what would you do? sell the project and buy completed or finish project?

[STANG32]

so i have been wantiung a 68 shelby convertible since the 1980's. in 2000 i set out to build one of my own and startted collecting parts, bought a 68 mustang donor and got into it ony to find that the accident damage was more than i expected so i sold that one and bought 67 that needed minor rust repair ( so i thught) only to find out it had about 1/2" of bondo on both 1/4s. so pulled the 1/4's, installed new inner rockers, torque boxes and a set of 68 1/4s. then the car sat for years due to life getting in the way,, career change and starting my own business. over the years i have ammassed just about everything i need to make the shelby, i purchased all the fiberglass from tony branda and Maier racing ( before GISS) i have the deluxe the saddle interior with upholstery already installed on my seats, shelby roll bar and deluxe interior parts. ( have 12 grand in receipts for the shalby parts alone) i havea rebuilt tilt away steering column, i have a posi rear, i have an AODE transmission and a J code 302 engine. all weatherstripping parts, powder coated convertible top frame and new canvas, all the shelby trim and emblems as wel las the sequential lights. i planned on doing this right.
my job is full throttle from april till early december and the ony tim i have to work on things is in the winter , well in CT it is freaking cold in the winter so there is litttle getting done. the shop is so cold by the time i get it warmed up , 1/2 the day is gone so i made the decision to farm out the rest of the precision work. finally in 2021 i finished up the welding with a new 1 piece floorpan and rapture lining. then the car sat for the past 3 years and each year. in an attempt to find someone to do final fitment and paint. i have interviewed so many shops and i come to realize that the price of getting the panels fit, aligned and painted has become out of control . i get prices from 15 to 45 grand and this is not concourse quality work i am asking for. i want a nice driver i can take to shows. and i am not asking for anyone to do final assembly, i want the car back once it is painted and i will assemble the suspension, brakes, engine and interior myself.
if i go with the 20 grand offer to do the work , i will get the car back and assebly it, i will still need to freshen up the engine, buy some additional parts some suspension upgrades and steering, new windshield and some trim will need reconditioning .

in the course of searching the internet i have come across at least 3 68 shelby convertible clones under 60 grand. they are all real nice looking cars and i could easily get in and drive any of them today. but none of them are exactly what i had in vision, one is blue with black interior (boring) one is white with gold stripes and saddle interior but it is a stick shift and big block and the last is white with blue stripes, black interior and big block/stick shift.
my plan was for a deep forest green with white lemans stripes , saddle interior and small block/ AOD automatic trans..
im 57 years old, i do not need to be racing around in a big block car, shifting gears like when i was a teenager. i want to be comfortable.
so here is my delema, do i sell what i have in hopes of getting a fare return on what i have in inventory and buy one of these cars or do i tough it out, send my car out to get the work done and move along slowly, possibly dragging this out another couple years.?

what do you think i can get for a solid 67 convertible body, no rust, in epoxy primer, new doors, fenders and 1/4's. never any cowl work(surprisingly) and all the associated parts?

my issue is, i am not looking to hang it all up, i am on a 5-7 year plan to retire and move somewhere warmer but one thing is for sure, the parts are not coming with me so they need to be gone or assembled.
will i feel bad that i could not complete this project, yeah but i am realistic in thinking that the price of doing restoration work has just past for me.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Just me but if you build it you know what you have. You have found that buying one and thinking it only has slight damage or rust turned into a lot more. Who knows if these other cars have hidden issues.

 

[LILCBRA]

Just seeing your dilemma. I'm a few years younger with 3 projects sitting waiting for multiple things to happen before truly getting to work on them. What I've come to realize is that these are essentially retirement projects. With work demanding more of my time than I'd like, then not having a shop (yet) and working out of a carport, that all kind of de-motivates me to do anything. Right now, as I type this, I have a trunk lid for my Camry sitting in my basement with Aircraft stripper working it's magic. I'd like to swap the transmission in my convertible, but I don't really feel like crawling around on the concrete when it's 45-50 degrees. I have new gauges waiting to be installed in my Cobra, but again, I just don't feel like doing that in the relative cold and out in the wind. The shop would help that part of the equation in my case.... anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that letting it sit may not be costing you much except time. Buying one that's already done could satisfy your desires, but as you already know and @AeroCoupe pointed out, you don't know exactly what you'll have if you go that route vs building exactly what you want. So, being in somewhat the same boat since I was like 16, I say to hold on to it and do what you can when you can. When you retire, plan on either moving with it all - and look for a suitable property wherever you want to move - or sell it all and regret not having what you really want. I chose to keep everything and moved multiple times with everything in tow - my only regrets are that I didn't get the property I've always wanted, so I've been working on changing that aspect to suit my desires.... that's just my 2 cents, if it's worth that to you.

 

[nickyb]

Finish what you started and it'll be worth more to you in bragging rights then all three of those for sale.
Nothing good comes easy as you know. Get a little done at a time,make sure the shop doing the work is doing it to your standards.
Post some pics now and as it progresses, so we can drool.

 

[rusty428cj]

Never buy a classic Mustang with nice shiny paint unless you can see how the rust was repaired in photos or you will be sorry in a few years.