69 Charger barn find on ebay, cleanest ever?

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

I would have to disagree. I looked at a 1969 R/T this past winter (T7, black int./top) with a bad Dukes Orange repaint.

Owner was full of $h!^ with respect to the description. Asking $23,500, I figured the car was solid overall however, when I went to look at it, every body panel had rust through, somewhere.
The rear deck had a 1/4" of filler, chipping away. Floors had patches, trunk was gone on the side (could see pavement) and while the eng. was #s matching, the trans was not. Ohhh, and the owner forgot to say it did not run and the brakes were disassembled.

I walked away at $16k, knowing the car would need $15k-$20k worth of work. Better to find a solid car to begin with...

So... Compared to the untouched barn car, what is the better deal?

Sounds like some scored their cars (like the 99 99 orange 69) however, compared to most I have seen, the barn car looks like a good car...

[Mike DC]

 
It does cry out for the GL paint.  (It even has the vinyl top trim ready to go.)  But I wouldn't do it to this one.  Too nice a survivor the way it is.

I wish cars like this didn't get restored as often as they do.  Restorations are all well and good for the hobby, but the fact is restorers are doing all that work to try to imitate what this car is right now.  A few scuffs & scrapes don't take much away from that IMHO.  

[greenpigs]

It does cry out for the GL paint.  (It even has the vinyl top trim ready to go.)  But I wouldn't do it to this one.  Too nice a survivor the way it is.


I wish cars like this didn't get restored as often as they do.  Restorations are all well and good for the hobby, but the fact is restorers are doing all that work to try to imitate what this car is right now.  A few scuffs & scrapes don't take much away from that IMHO.  

Except for repairing rust I think leaving it as is would be better. Once it is restored it will be just a breakdown of options setting it apart from all the restorations.

It is only original once.

[Mike DC]

    
I might fix the dented LF corner though.  

No modern paintjob perfection.  If you let a good bodyman "do it right" then he'll wanna go into longboard block-sanding on the fender, and then it will be repainting the whole fender skin to the edges, etc.  By that point you might as well just start ordering AMD panels and block-sanding the whole car.  That stuff can wait for a bigger restoration in the future.


For now I would try to make it as straight as possible but I would stick to minimally-invasive work.  Do it like the dealership would've done it when the car was young.  Maybe even err towards the lower end of that amount of rework.  Pull the dent without ever taking the fender off the car, and then reshoot just the sanded area with period-correct low gloss paint.

[The70RT]

It has rust around the back window and in the trunk so that would need attention more than anything...I would think.

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

It does cry out for the GL paint.  (It even has the vinyl top trim ready to go.)  But I wouldn't do it to this one.  Too nice a survivor the way it is.

I wish cars like this didn't get restored as often as they do.  Restorations are all well and good for the hobby, but the fact is restorers are doing all that work to try to imitate what this car is right now.  A few scuffs & scrapes don't take much away from that IMHO.  

Not doing a resto is the best thing for that car! It is way too original looking on the pics! 

[WB General Lee]

Very nice 1968 by the way. I wonder why they didnt keep the hubcaps on the car? If they were stolen I would have put a set on the car before I listed it. How much did it bring in 2008? Thats a great color and no way I would restore. It would be a great conversation piece at shows. What C-500 did you sell?

[rarefish]

I thought the bidding would have gone a little higher that it did. If I owned it I would just clean it up but not restore it. Seeing nicely restored cars is pretty easy to do in this age. Just go to most any car show. Coming across an original untouched survivor car today is a much rarer experience. I'm sure that this car could be made to look much more presentably without going through a resto. project.

[Mike DC]

                                    
People first started restoring cars because finding brand new condition cars was becoming a rare thing.   But now the hobby has gradually shifted to where unrestored (nice) cars are much rarer than nice restorations.  So now that has become the hot thing.  

And it will probably stay this way.  More nice restorations can be created in the future, more nice unrestored cars cannot.    

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

Very nice 1968 by the way. I wonder why they didnt keep the hubcaps on the car? If they were stolen I would have put a set on the car before I listed it. How much did it bring in 2008? Thats a great color and no way I would restore. It would be a great conversation piece at shows. What C-500 did you sell?

The link on an earlier page reported the car sold for $25k in 2008. What is originality worth? 

[TUFCAT]

It has rust around the back window and in the trunk so that would need attention more than anything...I would think.

How about the huge dent in the left front fender! 

[PocketThunder]

Very nice 1968 by the way. I wonder why they didnt keep the hubcaps on the car? If they were stolen I would have put a set on the car before I listed it. How much did it bring in 2008? Thats a great color and no way I would restore. It would be a great conversation piece at shows. What C-500 did you sell?

