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How far is to far on a restoration?

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Beerzz

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My 57 TR3 is pretty rough. Doing a frame off, down to the metal. I'm a seasoned restorer, but not real up on the TR3 market or the final value attributed to going to the exact original everything look, compared to doing just a great job. Why spend 20k on a 25k car or visa versa. Anyways, is it worth going the extra yard, or make a nice driver. It's for me, not to sell. The amount of time, money and effort could be double.....

https://web.me.com/bissman/Bissman.com/TR3_Restoration.html

This is a link to a short slideshow of it. We have made a little progress since.
Any advice would be appreciated.
 
So much depends on how much of the work you do yourself. I did EVERYTHING (including the paint job) on my TR3 restoration, with the exception of the engine machine work. I spent about $16k-$17k, but could have done it for about $10K. The rack & pinion steering, Supra trans conversion, new wider wire wheels, nice wooden steering wheel, engine mods and some other assorted goodies jacked the price up.

I could probably get a bit more then I put into it (not counting labor), or maybe not, but I'm not looking to sell, so it becomes a moot point.

For me, it was the journey. I learned a whole mess of new skills that I may never use again. But that's not important. I learned those things to get the job done. The final destination is now sort of an anti-climax...now what do I do?? I know, go out and drive the car! :driving:
 
How far is to far? I guess when you run out of money you went to far.

If you don't plan to sell then do what you can afford, what you think it needs and what you can live with.
 
Personal decision ... are you going to enjoy the car as a work of art, or as something fun to drive? I'm firmly on the "fun to drive" side.
 
Sounds like you have more experience with this than I do (for me it's been the same car for 30 years though I have restored it 3 times). Anyway, I think one pitfall to avoid is restoring to a point where you're unwilling to drive it.

These cars are uncommon but far from rare -- I too find that "fun to drive' is the payoff here.
 
Ben - how are you planning on using the car? As the other guys have suggested, that will provide some paths as to how to approach it.

In any case, welcome and I'm glad to hear another TR3 will be getting some TLC.
 
If you do the major work yourself you'll be ok...in the minor loss catagory although the TR3 has been gaining in value of late and I believe is underrated due to it's uniqueness (similar to Healys some years ago).
Compared to most resto's we get off cheaply as parts are common,inexpensive and available from multiple sources.
I went with a TR3 resto for the pre war look, stout motor and fun factor. I had been doing MBz but when a factory rebuilt brake booster got to $4k figured I'd go back to my Brit car roots.
Decide upfront what you want, how much to invest and don't lose site of those perameters.
Luck
 
Whenever I go to a British car show, and look at the early TRs, I am always impressed with the concours restorations. I have owned two early TRs (an early 2 and a late 3) and have always felt that they were great fun to drive, with all their idiosyncrasies. IMHO, doing anything to "improve" an early TR will only detract from it's value and the weird little quirks that these cars are noted for. That said, many guys on the forum have modified their cars. More power to them. I, for one, pushed my TR6 to the limit and enjoyed it greatly. My other 6 was straight stock. No comparison in the fun driving factor. But to me, a TR3 restored to concours or near-concours condition is such a great throwback to a bygone era that it was meant to keep it this way.
 
Thanks for the input.... Appreciated! I'm leaning towards stock and the best I can do with original parts. I need to weld in new pans next before we pluck the body. Roadster factory or any other recommendations for metal parts?
 
To blatantly plagarize a well known source:

You might have gone too far on a restoration if:

*Your dog spends it's days on street corners with a sign "Will bark for food."
*Your garage has heat, A/C, running water....and your house doesn't.
*You keep your thermostat set to 53 degrees in the winter because you're expecting an order from Moss, VB and The Roadster Factory.
*Your car has four brand new tires and your house has four flat ones.
*Your kids get birthday and Christmas presents from the owners of Moss, VB and The Roadster Factory.
*When you hear your wife telling her friends about "the other woman", you let them think she MEANS a woman.
*The city sends you a pre-approved zoning variance and you didn't ask for it.
*When the President gives his State Of The Union address, he personally thanks YOU for helping the economy.
*All the major networks give weekly updates on the restoration's progress.

I am sure the other members can come up with more.
 
To me, it's inexorably related to your budget. Virtually everyone's is different, so it's entirely subjective regarding "how much is too much".

If you're Jed Clampett or Bill Gates and have zillions in oil money, go ahead and have the body panels plated with gold and throw a Rolls-Royce Merlin in that TR-6! :banana:

However, if you're like most of us working stiffs and have a home to fix, kids to feed, tuitions to pay, and honey-do's to do, you really must try to set a budget for your restoration. A logical place to begin is the retail or current market value of the car: what's a nice example worth? You might base your budget on a reasonable facsimile of this price. This method, of course, assumes that you may be able to sell the car at a good price and recoup your "investment". But factors may intervene and prevent such a future sale, so even this budget methodology has it's problems. Anyway, it's probably a good place to start.

Otherwise, it's <span style="font-style: italic">how much money do you have to burn</span>? Most of us painfully know that it's all too easy to spend $20,000 and <span style="font-weight: bold">far</span> above to restore one of these cars. Once your restoration expenditures exceed the market value of the car, you're in the "spending spree" danger zone (especially if you have an unforgiving spouse). :yesnod: Not good. :cryin:

So, look at your bank account (and your wife), consider the market value of the finished car, and then decide. It's not rocket science.
 
I have a friend that is restoring an early TR2 to concours condition. His total investment will be about $20K. He is one of the lucky few who doesn't have to farm much out, save engine machine work. Most of us don't have his skills or shop. Most of us would spend a lot more. Each to his own.
 
I know a guy who's restoring a '70s Toyota Corolla to mint condition. Anyone who restores a car has to be crazy. For most of us lunatics, how much the car is worth is really not part of the equation.
 
Being crazy does help, I'll grant you that. Because of a lot of other non car related projects, I only drove my TR6 250 miles this year after two steady years of chassis, engine and paint work.

Today I removed all of the gauges to send them out for calibration along with the tach for conversion to electronic unit. That all started as a tach conversion, then the "well, as long as I'm in there" phase sat in and away I went.

Just like all of the other projects.
 
Brosky said:
"well, as long as I'm in there"
Click to expand...

That is the killer for me. No regrets at all, but I know I greatly underestimate the time and money a project will take me because I inevitably change the scope of the project. My couple of hundred dollar engine freshening has morphed into something that might now break 2 grand. And hopefully no more!
 
Look at it this way: We're "curators" who are keeping a bit of history alive for us and others to enjoy. The monetary value of our relics is secondary to the restoration and preservation of those relics.
 
Howdy Folks,

I`m going to be picking up my `57TR3 Small Mouth on 12-05-09. My Bugeye is Sold. The funds from the Bugeye will go directly into the TR3 ASAP. My plan is to have her completed by Mar. 2010 (LOL).

I estimated the "Driver Cond Rest" will cost approx. $13K without any Engine, Trans work. I`m still not certain if I`m going to go the "Body-Off or Body-On" Rest? I`ll decide that when I get the car. The plan right now is "Body-On".

"Thanx Marv",

Russ
 
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