Question: A family connection is liquidating a collection of about 15 cars, one of which is a 1950 Ford sedan. I can get this car for $100, but it has a lot of rust. (It sat outside a barn for 20 years.) My question is what it would cost to restore this car and whether it would be worth it? -Mark H., Roseville
Answer: Restoration is never cheap and if it requires a lot of work - this car will - the restoration costs will equal or exceed the car's market value. The nicer you make it, the less likely you are to turn a profit. The first question, then, is what motivates you to purchase this car. Have you always wanted a shoebox Ford and you've finally found one for a song? Or are you thinking this represents an opportunity to make thousands of dollars selling the restored car?
If you're looking to turn a nice profit, let someone else buy it - restoration work takes a lot of time and money, particularly on a rusty car. The whole thing will have to come apart, there will be cutting, welding, media blasting, replacement panels, etc. Making the body whole, straight and rust-free will cost a lot of money, and a fresh interior and nice paint job will cost a lot more. Your money will likely be tied up for a year or several years - It's not a good path to riches.
If you've always wanted a shoebox Ford, named for its squarish body shape, the question becomes whether this is the best one for you to acquire. The price is cheap, true. But because bringing back rusted body and chassis components requires so much time, it may be a bad deal anyway. There are many classic cars left outside that have become so rotted it is not cost-effective to bring them back. If it's cheaper to buy a donor car for chassis and body components than it is to restore what you have, how much will you pay for the donor vehicle? Maybe the donor vehicle is the car you want in the first place.
We need to know more. How rusty is the $100 Ford? (Where is it?) If it's in a dry state and the rust is only surface rust (started after the factory paint cooked off in the blazing sun), maybe you won't need a lot of cutting and fabrication once it's media-blasted back to bare metal. On the other hand, if it's a midwestern car driven year-round for decades through slush and salt, there's probably substantial rot that will have to be cut out and repaired; you may have to replace panels, too.
Is the $100 car complete - every interior and exterior piece, including everything under the hood? Is the engine stuck? Can it be made to run? And how much space do you have to devote to the project? If this car is complete, you're determined to build a 1950 Ford and there are good pieces here, it may make sense to get it for $100, use whatever you can and combine what's good here with another example solid in areas this car isn't.
You need someone who knows restoration to look at this car and tell you whether it can be reasonably restored or is a parts car at best. If the car is local, find a reputable shop (one that's been around for a number of years and has good work to show you) and ask if someone there could go have a look at it for you. They'll probably charge you for this but it will be a pittance compared to restoration costs and will provide invaluable knowledge. They'd rather build up a good car, quicker, than tie up shop space for many months piecing together a rotted hulk.
If the car is not local, try to hunt down someone in the area who can have a look. This may take a little phone work; start with a local Ford club in the area and find a reputable restorer.
Once you have a rough ballpark figure (baseline for a tear-apart resto is about $20,000 minimum; you'll probably pay more), you can decide whether to get this project or buy a finished car that somebody else already spent way too much on. That may be your best bet.
