Originally Posted by HK1837
can i say its also seriously hazardous to your health to have a hobbie involving resto on cars.
I burnt my hand pretty bad a week ago. Partial thickness deep second degree. Not to mention all the bog dust, paint and chems for killing rust etc.....
BQZ
Reading your post #!5, and the above, Byron I do agree. From a financial perspective and considering time (and space) the advice to sell and get another one is responsible and sensible advice. I was responding to the idea it was never gonna be sold a bit differently.
I should I think, have thought to add to my earlier posts that restoring a vehicle can be like having one foot chained to the ground, and, if I consider it, there is always a question if you restore it yourself if you will actually ever drive it that hard. And if instead you'll be forever be washing mud out of the bits you spent months (years ) getting clean.
Also, reading through posts 16 to here, I also agree. Referring to my earlier posts, I suppose its also very easy to suggest to somebody, that restoring their car is a good idea when it's not me thats taking on the work!
Even if you do all the work yourself, you can't just discount that time as free. You need to give that time a dollar amount to add to the cost of the restoration in case you have to sell.
Say you put 1000hrs into a car, over 3 years. You could have spent a little more in the beginning and bought a better car that you would have been driving those 3 years, and put that 1000hrs of work into your house and yard that will actually add value.
There's plenty of rust free vans around. You just need to be willing to spend the extra $5k at the beginning to save yourself $15k in the end.
Reading the description you've got windows, sunroof, quarters, sill and beaver panel. That's most of the car and just what you can see. There could be more elsewhere. If you're doing it purely for the love of it and have those rust repair skills then go for it, but my general rule is "if you have to ask, then you're not set up to do it". Some will persist but most of these projects end up as an incomplete money pit on eBay in the end.
Edit- after re-reading the post here's what I'd do.
Sell the rusty Sandman. Put that money toward giving the WB a quick coat of paint to make it presentable and then put your driveline in it and drive it. It'll owe you bugger all. In the meantime keep an eye out for a Sandman with a good windowless shell. Keep saving your money and eventually you'll find one that's either had the panel work done or doesn't need much. Then you can either sell the WB as a complete car and put that money into the Sandman or swap your running gear over and sell the WB as a roller.
Last edited by playwme; 10-06-2014 at 03:55 PM.
From my experience looking back my advice would always be to buy a car already done or buy a car that has survived and you are happy to do mechanical work only. Nothing wrong with people being motivated and committed enough AND have the resources to restore a car for whatever their individual motivation is, but the harsh reality is that most people are either not committed enough or lack the resources to accomplish the task. I take my hat off to those that are however I still reckon most who do it end up spending much more than they would have if they bought a car already done, probably twice as much in some cases.
Wow I wasn't expecting such a response. I've been off working for a couple of days and see an interesting debate and some great opinions. I really do appreciate your thoughts and the time it's taken to write them up.
My original post may have been misleading regarding the WB. It is just a shell (no chassis, guards, bonnet, interior or dash etc). Next to no rust and pretty darn straight. It was too good to pass up even though at the time I knew sweet FA about the differences is the bodies between models. So the WB could be used as donor panels if need be.
I will rummage up some photos of the Sandman and see if I can load them here. The car is in storage so I can't pop out and take photos but I do have a few general ones.
A lot of the work I do is for a chain of body shops in Melbourne and I mentioned to a couple of the panel guys about the windows and sunroof. They reckon the sunroof repair would be no problem because of the curve of the roof. They say they would spot weld a piece from a donor. The windows they wouldn't touch with a welder of any sort. They are using a lot of the 2 pack adhesives on body panels now and say that would be the way to go.
Anyway I'll have a go at these photos.
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That's not that bad for rust in the body, mine was ten times worse. From the few pics that looks very restorable, I don't think it needs a re-body. Sunroof isn't too big of a deal to fill in but those side windows are huge, I'd be using the WB shell as a donor for the side panels and other rust repairs. At least it is still in original paint so shouldn't be too much hiding from you.
image.jpg
4/75 HJ XX7 Sandman Panelvan ... Persian Sand currently restoring
7/76 HX Monaro 4dr 308 4sp... Absinth Yellow and rusty as hell.. SOLD
3/77 HX Sandman Panelvan ... Absinth Yellow and rusty as hell .. SOLD
save on roof rust repairs top chop it to a ute lol
If you base all the body work ( rust repairs, dent removal, panel replacement ect ) including stripping it down and fitting back up on a $35 an hour cost ( not including paint prep, painting and consumables ) you should be able to work out what the body work cost you. Break the job down into panel sized areas to work out the amount of hours ( 8 hours a door, 8 hours a guard ect. roof, side panels and larger areas need to be doubled in the amount of hours ). This may seem excessive if you have good guards or doors but the hours you save on them will easily be chewed up if you have to spend longer on other areas. If you spent 8 hours a day 5 days a week working on your van you should be able to knock it over in 4 to 5 weeks. Add another 2 weeks for paint and another week for fitting it back up.
If you can buy guards or doors ect that are in good to excellent condition and only require stripping and a few small dents fixing for under $300 it is better to to do this than spend 10 or more hours trying to fix rusted out or severely bent ones. I have spent too many hours than I care to remember repairing shit panels just because the owner wants to "keep it original".
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