Help Please...

[bbjones]

This is a pointless pity plea... but I think you'll understand

I'm a Canadian without the budget to buy a restored '69 Charger, so have been looking for a driver.

Since those cars don't seem to exit on the West Coast of Canada/Pacific Northwest, I'm left with having to settle for another Mopar.

In this case I have an opportunity to get my hands on a 1967 Cuda in rough but driveable shape.

I'm not happy about it, but since I can't find a charger (1968 - 1970) I have no other choice... I'm certainly not going to look at Camaros or Mustangs... and I'm more than tired of driving my Nissan Pathfinder regardless of how well it drives in the snow (4 days of the year).

I'm posting this message to hopefully hear from other Mopar owners that had to settle for a non-Charger to get started... and hopefully hear how you sold your cuda/challenger/stang/maro for a shiny slick Charger in the end... or your methods for coping with not owning a Charger...

Cheers and vroom to all of you

Sincerely, a non-Charger owner

[Darkman]

Keep looking for a Charger. You'll find one soon enough

[69bronzeT5]

There around. Not sure exactly what your budget is but there was a nice '69 R/T driver here in Vancouver for $20,000. In the summer there was a '69 383 driver for $14,000. Just keep looking, dont give up and something will come.

[terrible one]

Get what you want, or you won't want what you get!

[41husk]

I used to have a 67 barracuda, 273 auto was a nice driver.  I would not mind having it back!!

[71charger]

Have you tried craigslist or eBay??? not too long ago I saw a 69 that wasn't in horrible condition 318 red car that was a daily driver and ran for 8000 If I remember.

[bakerhillpins]

Keep looking for a Charger. You'll find one soon enough

What is your budget?  I was looking for close to 2 yrs before I got mine. They are out there, just be patient.    

[RGA]

67 cuda is a nice ride. slap a 340 and a 4 speed in that thing and cruise it. I got my wife a 66 cuda, A bodys are easy to make go fast. But your right about having to have a charger, I HAD to have one too. If you HAVE to have a charger there is a 69 here in Albuquerque sitting in a barn that the dude wants $10,000 for. Needs full resto but its a good starter, he would probably come down on the price too.

[bbjones]

Thanks all.  That is exactly what I needed... a little reassurance and reality check

Yes, I will wait.  I've generally been a very patient person... but once you get Charger fever lookout!  It's worse than quitting smoking ffs!

I will indeed wait.

My budget is ideally something under $10k.  Something like a Joe Dirt driver (but not a Daytona).  I've thought about it this way... if the same conditon car was a 1982 Ford Taurus, they would be paying me to haul it away, not asking for what could be a down payment on a house

I've been watching the add sites for ages and a recent check throughout the USA reveals many (on average at least 1 per major city) of 1969 mostly complete drivers for under $10k... so I know they are out there, again my problem is they are in another country and 3,000+ miles away.  For a pile of crap like I'm looking for, I'd really like to see it before I buy it

69bronzeT5, where did you see those Vancouver cars for sale?  Craigslist?  UsedVancouver?  Lemontree?  I've been looking everywhere I can...

I guess my next question is what sites do you check for Mainland BC sales?

And I think this thread is done then. I'm not buying the 'cuda.  I passed on a '66 charger as well.  I'll go post something in the wanted forum...

Cheers everyone

[nvrbdn]

hang in there. one will come your way. good luck with the search

[elanmars]

can you point me in the direction of the '69 drivers under 10K? not finding a single one...

[bbjones]

Ok well they aren't all ready to turnkey drivers, but close enough to what I was looking for

Mostly my complaint is I have zero under $20k to even go look at let alone anything close to $10 that might need a weekend getting running again.

I just search Craigslist US Cities one at a time as listed by CL, not even checking other regions... here's what I saw.

I only searched for 1969, no '68 or '70s.

Atlanta
1970 $8500 http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/2590742050.html
1969 $15k http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/2571499475.html

Chicago
1969 General Lee $13k http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/2645481136.html

Dallas
1969 $14k http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/2612555114.html
1969 project $12k http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/2588994691.html

Detroit
1969 General $15k http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/cto/2587689106.html

Houston
1969 Needs some assembly $9950 http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/2553222074.html

Florida
1969 $16k http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/cto/2552190733.html

Minneapolis
1969 General $7950 (sold since last look) http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/cto/2631100807.html

Palm Springs
1969 $10k http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/2649182993.html

Philadelphia
1969 $4000 (not a driver) http://southjersey.craigslist.org/cto/2586657201.html

Phoenix
1969 $10k (needs some assembly) http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/cto/2590398213.html

If I had all that to choose from close to where I live I'd own one by now.

Cheers

[bbjones]

As another example, I'd buy this in a second if it was close enough to visit and didn't need to cross a border...

