1969 Chevy Chevelle restore or purchase restored?

These people are horrible.

I am currently 20, A full time employee, and a full time college student. I could get away with working much less, but I work as much as possible. Want to know why? Because I am in love with classic cars.

And it all started in high school.

My first car, at 15 1/2, was a 1968 El Camino. I loved it to death, but it had tons of problems. Shitty brakes, poor idle, poor trans performance, etc, etc. But I learned to work on it, and busted *** doing so. Got me in a quite a bit of trouble (hauled ***, though!) Unfortunately, someone broadsided the **** out of it 2 weeks prior to my graduation senior year. I felt shitty, but, not giving up on my resolve, found and purchase another el Camino of the same year. Surprisingly, someone was willing to buy the frame and I used that towards another one. Having taken the and trans out of it, all I needed was a roller... and I ended up stumbling upon a full one, all original body with a running 350 and TH350 trans for only 2k. Now I'm up one engine and one trans, and am currently working on making it a 383 stroker motor. I also recently purchased a classic VW (which I can easily maintain thanks to the know-how I got from the El Camino) and it is CHEAP. Gas and insurance for that thing is pocket change.

People will tell you not to, but, from my perspective, these are the kind of people who are uncomfortable with cars and are unlikely to be willing to put up with driving it and dealing with any problems that come up.

That's the fun part for me. My El Camino made me into the addict I am today - and anyone saying you needs thousands of dollars in tool to do **** is out of their mind. An air compressor helps a ton but isn't necessary to do most jobs unless you're tearing apart motors (which, if you keep in it, will be inevitable anyways... everyone hits that point where they want to improve it :D)

TL:DR -

DO IT. Buy a cheap beat runner and build off that. It might be tough, and it might cost money, but it will open you up to a whole new spectrum of life that I guarantee you none of your fellow classmates will be able to even remotely relate to. Kids like me hot rodding in this day and age is extremely rare - and besides, nothing feels better than effortlessly smoking new cars out of the hole at stoplights. :)

PS - $5k for tools?

Have you heard of Harbor Freight? >_>

I had a 69 in HS back in 2001 when I graduated. I will say DO NOT MAKE IT YOUR FIRST CAR. Mine was always doing engine swaps and all the happy crap that comes along with it. I ended up selling it with a 427 TH400 and a 9'' in the rear a couple years ago. I moved on to other cars now.

Worry about what your going to do when you graduate and wait till your in your mid 20's when you have even more knowledge on what works and what you want.

Face it these classics that old guys are asking huge money for now, when they get older and die or cant drive it anymore, most kids are going to be clueless about how they work and they are going to want the cash not the car.

All in all the best words of advice is if your going to do a project, find out with nice paint and interior and go from there, it will save you money in the long run.

Or find somebodies half done project to add your own touch. Dont buy a basket case for cheap and restore it or its going to cost you twice as much as buying one in the long run.

I think that's cool and 'cute' that you want a '69 chevelle as your 1st car, but keep on dreaming man.

I'm all for classis cars, younger people into older cars, but as a 1st car.. It, your funds, your skill, your time is doomed with this idea.

You could buy a brand new what ever car cheaper than buying a restored '69 chevelle.

If you try to do a resto right now you will fail and it will just be one less chevelle out there to be restored right.

It takes alot of time, skill, tools and space to restore a car. I know shows like over haulin' and all makes it look easy and quick but thats a crew of 15 pros doing it.

When it's a 1 person job with some help from friends, family, etc... It's a 2-5 year project thats gonna run you will over $15,000 in parts.. Much more if you have to pay shops to do stuff.

You will also need atleast $5,000 in tools like basic hand tools, air compressor, air tools, cutting torch or plasma cutter, mig welder, etc.

I really do hope you listen to what I have to say and I hope it don't turn you off of the idea.

I think it would be a GREAT project for you, but not as a 1st car.. Get you some cheap little car thats good on fuel mileage to drive around... Then maybe find you a '69 chevelle project to keep and work on as your project for for the next few years.

My veiw on the buy vs build is it's always best to build it yourself.. You then have a better understanding of the car, you can build it the way you want it, you will treat it better and anyone with money can lay down 20 grand and buy one.. It takes hard work, time, skill, sweat, blood and tears to build one

Plus really, you don't want to drive a car like that, and put it through the hell you would on a 1st car..

A teens 1st car is never, and I mean never treated good... Sure we all say "your wrong, I'll take great care of it" and alot does for the 1st few mo.

Then drinks gets spilled in car, food gets spilled, cig burn holes in seats, headliner, carpet, someone pukes in the floor, you park car close to door of store where other people parks close to you and dings your doors... You cut just alittle too quick backing out of a parking space once and scrape the 1/4 panel... etc, etc

You DO NOT want anything older than i'd say 25 years for your first car. Plus either way you will be spending AT LEAST 25,000 to buy a restored one and a whole bunch more to restore it yourself right.