Simple story, my Mother had either a 1986 or 1987 Black Monte Carlo SS and I was 16/17 at the time. I missed the affordable 60s and 70s muscle cars so I am considering looking for as rust free survivor car as I can find and have the car restored or possibly even upgraded with a more potent engine and upgraded suspension.

My question that I hope to ask the group here is am I fool soon to be separated from his money? Clearly a 1987 TTop SS is nice but I doubt it will be a 6-figure car like a 1970 Chevelle SS but the costs to do a good restoration may be comparable.

I need to make some calls to get some idea of costs as frankly I am not sure I have the budget for this project but I do have time and an empty garage bay.

Talk me out of this before I get too attached to the idea.

 

It's really up to you and what you're willing to invest into it. That is going to depend on the condition of, and extent of restoration to, the car that you DO get. These cars will never be 6 figure cars so get that thought out of your head (the most valuable is probably be the '86 Aerocoupe but a lot of those are still reasonably priced from what I've seen). You have two options: (1) spend $$$$ to restore a project car or (2) spend $$ for a car already in excellent condition. You won't spend nearly as much buying a car already in good condition but if you want to make it your own, with your own personal tastes (you mentioned an engine and suspension upgrade, so basically a resto-mod), a restoration might be the way to go. If it was a sentimental thing, like the car WAS your mother's, then for sure investing in a restoration would be worth it. Whatever you do, do NOT buy and molest a nice 'original' condition car - that's a pet peeve of mine with these.

 

^^^^^^^^^ What mistress said ^^^^^^ nothing worse than destroying an original car! I even saw Danny Koker destroy an excellent Nova SS on his TV show, I lost a lot of respect for him for that.

If you have enough money to do it, I would go to a Chevy Dealer and put a deposit down on a C8 Corvette, that is if you want a car to become a six figure number !

As far as mid 80's monte SS's go, u can drive through neighborhoods and find one somebody wants to get rid of, and get reasonably, and spend all you want making it your way, but currently 30G is a really high priced one.