Barry wrote:yoda wrote:Well, it looks great! I am very much looking forward to seeing it in paint as I think it is hard to beat the aesthetic quality of a freshly restored, particularly in orange!
Sadly, I might never do my own as the costs seem to be only going one way. Great work thought and lovely to see that craftsmanship like that still exists.
Regards
Feroz
The rising costs are from panels, which have gone up hugely in last couple of years. My own labour rate (£40, no VAT) has been the same for last four years, and if it does go up, it won't be by much. I'm not sure if others have been ramping their prices, probably not recently. Those on a budget can do quite well by dealing with much of the stripping themselves, sometimes using the panels like a savings scheme well in advance, keeping an eye on Euro's deals and eBay / For sale ads etc.
Having said about panels, the flip side is that more and more repair parts are hitting the market, which makes it more viable to save the originals. Also, from my own point of view, I retain my collection of around 70 special tools / hammerforms and whatnot for making panels. Therefore much can be done to retain an otherwise good original area.
If you are lucky enough to have good outer panels, roof included, I would venture that the resto costs from me for example are the same as in 2013 (last price rise) inner panel price differences excepted. The positive against that is there's currently more choice on floors. sills, kidney bowls etc.
I think it's also important to compare apples to apples, and not to pears. Body restoration hours on their own don't tell the full story. Someone can easily trim the hours a bit if they've asked for a huge number of new panels from the customer. Obviously if there has been work involved in saving a £1500 panel, there's likely to be a labour cost there. Seen in isolation, this added labour might look a lot. But, assuming you've been able to save two front inner wings (what, £1550 each), and two rear innner wings (NLA, but were over £1000 each), perhaps a couple of A-posts (another £300 each), front scuttle ends (£1800 for new scuttle saved) and so on, the benefits really tot up. A pub conversation might just touch on the labour (How much?!?), and then forget to mention the £'000's in panel savings.
Anyway, just my t'pennies worth. You often hear the labour bit, but it's only when taken with panel costs can you really assess the fairness or otherwise of a specialist's bill.
For all that, yes, this is not a cheap interest at all, and it's a significant commitment to take on. I do maintain though, that by making sensible choices, heeding experienced advice, use as much DIY as you can and spreading the work out, you can still keep things relatively sensible. I always say that it's sometimes a good idea to split things into two groups on a resto. 1) Stuff you really, really don't want to be revisiting, or will cause damage not to be done straight away, so body, paint, cavity waxing, loom, oil lines / coolers, brake and pipe lines, safety items (steering / suspension / brakes) and so on. 2) Mechanicals that can be back out within half a day, interior (headlining aside), lights, possibly instruments and so on. This way you can split the work into two major phases. Phase one gets the car solid, save, dry, drivable and pretty smart and a cracking, long lasting foundation. Phase two can be done on a rolling resto basis as budget and time dicate. It's how I would do it anyway.
The DIY'ers have never had it so good either. All of these new repair panels move more cars towards realistic DIY propositions, for those with the time, skills and dedication to keep the project moving forward.
So it's not all bad
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