Plan Your Next Project!

We're planning our next muscle car project. And today you're along for the ride, learn how to outline a budget, then hit the salvage yard to weed out the gems from the junk. Plus hot rodders unite to give a boost to a worthy cause.

Hey, welcome to muscle car. We're about to get into what can be the most fun part and the most critical when restoring a car buying one. Now, a lot of factors go into choosing a project like budget parts availability, your skill level and how much equipment you have and what you're gonna be using it for when it's done. Well, today we're gonna let you cruise as long as we track down muscle cars. Next project, we'll even give you some tips on how to choose yours. The first step is to decide your budget, not for just the price of the car, but for the entire build. We wanna keep our next project affordable because times are tough. No high dollar bills this time, we wanna keep the entire build under 10 grand.

Now next, you're gonna have to decide on what portion of your budget you wanna spend on your initial purchase. Do you wanna spend a lot more on your car that maybe needs a lot less work or do you wanna spend less on the car that needs a lot more time and attention? Now, this brings into play a lot of other things. Like how much time do you really honestly have to put into this project along with what are your skills and how much equipment do you have have at your disposal? Now, for us, we're gonna go with this scenario, we're gonna try to find a low buck car so that we can build it up our way.

You've got to be realistic. Don't buy a rust bucket and expect to turn it into a show car without having very much experience or tools. Don't have a paint booth. Well, you better be figuring on paying someone else to paint it or finding a car with paint on it that you can live with.

We decided on a budget of 10 grand and since we're going with a low initial investment scenario, we got two grand set aside to find our car. Now it's time for us to start narrowing down the potential candidates. Well, man, straight up right off the bat, the Chevelle, the old 442

and the Javelin man price is gonna eat us up on that one. Yeah, you're right.

Must have,

you know, horsepower is doing that one, that road race car. Yeah, when we just painted that was pretty much out. I like the bgss.

Those are getting to be pricey if we find one that's either gonna be a piece of junk or out of our price range, you know, the old dart here. We just got done finishing up to Mos.

Yeah, exactly. The challenge and the co

of both. What do you think of the Camaro

we could probably find

on it may be a little rusty but hey, we might leave it open.

No, I like the Nova. But most of those that we find in our price range are gonna be six cylinders and cost a lot of money to switch it over to a V8.

Well, you know,

those 73 to 77 Buick Olds and Pontiacs, those would be some neat rides. They got some crazy style lines and you don't see a whole lot of them. Yeah, I like those too because the parts interchangeability on them,

they make all kinds of stuff for those things. I like the Torino. Those are cool. Well,

let's go with that one.

That one,

the Laguna,

we leave it open.

Camaro.

Cool. See what we find

works for me.

We know what we want. So, how do we find it? Well, there's this little thing called the internet. There's all kind of sites out there, whether it's a national auction or local listings. If you're not all that great with the computer, maybe you got a buddy of yours. That's a keyboard. Commando and he can help you out because we could spend all day on this subject and never even scratch the surface. It's also good old fashioned print classified in your local paper or even national publication.

The word of mouth is a good way to track stuff down too and don't forget to keep your eyes peeled when you're driving work because you never know what you're gonna find sitting out in the field.

Salvage arts can hold some treasure along with the trash shopping local. Our favorite way to go because there's nothing that beats in a car in person. I got a friend of mine down the road that's got some diamonds in the rough rick. You up for a field trip. Jibber

Jabber. Let's go. Jeez. You're a pilot

before you head out. Make sure you're well prepared. I've got some basic hand tools, some wash spray and bug spray because it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. A magnet works great for tracking down plastic filler and be sure to grab jumper cables or a jumper box in case you're gonna go look at a car.

It still has the drive train in it and don't forget a notepad and a camera. That way you can record the VIN number and list out any potential parts you might need to make sure you're gonna stay in your budget. One more very important thing. The cooler you gotta stay hydrated. Well, that looks like everything you ready to head out. Heck, yeah,

up next trash or treasure. We've got tips for picking your next junkyard.

Jalape.

Take

a look at this.

Welcome back. We're here in Fayetteville, Tennessee and a good friend of mine, Phil Stow

Balls. He's got a pretty big selection of old cars laying around something probably in our price range. Hey, Rick, you wanna go check some stuff out? Yeah, I see a lot of tin laying around here.

Pretty good stash, man. Yeah, it is. It's got a little bit of everything. Uh It's got some late model stuff there, early stuff.

Yeah, I see some Torino right there. Yeah.

Check those dudes out.

Yeah, he's got a few of these Torino but I guess you could say they're missing a few pieces.

Yeah.

So here is definitely buildable but not quite the year we're looking for. It's lacking that cool factor. Yeah, definitely a little bland. Hey, man. Check out this old Camaro. It's crazy what these things are even

in this kind of shape. Hey, you ain't joking even a big old pile of rust like this. As long as it has a title, it's got value,

right?

This thing's got a lot of those still hard to find pieces, you know, like all the hardware for the windows. Yeah, this is a factory ac car too. Still got the vents in it.

