Today's cost to build a stocker ?

[Greg Hill]

The cost depends on the combination and and how nice you want the car, plus how fast you want it to run. When we finished Andrew's car we had about 35k in it rolling. 7500 for paint and body work, 7500 at the chassis shop, 4500 for the car which was a rolling shell. Start adding up all the parts, wheels, tires, brakes, gauges , shifter , wiring , plumbing, fuel pump and regulator, new glass and it goes on. I put the car together and used a motor and trans that I already had. On second thought it was probably more than 35k.

[treekiller]

Just out of curiosity how far down the ladder are these cars gonna go? Will there be a dragpak or a cobra jet running u/sa soon? Is there a cutoff?

[Signman]

When deciding to build my own stocker did some looking around and picked up a good southwestern 3rd gen Camaro. It was a daily driver in need of some work off Ebay. Really good straight body in need of paint, no rust! The reason reason for choosing to build rather that purchase was mostly financial but supported by the ideas I had for the car would have me gutting it and doing a lot over any way.

Gutted the car, did all the dirty work on my own, assembled the car over a five year period on and off. What had to be done by others doubt could be done much cheaper. It pays to help friends, they help you.

Tried to buy the right parts once, the best I could afford. Have not had to purchase the same part twice to upgrade. Bought what would help the car go fast.
The first engine was a somewhat economical attempt without in depth knowledge of stocker engines but all good quality parts and machine work. Was a .60 under piece no matter how much it was flogged. Finally hooked up with the right people "and "opened my wallet".

All told have at least $50K & 400-500 hours into the car.
Building the car, getting it to the track, winning rounds and a few races has been very satisfying. The work is hard, the payoffs are few but "The Moments are Unforgettable", friendships and camaraderie are priceless!

[Dirk Olson]

A fast 1.00 plus A-B auto/stick older car 55.

Dirk

[B Aceves]

Your biggest factor is if the car is built in Calif . add a huge budget just for paint alone ! its crazy what the EPA has done to the cost of Body and paint in California if you want a quality nice paint job….. you can't touch a good paint job in CA for under 10k

[Joe Toller]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

Yeah, but nobody really believes you or else there would be a lot more of that type of participation. How many $40K-plus race cars out there can claim a comparable win record?? You are a true stocker hero, Jim. All the people lamenting over the high-dollar cost of competing are creating their own misery.

The lower classes and the racers in them are my inspiration. We all would love to go fast, but why not get involved, at any level, in the meantime. Granted I have a ways to go, but my current build is at roughly 1500 for everything, using alot of used and ebay parts along the way. It will make passes this spring, maybe even under the index. I probably am toast heads up, but until then, I get to race while working towards a better car, which isnt getting out there the whole point anyway?

[HandOverFist]

Originally Posted by iraceitall

The lower classes and the racers in them are my inspiration. We all would love to go fast, but why not get involved, at any level, in the meantime. Granted I have a ways to go, but my current build is at roughly 1500 for everything, using alot of used and ebay parts along the way. It will make passes this spring, maybe even under the index. I probably am toast heads up, but until then, I get to race while working towards a better car, which isnt getting out there the whole point anyway?

Much the same here. I'm confident with the winter upgrades our car will at least be 5 under...more would be gravy. The only place left for us to go is into the motor.

[B Parker]

We all race the cars we do for different reasons. I had a lower class car years ago. We ran R/SA. You might build and keep it running for less than some other combos because you don't have to worry about heads up in the eliminator. I being competitive as I am wanted to have the fastest one in the country. So I spent the money and worked hard and ended up with one of the faster ones. Then when it was time to sell it not many people wanted an R/SA wagon. Even though I spent the same money on the drive train that others did in higher class cars. Sold the car for about 1/2 what it would have been worth if it was a 69 Camaro. So the moral of this story for me was if I'm going to spend the money on the drive train I better put it something that has value body wise. Barry

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by B Parker

We all race the cars we do for different reasons. I had a lower class car years ago. We ran R/SA. You might build and keep it running for less than some other combos because you don't have to worry about heads up in the eliminator. Then when it was time to sell it not many people wanted an R/SA wagon. Even though I spent the same money on the drive train that others did in higher class cars. Sold the car for about 1/2 what it would have been worth if it was a 69 Camaro. Barry

Ahh, but Barry, it got you involved. And instead of talking about what it costs to build a red,69 BB Camaro we should all be trying to figure out how to get young people involved and talking about 125k COPOs and 60k antiques ain't gonna do it.
I can't say for sure but you probably started in R/SA because that's where your pocketbook and knowledge would let you get a start.
We, as the elder statesmen (wow) in this sport need to try and convince young people that they don't NEED to start with a second under CC/SA car to get involved in Stock and SS or there soon isn't going to be a Stock and SS.

[Mike Gray]

Originally Posted by B Parker

We all race the cars we do for different reasons. I had a lower class car years ago. We ran R/SA. You might build and keep it running for less than some other combos because you don't have to worry about heads up in the eliminator. I being competitive as I am wanted to have the fastest one in the country. So I spent the money and worked hard and ended up with one of the faster ones. Then when it was time to sell it not many people wanted an R/SA wagon. Even though I spent the same money on the drive train that others did in higher class cars. Sold the car for about 1/2 what it would have been worth if it was a 69 Camaro. So the moral of this story for me was if I'm going to spend the money on the drive train I better put it something that has value body wise. Barry

X2 - Resale value can bring the (final) cost down when you sell the car. I keep telling my wife that as I try to find enough money to finish a '67 Shelby.