Project Budget

How to build a project car on a budget that is a hard thing to answer. As most of you know anything to do with car restoration cost money. The tools needed, the parts, farming out the work, the amounts add up quickly. So what is the process? Here is how I have approached my project. First I made the commitment that I was not going to go into debt while building this car, so that will add time to the project, but I would rather the project take me ten years rather than paying for it for ten years. That is something that you will have to decide. I am sure that there are lines of credit, or credit cards that can be used.

First determine what you want the car to be? Is it going to be a daily driver, weekend warrior, Weekend cruiser, show car, or a combination of some sort? My project is a weekend cruiser with possibly some entries into local shows, but mainly a cruiser. With that in mind I created a Excel spread sheet listing projects that I wanted to do. However as mentioned in a different post my project plan changed and took a different direction as to the extent of what I was going to do. I think that anyone working on cars will come across this, and should plan and budget accordingly.

Second make a list of the projects to me completed. On my spread sheet I have all the long term projects listed (suspension, engine, body and paint, interior) and I put in some rough estimates for the cost of the project. I list everything that I would like to do as well as my wish list if money was no object as well. As I get closer to getting ready to work on these projects I fill in the parts with cost from the internet or local dealers and develop a fairly accurate cost estimate of what the project phase will cost. Here is the break down for the cost of my suspension project that is next after I get the car up on the stand offs.

There are other projects with the frame as well, such as painting, break lines, new fuel lines, and any repairs that will need to be considered. Right now I do not have the money to do all the projects under the car so I am going to have to prioritize what happens first as I save for the others.

This method has given me a ability to plan and come up with a process for finishing the car. There is the ever present temptation to purchase all new parts for our cars, but for me my budgeting process has helped me realize that yes some upgrades to the factory parts are needed, but not all parts need to be replaced. I can use the front upper and lower control arms and just replace the worn out rubber. I do not need tubular control arms even though they look really cool!

So where does the money come from? I have four sources of income for the project none of them are large streams of income. Let me state this I created a separate account for the car project so that my wife is not worried that I am spending household income on the car, its a good idea to keep the peace with the wife during this process.

1. My Paycheck I transfer $200 a month to my Impala account so that is $2,400 a year
2. I do house plans on the side, but with the current housing market this source has dried but it was generating about $2,000 to $3,000 per year. Keep in mind that I have really only been working on the car since 2006 so there is not a lot of money in the bank for the car
3. I tried a experiment of investing money at prosper.com I did this in August and since then have made $33 dollars on my initial investment, but this will tie up my money for three years. So I am not sure this is the best method
4. I have been blessed to work for companies that give an annual profit sharing bonus so that money goes into the fund; this is a varying amount every year.

This is my basic process I do have a spread sheet with when I think I will get to a project, but that is a ever changing depending on how much time I have and money.