Restoring a car without documentation

Autox, lots of good advice there. This car to me is like a puppy that follows you home, I just didn't want to see it go to the pound. The fact that's it's a 383 car is pretty cool. A-bodies are my favorite rides and 383's are my favorite engines. As far as selling it and making money (or breaking even), well that's for the folks at Barret-Jackson and those shows on TV. I'd just like to bring it back the way it was.

When I was looking at it and talking to the owner I told him that finished the car could be worth $30K. He was happy that I wasn't trying to BS him and get it for nothing, but then I told him it would probably cost $40K to get it there. I bought the car for a lot less than he was asking and what I thought the parts were worth in case I found more wrong with it than the obvious and had to part it out.

As far as getting any documentation, like it was said above, I can't get much beyond what I already know from the VIN. If I'm really lucky there will be a build sheet under the headliner, but I'm not counting on that. If not I'll play automotive archeologist and see what I can figure out. The poor thing has been through a lot of hands so it will be challenging to say the least.