7 Custom Built Hot Rods Under $25,000 - Affordable Dreams

Back in our November 2006 issue, we asked you to tell us about your affordable dream cars. The criteria was that it had to be cool and it had to be put together for under 25 grand, including the car and paint.

We said pretty much anything goes: pro-touring, street/strip, cruiser, late-model, restomod-it didn't matter to us. When the dust settled, we sorted through the stack, pulled out the ones with below-par photos, and eliminated the ones with less-than-realistic claims. The seven you see here are the ones who made the cut. They're listed in no particular order, except the first car. We liked Chris Williams' car (and his unique story) so much, we'll be doing a full-blown feature on his '75 Trans Am in the next issue.

Since stories like this inevitably bring the Internet to a boil with wild tales of 10-second street cars built from bailing wire, chewing gum and pocket change, we're gonna give you one more chance to tell us about the cousin of your buddy who knew a guy who did wheelies on the street with a '68 Nova he built for $300. (And if you have any photos of Sasquatch, we'll print those too.) Just send us a one-page cover letter with your car's story, another page with a detailed rundown of the speed parts, and a CD with enough photos to prove it exists. Copies of time slips and dyno sheets help too. We promise to print all the legit ones we get. Send them to: Primedia, Attn: Johnny Hunkins-Affordable Dreams; 774 S. Placentia Ave.; Placentia, CA 92870.

When we first saw Chris Williams' '75 Trans Am, it hit a nerve. This guy was going fast and looking good while doing it. Even better was the fact that he was doing it on the cheap-well under our $25K limit. Williams' TA was purchased for $1,500, and as a California car, it was rust-free. A quickie Maaco paint job and some interior parts to replace the sun-beaten items got things looking good without breaking the bank. Then in 2002, Chris won Hot Rod's "Win Your Dream Engine" sweepstakes. He spec'd the motor out, Hot Rod built it, and Chris won it. Since we don't expect you to be able to duplicate that feat, we're adding into Williams' total tally the $9,500 cost of the 461ci Pontiac mill. (In fact, Williams has only $11,925 into the car-we know you're not gonna let that slide.) Instead of building a pretty show car, Williams pounds on it every weekend at the track, posting a best ET of 11.52/117-driving it to the track and running on pump gas. Look for the full story in the May 2007 issue.

The limit for our affordable dreams story is $25,000, but we honestly didn't think we'd get a $6,300 car like Robert Fox's '67 Comet Caliente. Virtually every part on it was bartered, traded or bought used off of eBay. Take, for instance, the Ford 9-inch rear, which Fox bought off a guy parting out a Bronco. Not wanting the gears that were in it, Fox bought the rear for $75, then sold the gears for $75, making it free just for the labor. Fox bought the car for $1,800 in 1982, while in high school. He horse-traded his way into enough speed parts until he could run it at the track in 1983. Then after a bad incident with a traded C6 trans that locked up on the 1 - 2 gear change while at full throttle, Fox parked it. For 23 years. "And there in my garage it sat as I went through a jet boat, two KZ-1100s, a marriage, mountain bikes, and jobs, until this past spring," says Fox. "Just a year ago I would have laughed at the notion that the car would be back together and running street legal."

Who would've guessed that some inexpensive tractor paint would give Matt Melhorn's '71 Chevelle such a bitchin' look? We immediately locked onto it and knew right away it was too cool to leave out. The 25-year-old Melhorn bought someone else's stillborn racecar project for $300, sight unseen. Cheap, yes, but it needed everything, including the kitchen sink. Not to be deterred, Melhorn, who lives spitting distance from the swap meet mecca of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was able to find almost everything he needed on those hallowed grounds, including fenders, grille, bumpers, cowl hood, and Corvette rally wheels. A junkyard 454 was scored for $1,500 from his father's co-worker, and an old four-speed Saginaw trans ($300) from a buddy with a trans shop. And that cool paint? Matt did it himself in the family's two-car garage for the princely sum of $200 (paint and supplies). If the total cost of the car seems a bit high, it's because so much was missing from the car initially. All we need now are some decent time slips from the drag strip, and we'd consider featuring this too cool street machine.

