New Guy with a Roundie PICTURES ADDED

[MikeD]

Paul....I would be interested in the tail lights, bumpers, duel carb set up, dash and a number of other items. Email me at dianmike at erols dot com.

[Harv]

Not an early car as it has the larger 12 fuse, fuse box and the crumple zones on the inner front fenders.

Cool color. I have seen lots worse fixed..........

John

[Delia]

Looks to be a late '69, '70 or early '71 based on the shortie bumper, silver dollar gauges and hazard light switch on the dash.

The floor rust is fixable and the car can be saved with factory patch panels and possibly a new frame rail. The spare tire well, if there is only surface rust and no perforation can be cleaned up and painted.

The real question is whether there is any other rust in the rocker panels, particularly the areas under the rocker panel trim between the B-Pillar and the rear wheel openings.

Another place they can rust is from the inside out --behind the rear wheel arches where the trunk floor meets the outer wheelhouse. Once rust starts there, you'll be chasing rust bubbling through the exterior paint for the next forty years, or until you replace the quarters and outer wheelhouses.

A restoration of this car will cost you a lot of money and aside from the satisfaction of doing the work yourself, will provide no return on your $$$ investment. The rubber and chrome trim alone is hundreds of dollars. If this were a rarer tii or ti, I'd feel more comfortable about fixing it.

If you are considering becoming a 2002 owner, I think it's best to follow the rule of "buy the the nicest one you can find/afford." There are still very nice cars out there for $5-$9K or a fraction of what it will take to bring this one back from the brink.

This one could be a great parts car/learning experience.

Delia

[73ChargerSE]

I poked around a little bit on the car and took the sill plate off on the driver side. The rocker appears to be solid. The only rust through is in the areas pictured. Looking at the bottom of the car, the rest of the floor pans and frame rails look solid. As an Arizona resident, I am pretty freaked out by rust. I've parted out several Mopars, and I know usually that would fetch more money than selling them whole. Would this be the best way to go with this car?

Paul

[Delia]

I poked around a little bit on the car and took the sill plate off on the driver side. The rocker appears to be solid. The only rust through is in the areas pictured. Looking at the bottom of the car, the rest of the floor pans and frame rails look solid. As an Arizona resident, I am pretty freaked out by rust. I've parted out several Mopars, and I know usually that would fetch more money than selling them whole. Would this be the best way to go with this car?

Paul

Well that's tough one to answer, Paul.

If you haven't established a budget as of yet, you might spend some time making a list of bits and pieces absolutely necessary to get your car running and back on the road. Go to the realoem.com website. There you can put together a reasonable parts list with part numbers and prices to see how quickly the basics will gobble up your budget -- or for lack of a budget, your cash flow.

After you get it running, braking, turning, and patch the floors, you have automatically increased the value of your car by quite a margin. A running car is more valuable than a lifeless lump on a trailer.

At that point you can consider selling it at a profit (hopefully), or continue to put money into it, which over the long haul, will ever come back out of it at sale time.

I mean c'mon, if you're a MpPar guy, (and I say this with respect) you should be used to pouring money into a car and never seeing any return. That's the hobby!

D

[auggiemize]

...So the rust is mostly from interior leaks for a long, long, time...and is thus not so bad to weld in replacements for floor pans (Mike Pelly sells them with the proper stamping, but with fake knock-out plugs..).

There are many of us folks east of the Mississippi that would love to have that car intact, if it is just the floor pans...Shipping is the killer, $600-800 from Ariz to East Coast...or is it in CA... Plus it'd have to have some rubber to ship on most carriers to at least roll...

That said, if you are up the the task and hassle of parting, there are quite a few parts that folks would find desireable IF prices are reasonable/cheap...you can tell pretty easily, by the requests by the vultures...I don't mean that in a bad way, its just our nature to line up as quickly as possible for the good stuff. Early birds and worms and such...

Personally, I hate to see a car that appears to be better than solid and original (mostly), to be cut up...but its your car, time, and money. My non-professional guess is that parts including the other dash and carbs would be maybe $800 in this economy...and the shell with an unknown drivetrain from $50-300 intact, $300-500 cut up (i.e.nose, tail, fenders...)if not rusty.

My hope is that you sell it intact to a deserving soul., and not cut it up, but money is money..I'd love to have it if it was closer.

Dave V. in NC