Saying hello and sharing my story of recently purchasing a '73 Charger

[Corey Dean]

Hello everyone, saying hi from Iowa. I registered a while back and haven't posted much. Simply reading posts and lurking for the most part.

I bought a 1973 Dodge Charger. 2 door hardtop. Car has some interesting history old and new.

Unfortunately the new is not that pleasant, I found the car on craigslist and me and the seller talked on the phone quite a bit, texted quite a bit. He sent numerous pics of the car. Reiterated over and over how well it ran, I would be happy, etc, etc. We eventually settled on a price. I made payment and had the car shipped to me.

Craigslist ad said the car "ran and drove like a champ". Rebuilt 440, rebuilt 727 trans, newer paint job. Only issues he said were that it was missing the antenna for the radio, missing the driver side mirror and it needed new calipers. And, a small part of the front passenger side grill was missing. Not major issues for a not-too-mechanically-inclined person like myself.

Things started to come to light as a couple days later, after picking up the car, the transport company called and were a little upset that the car did not run and drive like they had been told. I contacted the seller and he said it was a dead battery, I asked why didn't you jump it? He said it had bad gas and wouldn't stay running.

Car shows up, mostly flat driver's side front tire. And dead electronically. The instrument cluster was wholly disconnected, none of the gauges, wiring harnesses, etc were hooked up and the console shifter had not been completely re-installed (kick down linkage, cable, etc. are words that have been said to me) after the rebuilt trans had been put back in. I put a battery charger on and it indicated the battery was already charged. I connected up the headlight wiring harness and got nothing.

There were a couple things he was honest about. The paint job was ok, looked good from afar and looked good up close. It is only upon real close inspection that you can see some flaws, but no real concerns on my part there as I was not expecting a $10,000 paint job or however much a top notch paint job costs these days. Also had a receipt in the paper work for the transmission rebuild for around $1,800 and a receipt for the new edelbrock carb that was on the car.

Of course, he has not been responsive to my calls and texts since I got the car.

There is some good history to the car. It was originally a 400, heavy duty 4 speed manual transmission. I read somewhere that there were only 40 built with that combination in 1973. Not sure if that is true. I found, in the paper work that came with the car, the original bill of sale to K. Rushing. I tracked him down and called him up and we spoke a long time about the car. He was pretty excited to have someone call him about his old car (his baby) he regretted selling and had no clue what had happened to. He bought the car in December 1972 with the express purpose to race it. (which explained the trophies that were in the trunk of the car when I got it) After he bought it, he had the car sent off to Nicholas Engineering in Portland to have the transmission upgraded, off to Jerry Ruth at Northwest Racing in Seattle to have the suspension upgraded, to Keith Black to have the heads upgraded and the Cope Brothers in Tacoma to have the motor upgraded. He said the horsepower got up to 762 and the car ran 2 hundreds of a second off the national record in 1975 (10.76/10.78) He said he was also afraid of rust so he had a special Dupont rust coating applied to the undercarriage of the car. An interesting story he told me was when the dealership called him up and told him his car was ready for pick up, he got there and the factory had incorrectly installed a vinyl top, he told them to send it back and they instead offered to reduce the purchase price by $500. He took the deal and removed the vinyl top himself.

He sold the car in 1990 and the guy I bought it from said he was the second owner, but after speaking with Mr. Rushing I don't think that is true.

Sometime after he sold it in 1990, the original motor and trans were taken out. Perhaps one or the other went bad or someone saw what was in there and took it out to put in something else. There are still some of the racing components left in the engine compartment however...a buddy I had look at it told me there was some type of brake assist he could see, amongst other things.

The car is now a 440 with an auto trans. Although, the clutch pedal is still there. The upgraded suspension is still there of course, and it is pretty impressive. There is not a bit of rust anywhere. I took a magnet to almost every square inch of the car and you can still see the rust coating that he had done. It has protected the car quite well.

I had the car towed to an automotive repair shop to have it inspected to see what was wrong and get an estimate. They did some type of workaround to get the car started to make sure the motor even worked. They did get it running briefly and said it seemed to run ok but they didn't want to run it for very long like that. They wanted to do this before they got started on anything else so as to avoid throwing good money after bad if the motor didn't even work.