1968 $13k
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/cto/2642953792.html

[Paul G]

It's not the easiest thing to do, but can you travel to get it? There are lots of deals out there, if you can go to them. I bought a car in Texas when I was living near Chicago, Illinois. Made a long weekend out of it. Sold that car to a guy from Atlanta, he flew up and drove it home. Got lucky with my 72, it was local. My 73 was sold to another guy in Texas, I was still near Chicago then. He had it shipped. 

[Cooter]

Under $10K driver?.....Hmmmm, Why would it have to be a driver? I mean, when I bought mine, it was a parts car. No dash, No wiring, no interior, no engine, no trans, no rear, wrecked on the passenger side with bent frame rail, rust in both quarters, winshield busted, roof had rust holes in it, trunk lid gone, finally got it loaded and fell off the trailer into a creek, and no title.....




Traded a 440 block for it...That's cheap..Put $6500.00 in it and am driving it for 9 years. How bad you got "Charger Fever"?

[bbjones]

Well... it's mostly because I'm living in a condo right now and don't have a shop handy to spend weeks/months working on something.  I've got options for weekend stuff, but nothing full time really.

The plan was to buy the Charger first, the house with a garage second for the eventual resto

And to answer your question... I got it bad

And Paul, I can travel etc but that effects the overall price.  My biggest problem is thinking about having to deal with bringing a US car into Canada that is a rusty POS.  And again ideally, I'm close enough to visit the car to check it out before buying... but beggars can't be choosers.

[elanmars]

Under $10K driver?.....Hmmmm, Why would it have to be a driver? I mean, when I bought mine, it was a parts car. No dash, No wiring, no interior, no engine, no trans, no rear, wrecked on the passenger side with bent frame rail, rust in both quarters, winshield busted, roof had rust holes in it, trunk lid gone, finally got it loaded and fell off the trailer into a creek, and no title.....




Traded a 440 block for it...That's cheap..Put $6500.00 in it and am driving it for 9 years. How bad you got "Charger Fever"?

not everyone has the time, the expertise, the space-that's my issue but i'm not unwilling to learn or unwilling to put time and serious effort into it. i'd love to be taught how to restore a car properly! if you can point me in the right direction as to how i would go about that (like books you'd recommend?), that'd be awesome, as a major project like that i'd have to "farm out"-I'm lucky I have good friends that are able to take care of the mechanical kinks and upgrades to the cars i've had and they have connections, so body work and paint wouldn't be ridiculous if i needed it but still. i rather start with something solid/half decent first. major projects like that are more for guys like you that know what they're doing and can do it right. how did you learn? just wondering. i'd love to tackle a project and have someone teach me right, i'm patient and meticulous enough as a person and willing to put my time in.

[70 Charger RT]

Get what you want, or you won't want what you get!

If you REALLY want a Charger, then hold off for one.  What I've learned in life is don't "settle" for anything?  You WILL be disappointed.

[Paul G]

I have to say that I have had the "Joneses" really bad before myself. We all have. Motorcycles, Corvettes, and Mopars. Having lived through it, I have to say it' a lot like Herpes, once you got it you can't get rid of it.  

My advice is to just stay on the hunt for a Mopar. They are all good. Get the car in the very best condition you can find within your budget. Buying a car you do not have the ability to restore, and won't be proud of is no fun.

Keep in mind, unless you have the ability to do all the work yourself, it is more expensive to restore a car than it is to purchase one that is done or almost done. And even doing all the work yourself, you get the resale value reaching your break even point. Thats a topic for whole nother thread!

Now I am going to rain on your parade. Buying a classic Mopar before you have a place to store it, and work on it, is doing it backwards.  

[bill440rt]

not everyone has the time, the expertise, the space-that's my issue but i'm not unwilling to learn or unwilling to put time and serious effort into it. i'd love to be taught how to restore a car properly! if you can point me in the right direction as to how i would go about that (like books you'd recommend?), that'd be awesome, as a major project like that i'd have to "farm out"-I'm lucky I have good friends that are able to take care of the mechanical kinks and upgrades to the cars i've had and they have connections, so body work and paint wouldn't be ridiculous if i needed it but still. i rather start with something solid/half decent first. major projects like that are more for guys like you that know what they're doing and can do it right. how did you learn? just wondering. i'd love to tackle a project and have someone teach me right, i'm patient and meticulous enough as a person and willing to put my time in.

I know this ties into the time/money issue, but do you have a local community college or vo-tech school that offers night classes in auto body or auto mechanics? That's how I learned years ago when I was young. 1 year of auto body school, then another 1/2 year of night classes. What was good about it, is that you were able to work on your own car if you wanted to. So, you got to learn AND fix your car at the same time.
A book will teach you the how-to steps, but hands on experience will teach you the know-how.

Mechanical repairs came from reading books, hands-on trial & error, learning from friends or helping them fix their cars, etc.

It's kind of like comparing it to learning how to play a musical instrument. You're not going to take it out of it's case & crank out Mozart. It takes years of learning, practicing, learning, practicing, etc.

[bbjones]

...

