A most experienced vintage auto restoration expert widely regarded for both his unique skills and high level of workmanship was fond of noting and remarking to potential clients that in most cases it fully took three owners for one potential project car to be finished. Each of these vintage and classic auto enthusiasts was fully dedicated to have “their car” brought to finished and final stage of restoration and completion.
Each was sincere in their devotion. Yet each had their pockets drained and had in essence totally underestimated what a restoration project fully entailed in terms of times, work rounds and final costs and demands. On top of that, in most cases the most the first two autos or truck vehicle owners could expect to recoup in terms of their financial costs was the costs of supplies, seldom if ever of labor or their time. exclusive of transport and phone and fax costs. So is the advice of one respected auto and vintage car restoration community bard.
After taking that grim assessment and advice to heed if you are indeed serious and feel that you can have the financial as well as moral fortitude to undertake such a project the first question most likely will be – where can I locate and find my project vehicle?
First of all is the biggest source of all – the community and vintage auto grapevine – that is word of mouth. Next take into account the media. Of course the old standby of what is now called “dead tree media” in the search engine optimization field a re the old standbys – these are newspapers, car trader magazines, auto buff and muscle car magazines and periodicals and the like. Next in line- let your computer mouse do the walking are the online upcoming replacements for the newspapers and auto magazines – these are Craigslist, eBay, local bulletin boards and the like. Remember as well that there are regional preferences. In your area Craigslist may be king, whereas in others it’s a service named Kijiji. In other areas there may be either local players or smaller players on the ad listing marketplace that have cultivated a local following and respect. You might think that people interested in selling or marketing their automobile for sale would work the waterfront. Yet often people seem to either know of or trust one service and will use that exclusively. Hence work around and look at all services and options. Lastly take the time as well to hunt and work through the vintage auto listings of the largest online service of all – that is the mighty eBay.
Lastly when hunting around for your vintage dream car project do not forger the old standbys. These are of course automotive shows, car clubs and car meets. It’s the old story of more people you talk to – you never know which or what vintage or classic car, and in what shape can fall into your lap.
