I was just going through my receipt boxes trying to find a particular one. Didn't find it, of course. But thought while I had them all out, might as well tally them up to see how much I have spent. Grand total: Just shy of 26000.00. I paid 4000.00 for the car in 1992. I am sure I am missing about 2000.00 worth of receipts, so that would put me at about 32000.00 so far. So how much have you put into your money pits?

i have more than 15 bucks in my 1968 z/28 convertible.:)

and probably more than 40 hrs labor :)

$4500 to buy it in '94, about $1500 in brake conversion+poly bushing+springs+shocks+swaybars in '99, $24,000 in my LS1 swap (I did a few extra upgrades while the car was apart...), and probably another $1000 or so in misc parts keeping it running over the years. So about $31,000, and I haven't started the body work yet.

It would probably take some of the fun out if it I knew the exact amount, but the total is over $30,000 and climbing.

After looking at your profile Wagonman, I think you might be slightly understating your figures. :D Pretty car though.

When I'm done I'll have 30k in mine and I consider myself lucky because I could easily have spent twice that I'll bet

My wife and I have had our 69 RS Camaro since about 1985. 3 accidents, 3 paint jobs, 3 motors ext.... And that was before the current Drive train, Suspension, Cancer removal, Body, Ext.... Mods and upgrades currently in progress.
I don't want to know. noway!:noway:
It's family to us.:D
Are we insane? :yes: Probably a bit obsessed.
"Dammit"
I just want it my way!:D :thumbsup: :yes: :hurray:

:beers:

I'm with you on that one kurt i really don't want to know . I don't drink or smoke but i do love buying trick $^@t .
Mark.

I don't count any more.

It will be a reasonable amount when amortized over my lifetime!

It will be a reasonable amount when amortized over my lifetime!

I will have to remember that :).

I actually totaled my receipts a couple of weeks ago. I included receipts for POR-15, Marine Clean etc.. After just ordering some parts to revive my heating system....I just crossed the 10K border. I feel like every penny was worth it, but it is a bit scary :). And of course, I intend to do some body work and paint it down the road, so you can guess how much more that'll be.

People wisely tell you to buy as much Camaro as you can, but I think there's a crossing point there. If I'd have paid 30K for what was a "real" SS etc., that was in great condition, I still would've done nearly every upgrade that I performed on my great condition clone. But the difference is that I'd probably be several thousand over what the "real" car could be sold for, and I figure I might be a couple grand over what I could sell it for now. A point of diminishing returns you could say. Either way, I plan on keeping her :).

It will be a reasonable amount when amortized over my lifetime! I like that response,lol.


I don't have all the receipts, but I can get pretty close.....


I bought the car for 2300.00, and have put a minimum of 22K into it so far....so I am at 25K and change.

I am projecting another 5-6 K before I am done.


Nobody ever said this stuff would be cheap!

Too much to list. Although I can say I put at least a pint a blood or so in her.

So far I've purchased the car for $3500, new rear sheetmetal/doors totaling $1200, misc parts worth about $300. So far I'm only into it $5k, but with a long way to go.

Im like Mark LW.. dont smoke or drink so I put the money into the camaro but I quit keeping track a few years ago. Im glad I did too. Id hate to think of it. :D

I quit keeping track after we hit the $20,000 mark. I am guessing it is more than $25,000 and less than $30,000. We still need some nice wheels though!

I'm sure more than I want to admit to. Someday when I grow a big set, I'll add up all the receipts, but I may need to be medicated first. I'm pretty certain it'll be shocking as the numbers just rolling around in my head are scary.

Approx
$7000 car & parts
$2000 paint and consumable materials
$2000 tools and reference material

Big items left to buy: rug, headliner, dash, weatherstrip, bc/cc paint, tires, audio

I do not keep track of time but it's been many many hours as you all know.

Black 69 L34/4sp
4,700 for car in 93-- 30,000 additional investment Repro Interior. Nothing fits inside-- finding out the hard way:(
Z11 L34/4sp
14,000 for car in 2001--27,000 additional investment. ALL GM NO, REPRO CRAP

That Cake has not been baked yet!!!!!!:noway ;) :yes:

If I totaled it all up I'd probably faint. I've had this car since 86 and it's been through several iterations since then: gutted race car, daily driver and now resto mod. That makes 4 engines, 3 tranny's and 2 rearends. I've kept all the receipts and it's a stack about a foot high. Maybe $20K to this point and another $15K or so going into it this time.