And if we're fixing to build a Mustang. This wouldn't be a bad one right here.

It's a factor 2 89 4 speed. Not bad of shape. Not really. I know looks can be deceiving but it doesn't look like it's really all that bad from the looks of this tire back here is running when they parked

it. Somebody had fun with it.

Hey, Tommy, check this out. This is seventies Decor at its finest. Looks like some of that styling that you usually do. What were they thinking?

Yeah, there's one of them old rear engine oldsmobiles

thing's pretty rare. Yeah, you don't see too many of those anymore. It's one of the late model Chevelles.

Is it 73 or so? Yeah, that's probably pretty close. It's the same body size as the lagoon and we could swap out the nose.

Yeah, it's missing a few pieces and kind of rough too. It is pretty banged up in the back end pans are kind of rough, too banged up, missing parts and rusty.

Never mind.

Here's an old 88 4 door, kind of an oddball car to build. I tell you what if you had a two door that you were looking to restore and you're missing some parts. This would be a really good deal to grab a hold of and help part out to build your car. You got windshield trim, glass side trim and take a look at this. The grill is,

it'd be worth buying this whole car just for that, here's a little tip for you. You start pulling open a few of these whole doors that haven't been opened in a while.

Make sure to look in each of the corners because there's this little critter called a Wasp. That'll get your attention in a hurry. So bringing along a little cheap can of wash spray wouldn't be a bad idea.

Now, you may be walking through here and see a car like this and think to yourself, this has got to be an original judge. Look at the stripes, look at the color. But if you check the VIN numbers, what you end up with is a very early clone of a judge. This is actually a coffee. You have to decode the vents. Some of them are obvious. Some of them aren't look at this one. For instance, this is an actual judge. These things fully restored can fetch up to 100 K.

Well, it might take a little work but hey,

might be able to make a little money.

Oh, he said this is kind of the line of cars that are more or less drivers, you know, they actually run, they got brakes on them,

check out the Obu.

Hey, that ain't bad right there.

It's kind of got some crazy lines to it. I bet it'd be awesome

with the right paint scheme and all. It's not bad. What year is it? I'd say 73. This has the same suspension as the, uh, Chevelle and everything. Right.

It's a full frame car too. Well, it says it's got a 350 in it.

Well, that's a Chevrolet. 350. Not really the buick. Oh, man,

you put a Chevy and a buick.

I bet a 455 would swap out in that same hole. Yeah, it should be able to

1073 the mounts and everything should be right there to swap it over 455 would be nice in this.

Oh,

do you see this roof? Man?

It's not like something threw up on it. Greatest shape is it?

Maybe that'll make it cheaper. I don't know what bill would have to have for it, but I guess we can kind of see how good a friend me and him really are and we'll see if he'll throw in a roof too.

So, Bill, can you tell me a little bit about the old buick? It's a buick century, uh, got it two or three weeks ago. Drove it in here, runs and drives good. Pretty good. Dependable old car.

What would you have to have for this old? About $1700?

I think 17 is a little on the high side there, don't you think?

I don't think so. But, but, you know, everything is always on the high side. What would, what would you give for this car today? They give you 1515 cash money, 15 cash money on a barrelhead

and you're gonna load it up and get out of here as long as it'll drag itself onto the trailer. Drive itself on the trailer. All

right, then you gotta

appreciate it.

Good.

Let's go get the keys and the title this. Well, I guess that does it. We just bought us a buick. We'll get this thing loaded up and check you in a few

after the break. Chips. Bring in big bucks for charity.

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One of the best kept secrets in car shows takes place just outside Atlanta. Every fall at the year one headquarters

is the Chip Foose Brazleton bash. And this time around the car show turned into a car wash

across the parking lot.

The rain came down in buckets, but that didn't keep the people away.

You know, everyone's just saying the die hard car enthusiasts are here today.

I think we ought to just do this in our business since

a lot of them were there to meet Chip and he wasn't shy about lending a hand to drop the rides.

It's a driver.

It

won't hurt your car and it won't mess with your hair.

It sure didn't hurt this one

for him to actually,

you know, compliment us and the good job that we did in the car and having to look at it a second time and give us his opinion on it. You know, it's,

it's great.

Hugo helped build this trick 69 Camaro for arcade collection, a

custom shop out of North Carolina.

It sports an all aluminum 5, 82 dark block hand fab engine bay, a one off hood and 772 horsepower.

Everything from muscle cars to hot rods braved the storms, including the Rolls Royce of

hemi.

But it's more than a great car show. It's all for a good cause. Year one in the hot rodders, children's charity are raising money for the Progeria

Research Foundation.

Thank

you

so

much

for

coming.

Progeria

is a rare genetic disorder that causes advanced aging and Children who often don't make it past their 13th birthday.

We're very proud

and excited about what we've been able to accomplish over the past

10 years. We've been able to

find the gene that causes

progeria and we've actually been able to

start and complete the first uh clinical drug trial. The year one events have been

critical to that raising over a quarter of a million dollars to date.

