356 restoration - possible crowd funding?

[3ftDeep]

Hello.

I want to hopefully get some suggestions & gauge responses to my idea of maybe trying to crowd fund the restoration of my RHD 1959 356a.

So, here's my questions.
What do you guys think about the idea in general?
Is it a bad idea?
Do you think others would be interested in helping a stranger fix their car?
Would you buy an art print or t-shirt?
If so, what sort of thing would appeal?
Any other ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and for any input.

Cheers

Gary

[3ftDeep]

BTW, here are a couple of photos. The first is how it was when I bought it. The other two are how it looked about a month ago (I had to modify some pipework in the garage which was behind the car.









Also, it's a genuine RHD UK car, from AFN; one of the last 'A's

[Bootsy]

Not sure there's enough in it for enthusiasts to donate given their return - a t shirts or print if I've got it right?

It would take some enthusiast to fund the restoration of another mans car without true benefit. Great to see another car saved but....

[gridgway]

People who do the crowdsourced funding thing presumably want a return for their money.

So the funding could be that you sell 90% of your car for the amount you need for the refurb (say 90k for sake of argument).

So each funder gets 1% share of the car for each £1000 they pay. In addition they get a t-shirt and a print to commemorate the event.

You agree that you will sell the car in 5 years. You expect it'll fetch £200k, so each investor doubles their money and you get 5 years to do a resto, enjoy the car and get back 20k.

I don't reckon it will work myself even with much healthier numbers, but you never know!

Graham

[Winston Teague]

Interesting conundrum. If you had the money to see it through as a diy project, do you have the time?. W

[neilbardsley]

I have to agree with Graham. No promise of return. IE you have never successfully restored a 356 car before and as an investor no say in the quality of the finish.

Did you say a 1955 1500 engine? Sell that to fund the next stage of the project? It isn't right for your car and may have some real value. If you can find the matching car than double Bingo!

[sladey]

I'm not convinced people will got for it - but I've been wrong plenty of times before.

Essentially you can't afford to pay someone to restore the car.

I'd suggest investing time and a bit of money into your own skillset. You're a designer so you probably are a bit artistic. Then do it yourself as much as you can. If you do then you can complete it at a fraction of the price of paying someone else. When you cock up you will generally lose the cost of the materials which isn't much and the lesson from the cock-up is far more valuable.

Doing it yourself you can take the time and do it right. I can recommend a bodywork DVD as a starting point. Invest in good tools and a good welder and have a crack. Taking this approach has server me well over the years and allowed me to have stuff that I simply cannot afford any other way. In the process I've enjoyed learning new skills and have been pleased with the results. I enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

I don't generally accept the argument that "Oh I just can't do this sort of stuff" - none of this is rocket science, but you need to learn from people (online or in person) who know what they are doing and then you need to practice. If you aren't prepared to do both of those things then that is your decision, and that is perfectly fine, but it doesn't mean that you can't do it.

You probably won't be able to do everything - but you may be surprised by how much you can do. Have a look at jamie's 912 thread - yes he farmed out the final top coat of his respray but he'd done a fantastic job meaning (I'm guessing) it would have cost a lot lot less than just handing it over to a garage.

One last point. When you are doing it yourself and you ask for help, people often give it free of charge. If you're asking them to fund someone else doing the work it's a different conversation.

[Winston Teague]

/\/\ Well said. Jenks said all you need to do is 10 mins a day, every day and you'll have it done in no time. The 10 mins sometimes becomes 2 hours.....W

[mycar]

This rings a bell.

Is this you Gary ?

http://356a.co.uk/

[Loz]

This rings a bell.

Is this you Gary ?

http://356a.co.uk/

Certainly got to admire his perseverance in the idea, but if it didn't work nearly ten years ago, like the others have said, it's doubtful whether it will work now.

I'd concentrate on earning the money in your field, and then slowly start to get your car back on the road.

Or sell it, because this idea IMO isn't going to take off.

Good luck anyway.

[Ayli Carper]

You're only actually alive now: not in the past, not in the future.

The money you'd get for selling your car as it is to someone who could afford to restore it would buy you a very nice '356alike'.

It's not the same, but it would take up no larger a space in your garage, and you could take your kids out for a drive to the pub in it whilst they're still kids.

And when you've made a fortune, you could go back and find this car again and buy it back, and someone else would've done all the work for you.

[Bootsy]

A crowd funding plan just isn't feasible and not a good idea IMO

If you can't afford to restore it or can't do the work yourself the sell it

The 20 years will have resulted in a nice profit for you and you'll be able to afford something nice to enjoy now, in the moment - not waiting another 20 years and having not moved forward

[jonno1]

And according to cobber its worth at least £40,000....have a look on eBay..

[jamie]

I'm with Ayli and Thomas on this - flog it, take the money you've made in the 10 years of ownership, and use it to buy something that works. Live for now. You could get one hell of a Type 3 or Ghia (or Type 3 Ghia... Mmm) for the money this would sell for.

Or just sit on it as an investment and sell it, as is, when the kids need to go to university.

Personally I'm cool with crowdfunding a cool product or an African eye clinic. Crowdfunding an expensive old car for someone in Hampshire - no good.

[74rsman]

Put the glass n lights back in, recommission the mechanicals and drive it..

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk