Buying parts before car?

[PrisonHack]

 What are your thoughts on buying up smaller items/tools before actually getting a car. I figure any charger I am able to buy is going to need the common metal like 1/4s ect. Would it be worth it to slowly accumulate that stuff over a few years so that it would be on hand when I'm finally ready to track down a rusted shell to spend my retirement on?

[70 sublime]

If you do not know what shape your project car might be in I think it would be wasted money to buy any sheet metal for a maybe car

If you happen to come across a killer deal on some Charger parts then pick them up ( can always sell them later to get the parts you need )

Think it would be a better idea to just save up this parts money and use it towards a project car or an even better starting point project car

[Mytur Binsdirti]

  . Would it be worth it to slowly accumulate that stuff over a few years so that it would be on hand when I'm finally ready to track down a rusted shell to spend my retirement on?

You are better off saving your money and buy something nice as opposed to a rusted out shell as those cars. These cars are expensive enough and all a rust bucket is......................

[green69rt]

What are your thoughts on buying up smaller items/tools before actually getting a car. I figure any charger I am able to buy is going to need the common metal like 1/4s ect. Would it be worth it to slowly accumulate that stuff over a few years so that it would be on hand when I'm finally ready to track down a rusted shell to spend my retirement on?

Accumulate the money, not the parts.  You never really know what you're going to need.  You need to find storage and then you squirrel the part away and forget you have it or where it's at.  Parts might set around for years and then not be needed, invest your bucks (maybe just CDs if only a year or two) and it keeps on growing.  Also things change, newer better parts come out.  However, if I found a fantastic deal on something specific that I know I would need then maybe (such as a welder.)  but don't buy parts till you actually have a car.

When it comes time to get a car you may have changed you mind, you want a 72 vs a 68, if you buy parts for a 68 then it's money wasted.  

[PrisonHack]

Ok sounds like my morning brainstorming idea isn't a good plan

[BrianShaughnessy]

The old phrase putting the cart before the horse comes to mind...   


If you come across deals and think you can flip stuff to fund your car... well that's another matter.

[daytona71]

I did something similar. I bought my charger 42 years ago. It was used as a demonstrator and had 3000 miles on it. Chrysler put full warranty back on the car, so made the deal. I drove the car hard and was never garage kept. I knew that someday I would do a full restoration on it, so started buying parts. I would have gone crazy that if during the resto I couldnt find a certain part. I acquired quite a collection of NOS parts still in Mopar packages. I felt NOS parts were and are still better than reproduction.
If you are firm in what year and model you are going after, then items like interior and trim parts will not go to waste. Good luck in your search for your retirement project

[JR]

Yeah, just save your money and buy a nice, complete car when you're ready.

I'm never restoring another car again after this.

[Dans 68]

I agree. The only way you would pick up parts/tools before you have a car would be like my case...a car I picked up earlier this year is finally heading my way, and I have picked up items it needs all year long. Buy as complete a car as possible. 👍

Dab

[Charger_Fan]

I did that once. Since I was a teenager, I've always wanted a '72 Torino GT. Well one day in the mid 90's, I spotted an ad for a yard sale that included Ford & Mopar parts. I scoped it out on my way home from work and WOW, there's a '72 Torino GT hood...nice-n-straight & not rusty. The asking price was $50. I thought "if I buy the hood, hopefully the car will follow", so I brought it home.
I still have the hood, but no car.   Although, I'm not dead yet, so it could still happen, right? Right?

For a while, I thought of cutting the scoop out & grafting it on a Charger hood...I decided no. This pic is while contemplating doing that, with it sitting on my yellow Charger.

[Lighthorseman]

For a while, I thought of cutting the scoop out & grafting it on a Charger hood...

...Shoot me, but that looks really cool. 

[6spd68]

I wonder if you were to try and do it properly, if you could trim and mount that hood right on the 70?  Think about it, cut the frame out of an actual 70 hood, then weld it to this one after trimming it to fit the lines?

[VegasCharger]

I did this before I bought my 68. Although this was a deal I couldn't pass up. One of those situations that doesn't come around too often. The guy selling these parts was kinda of smart as he did list them right before the MATS show was going down that spring. So his selling point was that one could buy his parts lot as a whole and then use the MATS show to re-sell them for a profit. Although they really weren't his parts they were his responsibility as his roommate of his house moved out and abandon the parts leaving them behind. He knew somewhat about the Mopar mystique but not really. He just wanted those parts removed from his backyrad. He really only advertised the driver's side door in his CL ad. But when I got there we started talking and the next you know he lead me to all of the parts. We negotiated and we came to $200.00 

Here's the list of parts I got (mostly 68 Charger):   
Driver's side door shell rust free
Front Bumper (dented)
Front Bumper Guards
Front Bumper Brackets w/center bow tie
Front Bumper/Fender Brackets
Front License Plate Bracket
Rear Bumper
Rear Bumper Guards
Rear Bumper Brackets
Grille - Headlight Support
Hood Release
Grille-Fender "L" Brackets
Lower tail panel trim
Windshield Lower Trim RH
Door Divider Trim front RH
Door glass/quarter glass molding
70's Rallye Rim(1) - chrome ring(1)
70's Rallye Rim centers(2)
Rallye Gauge Bezel
A Pillar Interior Trim Pass.
Driver Side Rear Upper Pad
Upper Pad Backing Plate LH
69-70 Console Top Plate
Glove Box Door
Driver Side Vent Window Frame

[Charger_Fan]

I wonder if you were to try and do it properly, if you could trim and mount that hood right on the 70?  Think about it, cut the frame out of an actual 70 hood, then weld it to this one after trimming it to fit the lines?

I think it might work, but my metalworking skills are nowhere near being able to do that.

[marshallfry01]

I could understand buying parts before the car if you're gonna make a General Lee. Items such as vector wheels, CB, CB antenna, and a roll bar could be bought before the car and put on after you buy it. For example, I'm on the hunt for a 69 to make a general lee. I've slowly been buying general lee specific parts so I'll have all of them when I get a car ready. Just this week I bought a cobra 78x CB cause I got it for a good deal.... Just my 

[PrisonHack]

 I guess that's what I was thinking. I'm set on color, interior color and wheels