How much will you pay to buy a donor car to build your dream Pro Touring?

[CTSV]

I have been looking for donor cars for months for a new build and it just makes the most sense not to buy a fully restored special car to chop up. Like a real SS or Z28 etc.

the issue is a majority of cars for sale as donors or projects are basket cases and guys still want alot of money so what i did is change my direction

I have been looking for clean original 6 banger cars whether its a Chevelle or Camaro etc.

Now the time has come where i need to haggle and try and buy one and i honestly do not know what to pay nor do i want to overpay

i weighed my options as the following

1. Buy a basket case cheap and then spend a fortune on rust repair with Taiwan parts, not what i honestly want
2.Buy a clean 6 banger car for around 12-15 grand and call it a day where it may not need any rust repair and i can sell off all the original parts on Ebay
3. Buy a repo shell from Dynacorn and you guys know what that cost and to me it wouldn't feel very american.and that is just a bare body shell.


I have found a few worthy donor cars but in all honestly for a complete running and driving car with a 6 cylinder with no rust would $15-17k seem fair to snatch up or these guys are dreaming? these are driver cars from original or 2nd owners with documented rust free bodies and floors etc.

its super hard to find a solid original car and to me its also added value for when i build it which eliminates all the rust repairs. I have seen cars ive watched on Ebay go even up to $24k for plain jane base model cars.


need to solid advice on this one ASAP

[srh3trinity]

I picked an unconventional model (74 Firebird) and I wanted that specific year so I had to take what I could get. If I were going to buy a first gen, I would try to find one with a paint color I could live with and as good of a body as possible. Paint/body can easily dry up a lot of your funds and time. I would be a whole lot further down the road if I could have found a car with paint/body done and it would have been worth it to pay more for that.

[EFI69Cam]

Considering a 69 Camaro front section with VIN and title goes for 2500-3000k these days I would think you would want to jump on any truely clean rust free 69 Camaro you can find for 15k.

[anthonys 69]

My 69 camaro had a little rust here and there but in the end Iv replaced all the sheet metal the car came with no interior or running gear except for a 10 bolt which I’m not going to use. I’m very happy with my car and I spent $5000

[CTSV]

keep em coming i just want to see what others have done finding donors because i am about to pull the trigger on one tonight.

[Vicinity]

Cost largely depends on where you live. East coast is more than West Coast. I bought a car that needed no bodywork and had a decent paintjob for 11k. It wasn't running but came with an engine that turned out to be a dud. Fortunately, the car was just a 30 min drive, so no shipping or any real hassle in that dept.

[Black93GT]

I bought a car that was pretty straight and clean... "just needs paint". The plan was to swap to an LS1/T56 from the get go.... but a discovery of hidden body damage and unknown rust has left me replacing most of the body or patching holes. I could have left it all but it would have driven me nuts. Its sad the replacement parts are stamped in china but i'm in too deep to get picky. I wish I had more time to dedicate but I spend a couple days a month shipping away at it.

[CTSV]

I bought a car that was pretty straight and clean... "just needs paint". The plan was to swap to an LS1/T56 from the get go.... but a discovery of hidden body damage and unknown rust has left me replacing most of the body or patching holes. I could have left it all but it would have driven me nuts. Its sad the replacement parts are stamped in china but i'm in too deep to get picky. I wish I had more time to dedicate but I spend a couple days a month shipping away at it.
this is why i specifically think it makes sense to spend more first to avoid this if possible, finding cars that are clean and solid is very hard today even westcoast cars are not what they used to be today as they were 20 years ago.

[MK69RSSS]

Buy one done...

[Removed user as requested]

I know for me it works out different. The pro-touring car i want will cost around 200k. If i buy a project car to save say 20-30k overall than buying a restored car to then chop up, i may not have the car to drive for a long long time. 30k investment to have a car i can drive restored for 5 years or so by the time the 200k is available to build pro-tourer isnt bad at all. I also found projects always end up costing more than already restored cars. Eg: im buying a 67 mustang that i want to build myown PT eleanor out of. Option a: spend 40k on a restored car to down the road strip down and build eleanor. Option b: buy a project car for 15-20k and build eleanor right away. With option b, by the tome rust etc is all repaired to be turnable to eleanor will cost more than 40k. The restored 1 is now cheaper and a car u can already drive. I had a 70 challenger and a 68 charger resto/drivable projects. Both cost so much money and headache. Im not a mechanic or panel beater. If ur neither 1 project cars should be stayed clear away from. They are always more expensive and time consuming than restored ones. They are only cheaper if u can do it yourself. Even then, if u spend 100 hours on restoring it yourself, you could have used that time elsewhere earning money. So i dunno if its ever cheaper.

[71RS/SS396]

Buy one done...

Exactly! It's way cheaper to buy one that has most of what you want and change what you don't like. I just bought a 69 for my wife and paid half of what it would've cost to build it.

[CTSV]

Exactly! It's way cheaper to buy one that has most of what you want and change what you don't like. I just bought a 69 for my wife and paid half of what it would've cost to build it.

ive been here and done that but to be bitten in the rear since so many times guys cut corners that lead to costly repairs. i just want piece of mine knowing it was done right.

[CTSV]

So just to emphasize these project donor cars im looking at are are not basket case cars these are original cars that are running and driving and some just had older repaints and are just plane jane original Chevelles and Camaro's with nothing special to them. i see beyond that in the fact they have original floors and body panels, clean vins and titles and no undercoating bad repop panels etc covered up sins which to me is a huge bonus

now the decision is does it pay to spend 15-17k on one of these cars as i describe or are the sellers asking too much?
finding one done the way i want isnt an option unless i hit the lotto and can buy one from a world class builder.


Now ask yourself how hard is it to find a solid original car regardless of price that has all original body panels? i think its difficult. even high dollar builds most of these days have repop metal throughout.

[71RS/SS396]

ive been here and done that but to be bitten in the rear since so many times guys cut corners that lead to costly repairs. i just want piece of mine knowing it was done right.

There's always that possiblity but if you check the car out well the chances are lower you'll have major problems. I've done it both ways and have had mixed results both ways but I've always lost money on any ground up build I've ever done.

[barraza]

Buy one like this in the classifieds.
https://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?92668-67-Camaro-SS-RS-Protouring

Old fart that has had it over 35 years. Selling off what you don't want is a helluva lot easier and quicker than bodyshop hell.

Yes, it is mine. Lets talk.

[Ls1velle]

I've given up on buying junk cars and putting time and money into them getting it to where you can actually start your build. Just spend the money on a rust free original, it will save you money in the end. I bought a 66 mustang (6000$) from Arizona the same time my buddy bought his 66 chevelle (local 1500$) he's over 8000$ now to change every panel and now he can start working on what he wants to mod, my car is getting painted on Saturday.