1969 R/T SE parts car - Should I buy it.

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

...I'll go out on a limb and say that grill isn't worth the money some may have thought 

[djcarguy]

  if frame rails and floor are good,the front can be fixed..  make a rare rt/se daytona--topless???whole front needs skinned and roof is or looks rotten. but with new skin nowdays and all, the thing can be saved.  wont know till it is cleaned out and up in air to check rails and it bottom end,good luck with it..
  looks like they sold fender and seats,but some grill is still good?

[Dino]

That's gonna need a patch panel or two....

Unless you have deep pockets that my friend is a parts car.  It needs everything.  Sure it can be fixed but you'll never get your money back.  If the car has your dream fender tag then it would be one heck of a project to bring it back to life!

[Old Moparz]

...I'll go out on a limb and say that grill isn't worth the money some may have thought 

I was thinking the same thing. The grille has pieces missing, huge cracks, areas are shifted up, down, backwards all over the place. Don't forget, having been outside for so long it's probably more fragile than a pretzel stick from UV damage. All I see is a parts car, but I know some people have restored cars just as bad or worse, & they look nice now. If it was bought for $1500 & has a rebuildable drive train I think you did okay.

[Surf Charger]

 if frame rails and floor are good,the front can be fixed..  make a rare rt/se daytona--topless???whole front needs skinned and roof is or looks rotten. but with new skin nowdays and all, the thing can be saved.  wont know till it is cleaned out and up in air to check rails and it bottom end,good luck with it..
 looks like they sold fender and seats,but some grill is still good?

Floor is pretty rotton. Some of the parts inside have caved through the center to the ground. It would definitely take some work to restore it. Anything is possible. I'm sure the frame in upper right passenger area is bent. Couldn't get underneath to see what the frame looked like...but considering its been sitting exposed for as long as it has, I imagine a lot has rusted out.

As far as the front grill, the only thing salvageable is the black mesh inserts and the headlight covers. Surprisingly those are in great shape with no cracks even though they are all shifted up and down. Since it has sat under trees behind a fence, it doesn't get any sunlight so the UV has not damaged it hardly at all...not to mention being covered in pine needles helped it i guess.

Engine/Tranny/rear axle should all be good to rebuild. A few interior parts can be salvaged....A lot will need to be skinned if it were to be restored...I was going to pick it for parts to transfer to my Charger. But I would hate to dissect a piece of history that could be brought back to life by someone. I wouldn't have the time/funds to restore it fully. Guess after I clean it out and get a closer look at everything, I'll be able to go from there and determine if I'm going to use the parts myself or re-sell it to someone that could restore it completely.

[Dino]

 if frame rails and floor are good,the front can be fixed..  make a rare rt/se daytona--topless???whole front needs skinned and roof is or looks rotten. but with new skin nowdays and all, the thing can be saved.  wont know till it is cleaned out and up in air to check rails and it bottom end,good luck with it..
 looks like they sold fender and seats,but some grill is still good?

Floor is pretty rotton. Some of the parts inside have caved through the center to the ground. It would definitely take some work to restore it. Anything is possible. I'm sure the frame in upper right passenger area is bent. Couldn't get underneath to see what the frame looked like...but considering its been sitting exposed for as long as it has, I imagine a lot has rusted out.

As far as the front grill, the only thing salvageable is the black mesh inserts and the headlight covers. Surprisingly those are in great shape with no cracks even though they are all shifted up and down. Since it has sat under trees behind a fence, it doesn't get any sunlight so the UV has not damaged it hardly at all...not to mention being covered in pine needles helped it i guess.

Engine/Tranny/rear axle should all be good to rebuild. A few interior parts can be salvaged....A lot will need to be skinned if it were to be restored...I was going to pick it for parts to transfer to my Charger. But I would hate to dissect a piece of history that could be brought back to life by someone. I wouldn't have the time/funds to restore it fully. Guess after I clean it out and get a closer look at everything, I'll be able to go from there and determine if I'm going to use the parts myself or re-sell it to someone that could restore it completely.

IF you buy it and part it out I would be interested in the center piece mesh of the grille, I have a spare that's missing half of that section.

