Lets just say you've just acquired a 1200 Wagon. Completely blank canvas. And you've got a theoretical budget of about $1500... What would you do to it?

I know it's a fairly vague sort of a question with many, many answers but... go nuts. Try and include pics of examples/nice wheels you may want/colour schemes etc etc.

cant do much with 1500 bones.
Id lower and wheels. If money permitts then a tidy up... Do it properly do it once however..

Hmmm
Well i am a performance nut, so freshen up the internals, bigger carb, extractors , mild head work, with a wobbly stick. Should get most of that done for under $1000 if you do most of the work yourself.
Throw in some jelly bean mags and new tyres, and you should have a reasonable performing little wagon.

For $1500 you cant really achieve much, and without and end goal in mind, it can become a waste of money.

You arnt going to get any panel and paint in for $1500.

You arnt going to get a nuclear weapon of a motor either, so its mild mods only.

Hmmm without an end goal, its hard to point in the right direction.

You have to take into account what the car is going to be used for? is it just a daily driver? then you just want basic mods, like extractors and 32/36 webber, that makes a huge difference over a stock set-up. you'll have to take into account the cost of running the wagon on a daily basis, twin webbers give great performance but cost more to run, and the way fuel is going you get the idea. Keep your eye out on Ebay and on here you might be pleasantly surprised, you might be able to pick some stuff up, you never know your luck!

Also depends on your taste and style, I suggest go through the pics on this site and have a look at paint schemes and rim styles and see what you like and come up with your own variation.

It's amazing how quick $1500 goes when you are modifying a car, do some research and spend wisely, GOOD LUCK! keeps up posted!

I understand that $1500 doesn't get you far in the grand scheme of things but that's ok.

Does anyone have any idea how much in materials it costs to give a wagon a paint job? What's the better sort of paint to use for a home job? I've got all of the basic spray gear and a nice clean shed as well as plenty of time on my hands. I've also got a keen mate that's pretty handy with a welder.

Funny you should mention Jelly-Bean mags... That was the first thing I did... I've had them up the back for about 7years, dug them out, gave them a quick polish and chucked em on - Looks really tight now and fills out the guard a bit better. The previous 13inch cheese cutters with 120y hubbies on them did look pretty rad though.

Keep the juices flowing guys... more the better!!!

These Rims.




And Pearl White. 5310.




As for the rest complete stock!

It'll eventually be a daily with enough storage to cart all the stuff that'll eventually go into the Ute

Burke, have you ever done a pearled colour before? Any tips?

Yes and no! when I got the paint the guy said it was pearled but It just looks like any other colour! but.... when I went into town the next day and saw a car with pearled colour It looked a lot different! So I went back to the guy and guess what.... he's gone and pissed off out of town! so no.... I have not done pearl colour but I do like it!

You poor bugger.