New Member, First Charger

[Dano 1]

Hi all, long-time lurker and first time poster now that I actually have a Charger to participate with! Despite never owning one of these cars until recently my history with the Charger goes way back to when I was a kid watching The Dukes reruns on TNT everyday. I'd hurry home from school and rush through homework to click the TV on and catch my favorite orange car.

Fast forward a few (not saying how many) years and I had just about given up on owning anything other than a total rust-bucket '69 Charger. One evening a few weeks back I happened to be browsing Craigslist, checking out Charger prices because I just couldn't help myself. I saw an ad for a '69 that looked promising but also seemed a little off based on the price. I sent it to a few friends who agreed it seemed odd but we are all well enough versed in Craigslist scams to not fall for anything stupid. After going back and forth with the seller a few times I was third in line for the car as of Friday evening. Here's where the story gets good. It was Friday and I was booked on a flight to China for business for 2 weeks the coming Sunday at 9:30am. Later Friday night the seller emailed and informed me that the two other people in line in front of me were starting to change their stories/plans and that if I was serious and wanted the car I could come out Saturday morning and take a look, the only condition was the car had to be gone that weekend.

Saturday morning I borrowed a truck from work, grabbed a trailer and took off. I picked up a buddy for backup and a set of rational eyes, knowing I couldn't be trusted to make a logical decision regardless of the car's condition. We were both still a bit nervous that the deal would go sideways but off we went regardless. Once we get to the house our fears were totally put at ease as the seller was a perfectly normal and really nice guy.

The story of the car was it was the seller's high school car back in the 90's and sometime around 1994 he took it off the road and put it in his parents garage. He/his brother had started working on it and lost interest and just let the car sit. Fast forward to 2008, he relocated and had the car brought with him where it lived under a tarp in his driveway. He never worked on the car or did anything to it besides putting a fresh tarp over it when the previous one deteriorated.

At first, seeing how low the back of the car was sitting, I assumed the whole back end had rusted out and the springs had collapsed into the trunk. On further inspection that couldn't have been further from the truth. The entire car was completely rock solid, with the exception of the very center of the trunk pan. Floorpans, rails, quarters, rockers, all rock solid with the majority still wearing factory undercoat. The low stance was simply due to some hastily installed lowering blocks.

The body was laser straight with the exception of a couple of dings and small dents but the grill, front valance, and front bumper were missing which had me doing some depressing mental math. At that point the seller casually mentioned that he had wrapped the grill and valance in moving blankets when he had the car moved back in '08 and left them sitting in the crawl space. Out come two moving blanket wrapped bundles containing an almost mint condition grill and valance. The grill is in amazing condition besides a few dents the center "I" piece and the fact that someone had fogged the entire thing in rattle-can satin black.

The interior is in really good shape as well with the exception of the front seat covers. The rear seat is almost perfect, the headliner is in great shape and everything appears to be complete, albeit pretty moldy from sitting so long. The odometer and title both show 79k miles which, given the car's condition, I don't have a lot of reason to doubt.

At this point I was pretty well freaking out so money was exchanged, title signed and we started loading it up, all while I was waiting to wake up.  All four tires were totally trashed but nothing was actually locked up or frozen so about 2 hours of wrestling with a crappy come-along and various straps and we were off to the races.

At this point it's around 5pm Saturday evening, we drove an hour back to my buddy's house where we could unload the car with his tractor and I could leave it securely until returning from my business trip. Unloading was much easier with the help of the tractor and the car was tucked in under a cover. It broke my heart but we wrapped the car back up in a tarp and I took off driving the 2 hours back to my house, dropping the trailer, unloading tools and attempting to sleep before my flight the next morning.

Fast forward a few weeks I get back stateside and immediately make plans to get the car. I made a run out to the car, put it up on jack stands, pulled off the wheels and tires and started digging in. I had verified the fender tag/dash VIN before I bought it but I didn't have time to check for the build sheet. I popped the rear seat cushion up and sure enough there was a mint condition build sheet folded up and intact after 49 years. So I have matching dash VIN, fender tag, and build sheet, not too shabby. Here's some highlights:

R4 red
White hat special with black top
A/C
Power brakes (drums)
Power steering
383 2bbl automatic
Bucket seat/console

Engine wise the seller told me he thought it was a 440, definitely not the original engine to the car, and it had sat with the top end torn down since at least '08. Given the condition I wrote it off when first looking at the car and didn't even bother checking the #'s. When I went back to the car I spent some more time cleaning up the top ID pad and checking the #'s. As it turns out it's a 1966 440 block with .001" undersized main bearings. The icing on the cake was finding the original air cleaner tin behind the rear seat when I pulled the cushion to look for the build sheet. An original 1966 Chrysler "TNT" 440, how cool is that? If the block is salvageable I'll probably end up giving the assembly to another buddy who is working on a 1966 Coronet since a '66 TNT 440 just seems more 'right' for his car.

