What did your Simplex cost & How much to get road worthy?

[Driver]

Looking for an idea of what it really costs to get one of these roadworthy again. Kind of a Beginner Buyers (Spending) Guide so newbies like myself might be able to get up to speed on what to expect (or plan) for.

So what I am asking is for people to make a semi realistic guess at how complete their bike was when they bought it, what they've spent on must have parts, what they spent on extra unnecessary/upgrades stuff (Bling, adding a front brake etc...) and the hours they spent if they did the wrenching themselves. Feel free to itemize it if you've tracked it that far (Like new tires @ $270).

And please, a picture of the original, and the current state of it, if at all possible. I think it would maybe help those people testing the water know how much they've bitten off (or are about to)....

----------------------------
Original Cost:   $________
Completeness:    0-100%

Expenses: 
Cost to Complete (or cost to Current Completeness of X%):    $________

[Mike Sal]

Gosh driver, this is variable question.  So much depends on what kind of condition the bike iswhen you start.  I was pretty lucky in finding a bike that had an amature restoration about 15 years ago and is 100% complete.  To make it useable, I could have gotten by just in cleaning the fuel system & driving it, but I'm tweaking out the things that the last guy didn't work on (tail light lens is faded clear, wheel spokes are rusty, etc).  All told, i'll probably be in for a couple hundred bucks on top of the 1500 I paid for it (not counting replacing the tires).  On the other hand, if I wanted to do a 100 point restoration & contracted out all the work, it could easily exceed 4 grand.
Mike Sal

[Driver]

I know it's going to vary. We have a similar thread going on with a RV forum I visit (I have a 35 Foot Coach - Diesel Pusher). Pretty much any rv over ten years you buy you better set aside 10K the first year for stuff that "comes up". The more people that reply then the better sense one gets about the overall picture.

Thus that scale of 0-100% of how complete it is. I guess it should really be How complete and How Rusty but I figure the info along with a picture would fill in a lot of blank spots and answer a lot of questions one might have. Better Yet How Complete, and on a scale of 1-10 how good with 1 being a complete rust bucket resto, 7or 8 being a old resto or original garage kept and 9-10 being a recent ground up resto or original Museum quality (of which I've seen a few worthy of that on here).  $1700 ($<2K with tires) though sounds pretty OK.

[Ricks]

My 1953 started out as a semi complete bike that I gave a total restoration to.  It cost $1300 for the bike, around $2500 for parts, and another $1300 for paint and powder coat.  Now, I could have done it cheaper, but I wanted to build it better then it came from the factory.

That total includes $350 for front brake conversion and $200 for seat recover.