Letting your Charger rot to the ground

[Ghoste]

So we've alll encountered these barn find Chargers by now and heard the familiar "fix it up someday" phrase.  We have also pretty much all lamented the fact that those same cars will not likely ever see the road again.  So would you be able to make that decision for yourself?  What if it was your dream car or a Charger with great sentimental value, would you let it go or would it rot away in your back yard waiting for "someday"?

[twodko]

If I was truly honest with myself and knew I wouldn't be able to restore the car, I'd let it go. Problem is we always believe "we'll get to it".

[kab69440]

Nope. I will still own that pile of rusted dust.

[ChargerBill]

Well, I let mine go for a woman, and regret it...and I was only about a year away from finishing it. However, I have let about 6 cars go that I knew I didn't have the time or the money to finish...I hate to watch them rot while they're still restorable and honestly, it pisses me off when others let them rot instead of allowing them to be restored. Hoarding is a disease, so you can't really count sanity into the equation. That said, to each his own. They aren't mine, and the person who lets them rot must derrive some pleasure from it...somehow.

[TheGhost]

Already faced this problem with my Barracuda a few years ago.  I no longer own said Barracuda.  Better to sell her, and have her live on, than to watch her rot away.

I miss the car, and regret selling her, but honestly, she would have sat unchanged these past few years.

[Daytona R/T SE]

As long as they're inside, protected from the weather, I don't see a problem.

Outside in the rain and snow for more than a few months?

Get rid of them.

[Musicman]

As long as they're inside, protected from the weather, I don't see a problem.

Outside in the rain and snow for more than a few months?

Get rid of them.

I agree... Left to the elements is left for dead... Put it inside or give it up to someone who will take care of it.

[c00nhunterjoe]

I posted a pic of a 70 charger 500 a few months ago that is sitting under a tree rotting away. I finally stopped at the house ad ended up there for over 3 hours. The guy is nearly 80 years old. He bought it brand new. Long story short, he's "that guy". Going to get to it soon. It supposedly has a monster 440 in it and a built 727, dana 60 with 4.10s. Used to race it. Its been robbed of a lot of its parts and trim by punks that drive by at night but the drivetrain is still there.

Even cooler then the charger is the 69 roadrunner, 383 4 speed sitting behind the house, his brother bought it new. Lots of neat options on it. Such a shame to see 2 awesome cars rotting away. I tried to buy the roadrunner but he won't budge. Gonna fix it some day.

Really nice old guy with a ton of racing stories. Some so crazy that they had to be true. He's a retired machinistand showed me a bunch of the parts he made for the cars along with a jig he made to make his own 1\4 panels.  I plan on frequenting his house and making more attempts to get ahold of the roadrunner

[mauve66]

even if they are inside who says when your gone that the family will make sure they go to a "good" home or sit in someone elses backyard rusting away............... i worry about this since the kid has no mechanical interest and the wife could care less after all these years.............. i just keep thinking that "this" will be the year nothing else gets in the way..................

[will]

There is a 67 firebird, a 911 and a volkswagen bus down the street from my fathers house, rotting into the driveway. The tree that fell 3 years ago is still there, laying across one of the cars. I hafta go to my dads' house tomorrow, I'll post pics when I get home.

[buckeyecharger]

Recently, I found an original plum crazy 70 challenger in a driveway rotting away. Stopped by to take a look and found a nice surprise. This Nam vet came out of his old broken down trailer and started telling stories. I asked about the challenger and he did say he would sell it. Unfortunately, it has seen much better days. Original 383 still in it, but rust beyond belief. I lifted the hood and it almost folded in half. It did still have the fender tag though.

Now for the surprise... He asked if I liked Mopars, of course I said hell yeah and he told me to walk in his garage. There I found a 69 coronet 500 and a 69 Roadrunner! Both in very good condition. He started telling stories of drag racing them at Old Dragway 42 in Ohio. He was very proud of them. The Roadrunner was his buddies who died years ago.

Now here's a guy who looks like he couldn't rub 2 nickles together and he has these cars just sitting in the driveway/garage. He really looks like he could use the money so I'm going back to make a nice offer on the two cars in the garage, I want the RR and my nephew wants the Coronet. If it all goes well, I will post pics of all 3.

[bull]

I don't let anything sit and rot away so I sure wouldn't do that to a Charger. Don't let the poor car be about you and your issues.

[areibel]

I had to sell one, but it was hard!  I had a 70 Coronet convertible when I bought my 69 Charger, and I had to choose one.  I really didn't want to part with the vert, but it needed more than the Charger (both quarter skins, trunk floor and floor pans, etc..) and 70 parts were either priced right out of sight or a total mess.  I could have let it sit in the garage until I hit the Powerball but decided it was stupid to let it sit.

It helped that I sold it for about 4 times what I paid for it!
Al

[XH29N0G]

Interesting question. 

I am just starting to break the inertia and to fix the old charger (bench seat, 3 on the floor, 383 magnum base model charger) that my dad ordered from the factory as a family car in Jan 70 and was delivered that April.  I bought it when I went to college.  It probably was two things one a mid life chrisis of sorts with work and the second having saved up enough to start the process without jeopardizing family needs.  I also somehow convinced myself that we needed a second family car for me to deal with my kids weekend schedules. 

It was sentimental too - when I was a kid he said he thought it would be a bit much for a starting art history professor to drive a car with a nose cone and wing, so he ordered a car with a 3.23 suregrip and larger tires to be good in the snow and get good gas mileage. 