As of today I have a set of roller tires swapped onto the wheels, and a new set of u-bolts to ditch the lowering blocks before I trailer the car again (the spring perches dragged on the u-haul trailer). The plan is to pick the car up this weekend and get it back to my house where work can begin. Right now my plan for the car is to get all the mechanical systems and interior in driver condition, pick an engine, and drive the thing as-is for a while. I really don't have the resources for a nut & bolt restoration at the moment and I'd really like to enjoy the car for a bit while it doesn't have pristine paint or a mint interior that I have to worry about.

I'm sure I'll be asking a million questions but I'm absolutely elated to have my dream car at all, let alone such a solid and well optioned example. Hopefully my first post wasn't too long-winded, it was such a cool experience I just had to share. Since the car is pretty well intact and original hopefully I can help anyone looking for stock reference pictures and details to contribute to the group.

[VegasCharger]

WOW nice story.

Thanks for sharing.

Very nice start to the 2nd gen Charger, you are lucky to find such a solid foundation.

Welcome aboard to DC.com 

[68X426]

Welcome.  Great purchase and great timing. 

[keepat]

Very cool, Congrats!
Pat

[Dano 1]

Thanks guys, I feel SO fortunate to have found the car and have the deal go down the way it did, a few more hours and it probably wouldn't have happened!

In typical newbie fashion I'm having image upload issues but once I sort that out more pics will follow.

[Dano 1]

I think I might have cracked it!

[Lennard]

Nice Charger and welcome to the forum, you came to the right place. 

[BIGBLCK11]

   NICE find!  Looks like a great start. 

[Fred]

  NICE find!  Looks like a great start. 

x2   

[VegasCharger]

Are you kidding me, there isn't a crack on the upper dash pad?? Amazing!!

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome score man  , but damn, to give up a charger and get stuck with a prius 

[68X426]

Congrats on the build sheet, that's about as clean as it gets. 

[69rtse4spd]

Great find & welcome to the club,  . You just never know on some of the adds out there. 

[Obi Ben Dover]

I love the wheels, those are definitely keepers

[Fitz73Chrgr]

Welcome!  I can't wait to see you get that car back on the road! 

[tan top]

 hello & welcome !!      

[CDN72SE]

Nice story and welcome to the site. Good luck with the build. 

[XH29N0G]

Nice.  Have fun with it.

[zoman440]

I remember the ad and wondered if it was legit... seemed VERY reasonably priced. Glad for you it was real, Enjoy!

[jessejames]

Glad someone like you got this car. Sounds like its going to a good home!!

[lukedukem]

Damn, 3k is a great deal. That would probably go for 15 on eBay.

Luke

[Fitz73Chrgr]

Wow!  Not sure you intended for everyone to know what you paid for it, but that might be the deal of the year so far. 

[Dano 1]

Thank for the warm welcome everyone!

I love the wheels, those are definitely keepers

I'm not attached to the wheels, not my personal style so they may come up for sale at some point. They're 15x7's and 15x8's though so I may end up running them for a bit we'll see.

I remember the ad and wondered if it was legit... seemed VERY reasonably priced. Glad for you it was real, Enjoy!

I guess the cat's out of the bag on price  Funny you saw the same ad and had the same thoughts I did, boy am I glad I decided to go for it anyway!

Glad someone like you got this car. Sounds like its going to a good home!!

Thanks! I had a long conversation with the seller about how he really hated having to sell and really wanted the car to go to someone good and ideally local. I was able to reassure him the car was going to a great home and was not going to be flipped or end up on ebay. This has always been 'the one' car for me so barring any unforeseen circumstances it'll be a life time car for me.

Thanks again for the welcome!

[Lennard]

For 3k you stole that car!

[mightywing7]

Congrats on your new toy! Best of luck in getting it back on the road.