Finding any drivable '69 Camaro under $20 large is hard enough, but finding one this nice for significantly less-especially a convertible-warrants some close scrutiny. When we got Thomas and Diana Griego's letter, we were skeptical to say the least. But as we dug into the meat of the letter, it began to make sense. Here's the gist: The story starts in 1998, when the newlywed Griegos initially found their soon-to-be '69 in the possession of a reluctant lady seller. Unable to negotiate the sweet price, Thomas handed over negotiation to wife, Diana, who cracked the deal wide open for $7,500. Even nine years ago, it was a steal, especially with near-perfect paint and top. The running gear, however, was shot, and the couple scored a used '85 Tuned-Port IROC plant on eBay. A 700R4 overdrive from Bow Tie Overdrives was mated to the rebuilt 305, and the restoration was on. When the cash register stopped ringing, the couple was out just $16,281-less than the cost of a new Honda Civic. The Griegos did all the work themselves, save the engine and transmission rebuild. Considering the awesome visual result and the incredibly low build price, we felt a line-item breakdown was in order.

If Mark Bonta's '69 Firebird convertible looks like a car costing a lot more than $25,000, you'd be right, sorta. Mark gets into the affordable dreams club by virtue of having bought the car so long ago-1984 in his case. Purloined for the pittance of $3,500, the total build-out cost would be more like $35K in today's dollars. We're going to let it slide anyway, solely on the merit of Bonta's perseverance. You gotta admire a guy who's had the same hot rod-and the same vision for it-for the last 23 years. You see, Bonta wanted to build a Pro Touring car long before there was such a thing as Pro Touring. There are some big-ticket items on Bonta's 'bird, such as the $2,989 receipt for paint and body; the interior work for $1,500; $2,362 for an Art Carr trans/converter combo; and the Intro wheels for $2,150. But the high-dollar stuff is nicely offset by things like homemade traction bars, a used MSD ignition and distributor, a free rearend scored from a friend's donor car, a used carb for $100, and a budget 355 long-block from PAW.

Rescuing abandoned projects is a recurring theme here, and Wayne Creel of Early, Texas, was no exception. Wayne's rare one-of-556 Matador Red AMX had been sitting on jackstands for 15 years when he found it. Fortunately, it had been stored in a garage all that time, or else he'd have a lot more in it than $25,000 by now. The car was plucked from an ignominious fate for a plenty steep price of $15K, but Creel says the car was in great shape. That is, until he started checking out the motor, trans and brakes. The bulk of additional funds have been lavished on a top-shelf 390, bored out .030-over. Ross aluminum 11:1 pistons, polished stock rods, a forged steel crank, Crower cam, Harland Sharp rockers, Holley 750 carb and an Edelbrock Torker intake crank out an unknown quantity of twist, but that's OK with Creel; he's all about driving it, not racing it. We also have to give Creel kudos on his photography-and for picking the right color car to build.

Read Barry Banks' cover letter and you quickly realize he's a man possessed by a single ambition: to build the ideal hot rod, and part with as little coin as possible. When he needed a 4-speed, he traded with a friend. When he needed an engine, he got it for next to nothing, and then built it himself. When he needed a paint job and got the run-around from local body shops, he painted it himself with a 30-year-old HVLP gun. ("Many ask, 'Who did the paint?' I tell 'em he's retired.") The result is a high-dollar look for a bottom-dollar price-and lots of calluses. Starting with a '74 Challenger he purchased in 1986 for a mere $1,400, Banks drove the 318/Torqueflite car basically untouched until the summer of 2003. When the bug hit, Banks wanted the Challenger to do everything. "I was shooting for the hot-rodder's hat trick: show car, g-machine, and street/strip brawler," says Banks. That's exactly what he got, and he did it for $16,250. Two road course outings and a handful of dragstrip passes-all while driving it everywhere-have been lessons to Banks. "After the road course, it was obvious the brakes needed upgrading and after the drag strip it was clear the rear suspension needed work and a set of sticky DOTs." Yet Banks' tech sheet looks like an exercise in frugality, with skinny-kid parts like cast pistons, ported factory 906 iron heads, a non-overdrive four-speed trans, and rear drum brakes. With a little more snot at the rear wheels and a better ET, we might even do a photo shoot down the road. Great job, Barry!