[XS29LA47V21]

Wow sounds like it was a beautiful car. If I owned a body shop I would do a nice slow body swap without telling anyone and put that baby back on the road.

Yeah, what goes on behind close doors stays behind close doors.

Wow, what a shame. If it was a four speed car I'd be a little more compassionate but I'm gonna side on parts car.  

 Ditto, not to stir the pot be augmentative but.... really.   Obviously we all have great opinions in our own minds which is good for the car and the hobby in the long run chasing different cars....

That perspective is funny to me, maybe more sad (again & again, I am sure I am funny to others too I suppose), so this is what I see, my twisted thoughts are on the other side obviously towards original cars, even with a repaint (to avoid the survivor topic) after nearly 30yrs of up grading to nicer optioned cars  to me(and in my price range) you would not walk up on any of mine from 20feet and wonder if it was "real" by colors or options and if I make 70, I would expect most of my cars will have similar characteristics.  That type of car is refreshing to me frankly these days to see an original old car and to be a middle aged but old man, you can keep all that wonder if it is real optioned car or color car crap, I will continue to chase the original cars even if a little rougher, thanks.  For example, I have a local friend bought a restored A12 RR some time ago and just this past month for a brief wk or so he had some real worries if it was even a real A12 or rebodied car, in this case apparently it is "real A12 car" but it has allot of items not correct or date correct details.  That is part of the problem with some people and some cars within our hobby or business to many....most people do not want to be taken.....I would feel taken if I bought a rebodied car.

On this threads car, nice options on nice color, if it was a Daytona everyone would be saying save it.    Some would say here is a case of the extent of remove and replace with AMD or whatever is sorta approaching a rebody by logic also.  That appears VERY rusty to me and wrecked, you will not hear me say it very often on a nice optioned rare Charger, maybe the belly is nice, but not likely, but appears more of a parts car to me.

[Mikesmoparperformance]

WOW looks good , not so bad as i thought it whas . If it was my choice i would still restore the car because of the options it has and it is a RT!  That is worth the money ! This car is not worth te be used for a parts car.

[greenpigs]

It depends on your skill level I think doing bodywork if it is worth saving.

Myself it would be a big mistake tackling the car, but someone like Dino(Doc) or Dads69 would be able to handle it. Now if they would want to is another matter.
To pay someone for the work needed would be out of most peoples range & it is a cool color combo but not sure if that's enough.

[Surf Charger]

Well lets just say it does not have a broadcast sheet and all that remains of the fender tag is two rusted screw posts....so knowing what the original color/options would be tough to find out. It seems that those are the original colors.

By the way, where was the button to activate the rear defrost in SE chargers?

[Daytona R/T SE]

By the way, where was the button to activate the rear defrost in SE chargers?

Above the gauge cluster, sticking down just ahead of the dashpad.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Looks like it's about $10K worth of AMD sheetmetal plus whatever labor... and the rest of the missing parts.


Unless you got about $50K and a lot of time ...    I'd let it slide.      Can't fix 'em all          And the people that think they can all be saved aren't bankrolling the project. 

[charger_fan_4ever]

Could be saved and probably on the road for $35k if you did everything yourself and just bought $12K AMD parts $3-4k Interior $3-5K drivetrain refresh.

I'll have somewhere near than in my 70 RT. It needed the works panel wise, full floor too. The frame rails and unibody were solid.

IMO once the unibody is toast IE framerails,inner rockers she is too far gone let her die, unless its a Hemi car.

[Surf Charger]

Could be saved and probably on the road for $35k if you did everything yourself and just bought $12K AMD parts $3-4k Interior $3-5K drivetrain refresh.

I'll have somewhere near than in my 70 RT. It needed the works panel wise, full floor too. The frame rails and unibody were solid.

IMO once the unibody is toast IE framerails,inner rockers she is too far gone let her die, unless its a Hemi car.

