If I had any idea of what I already have tied up in my truck, I would probably sell it and put the money down on a new one,NOT!!!!! I figure by the time I get finished with it I could go out and buy a new one for what I have sunk into it. Oh well, it's just money.
Jeff

 

you guys are depressing me, i am chomping at the bit to drag a 51f1 to the house and you gotta talk about money. dirty words shouldnt be used in the same place as truck talk. plus if my dear sweet darling lovable ,did i mentoin sweet wife sees any of these profane $15-$20k tags i am in trouble. she thinks it will be like my 85 - $1500 and routine maint. i think you should all think of me for a minute and drop this filthy money talk....... any pics of the redhead?

 

ive got really nice brakes, way cool sway bars, a kick *** stereo system, and 2 brand new sparco race buckets sitting waiting to go into my pile of rusty parts worth approximately $9000. ...and in 4 years, i havent drivfen more than a mile to get it home. i deserve 2 red heads!

 

That's 2, count 'um 2, Hour Glass Figured Red Heads, don'tcha know.

By-the-by I foregot to mention the aftermarket hidden under the dashboard A/C Unit, the Under dash mounted '50s Fridge Unit, '50s 3 Point Seatbelt system, original Truck Radio mated to a FM/CD system that'll be hidden, w/ Dual Cone Speaker mounted in original dash space, Armrests, Driver Door Lock & Passenger Sunvisor & still to be purchased original style Perferated Headliner, Kickboards & Panels.

 

I'm hiding the receipts for this resto in different places so wifey doesn't see them. What she doesn't know won't hurt me.

 

I have had many old cars (projects) sense 1966, and all but a couple sat unfinished till I got tired of trying to do something with them and sold them. Not having a clear vision of where the funds were coming from to get them on the road only lead to many dead end projects. I had to cash in one of my 401K accounts to get my 51 on the road. I had a plan to at least get it on the road as a daily driver and achieved in 12 months time. Although it isn't totally finished I hope that before I leave this world I may actually see a totally finished vintage vehicle sitting in my driveway. Although I realize that may be just a dream because when the wife and I are talking about future dreams I see old cars and she sees new furniture and carpet.

 

Somewhere there is a compromise.

New living room set = rebuilt motor
New bedroon set = paint job
so on and so forth...

Using the above logic keeps both me and the wife in tune with each other, and then we both know that when the money is right, we both get what we want....ofcourse she has ore common sense than I do, so usually a new appliance takes precendence over a bed kit.

But hey, we're making prgress

 

My plan was to build my 48 on a budget...yeah right! I thought I could put together a running (not finished but running) truck for around 5K if I did all the work myself and cut corners where I could. I have hit my limit already and the truck is still sitting in the garage with no fenders, interior, paint, etc. I have decided the best thing to do is not keep track of my expenses anymore. If I need the money for food or shelter I use it for that and if I don't, it means more money for the truck...

Vern

 

The real trick in funding a truck project is to establish "Screw up" account. At times this is a lot more important than an actual money account. What I do is when my wife does something stupid and costs money I just say "Don't worry, we'll just have to take care of it." Then I make a mental note of what it was and how much it cost. I keep track of them until I need something and then I pull out the mental deposit slips. It usually goes like this:

Me: "I bought this part for the truck and it cost this much."
Her: Fireworks!
Me: "Well, at least it didn't cost as much as when you did this and that and in the end I will have something to show for it!"
Her:"Umf!" Storms off in silence.

(Just a note about the above maneuver, don't go too strong because the silence part will be exponentially longer the more the item cost or the severity of the primary offense. Also, use your head, if her offense cost $100 you can only redeem $75, sorry, that's just how it works.)

I doesn't always have to be a money deposit either. It could be something she does or says. That's how I got my panel. My wife was talking with a group of women and they were all complaining about their husbands. My wife popped in telling the others she had me "under her thumb", even using the grinding thumb on the table jesture!. I wasn't there but she was foolish enough to tell me about in it great detail later when I got home. The following weekend I bought the panel. I had been looking at it for about a week but this was all I needed to drive 200 miles and plop down the money. Sometimes her actions can equal big $$$. But unlike money, the effects of this starts to deminish quickly so you have to ready to redeem on short notice, maybe a week at the most.

(Legal mumble, jumble: I take no responsibility if you decide to follow my advice. Limited time offer. May not be available in every relationship. Use at your own risk, not responsible for any physical or financial damage that may occur to you or your project)

 

So far I have $0.00 in the total cost of my truck. I didnt buy it! I have done nothing to it! My brother gave me the truck which he bought 30 years ago for a price of $300.00. I have spent more moving this thing from town to town than I have on the truck. I do need a starter and starter bolts for the truck. So I guess thats going to be the first purchase. I just need to get on the ball and do it.

Marc

 

Must agree with jniolon. Depends on what you want in the end. A full breed show truck will have over 30K invested. A good daily driver style could be between 20K & 30K depending on how much of the work you can possibly do yourself. Have patience and take your time to do it right. Set your expectations on what you want and stay with it. If not you will be disapointed when your finished. Good luck. Nice start.

 

BTW, I would like to add what I have roughly spent on my projects since this is the jest of this thread.

1949 F-2
Cost of truck-Free, my dad let me drag the rot bucket out of the yard
Cost of restoration-$3000+ I did all of the work myself and did a lot of wheeling and dealing for parts.
Status-Finished (Well, they're never really finished, always needs updating)

1948 F-1 Panel
Cost of truck-$800, I also got half of a parts panel
Sandblasting and epoxy primer-$600
Rebuilt chassis and engine-$1500
Seats-$150
Miscellaneous parts so far-$500
Additional costs-I would estimate I will have to put another $2000 before everything is done
Status-I like to say half together, my wife says half apart

1948/51 F-4
Cost of truck-$450
Cost of parts truck-$400
Cost of original Ford flatbed-$200
Front clip-$30
Miscelaneous supplies and parts, so far- approximently $300
Additional costs-Like the panel, I would estimate I will have to put another $2000 before everything is done.
Status-Half together, again, my wife says half apart

Above prices doesn't include the gallons of gas used to drive around the state picking up the trucks and parts. I don't want to think about that especially since I did most of the driving before $3 a gallon gas

As I stated above, I do all my own work including body and paint work which saves a lot of money. Is it worth it? When I'm tooling down the road and some one gives me it's worth every penny, minute and ounce of blood.

 

bought the truck for $2,000, and just turned an offer of $25,000 down if that gives you any hint of what it looks like it cost....so far I have a little over $8,000 not counting the purchase price. I also did the body work and a lot of other stuff to keep costs down since I knew how to do that kinda stuff. I figured up what it would've cost me to have paint and body done and it would've put the total well over $10,000 with the body mods and lil things that needed to be done.