This doesn't include the other 5 67's, 2 68's and 2 69's I've had through the years. I consider it therapy as my car is my addiction and $$$ well spent. If not for this I'd've spent it on something else anyway.

how much? all of it...

No idea.I've owned it since 1975 when reciepts were carved on stone tablets and too heavy to keep in a box.

I'm in between 30-40k. I paid $6500 for it. It's had several engines. 4k in stereo. A couple of trannies. Paint and body 65k......Big Block is next! $$$$$$

About $45.00 when I filled up at the pump last week.

Im like Mark LW.. dont smoke or drink so I put the money into the camaro but I quit keeping track a few years ago. Im glad I did too. Id hate to think of it. :D

Ditto here on the drinkin' and smokin'. Bought my 69 in '95 for $8,000. Sheetmetal work done, as was the chassis and wheel tubs. No interior or wiring. Didn't like the substandard paint,had that redone. I basically bought a painted body shell. As of now, my investment is appraised at $47,500. There is only one thing that would have prevented the building of my dream car.........A wife!!!!

Im up to 25k and the motor isnt finished or completely paid for yet :sad:. Sounds pretty bad. I might have some parts to sell when Im done but it wont make a huge dent.

I quit counting when I pushed past 30k, that was a couple years ago.

Does what we spend on the garage and tools count?
I ordered $1500 worth of MotoFloor today, oh my heart my heart!

One of the only cars that I have bought that are completely turn key. So far, just fuel, insurance, and oil changes. After restoring others, having a turn key is much less in the long run IMO. But, doing a restoration yourself at least you know what you have done, doing it right, and the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Hard to place a price tag on that, but it does add up quickly.

the chunk of rust was given to me by a friend who had it in the woods for the last 20 years.it needs everything that can be bought for it.im in the sheetmetal collecting stage at the moment.maybe by next year i will start construction.thats if the 93 camaro pro street and the 84 camaro drag/street cars are close to being done.3 projects at once! theres no way im going to keep tract of cost.i dont want to know and as long as i can afford it i dont care.its only money,you cant take it with you as they say.

let's see it was a "good condition" kinda original car when I bought it (which means it cost way too much), if I count the lift so I don't have to lay on the cold garage floor, 2 ton heating and air for the garage 2 air compressors (first one wasn't up to 8 hour sessions of die grinding), tools, tools and more tools, say my time is worth 50 cents an hour or so, and lots and lots of tequila for those frustrating moments matching assembly manual to at least 2 other "restoration attempts". I'd say north of $40K but I don't like to think about it. Doesn't count make-up dinners with the wife.:D

After looking at your profile Wagonman, I think you might be slightly understating your figures. :D Pretty car though.

i was a little off ( i think) i will never add up the receipts....as a matter of fact i dont want to know!

and thank you for your compliment!!!!

I really don't have any idea, but this thread reminded me of how much I have wasted on parts that didn't work out for one reason or another, or were upgraded shortly after buying them.

Don, Glad to know I am not the only one. I just spent 1600 dollars on a 10 bolt 8.5 inch to replace my perfectly good 8.2 inch original. I got this gem of an idea from reading a magazine article saying how inexpensive this swap would be and how much stronger it would be than my 8.2. (I was also trying to chase a vibration issue, no it didn't fix it) After paying 250 dollars for a 7.5 inch that I thought was a 8.5, Then buying all the tools to do it myself, then realizing I was in over my head and sending to a shop. I could have bought a nice 12 bolt.

A shade shy of $5,000. This includes the price of the car. However I bought it in 1986. I did everything myself so how could I possibly figure what the man hours are worth???
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f80/yelo69/yelo69-2.jpg

At least when we drive off in our camaros they don't loose 25% of there value like our new cars did when we drove them off the lot.:D

Over 30yrs as a daily driver, including intial cost of the car, 1 full rebuild, several minor body rebuilds and paints, replacing worn parts...tie rods, ball joints, batteries, tyres, carpets etc....insurance and other sundries
$NZ 98.000.
Current valuation (2yrs old) $NZ 65.000
Net cost $NZ 33.000

That just over $NZ 1000 .yrs

It costs way more than that to update and maintain the wife's little shopping basket (currently a Toyota corolla) with good low milage 2nd hand vechiles.

Now thats something to think about.

I've seen some cars with close to $400k invested. It's all about the quality of parts you invest in.



