Old rides - HQ Holden Ute
When you do up old cars they usually end up costing you a lot of money. Rebuilding this Ute actually made me money.
The picture on the left is how I brought it, what you can't see is the rusty chassis, old 173 Holden engine (straight six) with 3spd gearbox.
I brought another Ute for a few hundred dollars and swapped the chassis over, and then sold the second Ute for the same price I paid for it.
I then brought a Holden HQ premier, had a 308 Holden V8 engine with the wood grain (fake) dash, electric windows etc. I swapped the motor and gearbox over, swapped the front panel (nose cone - premier has twin headlights) and sold the car for more than I brought it for (with the six cylinder).
I then came across another Holden Ute which was an unfinished project another panel beater had, it had a 350 Chevy V8, 350 Turbo transmission and V8 LSD diff, as well as mags and a few other goodies. I swapped all the parts over again and managed to sell the new Ute for three times what I paid for it.
All I ended up doing was panel and paint on the original Ute and all the parts were from these other cars and Ute.
In the end (photo on the right), I ended up with a good set of alloy mag wheels, good tyres, electric windows, power steering, bucket seats and 350 motor/trans with a bundle of cash in my pocket. I should point out this was over several years.
How many people can say they built a good-looking wagon and it gained them some money in the process :)
I used this Ute as a daily driver, was built as a workhorse and was used as one. Also to tow my stock car (stock car was painted same colour with white flames). I sold it in the end to make way for another project.
The paint if anyone is interested is actually a factory Ford colour. I found this colour in a hot rod magazine and then after trying to match it found it to be a 1978 ford colour - called wild plum. I added a slight pearl to it.