Which car do you most regretting butchering?

[Ghoste]

I don't mean parting out, I mean cars that you altered so much they were essentially ruined from a restoration standpoint.  For me, it would have to be a 68 Barracuda notchback that we turned into a dirt track car.  I've always felt bad about doing that.  Anyone else?

[Daytona R/T SE]

Maybe the '65 Mustang fastback that we used for a dirt track car back in the day...

[Dodgecharger74]

62 plymouth convert golden commando 361   drove a bull dozer in one side & out the other  It was realy rusty That was back in 1973

[Mike DC]

     
I've made some bad decisions about cutting individual panels, but no serious whole-car regrets yet. 

[RD]

1973 dodge charger SE, all power windows, full vinyl top SE (rare).  got it for $75 and wanted to make money off of it... it was a shell, but it was a real highly optioned car that is now crushed.

[restoman]

Back in 1980 or '81.
1970 factory 454 Monte Carlo, black on black, air, power windows and locks, posi rear. One owner, original paint car with some fairly minor rust on the bottoms of the fenders and lower quarters. I think it had around 40k on it.

Made a terrible short track car. Waaaaay to much power out of the corners.

[billssuperbird]

1970 chevy nova ss. 350 4speed.

[kab69440]

Nope, can't think of any off-hand...    
I do regret parting my 68 Charger, because of a rotten rear. That car would be an easy save, these days. Oh well, the past is a good place for the past.

[68charger383]

Hey it was the early 80s and these cars were plentiful

decent 69 4spd GTX into track car-fiberglass hood, trunk lid, bumpers, plexi-glass windows, ripped out interior etc...  

[mally69]

Well i built a 512 and i am going to regret putting an 8 point bar in the car but it absolutley has to have it, to save the car.  

[Ghoste]

No ex Pro Streeters regret back halving anything?

[mopar_nut_440_6]

Not that I did it personally but I sold my first 68 Charger to oval track guys for 600 bucks and they made a general lee oval track racer out of it and destroyed it. 318 car , column shift, gold with white interior.

[Magnumcharger]

Initially, I had no regrets about cutting down this A108 Camper to build my Deora replica.
I was pretty focused on the task, and for $500, it was a deal. And besides, I bought it for just that reason.

However, after seeing the orange one at Moparfest recently, I realized much after the fact, that it would have been a very cool ride.

[ITSA426]

I squashed a 66 383 four speed Charger with PS, clock, and power windows.  It was very rough.  It would have been nice restored, and I've restored cars in worse shape but it didn't seem special at the time.

[l8rg8r]

back in the 80s I circle tracked a 72 charger couldve been a super bee 400 4brl 4spd sun roof power windows,locks,brakes,steering and am/fm/8track/cb radio and a power bulge hood sold the hood before it hit the track no rust no dents. I know go ahead get your digs it still keeps me awake nights was faded yellow with blk int

[MichaelRW]

The year was 1964. I was 16 years old living in Lansing Michigan. A friend of my mom's had an old station wagon that she just wanted to get rid of. It was a 1955 or 1956 Chrysler or Dodge station wagon (can't remember the exact year and make) with a V8, auto trans, a lot of miles and small rust holes in the body panels already. It was rode hard and put away wet. Of course, I said I would take it and the parents said no way that piece of junk is going to sit in our driveway. Think of the scene from the movie Christine. Oh yeah and it wouldn't start so I had no idea if the engine was toast or not.  But not to be defeated yet.....

Pete, my best friend at the time, lived 3 houses down and had parents that were a bit less rigid so I went down to his house and told him about my find. Well, that's all it took. We were now on a mission to get that car and get it running come hell or high water. There was one small obstacle though and that was neither of us had a driver's license yet. It was only a couple months away but that was an eternity. So we convinced an older neighbor kid to help us get the car towed to Pete's house. So we did just that and tied a heavy rope from the tow car's rear bumper to the front bumper of the wagon and got it to Pete's house in one piece with no problems.

