I have a 68 Electra Convert. Runs and drives but full of Bondo and frame is rusted badly behind the rear wheels. (N.Y. State). Perfect interior. I just found and bought a 68 Wildcat Convertable. Beautiful body but a basket case. Interior is garbage. Windows are missing, some crome gone. Would this Wildcat be valueable enough that it should all be original or could I take the Electra interior and power options and put them in this car. This body is nice but the floors have been repaired and new quarters installed. It is a great job but not perfect. Enough parts are gone that I would need another car. This would cost more and I would have to buy new interior. If I used the electra I could just put it together. practically no body work. I would like to put the car in local shows and drive it. But if a 68 Wildcat Convertable is that rare and it should be done all original and would be that special I would not use the Electra. I would like to here some imput.

Your delema? is commonplace. I am working on a basket case that would have been better off as a hot rod or parts car (and I have an unusually well equiped shop and fairly good skills). So with that in mind, I would suggest that you do not do a restoration with the completion value or "rarity" in mind. You do it for you love of the vehicle and pleasure of doing it.

If you are wise, you will show it by spending what ever it takes, usually only few thousand maybe $5,000 or whatever it takes to get a good solid car for restoration. When you find a good car, don't worry too much about a couple of thousand dollars, that is easily spent running around the countryside trying to save it!

Jkogut, production figures for these cars are on the home page of this site. There were 3572 Wildcat convs. built that year and 7976 Electra 225 convs. These numbers are quite low, but are typical for several years of production around then. These 2 models will probably never reach the cult status of say a 53 Skylark or 70 GS455 conv.

One pricing guide can be viewed by going to www.classicar.com, (http://www.classicar.com,) then clicking on 'Value Guide' along the left. According to that source, the two 68s are valued about the same presently.

I would agree with Bob that a restoration of almost any old car will not result in a financial gain when it's time to sell. One rule of thumb says recovery of 50% of the purchase & restoration cost at selling time is doing good. Too, money put into the purchase of a car already in good shape goes farther than spending large amts on rebuilding a rough one.

Although the Wildcat and Electra 225 share power trains, suspension parts, and wheelbase, there are differences in the rear of the body. There are a few more inches of rear seat leg room in the Electra 225 as well as extra inches in overall length. The interior parts from the larger car could require reworking to fit the rear seat area of the Wildcat.

So much for common sense and sound advice. What would I do in your spot? Probably buy another of each size with complentary troubles and make 1-good Wildcat and 1-good Electra 225 out of the 4. Sure sounds like fun to me.

In the end it is probably best to do what you want and can afford with these two. There shouldn't be too much criticism in combining two crusty old soldiers into one presentable convertible. There are still enough examples out there at reasonable prices for others to have one if they want.