This one.  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,30500.0.html

[WB General Lee]

I would say that car is easily worth 25k maybe even 30k to the right guy. I would pay 25 myself but have too many toys right now. Nice C-500 by the way. I love to see the 500 in progress. How much furthur is it? I am going to dig up some pictures I had from years ago. They were all kinds of 500's needing restoration. Dave Padik had a few wonder what happened to those?

[PocketThunder]

I would say that car is easily worth 25k maybe even 30k to the right guy. I would pay 25 myself but have too many toys right now. Nice C-500 by the way. I love to see the 500 in progress. How much furthur is it? I am going to dig up some pictures I had from years ago. They were all kinds of 500's needing restoration. Dave Padik had a few wonder what happened to those?

I sold it last year to buy my current Charger.  It went to a gold miner in montana.  It needed $20,000 worth of parts and 2,000 hours worth of work.  I have 3 little kids under 5 that are more important to spend my time with.  So i bought my survivor R/T, rebuilt the engine and now i just drive the wheels of it with the kids in the back.

[WB General Lee]

Very cool. I will buy one in the near future as I always wanted one. Sold my Superbird years ago but I was always into the Charger. Daytonas are to high now cant have fun with them I would be to paraniod. To bad I didnt take advantage of the deals long ago

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

I would say that car is easily worth 25k maybe even 30k to the right guy. I would pay 25 myself but have too many toys right now. 

Like I said, what is the price for originality?


Nice, original, relatively rust-free Chargers are nearly impossible to find... And who knows what is beneath a "restoration", true?? 

[hemi-hampton]

I would say that car is easily worth 25k maybe even 30k to the right guy. I would pay 25 myself but have too many toys right now. 

Like I said, what is the price for originality?


Nice, original, relatively rust-free Chargers are nearly impossible to find... And who knows what is beneath a "restoration", true?? 

True, But seems to me most people would pay more for a Charger with a nice new shiny paint job then dull door dinged one from my personal experiance. LEON.

[WB General Lee]

Ok I will take one of each

[1969chargerrtse]

I still stick to the point of it's not nice enough to leave original and would cost a ton to restore, so even though it looks decent it needs a ton of money to be just another restored car.  Who wants a dented rusted old car?  It's a great candidate to restore but the selling price has to be low enough to make up for all the body work etc...  Once the body is shiny, then this and that get replaced to match and up and up the price goes.  I paid 30k for mine and it had a great body and dumped another 15 in it and have more to go.  Is my car worth 45k in today's time.  To me.....NO.  But it ain't for sale so I don't care.  

[66FBCharger]

I would get the car mechanically reliable and drive it the way it is (with the exception of a good cleaning and detailing). The dents and scratches don't bother me. I would probably fix the rust in the trunk in the future.I wouldn't want to make the car undriveable for a long period of time.
I would consider paying in the 20K range. I love the colors. I would have to see the car in person before I spent that amount of money.
The one drawback for me is it is not a 4 speed. If it was a 4 speed it would be easier to spend the money. i love the 69 Chargers and I would be buying the car for me to enjoy, not as an investment.

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

I would get the car mechanically reliable and drive it the way it is (with the exception of a good cleaning and detailing). The dents and scratches don't bother me. I would probably fix the rust in the trunk in the future.

  The beauty of that car is its originality. The only rust is a very little bit at the base of the rear window - where they ALL rust. The rest is solid and I bet a good paintless dent guy can do wonders for that fender 

[The70RT]

I would get the car mechanically reliable and drive it the way it is (with the exception of a good cleaning and detailing). The dents and scratches don't bother me. I would probably fix the rust in the trunk in the future.

  The beauty of that car is its originality. The only rust is a very little bit at the base of the rear window - where they ALL rust. The rest is solid and I bet a good paintless dent guy can do wonders for that fender 

Maybe so, but the cleanest ever....not hardly. The one Pocket Thunder got is waaaaay better condition that that one. A 40 year old vinyl top couldn't look to good either. If you can see rust around the window with the trim on there is most likely a lot more that you can't see 

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

...vinyl roof looked perfect 

[Charger-Bodie]

If someone took the time to detail this car from top to bottom, it would be getting a totally different review. If it were as clean and shiny as possible everyones mind would automatically go to thinking that it was babied and had great car its whole life.If you ask me a great detail is what held this car back for demanding a lot more cash.   

[1969chargerrtse]

I don't know. Rusty bumpers, gas tank , torn front seat, both front fenders with dents and I think the hood doesn't match or is paint worn.  I think it's the kinda car that after it was cleaned up someone would show it around for awhile and then come to realize it needs a total restoration and then realize they paid to much to do that. Hard call?  But I do understand why some people think it's a clean survivor.  Very hard call to keep original or restore, as posted before it needs to be cleaned up and seen in person.

My question is, are those correct exhaust tips?  I thought they had a belly shape to them like a Bass.