47-55.1 $188,000 Pickup

[MiraclePieCo]

Today on Motor Trend channel I watched an episode of "Fantomworks" featuring a 1953 Chevy AD pickup rebuild. Coincidentally in my daily Ebay search I came across the same pickup already for sale. On the show the owner spoke passionately of the sentimental value of the truck, yet here it was on Ebay after less than 200 miles driven! On the Ebay listing the owner posted his Fantomworks invoice, which I will attach below. I can only imagine what could have happened to make someone take a nearly $120,000 loss on a freshly-built vehicle.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-Chevro...5:pf:0&vxp=mtr

[mr48chev]

I think they had that truck in the shop for close to two years. Truck was something most guys on here would have scrapped when they took it in and they could have saved them a lot of money by buying an aftermarket chassis and cab and doors. That would have cut the wasted man hours done a lot.

I like the show but they spend way too much time on some things that they would be a lot better off to just buy new and be done with it and Chassis is one of them. That truck and the 41 Ford Panel both should have had aftermarket chassis from a known builder. I don't know how many hours they had in that kid's VW bug that was on one of the shows tonight but the vin on those is on the floor pan so a body swap isn't an issue. They could have picked up a straight and rust free bug shell for maybe 1000 to 1500 and had several hundred less hours in it body wise..

[Advanced Design]

Apparently his wife wasn’t as passionate about it as he stated he had it built for her.

24k in chassis that doesn’t include brakes, 1.5 hours researching door latches, ...it would be interesting (and painful) to look through the rest of the invoice.

[mr48chev]

Yep, the latches that they got didn't work, looked like they had the wrong strikers on it so they got Altman latches.

They seem to overpay for most of the stuff they get and then double the price on the invoice.
161K for labor is where it gets nuts though.

Someone can have a pretty nice truck for 70K though.

[FAKKY]

Fine Art dealer in Florida.
Go figure.

[joedoh]

a 502 with a manual trans? my EFI V6 auto is more than enough power, anything past half throttle just melts the tires. I bet that one starts off smoother in third from the light

all kidding aside, that really is a nice truck body wise. I wish I could start with anything that nice, or had the money to pay someone to breathe the rust while fixing it. cest la vie

[mongocanfly]

Unreal.....one thing I've noticed on that show is the day counter ....they keep some of those builds for yrs....no one week turn arounds here....

[dsraven]

I would watch some of those reality shows if it wasn't for the wasted time rehashing what you just watched. the show could be 15 minutes long if they took put the rehash stuff. they could add in some more actual work getting done. I know in any shop I worked in over the years you had better be able to justify the time spent doing ANY job. like said, 1.5 hrs researching the door hardware? I wonder what the rest of the invoice looks like.
lets see, complete sheet metal kit from premier street rods, includes
Cab-pic shows doors attached-these are the guys who assemble on site so doors etc fit.
Core Support
Radiator Lower Support
Hood Latch Panel
Inner Fender - RH
Inner Fender - LH
Front Fender - RH
Front Fender - LH
Headlight Bucket - RH
Headlight Bucket - LH
Running Board - RH
Running Board - LH
Rear Fender - Left
Rear Fender - Right
Complete Bed Kit
Rear Fender Splash Apron - LH
Rear Fender Splash Apron - RH
Rear Gravel Shield
Front Splash Apron
Cowl Vent
Hood
cost is $13,000

lets go with an art morrison frame package with a few add on's. lets say $20,000

that leaves a lot of stuff out, I know,but look at the savings in labor. and it's all new, not patched. far cry from the total

like said, do the buyer a favor and just buy the spendy labor parts as a complete ready to go unit. if I was doing my 57 again it would start out with a new cab that has new doors already on. waaaaaay less time fiddling with the rusted out areas and more time to spend on the custom stuff. yeah, I know, big bucks. what time did I lose in the shop by working on my own stuff though. plus the tools and supplies used or worn out, the time NOT spent driving it (still not done, lol.). I could go on. that is why I recommend guys that are doing suspension clips and frame mods for the first time just spend the money on the new part instead of an old worn out clip that needs a full rebuild and then will get welded on at the "I think it's good" level.
anyway, end of rant. guys will try to do the "the cheap way" but in the end it may cost them more.

[weim55]

@ $75.00 an hour that adds up to 53+ 40 hour weeks. Wow! That sure does add up! And $75.00 is a cheap rate for custom work......

Steve weim55 Colorado

[whitedog76]

Looking at the invoice. The 65,000 for parts seems fairly accurate when you start adding things up. New chassis, 502 crate engine, rearend, body panels, tires, wheels, etc... The 160,000 of labor makes me raise an eyebrow. I know multiple people are going to have their hands on the build, mechanics electricians, body, paint, etc... I wonder what his hourly rate is?

