How much should do you spend on your car?

[Bonehead]

I never count my labor time as money invested. But maybe I should!

[WashedAhore]

I think it's all relative to where you are in life and how much disposable income you have. I have never started a project that hasn't snowballed out of control. My family has always come first, I have coached my boys competitive soccer team since he was 11, he will be heading off to college this year and I will retire from coaching. I would not put anything in front of my family..... But I have always found a way to play

[srh3trinity]

I made the tough decision to pay somebody to work on mine. I can do almost everything short of paint and body, but I have a three year old and a four month old and I can't justify spending hours in the garage on top of the hours I put in at work. Has it increased the cost of my build? I am sure it will substantially, but it is right for me.

[ragz]

I have never bought new, because the depreciation is so high, but that doesn't seem to bother most people from spending 60g on a truck to have it worth half that in 2 years, So on my Camaro build, I am not putting added pressure on it to return all its inputted costs just because it's a toy. In the end I think spend what you can afford and enjoy what you spent cause you only live once and we are blessed to be able to do it.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

What's the old saying.....$200 less than a divorce attorney...that way you can take her to dinner, buy her something, and still come home with a $20 in your pocket

[PT Sportwagon]

right now as little as I can to accomplish what I need to get done. Without compromising on quality of said parts.

Tim

[MonzaRacer]

Man i am the ultimate scrounger, recycler of other throw away parts and left overs.
Been building that way all my life, my hang up is I love working on cars, and I am so particular I will take the time to do my day job right(diag tech) and don't make huge money, but I get people who will forgo having others do work cheaper to bring it to me. Namely cause I care about what I do not what I make per job. We just got rid of tech who was clock watcher/ ticket watcher. He could mess up adjustments to welder we use for exhaust and I can set it back to where I like it and lay perfect welds every time.
But then also my job allows me to buy toys for my hobbit, like welders, clamps, other special tools.

[mikedc]

This is like asking "how much should you spend on a house?" It's TOTALLY dependent on the person & their life situation.

Eventually there is a stupid point. I doubt a person could dump $300k into an old Camaro if they value their money. That's hitting Elvis/rapper territory, or at least getting into a blind pursuit of some specific thing like speed.

But you can spend quite a bit and still have a non-loony explanation for how it happened. A series of decisions about the project, none of which sound crazy when taken alone, can add up to top $100k these days.

[Zachalanche]

I spent most of my money on cars, motorcycles and beer. The rest of it I wasted.

[VillainNova]

As a college student, my budget is basically just food and cars. Lol

Same

[chuckd71]

My general rule is not to spend an amount that will change my life in any way.

[rustomatic]

This:

I spent most of my money on cars, motorcycles and beer. The rest of it I wasted.

[yellow1098Greg]

Haha I'm glad this thread is back! I love the type of car guys that say screw it and build their cars...

[BMR Sales]

how do you join this club am sure I should be a member

If you asking the Question, you are already a Member!

[groho]

just got back from optima @ Fontana, let's just say I spend a fraction of what those ladies/gentlemen spend. I still spend way too much, and way too often. . .help.. www.gosponsorme.....

[KEV 190164]

don't think you under stood the reply BMR

[MonzaRacer]

I spend too much on food heat gas water preparing for zombie apocalypse senarios! My change and scrounging friends old parts are what I build with!

[mc84_zz4]

There is no minimum or maximum, one thing for sure, the more you can do yourself, the more budget is left for parts.
There may be some things that you want to farm out, such as interior, muffler work, bodywork, paint, etc. depending on budget, abilities or frustration limits.
I see tool purchases as an investment. For me the hobby and satisfaction of working on my car, along with good friends you meet along the way, is
what makes my garage-time very enjoyable.
The occasional thrash at someone's garage to pull/install engines, trannies, suspension is a gift that goes around too, when you bleed knuckles together, its brotherhood.

On the budgetary issue:
In wheels/tires you can spend anywhere from a $200 up to $5,000 for wheels alone,
for paint you could spend 1,000 - $15,000 depending on condition and expectation,
shocks are anywhere $400 to $4,000, brake upgrades $200-$4,000, suspension upgrades 1,500 - $5,000, or replace the entire frame ($20,000)
it all depends what you want to do.

[HotRod47]

This is an interesting topic for sure. Everyone has a different situation and different standards by which they live/spend.

Me, I'm a working stiff married with two teen daughters. So, the plan my wife and I divided is this, she gets my "regular" pay for everything house and family related. I get all my side job money, period. So, I want new wheels for my car, do a side job. I need part money for fuel injection, do a side job. That is why it has taken me since the fall of 2009 to build my Maverick. Too busy painting hot rods for other people collecting money and not enough time working on mine. But, at the end of the day I'm happy with our arrangement. I don;t have any guilt for pulling funds from somewhere else to buy car parts.

[raustinss]

I have very little debt ....im horrible with saving and with watching where I put my money. My 07 srx Northstar was paid in cash 13k I have a 98 sts that needs to disappear. My housing is around 1200$ month so the rest is wasted on whatever I want so to say .as for income I have nothing to hide about 62-65k year.
My chevelle I bought in the late 90's and I always said it will be built one way and that's the way I dream it to be ls7,/t56 magnum, zr1 brakes, tons of custom carbon fiber ,gto seats etc . If I had to guess at this point I'm more then 30k retail into it ...noticed I said retail . When I find a deal I buy eg my ls7 will be probably in the neighborhood of 10-12 well to buy that at the local gm dealer I'd be having to shell out 21k easily. Carbon fiber trunk was a blem ...not that you'd ever notice .
I'm afraid to imagine what ill have into it when it's done but that's a few yrs away ....as for the next project crew cab 67-72 chev truck I'd want to budget it ....no more of the meh whatever budgets