We put a few gallons of gas in it and charged the battery but it still wouldn't start. Rats! We pulled a spark plug and found it to be quite dirty with carbon build up. We tried cleaning the plugs but it still wouldn't start although it sounded a bit better when cranking it. We decided to buy a set new plugs and that solved the problem. It started right up. OK, so now we have a running car but couldn't drive it on the street because of no license. I know that today not having a license wouldn't stop one from driving anyway but the times were different back then.

But we had to drive that car! We lived in a newer subdivision with a woods and some open grassy fields behind the houses that was several acres in size. It was referred to as motorcycle hills because there were narrow dirt roads that wound through the woods and fields and guys would ride there cycles up and over them. Pete and I thought, hey, if you can ride a motorcycle over there, why not a car? So off we go and took the car into motorcycle hills. Well, as you can imagine, we scraped the bottom of the car pretty good but it was just dirt. Also took out a few small saplings where the road narrowed on places. Added numerous scratches but we had one hell of a time. After the thrill ride we took her home and parked it. You may be thinking what a couple of boneheads to mess that car up. But remember to two 16 years olds this was just an old heap that would have gone to the junk yard had we not taken it. After the fun was over we decided to see if we could sell it for $25 or $50. It did have new plugs now and it ran. We put the word out and sure enough it caught this older guys attention, he was about 30, and he came over to look at the car. Offered us money right on the spot and took the car. He was a demolition derby guy and bought the car due to Chrysler's reputation for having a well built, strong car. I heard he ran it in several derby's before it went to the crusher.

So that is really the only car that I participated in butchering.

[ZSmithersCharges]

The year was 1964. I was 16 years old living in Lansing Michigan. A friend of my mom's had an old station wagon that she just wanted to get rid of. It was a 1955 or 1956 Chrysler or Dodge station wagon (can't remember the exact year and make) with a V8, auto trans, a lot of miles and small rust holes in the body panels already. It was rode hard and put away wet. Of course, I said I would take it and the parents said no way that piece of junk is going to sit in our driveway. Think of the scene from the movie Christine. Oh yeah and it wouldn't start so I had no idea if the engine was toast or not.  But not to be defeated yet.....

Pete, my best friend at the time, lived 3 houses down and had parents that were a bit less rigid so I went down to his house and told him about my find. Well, that's all it took. We were now on a mission to get that car and get it running come hell or high water. There was one small obstacle though and that was neither of us had a driver's license yet. It was only a couple months away but that was an eternity. So we convinced an older neighbor kid to help us get the car towed to Pete's house. So we did just that and tied a heavy rope from the tow car's rear bumper to the front bumper of the wagon and got it to Pete's house in one piece with no problems.

We put a few gallons of gas in it and charged the battery but it still wouldn't start. Rats! We pulled a spark plug and found it to be quite dirty with carbon build up. We tried cleaning the plugs but it still wouldn't start although it sounded a bit better when cranking it. We decided to buy a set new plugs and that solved the problem. It started right up. OK, so now we have a running car but couldn't drive it on the street because of no license. I know that today not having a license wouldn't stop one from driving anyway but the times were different back then.

But we had to drive that car! We lived in a newer subdivision with a woods and some open grassy fields behind the houses that was several acres in size. It was referred to as motorcycle hills because there were narrow dirt roads that wound through the woods and fields and guys would ride there cycles up and over them. Pete and I thought, hey, if you can ride a motorcycle over there, why not a car? So off we go and took the car into motorcycle hills. Well, as you can imagine, we scraped the bottom of the car pretty good but it was just dirt. Also took out a few small saplings where the road narrowed on places. Added numerous scratches but we had one hell of a time. After the thrill ride we took her home and parked it. You may be thinking what a couple of boneheads to mess that car up. But remember to two 16 years olds this was just an old heap that would have gone to the junk yard had we not taken it. After the fun was over we decided to see if we could sell it for $25 or $50. It did have new plugs now and it ran. We put the word out and sure enough it caught this older guys attention, he was about 30, and he came over to look at the car. Offered us money right on the spot and took the car. He was a demolition derby guy and bought the car due to Chrysler's reputation for having a well built, strong car. I heard he ran it in several derby's before it went to the crusher.

So that is really the only car that I participated in butchering.

I love a good story lol.