How much money do you have in your truck?

[eggman918]

My truck was given to me by the original owner in 1990,it had spent it's whole life as a ranch truck so it was WORE OUT I rebuilt the running gear while babying the 360
then I rebuilt the 360 adding 390 crank and rods a couple of years later the kids outgrew the single cab so I put a crewcab from a '69 F600 that I found at PickurPart on it.
Then 3 years ago the 390 gave up on me and after much research and number crunching and some advice from AverageF250 I decided to do the Cummins 4BT swap along
with ALL the drive train to make it a happy match to the truck,so at this point I have around $16,000/$18,000 in the truck....not too bad for 23 years on the road and as it sits
the running gear is brand new and I'm getting a solid 18mpg.I could not have bought a newer truck that was comparable for that so I think I'm ahead of the game
not to mention the personal satisfaction of doing all the work myself...it is very rewarding to return to the truck from shopping to find someone checking it out in the parking lot and asking
about the build and telling them that I did the work myself, the reaction I normally get is worth all the money,time and aggravation that went into it.

[tbone6]

Price really doesn't matter that much though. I look at it as if I decided to buy a brand new truck with minimum options and you will be over $50000 plus so you have the ability to drop lots of money in one of these old beauties and still be a long ways ahead especially when most have 5k - 15k in theirs

I have to agree with cipher on this one. By the time I am finished (do we ever finished?) I will have ~ $14K invested in a "free to me" bone stock, no frills 72. However, the enjoyment I have had working on it and driving it are priceless.

t6

[Mancar1]

Around $5,000. If I continue on I will put a bunch more in it. I have no worries about that as it is just a hobby. If the offer was right I would probably sell and get a different one. Since my wife passed I have come to see stuff I have as just that. It is just stuff, and not all that important to the overall picture of life.

[motzingg]

$800 truck
$20 carb
$15 cap and rotor
$60 diesel fuel to go pick it up
$25 junkyard trim pieces

not too bad so far. needs a windshield thats gonna cost me 130 with the gasket, but that's about it. Fuel filter.

Its worth about a grand just sitting in my driveway and looking cool as hell right now!

[Dave Maxwell]

I have around 15,000 in my engine. 588 BBF. All new including block. Worth it to me.

[68 Ford Stepside]

I have around 15,000 in my engine. 588 BBF. All new including block. Worth it to me.

LOL! I would love to take that 588 down the quarter just one time.

[Dave Maxwell]

That's a possibility. You can run the AC on way to track

[deltaguitar]

So, in someways this confirms my view that driving an old car might be cost effective in the long term.

Several people have responded with various amounts they have spent anywhere from $1500 to $25,000 over 23 years.

If we look at monthly cost of $91 ( 25,000 / 23 years / 12 months) we are way ahead of the game of even the cheapest cars out there. Even my Toyota Corolla is probably costing me $150 bucks a month and I bought it used.

Man driving the old truck is so much fun. I went and purchased an engine lift and stand last night and it was so nice to pull up and load it up in the truck and everybody was talking about it. No paint, no interior, and total cost of $1200 gets me instant street cred. Something that is hard to come by when I am normally dressed in a button up shirt and slacks (being an accountant takes away any coolness I might have had and driving the corolla doesn't help)

Now, it isn't a daily driver but the thing is reliable. I drive it on a two hour drive the other day and other than leaking all the oil out it ran great!

[Dave Maxwell]

Figure I will have over 20,000 when done. Doing all work myself besides the engine. Pump gas 900 horse with AC. All custom metal Fab under hood. Having a rendering done by Brian Stupski from problem child Kustoms

[zgtw03]

It is funny, I have been a 60's chev. Guy my whole life, cars and trucks. I sold my 64 SS about three years ago and bought a HD. Last Summer I returned from a two week ride and just down the road is a 68 f100 that I had to have. It was in bad shape and even more so the more got in to it. My wife thinks I have a girfriend in the barn. Im guessing I have 4000+. I have learned alot. Did everything myself. I plan to drive the tar out of it as soon as I finsh up the c6. have fun and be safe 

[Tpdaniels]

I know that the dollars we all spend on these trucks mean something different to every one of us. Me personally, I stopped counting at $20,000, for me it's all about the pleasure I get from owning a piece of history and seeing all the smiles and thumbs up I get every time I drive it. I can't stop without someone coming up to me and wanting to look at my truck and ask so many questions about it. I rebuilt the truck from bumper to bumper, but I will admit that I am not satisfied with the power the 360 has. I am currently building a 68 T-Bird 390 for a swap out, I had it bored .30 over, Forged Pistons, Comp Extreme Energy Cam, Lifter, Valve Kit, Eledbrock Performer 390 Intake, Holly 4160 Carb. and headers, I don't want a race truck just one that jump's when I punch it.
Drive Em, Enjoy Em.......

