Yup, did a tally the other night, and I've sunk around $4500 in Gertie. Shoulda seen the look on my wife's face when I told her that!

I sometimes wonder if it has been worth it. But when I do, I also try to count the good things:

1. Drove the truck for over a year now, and except for it being down while I located a generator pulley, it has never failed to start and run.

2. I don't know what the truck is worth, but it will certainly bring more than what it would have when I pulled it from the weeds.

3. Could have spent $500 a month on a truck payment. And that vehicle losing value everyday I drive it.

4. Insurance is less than $100 per 6 months. Pay 5X that for the Grand Cherokee.

5. Look at all the fun I have had broiling in the sun busting knuckles doing things like brakes, exhaust manifolds, tires, and working under the dash.

6. I don't have to mess with headaches such as power steering and brakes, auto. tranny, AC, stereo, power windows and seats, velour upholstery, carpet, and super quiet and smooth ride.

7. Love that 9 miles per gallon in the city.

8. And the looks people give me. Still, I can't quite determine if they are impressed with the truck, or wondering who the fool is.

Seriously though, I truly feel it has been worth it. Maybe not so much if I had had to buy the truck, then spend that kind of money. Already owning it has put me money ahead.

And yes, it still looks like crap. However, it doesn't take long to look around and see that a tremendous amount of work has been done, and done properly, and all done by my lonesome self.

A brief list of accomplishments since June 9th of last year:

New battery, tires, and inner tubes.
ALL wiring, with the exception of the main harness in the cab has been replaced with reproduction wiring.
Repro. taillights and park lights, along with the brackets.
Plugs, points, wires, dist. wiring, cap, rotor, and coil. Coil bracket has been blasted, primered and painted black.
Virtually nothing on the brakes have NOT been touched. In the Dana rear, new shoes, wheel cylinders, and hardware kits. All new metal lines from fore to aft, and the flexible lines too. New front wheel hardware and wheel cylinders. New master cyl., light switch, pedal spring, and associated hardware.
Accelerator spring, and new repro. pedal.
Clutch return spring, along with new clutch and brake pedal pads.
Rebuilt the heater thermostat, and replaced every damn hose in the truck, including the hose pipes to the radiator.
New thermostats and gaskets, and thermostat housings.
Cab seal kit, of which the back glass seal has been installed along with a new back glass.
Overhauled carb.
New fuel pump and rubber line.
New belts.
New front wheel bearings and seals, both inner and outer.
New lug nuts and drum hold-down screws.
New ignition lock cyl. and original type keys.
New wiper arm and blade.
Hood bumper set (couldn't stand the rattling).
Battery hold down-repro. with hardware, along with a script solenoid.
Because I hate looking at a ratty interior, went ahead and replaced the kick panels, visor, radio and speaker covers, and ***** with repro. units. Also replaced the starter button.
New dual exhaust specially bent by a good local shop.
Replaced the exhaust manifolds (good used ones courtesy of an FTE'r).
Three nice used rims which still need blasting, painting, and mounting. jmadsen on these.
Overhauled generator, which should go on as soon as a fellow FTE'r gets it shipped out to me (need the pulley).
Good used headlight buckets from our very own Doc.
Overhauled horn (still needs painted).
Fuel tank float and gasket (twice).
Fuel inlet hose and rubber grommet (twice), gas cap.
And of course all the incidentals that go along with doing the above: oil, grease, anti-freeze, sealants, gaskets, connectors, clips, etc., etc.

Plus I have a growing collection of new parts that still need installed when the time comes. Many of these components will get used as body work is accomplished.

Yeah, I reckon it has been worth it. Around here, $4500 won't buy much of a truck. It will have a load of miles on it, and will probably need tires and servie at a minimum. Besides, with Gertie, I have the only one in town.

 

Let's put that into perspective: Albatross has more than half that much "invested" in new wheels and tires.

Feeling better now?

 

J.D., you have certainly done some work on your truck. If you really don't like the way it looks, a coat of primer would make a world of difference. Running around with a primer coat has always been considered quite acceptable around here. I love the finished trucks, but I love many of the patina queens I see also.

When I was travelling in the States. and looking for a truck to buy, I wanted a beat up looking old thing, that I could throw yard stuff in the back and not worry about it. I fell in love with a mid fifty F100 I saw at a hot rod show. Looked like it had been dragged out of a long established home in a field, and fitted with 60's mags, it was great. I didn't find one like that and fell in love with a pretty one and brought it home. Still love the worked hard and put away wet looking ones though.

 

Well your first mistake was telling her.
You know, some of those expenses would have been spent on any vehicle you own, plus the savings on insurance. I think you are doing pretty good.

I stopped counting on mine, even though I keep all the receipts. And I just have a bare frame with an engine on it.

 

Telling her was your second mistake. The first was doing the tally! You have to figure all that fun you've had so far offsets the expense!

 

Hey JD,
Gertie is up & running! You are miles ahead of the vast majority of
of folks in our hobby. I really like the original patina look & you did the work yourself. I paid $2K more just to buy our old barely running truck.

Looking good over there in Indiana!

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

I keep all my bills ,but I never total them up .

 

If nothing else-- to me it looks great because it is RUNNING and on the road! wish I could say that

 

J.D.

I fell your pain. I have over $5,500. in mine and it is STILL in about 550 pcs.
It is ging together now but oh so slowly.

I pretty much have the same list as you posted on parts.
All new glass. got over $1700 in motor rebuild.

I have not told wife yet but she has a pretty good idea.

It is fun just to keep working on it but some day it will be on the road!!

 

I wish I could say that's all I had invested in mine.

 

I will 'raise a beer' to that as I am about $4500 as well into the F3 - and it is sitting on jack stands with the cab floating on it!!

I am trying not to go over the $6000 budget - but I know that will be blown in the near future!!

 

Don't feel bad, I wrote a check for more than that for one months parts. Nice thing for me is I am gathering all the parts together before I start the work on the truck, will take a year. In the mean time I have a nice truck to drive. I track all restoration expenses on the computer but seldom look at them, too depressing Especially when you add in the 56 Fairlane.

On the positive side, I love planning projects and doing work on my and my friends old vehicles. They are much more fun to work on and drive than anything new, and they are not depreciating at an incredible rate!

 

I figure it costs about 9k one way or another to get a running, driving, fairly nice looking vehicle. If you buy a running, starting, stopping rig (like I did) for about $5k you are gonna put another $4k into it putting interior, repairs, new brakes, etc. if you pay $100 for something in the weeds then there will be $8,900 in interior, repairs, etc.... Don't know that you could buy one all together with good interior for that though... seems once they get all together and "finished" prices take a good bump

 

It's only money.

 

This is a good approach.

I have been keeping a full spreadsheet of all expenses related to restoring a '57 Chevy for a friend of mine, and it is shocking how it adds up. I did a "10-footer resto" and I'm up over $23,000 so far just parts, bondo/paint - no charge for labor. And it isn't finished yet.
But I had to keep a log since he was paying me as soon as I had another chunk of work done. (he has been very reliable with paying for stuff and letting me do things to the car my way)
If this car went to a professional shop for that same quality of work it would have cost over $35,000 I'd guess.
So $4,500 is quite good in comparison. For a '57 Chevy that will pay for the upholstery and maybe all the shiny interior pieces and that is about it.
I have quite a bit more than that into my F2 so far...and I won't total it up to prevent marital discord and other sadness. Matter of fact I have the truck receipts tucked into about three different places. On purpose.
Tom