[DeTomaso] GT5-S Conversion

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/3/13 9 39 6, coreyjprice at gmail.com writes:


> If I were to consider the conversion of my narrow body car to the 
> wide-body GT5-S, would the expense raise the value of the car by a similar 
> amount? 
> 
>>>Absolutely not.   As a broad guess, you would get back no more than 50% 
of the costs of the conversion if you should decide to sell at a later date. 
  You also have to be careful about making questionable paint decisions if 
you have resale in mind.   Consider the yellow with black stripes Gr4 clone 
that recently sold after languishing on the market for a year.   It started 
life as a WONDERFUL, completely original stock Pre-L with an unfortunately 
bland non-original yellow repaint.   Through two owners, it morphed into a 
widebody Gr4 car with flares and wings, 180-degree exhaust, custom everything, 
with something like $80K invested in it over time--and it sold for $45K.   
With decent paint it might have brought $55K?   But still, nowhere near the 
cost of the work that went into it.


> > I have a few rough estimates from some vendors.
> 
> I've been talking to Dennis Q. about it, and he agrees that my car would 
> be a great candidate and not as expensive to do as compared to others. 
> 
>>>If you are starting off with a rough car that needs paint and bodywork 
anyway, you can eliminate the cost delta between the cost to redo it as a 
stock car, versus redoing it as a widebody car, to come up with a realistic 
cost for the conversion.


> > My car is a '71, in primer, has original campy wheels and no tires, 
> rebuilt suspension, most parts, etc.  Wheels can be purchased for whatever I 
> do, so no extra cost there.  I have a few significant front end bodywork 
> issues, but not rust-related.  Most of the issues are from previous repair 
> attempts.  The car is rust-free as far as I can tell.  The conversion would 
> remedy the current issues that I will have to fix anyway.  However, the rear 
> quarters are in perfect shape so it would involve cutting some good sheet 
> metal.  A friend of mine who converted his car to a flared car said he 
> thought about it for 5 seconds and and then got out the saw.  Another friend is 
> converting his '72 to a GTS said he chose his car given that he couldn't 
> stomach cutting up a car with a good body.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
>>>At the end of the day, you have to do whatever will make you happy.   If 
you plan to keep it for yourself, then the only limitation is your budget.  
 If resale is a factor, then it is financial suicide to make the leap to 
GT5-S, assuming you're going to do it properly and go the full distance, 
including leather interior etc. etc.

In fact, today you can probably buy a GT5-S for not much more than the cost 
to build one to factory standard (assuming you are not doing the work 
yourself).   The difference is, a GT5-S will always be (slowly) appreciating, 
while a conversion car will see its value plummet the moment it drives out of 
the garage for the first time, and it will likely take many, many years 
before it has appreciated again to the point where it's worth what it cost to 
create.

Mike