My '79 is an older restoration (to what degree, I'm not sure). It's had a repaint in the factory Starlight Black with BC-CC and is fairly nice, but it needs a compound and polish, though. The interior is one of the car's highlights - I can't tell what interior parts are repro or new, but I know some of them are, but not all of them. And the engine is decent enough. My car is a step above a driver, but below a show car, if I can put it that way - basically a real nice driver and is very complete and original. I'm in the same position as b_hill in that I bought mine the way it is, and have mostly just been maintaining it; finding things to do with it to perfect the tuning and driveability; and eliminate all leaks (which I've finally done).
I'm not in a financial position right now to do a full-blown restoration on a car, and my '79 shows pretty nicely so I'm happy enough with it the way it is for the time being. But I certainly have plans for it. I just need to pay off an LOC I opened to do some repairs on my house, and that will free up the space I need to contribute to another investment account to save toward my future plans with my T/A. I want to restomod it into a somewhat higher-end build. We're talking Roadster Shop frame; rear mini-tub; period correct 18-19" Snowflakes; 461 Stroker Pontiac w/ Holley EFI; Tremec 6-Speed; Ford 9"; the works. Out of all that, though, the biggest expense is that I want the car taken down to bare metal and repainted to near perfection. My car is mostly rust-free and is solid metal all around according to a magnet, but there are some small spots you can find if you intentionally go looking as is with most of these cars, which tells me you never know what may be lurking underneath; so if anything the strip down to bare metal and repaint is for peace of mind, more than anything else. It means I'll know everything about my car, inside and out. This future build in parts alone will easily cost in excess of 80K - add another 20-30k for properly done needed rust repair and a good repaint and I'm in over 100k+, so I figure I'll probably be contributing to the account for at least 8-10 years. Good thing is, I have a very solid vision on how I want the car to look and what parts I'm going to use (assuming they're still available by then). This is all assuming I do not, by then, have a foundational knowledge or skill on doing metal or body work myself, which could easily alter the cost of the entire thing. I would definitely like to learn to weld, and I know myself enough to know with my penchant for perfection that it's something I can get very good at if I put in the time.
I don't want the car apart at all until I have all the parts I need and am ready to immediately send it to a shop to get it stripped/repaired/and repainted. Because like I always hear, it's when a car is apart and sits that motivation goes down the drain, which would be VERY disheartening for me since I'll have been used to actually driving the car around and having fun with it prior to that, unlike most folks who buy the car as a project to begin with. I would ideally like to minimize the amount of time it's apart. Good thing is, the only thing I plan to spend labor on is the assembly of the engine and the rust repair/body work (which, yes, I know, is the most expensive part, haha). I'm fully capable of assembling and disassembling everything else myself. Ideally I'd just like to send the car to a paint shop as a roller and then get it back as a roller and I take it from there.
Good thing about me is that I'm very single-minded, and I devote all my attention to one thing. My '79 will be my only enthusiast car I'll probably ever own, and therefore it will be the only project I'll ever do. Once I'm done with it, I'm going to enjoy it and rest easy. There are other cars I wouldn't mind having, but I don't need them - I got my dream car.
