MGN54

Hi all,
Ok, I think that I have made the decision to purchase a C3. Have seen several stories that have inspired me. Especially the recent one of the purchase of the car with the bad heater core! That is what I'm looking for and about the amount of money I want to spend. I am realistic about the amount of money that may be required in this project and that it will probably never be complete but that is ok. I want a car that I can work on. A car that I can raise the hood on and be able to recognize what I see. (Like a could when I was much younger. Ha!)

Anyway, here are a couple of questions I have:

If you were to find a project that needed quiet a bit of work to make it roadworthy, what does one do about registering the car and insurance during the time of the work/rebuild? I live in Texas if that is any help.

Space is limited here at the house so I would probably need to rent a garage space to put the car and work on it there. Any thoughts/suggestions here?

This car will not be my primary mode of transportation so I'm not worried about a time frame. This is going to be therapy and fun for me. ie. a way to escape some of the stresses of my job.

Sorry for the rather long post but I figure that you folks are the experts so give me some feedback.

Mark

mrbeaubo

You could pay a 10% tax for registering the title LATE if you want if you don't want to pay the insurance right away. The Transfer Title Form that you will get has a page of general instructions that lists the Late Transfer Fees. I had to pay a small one because I worked on it for 3 months before I went and registered it. If you pay a lot for the car, you probably won't want to do this because the fee would be higher than antique insurance would cost you ;/ . I would of gone the Antique Auto Insurance route right away had I been 25, but I'm 15, so you know ;) 16 Tomorrow by the way ;) Good luck and I am in Texas too.

Rolling Thunder

"This is going to be therapy and fun for me. ie. a way to escape some of the stresses of my job."

It sounds good, but after a while your job will be a theraputic escape from the project. :D

Don't know about the rental garage space, but I was going to recommend Hagerty Insurance. They'll cover it during the rebuild and they are cheap. They do require (I think) that the car be garaged at home.

Good luck with it,
Dave

C3Vettesrock

happy bd beau, i just turned 17 thursday, 17 with a zz4 vette and looks like ur headed right in my footsteps :) keep up the good work

mrbeaubo

Only difference is you seem to have a BIT more money than I do ;) But considering all the money I'm pumping into it now, once it is rebuilt, all that money will be for goodies at first, then saving for a big block! ;)

Vetterodder

Buy something that doesn't require any major work and that you can enjoy driving now instead of later. The cost diffference between a good driver and a "no driver" is usually much less than the cost of making the no-drive into a driver. With few exceptions, it will cost less to own a car that was already fixed by it's previous owner. Things like heater cores are routine replacement items for any car and such expenses should be expected on any used car. When you're talking about 20-30+ year old cars, you'll have plenty to work on in either case :).