looking at 69 Charger today...your thoughts

[Dreamcar]

Hi. I'm going to look at what has always been my dream car...a 69 charger for 8k. This is a long term project car. Currently, it's in primer and original engine is out but comes with the car.

Should I be concerned that the vin number on the trunk lid does not match all the others which do? A non matching engine would not bother me, but I don't know what to think about this. obviously a donor car has given up parts to save this one at one point over 40+ years.

I tell myself that many chargers are being saved by donor cars and reproduction panels, so this is no different. And, 69 Charger project cars, especially here in Canada, are not popping up for sale all the time. 

The car in question is not an RT, but a 383 column shift auto, so definitly not high dollar investment portfolio material.

I will likely never sell, but if I do I would disclose that its not a matching numbers car. Will I lose most of the value because of the wrong number on the trunk lid? 

your thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

[Dino]

I'm assuming you mean trunk lip instead of lid?

It is true that this may be a very innocent repair issue where the original trunk lip was too far gone and a donor was used to patch it in.  If it had been replaced with an AMD part, the vin would simply be gone.  But you want to know for sure this car is legit so take both numbers to your local dmv and see if they are legit.  If the car which vin matches the trunk lip is no longer registered but not reported stolen then you're good.  If that car is still registered however I'm sure I don't have to tell you to walk away.

Got pics?

[nvrbdn]

so the car took a hit to the rear sometime in its life. wheres the car fax?    ok, had to throw that in. welcome to the site first of all. i would not worry alot about the trunk lip matching, as long as the rest of the car matches the title. be sure the vin tag in the window looks to be original to the car and not replaced. if it has been replaced then you may have a car that took a heavy hit from the front and they "found" a non titled doner and swapped the vin tag and the front clip. that would be where the red flag would come from. other than that you could buy this thing and build it the way you want. enjoy it, and post some pic's. good luck with your purchase.

[nvrbdn]

looks like we had the same idea dino. your finger was a little faster. 

[BrianShaughnessy]

A trunk vin will not greatly affect the value of a base model...    obviously some people are more concerned about it than others. 

   This is something that should only be worried about if somebody is looking into big bux restos on HEMI cars or other limited production versions.


   The dash assembly with the vin riveted to it can be R+R'd more easily than the trunk...  and the core support is also easily replaced with the front clip off also. 


   In short,   if it's your dream and its attainable... go for it.   The metal work to replace quarters and such is probably more than what you're paying for the shell in primer.

[tan top]

 got any pictures 

[skip68]

My guess would be the front clip has been replaced.   How bad is the rust?    Good luck.   

[tan top]

have a look on the under side of the trunk gutter for any splicing in of metal , 

[charger_fan_4ever]

We need pics. Hard to tell what is under the primer as far as repairs goes. Could be good or very bad.

IMO the best bet is a turn key car or a project that is not in primer. Lots of 8-15k projects that have had hack work done and not worth more than a basket case as you need to undo their mess and redo it corectly.