You would make the most profit by not touching it and sell it now! It is very hard to make a profit by restoring a car. You restore it for the love of the hobby not profit.:thumbsup:
Yeah, in this economy, you could invest nothing, and part it out. When it comes to investing, you have to weigh investment to reward. Think about this...
$1,000 buy price, 0 time, 0 additional $= 100+% profit.
$1,000 buy price, x amount of hours, blood sweat, tears, countless $, maybe 10% or less profit.
I traded for a 40 ford truck once, had big ideas to flip it for big $. My father walks up and says, "look, you have little invested in this truck ($1,900) and right now you could easily flip it for $5k (1980's dollars) or you could spend 15k on it to get 18k or less", so an easy flip for $3,100 profit or countless hours to make $3k. I took the $3k, moved on to anther car that would have sat, because I was burning valuable time on the truck.
When it comes to flips, it's get in and get out as quickly and cheaply as possible. If there is a small investment that will add value to the flip without burning man hours, then that is the move. Get in, get out. If you spend, hours, days, months of hours, that takes from your profit.
Being that you've said your looking to make $, Right now, I'd sit and figure a plan. what is the least you can spend, to make the most $ ? Will a set of wheels set it off ? What minor things could add value to the project. Example, countless guys on here have at one time bought a car, detailed it, maybe added a set of wheels, quick brake and maintenence and blow it out....
I bought a 63 fairlane once, had a ton of trouble selling it, found a set of 68 GT mustang wheels for $400 and sold the car for $2k more than I was asking.
Without pics, I'm not sure what your dealing with, this car could be something to part out, ot it could be a quick set of wheels and double your $, or it could warrant a few weekends of work to triple your $. But doing a restore of any level in this economy is gambling, gambling time and $ you may not retrieve.
If this is a clean driveable car (doubt it for a $1k) a 307 is easy on gas, and I'd drive it, as I fixed it up, but modifying it will cost substancial $. Once you start the mods, it leads to other things. Paint will bring the weakness of the chrome, bigger engine might bring the weakness of cooling, trans, rear, brakes, etc.
If you start putting $ in, it starts snowballing.
Here's a flip for me.
1. Find a good deal.
2. Sit and plan, ask wife, family & friends, what it would take for them to buy the car.
3. Fix details, Make sure all lights work, brakes work, fix as many leaky gaskets as possible, flush rad, change oil and filters, clean everything as much as possible.
4. Tires and wheels if they add value and can be found at a bargain price.
5. Spend my $ and time on marketing car, C.L. E-BAY, hitting car shows, swap meets and cruise nights.
I don't know what your job pays you, but investing 5k and countless hours in this car to bring 7.5-8k means you worked for about $6 and hour. To me, that's not a flip, and not a $ making situation.
Small investment + as few hours as possible + really marketing the car = high % of profit, or I pass on the project.
If it's a car I'm keeping, then of course I throw stupid amounts of time, $, and work at it, because it's for me and my tastes. Any successful flipper will tell you, use everything you can salvage, clean everything up as cheaply as possible and flip as quickly as you can, move on to next project...