Chip's just really, really passionate about it. So he got Kevin King in year one involved in this.

And also, and I learned so much about cars and car enthusiasts. I love the crowd.

Part of that crowd got together the night before the bash to raise more money with a poker tournament at Milt Robson's Dream Garage. This is one of the most famous garages in the United States and it's phenomenal.

We agree. But you be the judge. He's got three of the rarest one from each year of production. I don't think I could pick out

one favorite in all of them.

The hunt is probably much fun out

in the car. Really.

There were plenty of celebrities on hand

but the real start was Sam Byrne

J.

Doesn't change the fact that like any teenage boy, he loves cool cars.

I'd love to get behind the wheel of this car someday when I can drive. But you know, any nice unique car is good for me

while the chips were on the table.

Chip was drawing on a table, creating a one of a kind item to be auctioned off for the charity Darryl Gwyn showed up to give away a new wheelchair to a lucky young lady.

It just seems very natural and fitting to give it away here tonight and we're giving away something that's got wheels. Kenny Wayne Shepherd cranked out a few tunes

and the next day he cranked up the year one,

Chael for a little burnout exhibition.

Everybody loves some good tire smoke. This is a really great charity to be a part of.

It's one of those diseases that kind of isn't as recognized. So I just got really motivated man to try and do something to make a difference about it. We keep raising the bar and next year I think it's gonna be even bigger and better.

Hopefully the weather will be better all in all. It was a rock and good time. It raised over 100 and $10,000 for

Progeria research. We're always trying to stay one step ahead to help these kids

because we're racing against time here. It's crazy how people turn out in this industry. Hot rod, people just get it. They give back constantly. You can't do anything about the weather

and um, so you just don't let that phase, you just come out and have a great time, share the joy of the automobile

and uh support a great cause.

Yeah,

you're watching Muscle Car for a DVD copy of this episode. Just go to Power Block tv.com and order your copy for just 595 plus shipping and handling. Start your own muscle car collection delivered right to your door from the power block.

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The whole bill was right our buick does run and drive, but it's not the greatest. You can't expect a whole lot for 1500 bucks. Our plan is to drop in a 455 big block. So it doesn't really matter now that we've got this thing back in the shop. We're gonna show you guys some issues that we saw that you should look out for the next time. You're shopping for your next project,

looking under the hood. You wanna check out the area around the battery rust here can mean a rotten radiator sport and that may be more than you want to get into.

Ours is in pretty good shape. The only problem we have is a few pinholes. So it's not that big of a deal also, you wanna check out the AC system, ours, the parts aren't really in the right spot, but they're all there. So we've got something to work with and when you're checking for body damage

areas are really obvious like this roof, but some other areas are a little bit harder to spot and that's where a magnet comes in. Just be sure you don't scratch up the paint. A basic rule of thumb. If it sticks, you got metal, if it doesn't stick, you've probably got plastic. That's not necessarily a bad thing as long as the repair was done correctly. But according to the magnet test on this, we need to investigate this one a little bit deeper.

That's a good idea. Anyway, to check inside the trunk because you never know what the old owner may have left behind.

One question.

Where's the bathroom down the hall to the left

with all the junk out of the trunk? You can get a better look at the back side of that repair. Now, this side here is really not that bad. A little bit of patch panel on the outside and we'll be good to go.

The right side is another story. We've got a whole section of the wheelhouse there that's rusted out. But on the bright side, the trunk floor is rock solid. The trunk pans in great shape. But what about the floor pans? Well, pull back the carpet and look for rust, bad patches or holes. Well, we've got a few holes to deal with, but we're well equipped to handle that. Also, while you're down here, check out the wiring under the dash. If it's all cut up, you may wanna steer clear

if you don't have the budget or the skills to repaint a car, then just look for a project that has a finish on it that you can live with, but be careful if fresh repaints because those can hide a lot of problems. But if you don't mind tackling the prep and paint, then look for a project that either has original paint or has an older paint job on it.

Now, Buick has a lot of problems. Rust bubbles runs orange peels, sand scratches just to name a few. Now, most of this was caused by painting over the old cracking lacquer without any prep. But according to the paint depth gauge, it's not that thick, so it won't be a big deal to strip.

Another thing to look at is the interior carpet and seats aren't the only thing to consider. There's the dash pad door panels and small plastic pieces. If you're restoring an odd or rare car, these things can really get you. But there was a crazy number of these things made. So finding parts shouldn't be all that hard.

Now, take a look at the glass too because just like interior parts, this stuff can get expensive in a big hurry, especially if you're dealing with a rare or hard to find car. Uh, windshields are relatively inexpensive, so no big deal. Your main concern is gonna be the side glass and the rear. Uh We're not building 1000 point show car here. So what we've got will work just fine now that we know what we're in for with our whole buick, it's time to go to the drawing board and get us a game plan, but we're all out of time. So until next time we're out of here.