$87k

....don't ask don't tell.....

i traded a custom built harley that i built 3 years ago for my 68.he was asking 16k for camaro.i had 13k in bike.i gave my bike a 1k for car and put about 1 k in so far.iv only had it since april .plan to keep 4ever.tru luv:hurray:

I've got an accordian folder at home exploding with receipts collected over the past 8 years. Do I dare add it up, no way. Everytime I add another receipt I contemplate breaking out the calculator. Due to lack of knowledge, tools, time, etc i've paid shops for the bigger stuff I can't tackle on my own. Such as paint/body, suspension/brake swap, engine electrical, & heater core replacement to name a few. If I had to guess, I'd say somewhere north of $40k and climbing!!! And that's just parts/labor. :clonk: :thumbsup:

It adds up very fast even trying to do as much yourself as possible. I keep a spreadsheet and receipts for insurance purposes. $46,700 and that doesnt include small items or maintenance. This was a father son project started when my son had a serious illness and it made a huge difference to his recovery and gave him something to focus on. We built it fom the ground up and learnt a lot along the way. Considering the circumstances, the price of admission was cheap.

....don't ask don't tell.....


Ditto !!!!

i have a bigggg shoe box with receipts on my 68 S.S 502/502. $$$ spent = your own satisfaction with the result.

I quit counting when it exceeded 1 rent house's worth of dollars. It is probly around 2 rent houses now. So what, it is less headaches and I don't need to worry about getting any of my money back out of it. I consider it stupid spent money:D

I guess I'm a little different than most on here. I have been using Quicken since long before I bought my car.

With the push of a few bottons I can see down to the penny exactly how much I have spent on my car. I can see it by category. How much to rebuild/restore it, how much in matinenence, how much in insurance, how much in fuel, etc.

I budgeted 30K and broke through that number a long time ago in just the acquisition and rebuilding of the car.

I have just over $70k in my car.. of course I have quite a few "free" parts so that helped...

Well, on one trip we put : 3 suitcases, a medium sized cooler, spare tire, jack, small tool box, and a few spare parts into our Camaro. :thumbsup:

I guess I'm a little different than most on here. I have been using Quicken since long before I bought my car.

I budgeted 30K and broke through that number a long time ago in just the acquisition and rebuilding of the car.

And Quicken made you different and helped you...um...how? :D

You can't put a price on love!

Waaay more than its worth.

$500.00 as you see it here. Took about $50.00 to make it run and drive.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/67%20When%20it%20was%20bought/MVC-001X.jpg

At this point I have about $2500 into her, driven daily for 7 years and over 100,000 miles!! After the first picture.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/67%20When%20it%20was%20bought/Picture082.jpg

Decided to take it apart and paint etc.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/100_2085.jpg

Painted and still not running, new top end, new suspension, A/C and lots of other little things has be at about $8500 to $9000 max after doing some figuring for this post. I think I am very lucky to have it at this point, the money never seems to be there to do much. Putting 3 kids through college takes its toll on the cash for the Camaro, one is out now, one is in her second year and one has just started this year. Little by little she comes around. Kids educations are worth more than the car, some day I will drive her again. Until then let me be a picture whore.........LOL!!!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/DSCN4662.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/blktail.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/100_2899.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/67%20Resto/P1000370.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cruiser_ss350/67%20Resto/P1000346.jpg

I have just over $70k in my car.. of course I have quite a few "free" parts so that helped...

Steve, you cheat.
How is Penny BTW? I haven't been over to latG to peek in a long long time.

$35,751.20 Have a rolling spread-sheet showing every penny that was spent---literally. Word to the wise---never, never, ever, ever, let the wife see it.

Probably 85% of the car was done by myself and the other 15% was done by friends---who I will always be in-debted to.

$35,751.20 Have a rolling spread-sheet showing every penny that was spent---literally. Word to the wise---never, never, ever, ever, let the wife see it.

Probably 85% of the car was done by myself and the other 15% was done by friends---who I will always be in-debted to.

That is one bad 69! I love it and I love that it has A/C :thumbsup:

I have all the receipts, just lacking the balls to add them up lol.

And Quicken made you different and helped you...um...how? :D

LoL. Well if you are referring to going over budget despite using quicken well who is going to let a budget stand in the way?

I do like to know exactly how much money I spend on what. I say I'm a little different because most people I know don't go through the effort.

