40k on a rebuild??

[euroZ06]

so I'm looking to buy this 68. Guy has restored it for himself, and says it was a rotisserie restoration (about 7 years ago). He has restored everything, engine, tranny etc... 383, mild cam. Car looks pretty good. He says he drove it a lot, and has put about 40k miles on it since restoration. Is that a lot? should I be concerned? I see a lot of cars that say "1k mile since resto, 10k miles etc). Does 40k means its been proven a good rebuild? I'll drive the car hard... Should I be concerned?

[cbrestorations]

with the old style cast piston rings, bearings, seals and oil the life span of an older engine was about 100k miles, if he didnt upgrade any of those than i would assume the life of the engine in that car was almost half over. same with bushings, bearings and so on. assume the car is almost half used up and the better half at that.

[Mike DC]

          
A lot depends.  

Cast rings, low gears, and a heavy foot?  That engine is well worn by now.  

Moly rings, tall gears, and a light foot?  Not so bad.


The downside of a car with "1k miles since resto" is that the owner of that car probably restored it to sell it.  Aside from the small portion of cars with very valuable VINs, that is usually not a profitable business unless you cut corners.

[ht4spd307]

depends on what you pay for it, if you consider its been rebuilt its not 45 years old in a way thats if its been restored correctly . if you have to get a untouched car with rust ,worn engine,gear box, suspension ,brakes etc the list goes on every thing has to be rebuilt. so what your really starting with is a 4 year old car (10,000k a year)  its like buying a second hand car off a car dealer with 40k if that makes sense.is that what you want ?

[euroZ06]

         
A lot depends.  

Cast rings, low gears, and a heavy foot?  That engine is well worn by now.  

Moly rings, tall gears, and a light foot?  Not so bad.


The downside of a car with "1k miles since resto" is that the owner of that car probably restored it to sell it.  Aside from the small portion of cars with very valuable VINs, that is usually not a profitable business unless you cut corners.

I doubt he was heavy footed, car has open rear dif, and very skinny looking tires/steel wheels, 3.23 gears.

maybe this vid will work, start up and some revs.

I agree that a car with super low miles is also not good, who knows how it's running, and your statement has a lot of merit. Another car I'm looking at has 2k miles on the rebuild, but not as much info on it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Y9WLnghIyobk83MUVrVXR0cjg/view?usp=drive_web

[euroZ06]

depends on what you pay for it, if you consider its been rebuilt its not 45 years old in a way thats if its been restored correctly . if you have to get a untouched car with rust ,worn engine,gear box, suspension ,brakes etc the list goes on every thing has to be rebuilt. so what your really starting with is a 4 year old car  its like buying a second hand car off a car dealer with 40k if that makes sense.is that what you want ?

he wants 38k. He stated it was fully rebuilt, he was building it for himself and hasn't spared anything. 2 years ago he said he rebuilt the suspension.  He sometimes would DD the car, and drove it around a lot (with 40k miles, I'd say that says something about the resto). Modern cars are barely broken in at 40k miles, so on a properly maintained modern car I wouldn't even blink an eye. However, old cars are not the same, and I just don't have enough experience with them to make a sound judgment. I had a 73 charger that had 10k miles on rebuild, I put about 7k hard miles on it, and it was more or less without problems (no mechanical problems. . 

[myk]

Buying any used vehicle is a gamble; you either go for it or you don't.  The best you can do is to give the car a close inspection, a thorough test drive and then see if your brain and your heart can come to a decision.  Personally, expecting an older American car to be highly reliable is not very realistic.  Good luck OP....

[303 Mopar]

Figuring you have to budget $5-10k to "fix" everything that is wrong and make it to your liking because I guarantee it is not perfect, and you will need to rebuild the 383 in the next 2-5 years depending on how much and how hard you drive it.  I would say a good price would be around $27-30k for a non RT 383 auto.

[cbrestorations]

in the video it sounds like am old boat, probably has a hard time even doing a burnout. i woudnt pay no where near 38k, paint doesnt look very sharp either

[euroZ06]

in the video it sounds like am old boat, probably has a hard time even doing a burnout. i woudnt pay no where near 38k, paint doesnt look very sharp either

Ok, so im not the only one who hears it running like a boat? I had a 73 charger with a 440 and supertraps and it sounded a lot more lively...

[euroZ06]

Here is the link to the car

http://www.northhattiesburgusedcars.com/mobile/mImagesAll.aspx?cmb=0|1236427|1000131

[72Charger72]

That engine compartment doesnt look like it was on a rotisserie rebuild any time in the last 15 yrs? Offer him 6 grand like Richard Rawlings!

[Brock Lee]

Looks like crude body work. Which would explain the satin paint. I wouldn't get too deep into it. It looks like a fun driver. But I wouldn't value that "resto" work like a professional job. That is more hobbyist class work.

[euroZ06]

Thanks a bunch guys, based on ur inputs i decided to pass on this.

The seller seemed very genuin and was very easy to communicate with. Perhaps he honestly believes in the condition of the car and its up to his standard. At $38k it seems like a bit much.