The hope is to have the body done by this Fall, the interior cleaned up, and then to figure out how to learn to build another engine (keep the original 383 which works well) and move on from there.

[Scaregrabber]

If I can't keep it inside I don't own it. Kind of sucks because I pass up a bunch of good project cars but it keeps it real.

Sheldon

[my73se400]

Since being a teenager and having to ride in the back of my brothers charger, where i got the first feels of the g/f, the 73 charger i just picked up as my first project car from a farmers field is a dream come true even though it will take alot of work, learning and cash, i can't wait to have it done and back on the road, its a shame that i had to rescue it in the condition it is in but it took alot of time and searching for the one I wanted. sometime in the future it will be turned over to the kid who will hopefully take care of it.

Damn I want it done already. Got have patience. Thats my two cents,, they should never have to rot away.

[AirborneSilva]

I knew that I didn't have the time, money or expertise to do my HLPAG "easy to do" restoration so I sold her for a bit loss but it was better than letter he just sit there and continue to rot.

[GordonGriggs]

I sold my 1968 Charger about  10 years ago because I knew it would be years before I had the time and money to fix it and I did not want to see it rot away.  I really regret it. I should have kept it. I should have rented a dry place, or kept it off the ground, and covered up . I won't make the same mistake again.

[myk]

I bought mine in '94, daily drove it for 3 years and just forgot about it.  Coupla years ago this site inspired me and helped me remember what car I truly loved and I started to save money.  I just got the car back from the body shop and the electrical place; I ran out of the money I saved for it (triple your budget, they always say), and I ended up going back into debt again, but as far as I'm concerned it is money well spent; there is NO excuse for neglecting this car; that's one of the biggest regrets I have in my life, as ridiculous as that might sound.  If someone else is tired of the car then IMO it's better to sell it to someone who will allow the car to live than to just rot away under a tarp somewhere...

[6pkrtse]

I have my red 70 Charger that has always been my driver/cruiser. I bought the 70' Challenger to go racing because I didn't want to cut up such a nice original car like the Charger to go racing. I now have another 70' Charger that is stored in doors at my parents, so it is technically not rotting away but I have no idea when I would ever get to it. I have many, many stories of the "one" I should of never sold & regretted it ever since. If I can help it, I will keep all three forever. I have 3 kids so each one will probably get one when I am gone. Hopefully, if they do not want them they will pass them along to someone else that will.

[AKcharger]

It used to make me angry but now that I have my 2 it's like "let 'em rot to the ground buddy...you're driving up the value of mine" Of course I may feel diffrently if I didn't alreay have a Charger

[sixpack70]

Two of my cars are sitting in El Paso right now. They won't rust down there! I will be working on my Charger next summer when we are reunited after almost 4 years. I can't wait!

[Cooter]

IMO, there's only ONE (1) reason these cars are left to rot outside. M-O-N-E-Y....Enough of it, and you'd be surprized at how many of these "Gonna restore it someday" cars could, well, begin to be restored....

Only problem is, the "Idiots" that are sitting on these things are looking for HUGE[READ Astronomical] amounts of money to let it go...Therefore, they continue to sit and rot. I don't believe ANYBODY when they make a statement about "Restoring it someday". The only reason they are gonna restore it someday is because they figure it isn't worth their huge asking price looking like a POS. Therefore, round and round it goes, where it stops? The crusher when the county,city, HOA, etc. finally makes them give it up to the lowest bidder.

If they truely wanted to restore it, IMO, they would be doing little things like building a lean to for it to sit under. Or something like Spray bombing the damn thing with some sorta paint to keep rust at bay...instead, they just figure it will sit out there under that tree and never rust.

I did one of these type cars the owner (Who I THOUGHT was a good friend), owned for over 14 years. The 1/4 windows had NEVER been down. Locked up. I put both rear quarters on it, Dutchman panel, Entiore rear window channel, both doors had to be worked, Hood was bent, Installed fiberglass fenders, then decided he wanted a set of metal ones that needed 2 weeks work, rebuilt the grille, installed all new interior, Rebuilt the entire drivetrain, installed a 4-speed where auto was, Swapped from 1970, to 1969, inner wheel wells, lower trunk ex., rear valance, painted TWICE, and all this BEFORE AMD "Easy metal".......


Did the whole f*cking thing for $1700.00.........With the promise he'd keep the car and He "Owed me one"....


Three weeks later it was sold to some guy in Germany for $25K..............Wasn't worth d8ck before, so he was "Gonna restore it", but once it was pretty, GONE.

[b5blue]

  I stored mine for more years than I care to remember. 135.00 per month, had it sat outside, even covered it would be beyond my capacity to repair. It owed me nothing after 7 years of hard daily driving working construction, getting me around and even a few interstate 1000 mile road trips. I worked on a car lot owned by a guy who had is own service station for 25 years. We ran the 20 or so cars he had on the lot 2 times a week come hell or high water. They break just sitting he always said. He is right all kinda things start going stale, my block got rust from the rings, in the bores from sitting for years so bad it needed to go .060 overbore to clean up proper. (The humidity is a beast in FL.) My car runs every week now no matter what, it's good for both the car and I.  Soon it will go back to work earning it's keep!

[Kern Dog]

It seems to me that for a person to let go of a beloved classic, in a way it is admitting that your life is over. Holding onto an old car is a gesture of hope that there is still some fire left inside. It is a sad situation.