[406Special]

Dorien, I understand, however your statement was presented as a
generalisation, hence my rebuttal.

For the benefit of other readers, I paid £2k for my complete car less
motor and gearbox - the seller made all his profit just selling the
motor and gearbox. If it wasn't a Bristol I may have got away with
even less, but the major expense will be in body and cosmetic
restoration as that is where the majority of man-hours are spent.
(circa £25k including leather, panels, paint, chrome, rubbers,
suspension and brakes etc.). Add in the motor and its bits and
pieces plus improvements (I keep some of these secret) at around
£8-10k plus a contingency of say £4-5k, then my full budget is about
£40-45k. I guess it might yield £25k if I wanted to sell once
finished - it will be better than a new one with oodles more grunt,
more economical ownership proposition and no one else will have one
like it. But who knows. I certainly don't care as I know if I take
the job to Bristol and ask them to restore it will set me back at
least double that sum, so I am being wise with my money. Even if I
had the requisite skills, I'd still save money paying someone better
than me to do it whilst I made more money doing my day job. It will
retain the simplicity of the original car with the ease of
maintenance and parts of the Volvo drive train, plus some modern
improvements to make it more enjoyable and useable as a regular
driver. I also forgot to say that it now has a later 410 V8 back
axle (running a 3.06:1 LSD) and larger Girling brakes to compliment
the 4-pot after-market front callipers. This was installed so that it
would have around 30mph per 1000rpm in 5th gear whilst haveing the
strength to handle 300+ lbsft of torque and the advantage of the LSD
for handling and cornering. Bristol quoted me a new axle (like a
Blenheim - same as the used one I have) at £5k plus braking and wheel
hubs - say £7k. I bought the used axle for £450 - collected myself
with help from Sam Frost and then had it fully rebuilt by Dana Spicer
in Birmingham for £750 - new crown and pinion, new wheel bearings and
from what we can tell even new axles - and they painted it and
delivered it back to us - that saved me an awful lot of money. It
happens that Spencer Lane Jones (advised me of the service) uses the
service as does Bristol themselves. You just have to find an axle!
My point is that as long as you do the math and research first it can
be done properly by experts but at reasonable costs - at least enough
not to feel guilty or remorse when it's finished.

The price for a superb re-spray in UK will be between £8-12k from the
quotes I have received. My 928 S4 was quoted late 2007 at £7k glass
out and taken back not quite to bare metal. Leather interior is
£6-8k depending on hides and finish/detail. New wood is about £1k
and carpets, sound proofing and other bits and bobs can add another
£1-2k, plus metal work and panels, which will depend on amount of
corrosion and repair work required. My 406 luckily only needs
£2-3k's worth of panel work as it turned out to be in good shape
after paint was stripped. Much to my relief. Hidden costs start to
happen if you do not go about modifications with good planning and
analysis. Stuff like glass is an issue as it may mean special runs
must be done to get the rare front screen made or others too. I want
to have at least one new one and a spare front screen with my
original used one. Anyone have a 406 front screen in superb
condition (or new) contact me.

Clyde.