8 Important Tips To Help You Restore Your First Classic Car

Restoring a classic car is a great project to take on, especially if you don’t have the money to buy one that is in good working order. It’s a long journey and you will become obsessed with your new baby, spending all of your time with it, until you’re finally ready to start the engine and hit the open road. But before you get to that point, there will be a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.

So many people buy a classic car with the intention of restoring it, but the empty shell sits in pieces in the garage for years to come because they haven’t got a clue what they are doing and they have bitten off more than they can chew. It just ends up being a source of constant arguments with your partner, who wants you to either get rid of it or at least do something with it so you can actually drive it.

The good news is, restoring a classic car doesn’t need to be as hard as you think and, even if you are a complete beginner, you can still manage it. Just make sure that you follow these tips before you get started.

Picking The Right Car

First things first, you need to pick a car to restore. You probably already have one in mind but before you rush out and buy it, you need to do a bit of research. Not all cars were created equal and some of them are a lot easier to restore than others. If this is your first restoration project, you need to make sure that you pick a car that is easier to restore, and one that you can easily get parts for. The most common reason that people fail when trying to restore a classic car is that they jump in at the deep end and buy the wrong type of car.

The good news is, there are plenty of classic cars that are ideal for beginners. Mustangs are great, especially 1964-1968 models. The parts are readily available and they’re currently produced by dozens of different companies, so you can easily get hold of anything that you need. Dodge Chargers are another popular classic car for beginners because they are relatively simple, the parts are easy to get, and they’re one of the most popular classic cars there is, so they won’t lose value.

It’s important that you do your research and choose a car that is relatively easy to restore. Otherwise, you will be stuck with an empty shell that you can’t get parts for and you won’t get anywhere with the restoration.

Moving It

This is something that people forget about when they are restoring their first classic car. It’s not like buying a normal car where you can just drive it home. You will need to work out how you are going to move it, and you need to sort this before you agree to the purchase. Find a car transport company and get some quotes from them before you do anything else. You need to make sure that you can find somebody to move the car, and that you can afford it. You don’t want to end up buying a car halfway across the country and then realizing that you can’t get it back to your garage.

Join Some Clubs

Restoring a classic car is a steep learning curve and you will need a lot of advice. The good news is, that advice is readily available if you join a classic car club. There will be plenty of seasoned veterans that have restored plenty of cars, and probably have experience working on the same model that you are. They are a very enthusiastic and welcoming community, and they will be happy to give you advice. By learning from other people’s experience, you can avoid a lot of the simple mistakes that beginners normally make and get your restoration underway a lot faster.

The other great thing about joining a classic car club is that the members will have easy access to parts, and they can help you get some good deals. If there are parts that you cannot easily find, the chances are that somebody in the club will be able to help you out.

You will also meet a lot of great people that share your passion for cars, so make sure that you join a classic car club straight away.

Pay For Courses

You will need to pick up a lot of new skills when restoring a classic car, even if you know your way around an engine. It’s not just simple fixes that you will be making, you will also need skills in welding, bodywork, electrics, painting, and upholstery. Joining a classic car club is a great way to meet people that can teach you these skills, but you should also look for some professional help as well. You should be able to find some great evening courses that will help you to hone your skills, so you can make sure that the quality of your work is always top notch. Knowing how to do a job right the first time will save you a lot of money and hassle because you don’t have to do everything twice.

Invest In Good Quality Tools

If you don’t already have a well stocked toolbox, you soon will. As you start learning how to restore your car, you will need to buy lots of different tools and you will start building a collection. A lot of first timers make the mistake of trying to save money by going for cheap tools, especially if they think that they are only going to need something once or twice. But restoring a classic car isn’t something that you just do once, it’s something that you become obsessed with and you’re going to start a new project as soon as you have finished the first one, so you will need all of those tools again. Low quality tools are not going to last, and they will slow you down because they are prone to breaking. In the long run, you will spend a lot more money because you will keep having to replace them all of the time. You’re much better off spending more money on some decent tools that will last you a lifetime. As long as you learn how to look after them properly, you will only have to buy once. You will need all of your basic hand tools, as well as some essential power tools, like an angle grinder, a welder, and a power drill. If you don’t know where to start, ask people at your local classic car club and they will be able to give you some advice about which brands are best.

Budget Your Money

Restorations cost money, and if you aren’t careful, you will end up bankrupting yourself if you try to buy everything at once. It’s important that you budget your money carefully and only buy things as and when you need them. You should also wait for deals and offers to come along and take advantage of them to make some big savings. If you break the restoration down into small parts, and tackle each section one at a time, it’s a lot easier to keep your budget under control and avoid any arguments about how much money you are pouring into your classic car.

Sometimes, it is important to know your limitations and call in professional help for jobs that you are not qualified to do on your own. But if you are going to do this, you need to spend some time researching different mechanics and getting some quotes so you can get the best price.

Manage Your Expectations

The biggest thing that people struggle with when restoring a classic car for the first time is the length of time it takes. You won’t be able to work on the car for a few weekends and then hit the road. There is so much work that needs to be done before the car is roadworthy, and things will not always go to plan. You are likely to make some mistakes along the way and there will be delays with parts arriving. Life gets in the way sometimes as well, and you don’t always have as much time as you would like to spend on the restoration. It’s important that you manage your expectations and don’t let this get you down. Progress may be slow but you have to celebrate the small victories and remember that this is a labor of love, and it will take a long time. But the end result is absolutely going to be worth it, so keep pushing on.

Take Plenty Of Photos Along The Way

There are two important reasons for this; firstly, restoring your first classic car is a big deal and you want plenty of photos to remember the journey. However, there is also a practical reason. When you start taking things apart, it’s easy to lose track of how things go back together, and once you get to the wiring behind the dashboard, things are going to get really complicated. Having plenty of photos will help you to keep track of everything so you don’t spend hours working out which wire goes where.

As long as you follow these tips, your first classic car restoration will be a huge success and you will be hooked for life.