Budgeting a restoration without kidding yourself

Take your best estimate for the whole job and add fifty percent. That is not pessimism, it is experience.

Forgotten line items:

- Consumables: abrasives, welding gas, primer, seam sealer, fasteners. Easily four figures on a full restoration. - Fluids, filters and belts on a fresh engine. - Wiring harness — original looms are rarely reusable. - New rubbers and seals for every window and aperture. - Wheels, tyres, and a spare. - Transport to and from specialists. - Storage, insurance and MOT/registration paperwork.

Stage the spend. Do the shell first and stop if the money runs out — a straight, sound, dry-stored shell holds value; a shell in a hundred pieces does not.