I could swing it as an investment but no way I could do the body work myself. That is a craft not fully appreciated. One day I will learn. Once I clean it up...do a proper inspection and see just how weathered it iw, Ill go from there. Otherwise I will be picking some parts and rebuilding the engine, tranny and rear axle to swap into my current driver to produce an RT clone. Its a real shame the previous owner never covered it up. Amazing what a $20 cover or just a tarp would have done. Had it been properly stored all these years, it would still be in excellent shape.

[The70RT]

Could be saved and probably on the road for $35k if you did everything yourself and just bought $12K AMD parts $3-4k Interior $3-5K drivetrain refresh.

I'll have somewhere near than in my 70 RT. It needed the works panel wise, full floor too. The frame rails and unibody were solid.

IMO once the unibody is toast IE framerails,inner rockers she is too far gone let her die, unless its a Hemi car.

I could swing it as an investment but no way I could do the body work myself. That is a craft not fully appreciated. One day I will learn. Once I clean it up...do a proper inspection and see just how weathered it iw, Ill go from there. Otherwise I will be picking some parts and rebuilding the engine, tranny and rear axle to swap into my current driver to produce an RT clone. Its a real shame the previous owner never covered it up. Amazing what a $20 cover or just a tarp would have done. Had it been properly stored all these years, it would still be in excellent shape.

Even a tarp wouldn't have saved a car sitting outside that long. All a tarp does is collect moister. If the frame rails are still there and the fender tag and maybe a build sheet then it may be.

[Surf Charger]

Could be saved and probably on the road for $35k if you did everything yourself and just bought $12K AMD parts $3-4k Interior $3-5K drivetrain refresh.

I'll have somewhere near than in my 70 RT. It needed the works panel wise, full floor too. The frame rails and unibody were solid.

IMO once the unibody is toast IE framerails,inner rockers she is too far gone let her die, unless its a Hemi car.

I could swing it as an investment but no way I could do the body work myself. That is a craft not fully appreciated. One day I will learn. Once I clean it up...do a proper inspection and see just how weathered it iw, Ill go from there. Otherwise I will be picking some parts and rebuilding the engine, tranny and rear axle to swap into my current driver to produce an RT clone. Its a real shame the previous owner never covered it up. Amazing what a $20 cover or just a tarp would have done. Had it been properly stored all these years, it would still be in excellent shape.

Even a tarp wouldn't have saved a car sitting outside that long. All a tarp does is collect moister. If the frame rails are still there and the fender tag and maybe a build sheet then it may be.

Nope...no fender tag (rusted away..only two rusted screw posts left), no broadcast sheet.....its a parts car in my book.

[charger_fan_4ever]

Considering a nice restored R/T with a clean body can be had in the 30-40K range it would be tough to buy $20k in parts and pay atleast $20k in labour to get it done. Estimate $40k probably ends up more like $60k.

Yes in the end its cheaper to buy a restored car, But once a car is painted its not always evident what is under the paint. When i was looking for a car i saw a lot of $15-20K drivers that really needed the same work/parts my 5k project needed.

Restored is good if its all documented to show what was done. Wouldn't want to pay $40K for a car that a guy patched on for a year and then covered the whole body in platic filler.

If you restore the car or have it done by someone you trust you will know what you have when its done.

[Cooter]

I see that car back on the road...or at least the VIN and option tag...Too many investors looking at it from the wrong angle. I've fixed worse. But, I'm running out of time and can't repair the cars I have. Buy it, strip and ship it...Parts will make a fortune. One dies so many can live.

[Surf Charger]

Funny cause the pic in this ad for the '69 RT SE has the same color setup and the one I picked up, minus the luggage rack.

[Brock Lee]

I believe that ad car is bronze.

[tippytoe]

I would have bought it in a heartbeat. That would been the perfect parts car for my RT/SE 4 speed car I purchased last summer. Mine is missing the engine (but still has the trans & Dana) as well as some trim, glass, and lots of small odds & ends missing.

[ChargerSG]

I would had bought it right away, sadly i think to many would just do a vin swap

[GordonGriggs]

Ive seen people here sell cars in worst shape for $1500. If it comes with a title I think it would be worth it.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Where is it? 

It might have everything I need...

[nvrbdn]

yep did you drag it home? clean it out? change your mind? pic's pic's and more pic's