What does it cost?
My son got me back into cars after a 30 year absence. He was into Fieros. We bought one out of a field. Did multiple engine swaps and about everything else except paint & interior, which it needed. Parts were cheap, so we really didn’t spend that much. He drove it for a short while & sold it. Great father & son project and learning experience for him.
He was always dogging me to buy an old car but I didn’t want as big of a project as we did on the Fieros (actually he had two of them).
I had a 68 cuda fastback back in the day. He found me one that had light rear end damage from a collision and some electrical issues. It was a69(in my avatar). Only it was in California. I talked to the owner on the phone & decided to go look at it. Made a day trip to LA. He only wanted $8k. I bought it for $7k and had it shipped home.
It had been restored 10-15 years earlier and still looked pretty good. Lot of rust repair, some of it not done great, but functional. I spent about another $5k on it, and massive amounts of time over abou 6-8 months and have been driving it for about 6 months. It is far from perfect, but looks great - about a 10 footer. I think I just got lucky. I figure on dollars I am close to even, time not even 10 cents an hour, but I loved it.
I am planning on doing it again, but would like to limit the scope. Buy something that is most of the way done, or just needs repair.