Does the cost of the car count when building it?

[chrisofna]

I was having a conversation with my friend earlier about this. He doesn't think when building a car the cost of the initial car should be considered when comparing two cars. I think t does. My comparison was these peoples Bonneville SSEI vs my Festiva. All around with the purchase of my Festiva I have about $2500 into it. They bought their SSEI for 9 grand after all the payments and have about 8 grand into it (it should do 11s after all they've done to it even though I'd like to see it.). Now even if they beat me in the Quarter mile I still consider them having $17,000 into their build because they had to buy the car which I think is really high for 11s.

I tried to make an Extreme comparison of my having a Festy with 5 grand in it compared to a Porsche GT3 with 5 grand in it but even then he thinks that's even. What do you guys think?

[Ogrestiva]

It totally matters!...now if you can beat them, then they can't say anything!

[Evil D]

Well if 2 people start out with X amount of money and have to pick a car to buy and build, then obviously it matters.

[Zanzer]

I ALWAYS factor in the price of the car when considering a build. Whether it's a Festy, Mustang, 4X4, or bike. The buy-in counts.

A great example is a Geo Metro I have. It has a perfect body (other than faded paint), perfect interior, a clear title, and a blown 1.3 engine. I only gave 50 bucks for the car and that's the main reason I'm considering rebuilding the motor. Even after the price of the engine kit and machine shop work I can still turn a decent profit on the car due to the low initial purchase price.

[wybnrml]

I factor in the cost of a car when building one.

[JPT]

A pile of parts is a pile of parts until they're put on a car, so the price of the car should be counted.

[provencal183]

Price of the car should be totally included in the cost of the build. After all, if you don't have an initial car to work on, then you just spen xxx on a pile of worthless parts.

[eurotiva]

Yes it counts. Tell him to put the crack pipe down LoL

[kartracer46]

I ALWAYS factor in the price of the car when considering a build. Whether it's a Festy, Mustang, 4X4, or bike. The buy-in counts.

A great example is a Geo Metro I have. It has a perfect body (other than faded paint), perfect interior, a clear title, and a blown 1.3 engine. I only gave 50 bucks for the car and that's the main reason I'm considering rebuilding the motor. Even after the price of the engine kit and machine shop work I can still turn a decent profit on the car due to the low initial purchase price.

I can get you a PnP motor for twice what you paid for the car... Then you can make money.

[Zanzer]

I can get you a PnP motor for twice what you paid for the car... Then you can make money.

Hmmmmm...very tempting

I'm gonna pull this one and see exactly what's wrong with it first. May just need bearings or something small. I try not use use a JY motor unless I can hear it run first. That way I know the buyer won't come back in a week with another blown engine If I pull this one apart and there's a catastrophic failure, you may be getting a PM

[kartracer46]

Hmmmmm...very tempting

I'm gonna pull this one and see exactly what's wrong with it first. May just need bearings or something small. I try not use use a JY motor unless I can hear it run first. That way I know the buyer won't come back in a week with another blown engine If I pull this one apart and there's a catastrophic failure, you may be getting a PM

Check it out and if I need to pull one just let me know. I'll check it over as best I can for you.

[festymick]

i always factor in the price of the car when considering a build.

i agree!!

[92festie]

i always count whatever i put money down for weather its the car itself or the air freshener...lol so far i ve got about 300 in my car plus the 1500 i paid for the car so 1800 so far for this project...NOT including the air freshener...lol

[Tommychu]

I also take into account the cost of any parts cars I use along the way as well, although part-outs can generally recover the cost of the parts car.

[Zanzer]

^^ +1

I also factor in if I have to purchase another car for parts. Pretty much any money spent for finishing the car, be it a parts car, machine shop work, gaskets, spare engines, etc....it all counts towards what you have in the build. I even consider how much labor it will take to get the car where I call it done (although most projects are never REALLY finished if they're a "keeper")....time is money too


But on the flipside of purchasing a parts car - any money I make from the leftover parts can be subtracted from the bottom line of the project car since it's typically used for that builds budget...LOL