my 1967 continental convertible, should I restore it?

[pixelfighter]

Howdy all,

I've a 1967 Continental Convertible that I've owned for the past 17 years... I love this car and for a while couldn't keep up on it's maintenance. I currently have it running again and am in the process of putting new tires on it after it was sitting for about 4 years. It runs very strong, lots of power, tons of fun to drive. Top doesn't work as the deck motor went out a few years ago. Some windows work. I had the front end rebuilt in 08-09 after an accident.

Resto wise I'm think it would cost me between 5-10k PER AREA of the car. I've a quote on around 7-8k to rebuild the engine (not that I'm in a hurry to do that as I said it runs good atm). And I figure for the rest of the car, interior, top, paint, electrical, body work (it has some rust) I'd be spending around 30-40k... I do see fully restored 67s going for upwards of 80-90k, and they look to be holding their value. Makes me think that keeping this and restoring it is a good idea. What do you guys think?

Check out some pics here:
http://jchalfant.com/media/lincoln.html

[Steve K]

It looks like a pretty nice car, I have seen much much worse cars put right. Yes, it will cost some, but I don't see it being anywhere near your estimate. It sounds like your engine and drive train are ok as is. No need to do anything there other than clean things up which you can do yourself. The worst is the body work and paint. I would estimate about 10K for a good paint job and repair of the rust shown in the pics. Of course prepping for paint could reveal more rust. I am assuming thhe underside is sound. You may have some routine work to do on brakes and front end, but not anywhere near 10K, My inclination would be do take it on, doing the critical things first and the cosmetic things last. Eat this elephant one bite at a time and I think you'll be glad you did.

[pixelfighter]

Yea that's kind of where I'm at. I keep toying with the idea of selling it, as I have real limited time for it. To that notion I have no idea what to ask for it if I were to put it on the market...

The interior is shot, cracked dash and the leather on most of the seats is really starting to split, the rug is disintegrating. The top is shot too, the mechanics are sound (sans the deck motor) but the fabric and weather stripping is in much need of replacement. I know both those things can easily eat up costs... So yea this is an elephant of a meal.

Thanks for your advice! This does make sense and I will probably end up slowly doing this.