Easiest cars to restore?

[Moering Tool]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to get some input on what would be the best car to choose for a beginner's restoration project, here in ZA.

Obviously, the car has to have some sort of classic status to it (eg in my eyes a Mk3 Cortina qualifies whereas a Mk4 doesn't - you might disagree though so please feel free to comment).

Factors would be how easy or hard it is to find parts, what sort of condition you would expect to find body shells in, was the car rust-prone to begin with, etc)

Thanks for reading!
Riaan

[gordini]

Difficult question to answer Riaan. All depends on your degree of knowledge and knowhow i think. All older classic are very straight forward cars. We have a member here that rebuilt his Ford V6 from Google and the forum. Must have the balls to take it on and the will to persevere with the project.
I have seen and bought many cars that have been stripped and left to rot

[Moering Tool]

Okay... let me rephrase the question a bit then. Are there any classic cars that you would not touch with a ten-foot propshaft because they're such a pain in the arse to restore or maintain?

[TIMOTHY MUDALI]

your budget will determine that

tim

[C-Body Barge]

I would recommend from experience trying to restore something that was built or at least assembled locally to be easiest due to NOS stock still being available, believe it or not I still find NOS stock for my Chrysler 383 and Valiant Barracuda. I have a contact for an ex masterparts employee who has access to all the old NOS parts.

My salesman has a 79 ford escort that he is doing a rolling restoration on and parts are incredibly easy and cheap to come by.

Importing parts from the US, AUS or UK is becoming prohibitively expensive due to the failing rand, and half the time the parts are reproductions made in China and quality becomes an issue.

I try to avoid used parts as a lot of time they need to be refurbished and the expertise on how to refurbish these particular parts is a lost skill.

How ever if you wish to do a resto mod and take advantage of modern upgrades then I would choose a popular Amercian car as modern upgrades are easy to come by, but at a rather hefty price.

So as Tim has mentioned you need to decide on a budget first then decide what you wish to restore. As for rust this is always an issue and getting the work done properly is a very expensive exercise and again the guys who have the skills to do it properly are few and far between.

[Moering Tool]

My problem is, I have a certain look that I enjoy - the clean euro-custom look is what I'm after. It doesn't really matter what car it is, I think you can achieve it with any car. What make it problematic is that I would hate to undo the hard work that someone put into restoring a car - so the basic car should be hassle-free to modify and without me worrying about whether not keeping it original is some sort of verboten heresy. Know what I mean?

The vibe I'm getting though from the answers seems to be one of "find what you like, buy it and then stick with it - you'll have issues regardless". Amirite?

[Burnthosetyres]

Easiest, Id say 1 st Gen Ford Mustang, buy from Mustangs unlimited, and bolt on, everything availabe..... but not cheap at all. Quetion however was easiest!

But its not about the easy..... its about the end result and enjoyment. What will give you a half lazy to own / drive? Stick to your metal!

[Weasel]

How about a beetle or a mini? you'll gain lots of experience, parts should be cheap and plentiful. maybe just lacking in passion and performance....

[Moering Tool]

Ja see it's the passion thing. I don't really think I'd be able to motivate myself to go tinker on a beetle shell on a freezing winters' morning. If it were a Camaro or such, it's a different story.

If I'm going to spend a year doing resto work, I'd rather spend it on something really worthwhile, yes?

[Weasel]

I'd rather spend it on something really worthwhile, yes?

Ja nee verseker.