How to Build a Muscle Car

Muscle cars were mainly in production between 1960s-70s with amazing scales of speed, power and performance. These are invaluable to modern enthusiasts, and completely restored muscle cars are very expensive. Most of the enthusiasts begin the process of saving money years before the actual job.

• Develop the plan and budget.


• Create a long term plan which will help you in building the muscle.


• Start with the extreme basic outline, expenses and aspects.


• Make note of all the parts that you already have. Be prepared for the fact that there might be need for repeated changes that are controlled by a lot of external and personal factors.


• Find photos of vehicles that are the same year, make, model and body style as the muscle car you have been thinking of as the model. This will help in the visualization process, and it is not necessary to focus on the minute details at this point.


• Decide the amount of build you might need to delegate to the professional and specialty shops. Do not neglect body, paint, glass installation and other jobs that are difficult to be handled by yourself. Obtain the shop estimates which include the cost of the parts, labor and also the work.


• Determine the amount of restoration that you can do on your own. Cost for parts and shipping will be needed to be added to your budget.


• Keep a 10 to 15 percent margin for error while making both commercial and personal estimates.


• Purchase the muscle car that can be made into your dream car once you are through making the budget. It is okay to buy only the body since you have to replace almost everything else. While most people want the car to have all the authentic and proper parts, you might have to make do with others, specially the parts that are not visible to outside can be replaced by cheaper versions to maintain the budget.


• Check the VIN (vehicle identification number)  to make sure that the car being bought is the car being sold in reality. This would protect you from becoming a victim to fraud.


• Have the body stripped and painted.


• Have the necessary body works performed and the body stripped to remove old paint and fillers. This will be the proper preparation for new paint job.


• Once the paint is gone, keep the body indoors to prevent from rusting.


• Choose a painter with good references, and while they might be a little expensive the standards will be rather high.


• Purchase the engine and the transmission while the car is being worked upon. Understand the specimens you require and be prepared to spend the major portion of total expenses.


• Order brakes, suspension, wheels and tires. Make note of the make and type of tires to buy correct rotors while buying brakes.


• Assemble as much of the parts as you can before the car arrives. Mount the body to the car once it returns from the shop. Bolt remaining parts and choose a theme for car that complements the part. You can opt for painter chrome exterior pieces that are subtle. Install the interiors with concealed wiring and interior hoses to have an overall tidy and classy effect.