Including the tow and the inspection, the estimate to re-do the wiring of the engine bay, re-wiring the instrument cluster and dash, the repair to the steering column, and to re-do the fuel lines, came out to just over $1,900 including taxes and enviro fees. This is all just so they can really get an idea as to how the car really runs.

Right now, the car is sitting up at the repair shop. Not sure how this plays out but I was pretty sick to my stomach when the car arrived and still am. Such a let down for something I was looking forward to getting. I wasn't expecting to have costly repairs beyond the purchase price. Repairs I can't do myself. Don't understand why people lie. Thankfully I might have some recourse, however I won't bore you with the details of that.

Here are some pics of the car. It has some of the things I really like, bulge hood, big block motor, rear quarter windows that roll down. I apologize for the long post, and thanks for reading my story. Some of you have beautiful Chargers. And the work you're able to do on them yourself, I wish I had the skills. I was too interested in sports growing up to focus on anything esle. Still live and breathe football.

[Indygenerallee]

Sorry to hear but that's why go look at the car in person OR have someone in that area go look at it and give you a honest 3rd party opinion. Car looks good otherwise (I don't know what kind of recover they did to that dashpad though??)

[Ghoste]

I'm glad that overall the car seems satisafactory to you and the pictures do look good.  From the photos though I have to say that it looks to be somewhat of a wiring mess.  That isn't something to leave half assed so I would suggest making it RIGHT.  A repro harness although not cheap might be an excellent investment.  I would hate to see that car burn down on you and it looks underhood like it has been really monkey-ed around with. 
But a great looking car and I think you will be happy with it.

[1974dodgecharger]

SORRY to hear bro hope you make it better.  It looks great cosmetically externally...

[myk]

May the previous owner burn in hell.

That being said, keep in mind that classic cars are never DONE and will always be siphoning money from their owners.  It looks like you're on the right path though; keep looking forward and stay positive...

[Bob T]

Hello and Welcome, there is a relative goldmine of information on here, it will help a great deal when you come to start sorting out what you will need to do to keep it running and reliable after it comes back from the mechanics shop.

Unfortunately, there are scumbags out there that will not hesitate to rip off people who live far away from them, if you have recourse to action, then use it, it is also important to take them to task but dont make it your life's work to burn them down.

I guess to focus on the positive, the body is good and that is the main problem with old cars where a lot of the hidden costs lie within. And it looks pretty sharp. Likely you will have to throw a bit more dough at it than $1900 though, but, once its done right it wont leave you stranded at the side of the road and you'll be out there enjoying it and giving it a good shoe full.

Here's a cool clip of Marlowe Boyd with his Gen III to make your day.

http://www.doobybrain.com/2011/07/21/marlowe-boyd-and-his-lime-green-71-dodge-charger/

[1974dodgecharger]

That was one cool Vid Bob.....wow I loved it how he explained his love for the car and you could feel his passion come right through your screen!!!!  I agree 100% on everything he said that the new cars have no character at all..cars back then had em.  Loved it......

[Cooter]

And people say flippers ain't ruining the hobby, but rather enjoying the good ol "capitalism" way of life.

A flipper sold that car. Just gimme the money, shut up, don't contact me after sale and  Everything will be ok.

[Dino]

Sorry to hear about your troubles.  You can't trust people, lesson learned.  Now go make it what you want it to be!  And I do hope you have something in store for the seller...

[b5blue]

Welcome Corey! Don't feel bad, any old car is a money pit. I bought a Cherokee off my friend and spent more than 1900 just getting it up to par!  The really big thing you may not think of right now is the bodywork, that car looks real solid and that is really the hardest part for an old Charger! 
Best of luck to you!

[72Charger-SE]

Corey,

Welcome to the site.  I can only encourage you to look 'forward' and not behind you.  Leave what happened in the past, learn from it, and move forward with your 'dream car'.  What are your plans for it? 

