looking at a 70 charger and have a few question

[randy73]

Was told somebody left a bag of fertilizer in the trunk, well both frame rails are complete gone behind the rear seat pan back on both sides. Needs
LR quarter, front left and rear wheel well patches and has surface rust about everywhere and several nickel to quarter size holes around the rear window, firewall looks good  and front frame rails look really good.

Not sure what it is called, but the steel brace the runs right under the tail light panel is rusted out. Guy wants $3500 and it is also need engine, tranny, wiring and front seats, plus all interior recovered and has no gauges. it was originally a 318 car and I have a 440 & 727, owe and needs a driveshaft and has 8 1/4 rear end.

I am thinking I have almost $5,000 just in body panel parts, plus $3,500-5,000 in misc pieces, not counting paint. While I am not trying to flip the car, is a 70 worth all this effort?

Also, I would need a shop to media blast and put the panels in for me, how much would they charge and the shop I am thinking about charges $70/hr.

TIA

[NHCharger]

Sounds like you basically need everything. Can you post any pics of the car? If you sub out any of the body work you are looking at some serious coin

[1974dodgecharger]

shop will charger more than 70/hour well in the states that is.  Basic shops that do regular work such as sears/meinkee, etc..basic places charger 90/hour im sure a body shop will charge even more.

[randy73]

I am in a rural area and the shop near me charges $70/hr, I checked.

[fy469rtse]

That's the normal amount of rust to expect with these cars, photos ? Xp car or better, if we could see car , could better advise you , I started with worse by the sound of it many times but photos would help

[randy73]

That's the normal amount of rust to expect with these cars, photos ? Xp car or better, if we could see car , could better advise you , I started with worse by the sound of it many times but photos would help

I forgot to take photos, what can I say, I am a rookie. It is a base charger, fender tag has a lot of surface rust, so it was hard to read.

[Kern Dog]

A rusted but complete car may be worth that $3500. When the expensive & hard to find stuff is missing, the initial price should be proportionally less. The grilles on these cars always seems to be a "one year only" design and the 70 year model only resulted in approx 46,000 cars.
I love the 1970 Charger styling and wouldn't hesitate to spend the $3500 if it were complete.

[1974dodgecharger]

I am in a rural area and the shop near me charges $70/hr, I checked.

thats cheap.....I say go for it.

[cdr]

no way,find a more complete car.

[Dino]

If what you want is a project that will take a nice chunk of your lifetime to restore and will cost 2-3 times what a decent one goes for then I say you have found what you want.  Yes I'm a bit sarcastic but honestly that's pretty much how it is.

You could pay $15K - $20K for a good driver and tinker with it while you drive, or you can spend double that and hopefully find one that was done right.  The projects always end up costing more but if a project is what you want, then get the car that has the least parts missing.  Not drivetrain, those are plentiful but the parts unique to the charger need to be there or you will be spending like there's no tomorrow.

[NHCharger]

I have to agree with Charlie. Unless you have the skills to do the work yourself you will put far more into it than buying a decent driver.

I bought a 68 three years ago (link below). Paid 8.5k. Just checked the latest tally, have 22k into it, that's not including the purchase price. There was a lot of things I could have let go on the car ,such as all the weatherstripping being worn and tattered, chrome all pitted, etc. . . But once I started I decided to do it right which tends to cost more $$$.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,77549.0/all.html

BTW, Except for the engine and tranny rebuild I have done all the work including paint myself. I have a thread somewhere in the Charger section on that.

[Lord Warlock]

I wouldn't bother with it unless you have the skills to do the work yourself, you'll go broke paying a shop to fix all the fundamentals underneath.  You need a strong foundation to start with, and build upon, the cleaner the better.  It'd be far better to buy a driver from someone that could use a little body work or a new motor than buying a rust bucket.  Surprisingly it isn't the big metal pieces that usually drive you to bankruptcy, its the small trim pieces and accent pieces that will drive you nuts and empty your wallet, especially if you suffer from the "I can't put the old trashy part back on may as well get a new one" syndrome.  The closer you get to completion the more you tend to spend on needed parts, because you don't want to wait to find a good nos or used piece.

In this case, you're basically getting a rusty shell for 3500, all the important parts you'd have to get afterwards.  It'd be better to have all the parts to start with and just renew the worst of it as you go, and you'd be able to enjoy the car as you upgrade.