[tsherry]

I've learned over 30 years to not pay a whole helluva lot of attention to the cost of a project. That said, any POS that I bring home may eventually consume 5K to make right, and that's just as a driver.

My '67 F250 cost me nothing, it was given to me by a friend. It'd been sitting for ten years, so I trailered it home, put a battery in it, gas, turned out it needed a clutch, so for $300, it was running. Put a couple hundred more into it in bits and pieces, drove it that way for a number of years; stripped and repainted it, put tires on it, rebuilt the carb, my total investment is now about $1500. I still need to upholster the seat, but other than that and normal maintenance, it's pretty much good enough for what I need it for.

My '71 F500 cost $2200 back in 2004. I replaced the front tires with better used tires ($150) replaced the starter battery and lift battery ($300), brake MC ($90), hoses, filters, fluids, wiper blades, some of the running lights ($150); some of the wiring and solenoids for the bucket ($50) and that's about it. I need to re-deck the wood deck, which will be a PITA and will be expensive, and I won't be removing the lift/bucket for that. Probably install new wood and then deck it with diamond plate. There are other things that could be done, but this is an occasional work truck that I don't license or insure--its used on our property or properties nearby.

You can spend a pile on cars and trucks. The question is, are you building a monument that you're afraid to use, or building something that you'll enjoy for many years, or is this just a fun hobby that you like to do?

There are no wrong answers.

There's a '67 F100 around here that's currently on CL for something like $6K. Originally listed for $7500 or $9K or something. It's not done; isnt as well done as my Rustoleum paint job F250, but from 40 feet, looks sharp. The owner "lost interest". It's a solid $2500 truck, but not worth anywhere near what they're asking for it.

If you're trying to justify your expenses as an investment, quit. It's not an investment, it's an expense.

[averagef250]

If you're trying to justify your expenses as an investment, quit. It's not an investment, it's an expense.

I wish more people looked at it that way. I couldn't agree more. When I'm old and crippled I hope to find just the right naive kid to pass on my old ford to for the $400 I paid for it or whatever he can afford. I felt like I drug home a big POS the day I hauled it home, but the day I drove it the first time a few weeks later I felt I won the lottery.

I'm kind of warped about what I do to the truck. I don't really care about originality as long as anything I do to it is well thought out and a bit subtle. The truck's had a hard life, but it's still in really shape as far as rust and most of the body goes. There were 100 holes drilled in the cab roof and a few in the back of the cab for who knows what when pacific power owned it. The owner before me filled many of the holes in by holding 3/8" bolts up to the holes and brazing them in. I thought for awhile about how best to fix that and then realized that's part of what makes the truck great to me. It makes me laugh to look at those bolts in there and know that the PO was a good guy who did what he had to to make the truck look good for his small business. The truck has a '67 door on the passenger side. There's an oil pressure gauge that's bolted directly to the dash, the two studs on the backside to attach it to the bracket for panel mounting are stuck through holes in the dash with nuts holding it there. I felt for the longest time that was one of the more half-assed things I'd seen, but after driving it that way for a very long time I actually grew to like it there. I bought a small aircraft pressure gauge that glows in the dark to go there in the same spot since my only complaint about that gauge was I couldn't read it at night.

[Craigerf100]

oh man well i traded my f100 straight up, so thats:
$0
free edelbrock intake
free steering wheel
free passenger fender
free single 40 series
$150 edelbrock carb
$20 water pump
$20 fuel pump
$30 valve covers
$80 headers
$60 distributor
$250 disc twin I-beam, proportioning valve, and drag link
$30 calipers/hoses
$20 i beams bushing kit
$50 frame mount kit
$200 for front clip (inner/1 outer fender(s) and core support)
$150 wheels and tires
$100 for paint so far.
that comes to $1160
not bad

[69timemachine]

Including the purchase of the truck and everything I've done to it, about $10,000. And I'm about to drop another $2,000 on power train upgrades right now. Would I ever get that money back if I sold it? Probably not, but some things you just can't put a price on. They're priceless!