On 1/15/2018 at 12:22 PM, wheee! said:

Some people would pay a lot for a clean shell to start with. Pay less for a more deteriorated shell and spend more later fixing it... It's up to you as to where you want to spend the money. The total cost of a restoration these days is not cheap, regardless of the starting shell price. If you are in for the long run, then plan on budgeting about $30,000 US or $45,000 Cdn for a proper restoration. In the end what you paid for the shell falls in there somewhere... 

I paid $100 for a shell. Was it worth more? Probably! But I had to replace a lot of metal and rebuild a lot of the car myself. I would have rather started with a solid shell and paid $6000 versus spend the same amount of money on parts and repairs and take an additional two years. In the end, I will be in for about $45,000. The shell cost doesn't really matter anymore.

From the looks of this unit, it is worth about $6,000 to $8,000 depending on condition of all the parts and completeness of the parts/interior. That's just my opinion. 

I share your opinion and still working on mine after12 years. And the beat goes on

So I checked the car out, and it had front end damage like it was in a front end collision. The owner was the second owner and doesn’t know. What do you guys think? Should I wait for  another?

I know that pics always look better then in real life.....but it doesn't look THAT bad.

Expecting to find a 40 year old vehicle(+) that was not involved in some kind of accident is a bit unrealistic imo.

Keep in mind, 30 years ago these things were dirt cheap, most have been driven hard and put away wet.

Looks fine to me. Nothing that can’t be tweaked.

11 minutes ago, tzagi1 said:

I know that pics always look better then in real life.....but it doesn't look THAT bad.

Expecting to find a 40 year old vehicle(+) that was not involved in some kind of accident is a bit unrealistic imo.

Keep in mind, 30 years ago these things were dirt cheap, most have been driven hard and put away wet.

I sort of agree with this statement.

You sort of have to pick your poison. A little fender bender, rust or significantly more expensive. The car I am doing now has similar damage. Once it's put together it's not nearly as noticeable. Won't be able to see it once the hood is down and I'm blowing around that corner.

Can this be worked out and made to look like new? 

Anything can be "worked out" the only question if its "cost effective" (to you)

Personally I would leave it alone, battle scars are like tattoos...with stories. 

 I agree, anything can be reworked to look new or even better depending on one's desire, time, talent and or monetary resources. If you want it to look original, the best way, with the least amount of work (time) IMO is to replace it, if you can find one. 

I'm going to have to favor Mark's thought process, sorry but I say replace when possible.  Availability of parts and pocket money if and when you can.

Edited January 20, 20187 yr by siteunseen

The support can be removed and straightened. Once again....$$$$$$......time.........& skill level. Do not attempt to do it while it is still on the car. There is no room for it to expand.  What does the rest of the car look like? Sometimes, well most of the time these cars are diamomds in the rough. If you want a daily driver that needs no attention more than likely you will pay a premium price. I am really not a fan of buying someone elses's unfinished project. But this seems to be a pretty good platform. If you really have to have it "NEW" or looking that way a sheet metal shop can make a copy but they have to have the damaged one from the car. It is expensive and again you need skill with a welder. A member here is realy good with an English wheel and tig welder.  He basically rebuilt the entire front clip in his garage. But don't give up. Be resouceful.

With the glare and reflections in the pictures, it's really hard to tell what it really looks like. I wouldn't replace it if I thought I could make it look good. Welding in a section sometimes gives you more problems than it's worth. A good panel beater can probably make a repair that is invisible to all but a well trained eye, but is it worth it to sink that kind of money into a repair that won't be very obvious ($1,500 - 2000 just guessing). If you are really obsessive about the car being perfect you need to spend about 15-20k to get a really clean car with a well documented history.

The radiator support is held up by spot welds and should be an easy enough swap, right?