[Charger74]

Sorry to hear your troubles  Corey and welcome to the site.   Where in Iowa are you?

[EccentricMagpies]

Welcome to the site!!

Interesting story you just shared.  Cool history on the car for sure.  Too bad the previous owner is who he is.

On your photos,  I don't understand the pulled cluster.  Might be easier to just pull the whole dash and get it all squared away

I have some similarities in my last charger purchase.  Didn't see it and taking his word.

[Mopar Nut]

Welcome aboard!

[hemi68charger]

Welcome to the site.......... As someone who's been on here before, you know the wealth of knowledge there is here. Not sure about the 400/4-speed combination/numbers, but rest assured, there weren't many !!!!!

Personally, if you can afford it now, I would get a completely new dash wiring harness from YearOne ( M&H product ) and install. Carefully take out the cluster ( lower the column some to give you room ) and yank out the old one if it is a mess....... As was eluded to earlier, DO NOT skimp on the dash harness...... You'll be asking for trouble later........

[Pete in NH]

Hi, and welcome to the group.

There are a lot of really good people in this hobby and I'm sorry you ran into one who was less than honest.

I second Ghoste's thoughts on the wiring in the car. It looks like quite a mess. I would get that squared away because otherwise you do risk bad things happening and unreliable operation. A new set of wiring harnesses sounds like a great idea. Also, from the photos and general condition of things under the hood, I would go over everything very carefully on the fuel system. You don't need fuel leaks.

If you are going to keep the car a factory service manual should be right on top of your shopping list. There's no single thing that will be so helpful in your understanding on how your car should be put together than the factory manual. They are frequently available on Ebay in both book and electronic form.

Again welcome and you'll find plenty of help here.

[ODZKing]

Welcome to the family. I'm not sure how many of us, but there are some who have been there including me.
I was so disapointhed when my 73 rolled off the truck.
Always, ALWAYS, ALL-WAYS, go look at the car yourself.  I learned that and told everyone I can who looks at a car on line. That being said, it's done and it's now yours.
If you look at my site you'll see before and after with my 73 so it just takes time, patience and naturally money to get them back to right.  http://www.retrorarities.com/  You'll find a bunch of resto info on there as well.
It's amazing what stupid things people will do to cars.
Good luck and ask away.

[ACUDANUT]

Heavy duty 4 speed manual transmission ? No way that motor makes 762 HP. You should have came here first and invested in a 71/72 3rd gen Charger.  
I too am sorry for your misfortune. Live and learn I guess.  

[polywideblock]

welcome to the site      the "fun" has only just begun   

[Corey Dean]

Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. And lesson learned. He came across as honest and accommodating and I simply misread him.

To answer a couple questions, I live in Des Moines. Not sure why the instrument cluster was removed. My guess, since some of the bolts holding the steering column in place had been removed or loosened in order to lower the steering wheel, was to get the instrument cluster out of the way for the install of the new dash pad...which he didn't do a good job of. I haven't given the go ahead to the shop to do the repairs yet.

[ACUDANUT]

Start a new thread here, and ask for a mopar guru in Des Moines to lend a helping hand.  We faithful, always help out our brothers. There are a ton of mopar folks in Des Moines.  You could gain a friend and save a ton. 

[EccentricMagpies]

.... Not sure why the instrument cluster was removed. My guess, since some of the bolts holding the steering column in place had been removed or loosened in order to lower the steering wheel, was to get the instrument cluster out of the way for the install of the new dash pad...which he didn't do a good job of. I haven't given the go ahead to the shop to do the repairs yet.

Ah, that makes sense.

Pretty cool car though.  There are several 400-4speed owners on here that can answer your production numbers.

[ODZKing]

I read somewhere that there were only 40 built with that combination in 1973. Not sure if that is true.

http://wichargerguy.proboards.com/thread/966/production-numbers-year

[Corey Dean]

I read somewhere that there were only 40 built with that combination in 1973. Not sure if that is true.

http://wichargerguy.proboards.com/thread/966/production-numbers-year

Thank you for the link. Appears the production number is 396.

[tan top]

 hello & welcome CD      , interesting story