Now I am going to rain on your parade. Buying a classic Mopar before you have a place to store it, and work on it, is doing it backwards. 

In my case I have most of the skills and access to some facilities.  I've had 50+ crappy cars and kept them all on the road.  My dad is a shop foreman at a Chev dealership so I learned from him most of my life and have some weekend access to his shop and tools.  My uncle builds hot rods but is a couple hours away.  I could likely leave the car there for a few weeks if I had something more involved to do.  Or at least do a few weekend trips to his place to get work done.

But as far as a multi-month restoration goes, that waits for a house with a garage which is why I want something ugly but runs now.  Until then I can carry my tools with the car and fix it wherever it decides to take a nap

If you REALLY want a Charger, then hold off for one.  What I've learned in life is don't "settle" for anything?  You WILL be disappointed.

And yeah, that's the plan now.  Hold off until the right car comes along...

Oh and I don't need to rely on the car either.  I cycle to work and usually only drive once or twice a week which I can easily get by without if needed.

[69bronzeT5]

69bronzeT5, where did you see those Vancouver cars for sale?  Craigslist?  UsedVancouver?  Lemontree?  I've been looking everywhere I can...

I guess my next question is what sites do you check for Mainland BC sales?

They were on Craigslist. I usually just check Vancouver Craigslist. There is usually a few here and there on UsedVictoria also.

[Dino]

I looked at the links you posted and those cars are not really 'drivers'.  They might start up, but I wouldn't count on them doing much more, these cars need a lot of attention.  I saw that 'General' in Detroit, it's a piece of junk.

We have all been in your shoes (not literally, that would be weird), we have all looked for a car with a nice amount of cash in hand, knowing that it probably isn't enough.  If you want a driver, a car you can get in, turn the key and go without risking your life, you know you're going to have to spend a little bit more than $10K.  Even in this economy, they're not going cheap.  There's always good deals to be found but you have to be patient grasshopper.

I looked at tons of '69's and I can assure you, you want to get the best car you can afford from the get go so you have something decent to begin iinstead of buying the cheaper one that needs a bit more 'tlc' or you'll end up like so many that have a classic under a tarp in the backyard that 'one day' will be restored.

The best deals I found were, funny enoug, usually good running R/T's in the $20K-$25K range and of course it goes way up from there depending on condition and rarity.  They are not show cars but very nice, reliable drivers.  Too bad I didn't want an R/T as I wanted to slightly resto-mod mine and I will not modify a numbers matching car, R/T or not.  The wife wanted a big block though so by chance we came across an R/T clone that once was a 318 car. The owner responded to a wanted ad I placed on CL, he wasn't planning on selling but he hardly drove the car anymore and since he had a second baby on the way he thought he'd stick a price on it and see what I would do.

The car was exactly what we wanted, 318 car with original drivetrain replaced by a '71 squad car drivetrain, mild street 440 with 5000 miles on it since rebuild(makes for very happy wife), freshly rebuilt 727, 8 3/4 rear, hd suspension and beefy torsion bars.  Untouched interior (with minor wear but unmolested), original a/c car (really wanted that) and in great driver condition.  Very minor rust issues considering its age and really straight body.  The only issue is the lower rear valance, the owner backed into something and it was badly repaired.  It looks fine at first glance but rust has found it's way behind the panel and created two 2x2" holes in the rear crossmember, it's also getting some bubbling on the lower quarters and rockers but again, for it's age it's really not bad.
As soon as I saw the car pull out of his garage I knew it was the one I'd been looking for.  I actually had that feeling weeks before when he sent me the pictures and info on the car but I didn't want to get my hopes up yet again.  I had seen many '69's up to this point and all were a disappointment one way or another, it never felt like it was the one.  It's funny, I bought it 4 weeks ago and it feels like I've had it for years, as if it belongs here with me.  When I walked around it I didn't feel like oh crap, not another one of those hacked up basket cases with shiny paint, I actually started to shake, when I opened the door and it didn't sag my hopes really shot up and once I sat down and turned the key I was sold.  Purred like a kitten on steroids at 800rpm, steady as a rock.

The car came with a bunch of parts including a spare grille, we settled on $15K and I've been driving it nearly every day since I got it, it's awesome, undescribable feeling.  It's also a good feeling knowing the car is in great mechanical shape and you feel you can trust it.  I have driven it over country roads for 4-5 hours at a time and just took it on the freeway for a one hour trip averaging 80 mph.  It runs like butter...only louder.

Save your dough, find the car you want, do not settle for anything less or you will regret it. 

If you see a car you can afford and you don't feel 100% right about it, if you feel that somehow it may not be the best buy although you really want a Charger, WALK AWAY!!!!

You KNOW what you want so do what you have to do to find your dream, don't settle.

You seem to know plenty about cars, go buy a nice Mustang or Chevy wiith what you have, clean it up, flip it, make a few bucks, rinse and repeat until you can afford YOUR Charger.