I JUST had this discussion with a friend of mine who is looking for his first project car with limited restoration knowledge. This is the list i came up with:
::WARNING - LENGTHY::
I feel that if you are going to tackle any sort of project, screwing up is going to happen. But when you screw up it’s a good time to learn how to really fix something. Doing a project car isn’t necessarily JUST about taking parts off of the car, cleaning them up, painting them to make them look pretty and then reinstalling. It’s about learning how something you are excited about really works. If something does in fact get “screwed up”, you get to learn about how to fix that problem (or how much money that part costs). Even if it’s something that isn’t easily repairable and you have to replace it, you can now take that entire mechanism apart to see how it works. Example: rear differential on my Spitfire blew up my first time getting it on the road. This gave me an opportunity to tear the thing apart and find out how everything works together inside the casing. I ended up finding a complete replacement, rather than fixing it since it was more cost effective to buy a used one from a guy in Wisconsin rather than buying the parts I needed from England and paying to have them shipped here.
If you are going to work on a car as a “learning project” never be afraid to do something to it for fear of “screwing it up”.
If you are wanting a car to “learn on” here are the considerations that came to me. Some of them are in line with what you and others have already mentioned.
- Decide ahead of time what kinds of projects you have NO DESIRE to work on. Some people can’t stand the thought of body work. Others – electrical work, etc. This will help you as you are trying to find the car. If it’s got a lot of body work and you are excited about that, great. But if you don’t want to do body work, find something with a good body or minimal body damage that you won’t have to pay a TON of money to have someone else do.
- The older the car is, (in general) the easier it will be to work on it.
o More engine space
o Less electrical mess (less technologically advanced)
- Parts availability and cost are definitely considerations, but with the internet, JUST ABOUT everything is available (I had many parts ordered from England) so I wouldn’t let that be a MAJOR concern unless you are picking something exotic.
- Overall size of the vehicle should be considered. If you have a 2.5 car garage – with the intent of storing your project car in there on dollies along with your daily drivers, don’t go for a 1965 Cadillac. Even with a “barely” 3 car garage, a big car can be cumbersome while being worked on.
o Big cars also can equal more body work.
- Know your tools and the limitations of the tools you have.
o Homemade press machines can only get you so far.
o If you are doing a full engine rebuild, you may not have all the tools you will need and you can end up spending a bunch of money on tools if you aren’t careful about what projects you are willing/able to tackle on your own.
- Decide ahead of time what “Good Enough” is as well as what your end goal is with the car.
o As with life, if you don’t set a “good enough” goal for yourself – you will spend a lot of time, energy and money trying to attain a constantly moving “good enough” target that is unattainable.
o When you determine what you ultimately want to use the car for, you will also help determine what kind of car you choose. If you are looking for a big horsepower dragster, you won’t pick an old VW bus. If you want something for a vintage racer, you won’t pick a ‘65 Amphicar.
That all being said, if I were looking for a project car right now I would definitely pick something that is running and driveable. Nothing is more frustrating than having a fun little convertible sitting in your garage on an absolutely perfect convertible driving day, or when a car show comes to town that is specifically set up for your marque. Then you have to go to the show and keep saying “oh, I have one at home, but it doesn’t run”. It gets frustrating. I would not shy away from another small British car. But I would probably go for a drivable TR6, maybe an old Mini, or an MG. Getting away from those, I think another good “learning car” would be something along the lines of what Josh sent out the picture of the other day, an old truck. Old 60’s trucks are still very basic in just about every way and they have a ton of room under the hood to facilitate “easy” work and their parts are still abundant and probably fairly inexpensive. If I had the room and budget for an old muscle car, it’s about the same story as the truck. Usually lots of room under the hood, basic functionality, ease of parts procurement. If you go too recent (80’s and 90’s) you start getting into more technology to deal with.
Some cars I would steer clear of are cars like Porsches, Ferrari’s, or anything else considered “exotic”. Parts are going to be hard to find, those kinds of cars tend to be pretty cramped, and they WILL require specialty tools that you will use once. I would consider a vehicle like that as a second or third “project car”. Not a “learning car”.