It is one thing to say you have all the receipts. But what about all those $1-$5 hardware store runs for example. What about the rest of your expenses?

Quicken helps me track all that because I can download all my financial transactions online in about 5 minutes. I almost NEVER pay cash for anything for this reason. Between CC's and checkbook it's all downloaded and entered for me :)

LoL. Well if you are referring to going over budget despite using quicken well who is going to let a budget stand in the way?

I do like to know exactly how much money I spend on what. I say I'm a little different because most people I know don't go through the effort.

It is one thing to say you have all the receipts. But what about all those $1-$5 hardware store runs for example. What about the rest of your expenses?

Yeah, it was a joke :). But yes, I also have kept all receipts with the (being honest) exception of perhaps say, $30-$50 worth of hardware type purchases. For example, I bought a thermostat & gasket last week (about $10)....and for some reason I intentionally just trashed the receipt. But when you're talking 10K or so, being maybe $100 off doesn't bug me. God knows, I'm anal enough as it is :D

EDIT: Damn it, now I had to go add the thermostat and gasket to my spread sheet :).

I have all the receipts for mine but dont want to add them up. I know its over 30 and still climbing. I planned on building a $20,000 12 sec. street racer when I started. I guess it took a little more to go 9's!

North of 20k with no end in sight.My biggest concern..is that i could not sell the car in good faith to anyone that has limited mechanical skills.I turned down a $25k offer from a dad who wanted to buy the 68 bbc 427 for his 16 yr old son.not to say the youngster is irresponcible.,.but the car requires frequent tunes and adjustments and the dad is a pencil pusher by trade.

I bought my Z10 in 1996 for $12,000.00 did a 4 year rotissary restortion on it finished in 2000 and change alot of thinks since and still want to do more . I proberly have around $ 65,000.00 in it and thats doing alot of the work my self.Camaro Junkie can't help my self.Just changed wheels & tires last month for old school look !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g89/z10paceman/Z10037.jpg
Here is beforehttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g89/z10paceman/HarvRickcamaro009.jpg I love my big blockhttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g89/z10paceman/HarvRickcamaro016.jpg

I don't like to think about these things... And if I document it, my wife could discover it... :noway:

Jim

[QUOTE=Z10 Paceman;900224]I bought my Z10 in 1996 for $12,000.00

Boy, a Z10 for $12,000.00 those were the good old days! I never saw them but I would have liked to have!! Look now 11 yrs later and were lucky to find a primered out ratty interior solid driver for that kinda money....... My theory on investing in my Camaro is just do it, then usually it takes a little bit more and more.......well you get the idea! You never get hurt doing it though no matter how far you go..... within reason ofcourse.

Yea i purchased a 1986 camaro for $500 and put 250 more into it and i think that there is many more purchases left.

I bought my Z11 3 years ago for $5500 and have maybe put $1500 in it since. It definitely looks the part!! I drove it over to MN last summer for the Car Craft nats and got 17 mpg there and back without any problems. I LOVE RATTY MUSCLECARS!!! :D:D:D:D

I'm sure more than I want to admit to. Someday when I grow a big set, I'll add up all the receipts, but I may need to be medicated first. I'm pretty certain it'll be shocking as the numbers just rolling around in my head are scary.

I love to see this thread pop up every now and again. It sort allows me to justify my insanity for a few minutes ... Got to go now ... need to go order some misc parts and drop grand on a new radiator!

This is how much I've so far spent on my 69....
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/139/raid1ab8.th.jpg (http://img245.imageshack.us/my.php?image=raid1ab8.jpg)

I Don't know, I'll never actually be finished with it as there is always something else you want to do to them...lol

I am grouped with the folks that don't want to know :) bad thing is my 69 RS is only one of 4 projects needing attention. I had a second fulltime job for 9 months that paid for my blower motor that is in the car that is at the top of the list to get running. Red 69 RS (SS) is next and I have all but a couple parts for assembly. Hopefully I can both running by late spring. :wacko:

When I was building my T/A drag car I started an Excel spreadsheet. One day for giggles I totalled it, it went over 40K and I promptly deleted the spreadsheet so the ex wouldn't see it but I keep the receipts in the gun safe for insurance purposes just in case. I don't want to know anymore, I'm happier that way.

I once posted on these forums, "is there light at the end of the tunnel? I've spent $20k and it doesn't even run yet!" - and I got some good advice from the wisemen on this site:

"Never total it!"