Anyhow, I will watch the show, if nothing else is on. Dan, the owner, annoys me. He talks to people like they're dumb and don't know what they want. Furthermore, they over complicate the simplest task. Now, his guys seem very talented. Especially the wood shop guys.

I see the show is going off the air. I can't say it'll be a big loss. I'm sure the re-runs will be on until the end of time.

[mr48chev]

The big problem is that Dan's Forte is restoring 60's / early 70's Mustangs and Corvettes and when they get some of the rigs like AD trucks they are lost.

They wasted hundreds of hours doing little patch jobs on sections where most of the guys here would have replaced a complete section. It's almost like they think that "while we can buy a replacement panel for 60 bucks and spot weld it in just like the original in two hours we can put 40 hours of labor on the bill if we cut the little rust holes out, hand form patch panels and weld them in and then metal finish them until they don't show even though this is the floorboard or support brace..

[Mains52]

I absolutely love having an AD but 188k is outrageous. Very Nice truck but holy cow!!

[dsraven]

not saying the guys don't do some awesome work, just saying the skills could be used where needed but a little "research" could be placed on cost/benefit to better use the customers hard earned cashola. it still takes skill to install a patch panel and have it look right. most need some massage anyway. possibly a better product in the end with a larger patch than spot patches between thin spots. and getting the gaps right etc
I like to watch the shows where they do stuff with tools the ordinary enthusiest may have or can borrow. you know like hammers dollies, flangers, maybe a shrinker/stretcher or a planishing hammer. some may have a bead roller or a small break. maybe not some of the big dollar items. stuff that harbor freight sells. guys would really watch the shows with dudes doing stuff with everyday tools and making it work. showing different types of body hammers and their uses etc. I know I would. I need all the help I can get.

[mr48chev]

I like those shows for the same reason. You learn a bit from each one and do get to see how to do some things you might never see. That shop has the biggest English wheel I have ever seen. You never seem to see it get used though.

[MiraclePieCo]

I liked the truck better before they did all the work - a nice bagged low rider with big wheels, satin paint and perfect stance. I wonder why they didn't just buy a truck like they wanted in the first place instead of buying something the opposite of what they wanted and completely renovating it?

[joedoh]

cost/benefit? did you see the house it was in front of? 188k probably accounted for 1/10th of his income for the year. did buying your car or truck account for 1/10th of your income for the year? even making payments over 5 years accounts for more than 1/4th of most peoples income, some people spend 1/2, and that is PAYMENTS per year, the purchase price of the car or truck is usually 60-80% of their yearly income. this is a different scale of economy you are talking about here.


I had a boss who owned his own business and wanted to hang out with the richie riches of the town. he did really well, still does, better than me for sure. but he was always trying to relate to the richies. he would go buy an expensive car and then talk about it with them, he was always disappointed that they didnt know anything about their brand new mercedes and werent really interested in talking about his, I told him: of course not. they need a car to drive aorund just like you do. they find a color they like, or a friend says "the new xyz 220ilx is out you should go test drive one. and then they forget about it, because its just their car. but YOU buying one is a year worth of saving, researching, and then buying one is a sizable chunk of your income. to them its the same as buying a shovel. its a tool.

188k to an art dealer is like buying a 2k beater. I bet he didnt even bat an eye at the cost, and he can sell it so quickly, even with sentiment attached, because it didnt hurt at all to spend it.

[mongocanfly]

/\/\/\ he hit that one on the head/\/\/\

....most people like that have a "look at me and what I've got "complex

[dsraven]

sorry, I will just put my nose back on the grindstone......haha

[Advanced Design]

He could have had an Icon....https://www.icon4x4.com/inventory/gallery/now/101

[mongocanfly]

WOW....what a deal Doug...and only $240,000...

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

WOW....what a deal Doug...and only $240,000...

Yeah...I was thinking of picking one up. Probably negotiable on price.

Then we wouldn’t have the fun of building one though.

[MARTINSR]

WOW yep, I will have in mine what he has in his ash tray.

Brian

[iowaboynca]

Wait a minute, wait a minute....wait a minute...You get paid to do...research?!?

Who do I need to go talk to for my check?

[whitedog76]

Originally Posted by iowaboynca

Wait a minute, wait a minute....wait a minute...You get paid to do...research?!?

Who do I need to go talk to for my check?

It gets secretly mailed to your wife. That's why you don't know about it.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

I liked the truck better before they did all the work - a nice bagged low rider with big wheels, satin paint and perfect stance. I wonder why they didn't just buy a truck like they wanted in the first place instead of buying something the opposite of what they wanted and completely renovating it?

That truck wasn't a "nice bagged lowrider" before they started on it it was a cobbled together piece of junk that anyone on here would have scrapped the chassis in the first day after they got it home. The cab was rotted out every place one can be rotted out and guys on here have cut up better because they weren't good enough to use.

The Majority of us wouldn't have bought that truck to use for parts let alone drive.