The future of my VX

[nfpgasmask]

By mid summer my VX will be paid off. In the spring time, I will do all the 100k maintenance, and then some under the hood. Right now, I have 85k on the clock.

My plan after it is paid for, is to replace it with another vehicle (I have decided, but that is a story for later) to use as my daily driver/trail banger. The VX will then be a permanant part of my soon to be modest car collection.

Right now, I have a brand new hood insert (came in yesterday, it's bootiful) and 2 new head lights. My VX's body and paint are....rough to say the least. I have 3 bad dents and loads of tree scratches, water spots, rock chips and other problem areas. This afternoon, I took my VX in to get an estimate on all the body repairs, including filling/pulling dents, scratch repair and any repainting/paint blending. The estimate came in just shy of $2000-ouch!

So, at that price, I kind of got to thinking. Maybe, it would be better for me to start looking for another Ebony that is being sold for $5000 or less. Maybe, if I am lucky, a really high mileage one, or one with a blown engine, but with a nice straight body. Purchase it, swap the body parts needed to bring my VX's body back up to speed, and then sell off the donor VX for whatever I can get. This way, I don't have any bondo issues or anything of that nature.

Is this a stupid idea?

Bart

[kodiak]

Sounds like a plan! You could sell the parts off the donor to recoup the cost.

[Ldub]

If I could afford a "donor" I'd keep the remains for future parts needs.

[nfpgasmask]

If I could afford a "donor" I'd keep the remains for future parts needs.

Yeah, I suppose it will just come down to what I can afford. If I can get a cheap running VX, swap parts and then turn around and sell the running VX, I would do that. If I can find an Ebony with a really straight body, but with a blown engine for $2500, then yeah, I would just keep her for parts, and just sell off what I really don't want/need like extra seats and interior stuff.

I guess I will just have to wait and see how things pan out this summer.

Of course, these plans are all dependant on our rancid economy getting slowly better and not rapidly worse.

Bart

[ZEUS]

Not a stupid idea, but I think it will be hard to find a VX that has a body in better condition, than what you already have, for less than $8k. Also, you run the risk of damaging the fresh body parts when swapping them from one VX to another, aligning all the panels correctly, blah blah.

[Ascinder]

Don't forget, you'll have me to help with the costs too. I think it'd be easier starting with a cannibalized VX for my projects than trying to screw with this one. You could have all the sheetmetal and pretty stuff you need, and I'll take the barebones frame and start modding the hell out of it.

[nfpgasmask]

Not a stupid idea, but I think it will be hard to find a VX that has a body in better condition, than what you already have, for less than $8k. Also, you run the risk of damaging the fresh body parts when swapping them from one VX to another, aligning all the panels correctly, blah blah.

You have a good point there. One of the things that worried me, was that the body shop giving me the estimate was telling me they want to remove parts of the cladding to respray. That made me kind of cringe because I know all that double stick tape under there is no easy chore, and can easily result in making the VX worse off than what it is now. I think if I do go with body work, I will stick to getting my hood fixed and resprayed (my insert will come out anyway) and my tailgate. For starters, I may just have them do a really good exterior detailing, and then evaluate from there.

Don't forget, you'll have me to help with the costs too. I think it'd be easier starting with a cannibalized VX for my projects than trying to screw with this one. You could have all the sheetmetal and pretty stuff you need, and I'll take the barebones frame and start modding the hell out of it.

Hmmm, that may be a good option for both of us. In thinking about a donor VX, I would have no where to store it anyway, so that would get tricky. I don't know if you or your dad has enough room to store it, but yeah, maybe we could double team this project. We'll see what we can find this summer.

Bart

[kodiak]

You can also save a lot of money on bodywork if you do the prep work yourself.

[Ascinder]

That's true Bart, and I have most of the gear to do bodywork anyways(body hammers, dollies, sanders of every type, sprayguns, masks, filters, etc) all you need to do is mask off your garage to shoot the paint.

[nfpgasmask]

You can also save a lot of money on bodywork if you do the prep work yourself.

True. They did say that it would save me a lot of money if I remove the cladding and hood insert myself. I may go this route. But again, isn't the cladding a beotch to remove safely?

That's true Bart, and I have most of the gear to do bodywork anyways(body hammers, dollies, sanders of every type, sprayguns, masks, filters, etc) all you need to do is mask off your garage to shoot the paint.

I need to come check out your place.

Bart

[Ascinder]

My place wouldn't necessarily be "the" place to do it(no room), but I do have all the tools and equipment we would need. You need to check out this article I just got in this months Popular Hot Rodding. They have a whole section on body and paint. Very nice. And for the prices they're quoting, I would take a stab at doing it myself if I were you. This article is talking about being able to do car show quality paint with this new system for around $300 for the whole car. Since most of the price of that quote you got was no doubt in labor, that's a lot of savings.

As far as getting a VX, I was seriously looking into getting a rental storage unit to start working on this project. I know of a place that lets you do work in them. Most of the stuff I'd be doing there would be storing it anyways, but it's nice to be able to work out of too.

[TheGanzman]

Shoot yeah - do it yourself! And while you're at it, you can go ahead and change it to Proton Yellow - you KNOW you want to!

[JoFotoz]

bart...I basically did what yer saying (car for spares) when I purchased the silver Vx from Atlanta with the blown tranny...

...but , the car was really OK..and the tranny was a snap to fix.

So now I'm all FU'd...and need ANOTHER ONE for spares!!!

jo

[Ascinder]

bart...I basically did what yer saying (car for spares) when I purchased the silver Vx from Atlanta with the blown tranny...

...but , the car was really OK..and the tranny was a snap to fix.

So now I'm all FU'd...and need ANOTHER ONE for spares!!!

Man I wish I had your problems:bwgr:

[JoFotoz]

Dude...

Man I wish I had your problems:bwgr:

...no ya dont!

A really nice 73 Bronco I've had for 14 years gets the CHOP if I keep it!

I have an offer for it...still thinking it over.


Otherwise it gets the full treatment for my wife to beat up on!


jo