so obviously we're fans of all things mustang here at cj pony parts so we definitely have a soft
spot for the classics like i've said many times there's nothing like cruising around in a car that
was built decades earlier there's just a style of nostalgia that's part of owning a classic mustang
so you go to car shows you see these cars all over the place you watch them on tv hopefully
you watch some of our videos and you decided hey you know what i want a classic mustang for myself
and when i talk about buying a classic mustang i always say buy the nicest car you can afford it's
a lot easier to buy a nicely finished car than to buy a project and build it but no you've decided
that you know what you want the entire experience and you're going to restore a mustang now you've
watched it on tv you've seen guys do it in a couple days how hard can it really be well there's
a lot more to it than you actually think there's going to be so right now we're going to discuss
five things you really should consider before you decide if you want to restore a classic mustang
so the first thing to talk about is your skill set and recognizing what you can and can't do and that
seems easy but it really isn't i've seen so many restorations over the years that people just bite
off more than they can chew and the card never gets done now remember when you're watching a
youtube video you're watching a tv show we have this magical thing called editing that makes
everything look way way easier than it actually is going to be now while youtubers are guilty of
this tv shows make it a thousand percent worse now trust me they did not repair all that rust
hang two quarter panels a door and a fender in 30 minutes it's just not possible but again the
videos will make it seem easier than it actually is so again remember restoring a mustang is a
monumental task it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of money to do so and also going to take
a lot of skill to do so and the less skill you have the more the second part is really going to
come into the equation the next thing you want to consider is money because it's going to take
a lot of it to restore a classic mustang and the more work you do yourself you'll save money
but the more work you farm out it's going to cost you money and in the end restoring a mustang can
cost as much as a brand new shelby so it's going to be a lot of money to it you also once you
figure out a budget you want to try to stick to it even though it's not going to be easy because
classic cars are 40 50 years old almost 60 years old in some cases they're gonna hide secrets so
when you come up with that budget in your head and you've looked at all the parts you want
first thing you want to do pretty much double it assume that's a good starting point for what the
restoration is going to cost so again there's a lot of money involved there's also a lot of time
so obviously the most natural thing to come after money is going to be time because after all
time is money but keep in mind it takes a lot of time to do a restoration i mean you
watch these tv shows that restore a car in a week or restore it in five or ten episodes
that's not realistic you know most professionals if you drop your car off at a shop they're gonna
have your mustang year year and a half even two years even more depends how in-depth the
restoration is gonna get so there's a lot of time involved in the process you want to make sure that
you have that time available you know if you think i've got six months to work on my car and then i'm
changing jobs moving being deployed whatever a lot of restoration's probably not for you
and also if you're really excited you can't wait to drive your mustang again then it's when
you want to look at a car that might be already finished and tweak it yourself i mean i've seen
cars end up in paint jail for two and three years sometimes so again if you're trying to do a ground
up restoration and you're going to farm some of that work out you definitely want to plan for
it to be a multi-year process all right so number four we're going to say you understand your skills
you've got some time you've got some money put aside do you have a place to do it you have the
right garage the right space and the right tools to do the job you got to keep in mind like we
said this can be a multi-year process so do you have a place to put this car while you work on it
that it can sit there for a couple years you know is it okay to put you know the wife the husband's
car outside while your restoration project comes inside for two three who knows how many years you
also want to make sure it's a clean dry space with room to work you know we've seen plenty of really
really beautiful restorations come out of one bay garage but that's extremely challenging you want
to assume a two-car garage is going to be about the minimum you want one bay to keep the car in
and another bay to assemble work disassemble store parts whatever so again before you dive
into a restoration project you want to make sure you have a good place to do it you also make sure
you have the right tools now if you have your you know my craftsman hundred piece mechanics tool set
not really what you need to do a restoration we've done plenty of videos here on garage essentials
and toolbox essentials you know make sure you've got a well-rounded toolbox with the right tools
obviously there's plenty of specialty tools and stuff like that and you can rent things like that
but again you want to have a decent solid collection of tools before you even get started
so the last thing on my list and probably the most important is before you invest your time
your money find the space find everything make sure it's actually what you really want you know
a lot of people see a classic car think wow that's beautiful and don't understand what a classic car
is you know drive them you've got to have a friend who has one there's places you can even rent them
these days but get behind the wheel of a classic so you get a feel for how a classic operator
remember this is 50 year old technology in a lot of places you know manual brakes drum brakes
bias ply tires you know there's all kinds of things to original restoration
that you know what the car is not as fun to drive as your modern car it's not going to
handle as well brake as well now again if you're talking about a restoration into a resto mod
at that point yeah you can make it perform like a classic but you're better at another
zero or two to that actual budget that you have for the car so again keep in mind drive
a classic mustang get behind the wheel talk to friends you know make sure it's something
you really want to do before you invest all those resources into building one yourself
you