QuestionI would like to know what you think is the easiest car to repair is, besides an old VW bug. I have limited funds and limited working space. I'm looking for the smallest and least expensive to repair car that I can find. I would appriciate any and all suggestions.
Thank You.
AnswerArt, you really are tieing my hands behind my back with the limited funds thing. About the cheapest thing to restore is a 73-87 Chevy or GMC truck, with a 350 cubic inch motor. A 2WD truck 8 foot bed can be bought incredibly cheaply, the parts are readily available anywhere, the 350 engine is the cheapest on earth to rebuild or buy parts for. A short bed is more desirable, a short bed step side is best, period, for looks and the ability to recoup the investment. They bring a higher purchase price, however. I personally have an 84 step side shorty I'm building. I shaved the marker lights out of the rear fenders, bought 4 small round tail lamps for a trailer (under 25 bucks!) at Ace hardware, made 4 cups that look like deep tin cans, and welded the cans into the rear of the step fenders, one over top of the other. I let the cans stick up about 3/4 inch, then smoothed bondo around them, coving the filler around the cans to give it a cool Euro style look. The recessed tail lamps look great, it took about 8 hours a side, that included making the cans. If you can find maybe some steel tube like that big construction conduit, you can cut can making time in half. You can also purchase an 88-98 chevy step side bed, and with some drilling, bolt it right to a 73-87 truck. Expect to spend at least 750 for a usable bed, 1200 for a pristine bed. Carefully choose the truck you buy, the bed panels for 73-87 bolt on, step or fleet side, but the bed sides are about 300 each. Step fenders are about 400 each. Look around the inside of the fenders where they meet the box sides to look for rust holes, the box upper rail can hide a horribly rusted step fender. Repair panels for fleet sides are pretty cheap, but unless you are very good with bondo, they are difficult to install and smooth. Sorry I can't really suggest any sweet muscle cars, none of those are cheap to buy, or restore. The trucks are tough, very forgiving, cheap, and there are a million different custom mods available, cheap, on ebay. Think about it- a 73-87 chevy short bed, slammed to the ground, shaved handles and custom tail lamps, painted the color of your choice. Could be done , at home, if you watch the pennies, for 4000 bucks, including the purchase price. You can't hardly buy a restorable muscle car for that! Then, you would have to dump another 5 grand in parts, easy. That's if the motor and trans are good. Then, you will have to be a master fabricator to make patches, and a master body man to smooth out dozens of hours of welded patches and 35 years of dents, not to mention stripping umpteen coats of worn out paint. Want to start smaller? Try a 94-97 S10. You can buy a beater for under 2 grand, and there are thousands of over the counter custom mods available, cheap. Don't do an 82-93 s10, they're all crappy rust buckets and get no respect. Hope this helps, even if it's probably not exactly what you wanted to hear. Restoring a classic car means 10 grand out of pocket, and takes 2 years, if it ever gets done. Not a good choice for the first time you ever do body work. The truck? cheap, readily available parts- could be turned around in 6 months, if you buy a good runner. Only buy a truck witha sick engine if the body is immaculate, and it's priced right. Bill
