30,000 invested in it, but is still only a $17,000
car. Where did the $10k go? It bought one heck of a lot of fun. A LOT of
fun. And it's worth it, IF you can afford it.

I see a lot of posts asking for a cheap D, by someone who will finance.
Originally, that's how I approached the original owner. I did pay him
cash though when the deal was struck - I wanted to start with a clean
slate. I do remember what it was like to be young, and dreaming of that
perfect car. You'll do nearly -anything- to get it. However, trust me on
this one: DO NOT BUY A COLLECTOR CAR UNLESS YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO MAKE
IT RUN AND KEEP IT RUNNING. Now it doesn't have to be perfect at first,
but at least drivable. If you spend every cent buying a car that'll need
tons more money before it's streetable, you will stress yourself to
death. You'll start to see the car as an endless drain on your wallet,
and it may be years before you ever get to drive it. Besides, it's a
race against time. The longer it sits, the more it will need.
Eventually, you end up selling the car for less than you layed out, and
you'll be depressed & broke, as well as carless. This is what my friends
call the "Project Car Spiral". Avoid it.

I'm at a point in my life where I have most of the cash and time I need
to responsibly restore a car. If you don't have enough of both to begin
with, then you won't be happy when you get the car. It took me -12
years- to finally get my '58 Plymouth. It took -15 years- to get my D.
If it's worth doing, it's worth waiting, and that advice works on a lot
of levels.

Trust me. I've been there, and done that.

-Dave Stragand
VIN #05927
<http://www.projectvixen.com/> http://www.ProjectVixen.com




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