So Guys how many Hours from start to finish?

[NYCarStars]

just like the title says how many hours goes into one of these beautiful machines from start to finish would any builders like to elaborate how many men how many hours ? to pull this through. it would suck to start a project and know once your like half way there hey im running on fumes. and you know the rest. so i think this is a real good question .Thanks

[ArtGirl]

Its going to depend on how much work you do and how much you farm out to others. Others with significant experience who did most, if not all, of the work will chime in, but I bet they'll start at 1000 hrs and go up from there.

[LCD Gauges]

I bought my kit used and partly assembled so my estimate will differ from others. Let's just say I spent two afternoons just sorting parts and organizing everything in order to identify items well called up in the manual. With just under four hours of dedicated work I've managed to mount the e-brake and cables, solder three wires, and mount the brake switch with the bracket.

If you worked on this car 8 hours per day, every day...I'll guess two months (and that's not including body work/paint).

[AJ Roadster NJ]

How detailed do you want to be? Will a fastener that does the job work for you, or do you want everything to have the fit and finish of a production car? I've taken forever, and I think my car is going to look fantastic. And to be honest I've seen some that are actually embarassing they're so bad. But if that's what the owner wanted, then...

The beauty of these cars is that YOU get to decide what you'll do with it. For some, a perfectly valid approach is to get 'er on the road right now. Others want to take a more detailed approach. There are no limits. You'll set your own limits.

[spytech]

Getting the car to go-kart stage and ready for body work wasn't all that crazy. Probably less than 500. I had body work done by a professional and they had several hundred hours in that portion. Getting the interior in, perfecting all the final touches, etc, was another 500 at least. Time I spent online researching schematics, parts, scouring the other forum for info, troubleshooting things...easily double the 1000+ hours of hands on time I had invested.

[afourcault]

i cant nesasaraly comment on the "build" protion of the spectrum currently but i know with as much research and planing as i have in this car already.. ive got over 6 months..thankfully someone has gone before me and taken the time to write down the majority of what i am planing to do an in instruction format..but as far as body work.. near as i can tell im going to be spending a lot of time there over 600+ (say around 650-670) (the better chunck of that is going to be modification and not actual surface prep) and im hoping for just shy of 750-800 mark on getting it to the go-kart stage.. interior im gonna be farming out and its gonna cost a nice chunk of $$ cus by MY calculations its gonna take almost 500 hours there alone.. let alone install.. which is most likely a week or two..(of non stop work) then off to another farm job for paint..(i cant touch a can of paint with out it getting all over me the ground the souroundings.. practcally everywhere i want BUT the part/inteded area.. so me painting is a no go) and i know my paint job is gonna be another two week job then its all over but the crying:D(tears of joy hopefully) in total im looking at around 2500+/- hours.. and a chunk of change(im budgeting for roughly 120-139 k) and the time doesn't include waiting for parts to arrive or or planing for the build..

[VD2021]

I've logged about 560 to get to go-Kart stage. My wiring is not the painless kit or Isis so it consumed more time.

From that point I have just under 200 more and I'm still tweaking the windows, but I am also installing every panel now as if it was the final install after paint. I expect the completion to really speed up once I have finished tweaking the windows and expect another 150-200 hours from that point.

The big blue arrow is to expect 1000+ and the "+" gets bigger as you add modifications and.

[NYCarStars]

Thanks guys that was really helpful. Im looking into opening a shop to build custom cars . corvettes 57-61, 50 mercury coupe , 427 cobra,GTM , and still trying to get my hands on the elusive mercedes 300sl & or the gullwing all replicas of course. So i was here doing some research on the GTM and more or less hours of work and such on. Greatly appreciated. We are looking for our first start build considering 1 master mechanic and 1 master painter & body work and 2 or 3 "helpers" each so we can maybe lower the turn around time ie in a shop with all the bells n whistles paint booth interior inhouse. The way we thought was hey in a fancy rest. theres not a kitchen full of head chefs but 1 and a bunch of "helpers" usually people of hispanic origin that make wayyyyyyyy less than the chef. so thats the way we are looking at it. any input from custom car shops welcome thanks guys

[psycho]

i was actually considering something ike this but didnt think there would be much of a market in TX for it, best advice i can give is build the car for yourself so ull kno the tips and tricks to getting it done right, then u cn find the shortcuts to it

[afourcault]

i was actually considering something ike this but didnt think there would be much of a market in TX for it, best advice i can give is build the car for yourself so ull kno the tips and tricks to getting it done right, then u cn find the shortcuts to it second the last part

[Cobra 61]

About 22,000 hours for mine.:D
that's the truth!

[psycho]

wow didnt realize how many letters i missed in that last post haha. building the kits would be a great way to add to the income of a shop but most likely shouldnt be its only income. since you'll already have the tools and know how building custom exhausts and paint and body work should keep the income rolling in while the kits are bieng built, thats my plan anyways.

[Denny Olson]

I kept a detailed log of work performed and time sheets. Disassembly of the donor to totally finished GTM took 1175.5 hrs. Included in that time was a lot of head scratching trying to figure out what FFR had in mind. I'm sure I could do another one in less time. One of the biggest headaches is the doors and windows, so plan spending considerable effort there. I would recommend starting with the passenger door first, because the driver door will be a piece of cake! I've driven the GTM 1600 miles so far and am happy with the results.