I bought my first Charger...now what?

[MikeMacCham]

Yesterday I bought my first charger! A 68 with a 440 for 15K, after searching for 8 months,and it will be here tomorrow (getting it shipped form AZ). It runs but the guy said it needs a larger carburetor for the 440.  Needs reupholstered front seats and a new head liner, and little things like hooking up the vacuum for the lights, but all the pieces are there and there's no rust and little bondo. So does anyone have good recommendations for parts and accessories as well as your experiences? I have heard alot about year 1, but where should I get a carburetor? What are other good places on line like year1? Any recommendations for getting an appraisal for insurance? should I insure it as a classic car?

[73chgrSE]

Congrats! Looks nice. Summitt Racing has alot of carbs and stuff too. Also try Legendary Auto interiors for the interior stuff. I have geico but my car isn't worth what yours is so you may look into Hagerty's classic car insurance or Grundy worldwide.

[Dave22443]

Nice looking car Mike.  You should sell it to me 

I have opinions on your questions, but I do not consider myself well versed in carb choices so I will defer to others with more knowledge on that one.  I'm pretty sure they are going to start with questions like:

1) Whats in your motor?
2) What intake are you running?
3) Headers?  Automatic? Etc...

There are many places to get parts, it depends on what your looking for at the time. I.e., it pays to shop around.  First place you might want to start is right here on this boards "For Sale" section    There's also a "Wanted" section where you can say what your looking for. 

[moparjohn]

Looks really nice esp. for that price.     A local guy (auto place) might be a good coice for a carb.  good luck.  John

[dpm68]

I know what I'm about to get into here, but here goes: Autolite 4100 series. This is indeed a Ford-related carb, but there is none higher, and it will sit proud ontop of any 440 and blow any Holley or re-vamped Eldebrock right out of the water. They have less parts, are simpler,  and get the job done. Check out ponycarbs.com - they got em and they are the only people I trust to make and rebuild them.

[TripleBlackGator]

Try Summit, Jegs, Mancini Racing for drivetrain parts. I have had good experience with YEAR ONE. Most of the parts are usually in stock and their interior items come from Legendary, ACC carpets and R.E.M. Look at YEAR ONE on-line or call and order their B body catalog.

That's a nice car. Personally I couldn't spend that kind of money on a car sight unseen. What are your plans with it?

[NYCMille]

CONGRATS MAN!!!

68's are the fastest BTW... 

[71ChallengeHer]

Congrats, beautiful Charger.

[sharpspike]

Carb, i go to a local speed shop. gives you somebody to talk to face to face if you have problems. 

[rt green]

whats the first thing to do? wipe the drool off your face, and try to figure out how you are going to go out in public with that bulge in your pants after getting your charger.  just kidding, but it did happen to most of us.

[HITMAN 149]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! congrats!!! and welcome!!! you've come to the right place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
more pics!!!!!!!!!!! int, motor!!!!!
-JOHN


p.s. i agree w/ NYC MIKE!!!!!!!! hahaha

[skip68]

Very nice.     I bet you won't sleep much tonight.        Chuck...................

[Harlow]

nice looking charger, are you from Arizona?

[MikeMacCham]

That's a nice car. Personally I couldn't spend that kind of money on a car sight unseen. What are your plans with it?[/b]

Thanks guys! I drove out to see it first, as far as plans I figured the Carburetor has to come first, then plugging all the little parts on after I get a manual for the car and a cover, the paints brand new and needs polished, then I guess interior, sadly the engine's gonna have to wait before I can make it louder. The sweet thing is that I have some money left over. But as soon as I get that carburetor on I'm taking it to hollywood blvd. to show up some guy that likes to show off his '65 Goat! hehe...

[Chatt69chgr]

I would call year one and get one of their catalogs just to look through.  You will see a lot of the parts for Chargers in there and you will get an idea of the probably highest price of each part.  Then you can get on the internet and surf around to look for better deals.  Year One is just a reseller of parts they collect from others (mostly).  Occasionally, you will find a code posted on here for 20% off from Year One.  I don't know where folks get these codes.  I have probably bought $2000 worth of stuff from them and they never sent me one.  But I just waited until someone posted one on here and then used it.  The best interior components come from Legendary Auto Interiors.  Year One claims they sell Legendary but when I ordered my seat coverings from them, they substituted another companys stuff.  I have heard it is not as good.  So I would probably order that directly from Legendary.  They will be glad to send you a catalog.  Summitt has a lot of stuff but they are not always the lowest price.  Great service and delivery though.  I have ordered from them.  Some stuff is available on EBAY.  You have to be careful there but some good deals can be had.  The original carburetor for your car was a Carter AVS and Edelbrock bought that line and makes them new.  They have some other ones that are improved versions too.  Holley has a good carb.  The 4160 with electric choke and vacuum secondary.  Available in many cfm's including 750 which is normally the choice for the 440.  Or maybe a little bit bigger depending on if you have headers or not and the type of manifold.  Be careful about hood clearance.

I don't know about insurance but Haggerty does a lot of advertising.  I would want to insure that for actual appraised value.  Type of insurance depends on how much it will be driven.

I got a good cover for mine from Pep Boys that was breathable.  Cost about $185 I think.  Don't know if they have it anymore as they are not much good around here now.  Handle mostly Chinese motorbikes and Harbor Freight type tools.  And don't want to order anything.

Manuals are available on CD or in paper from.  I like the paper one because I can sit in my easy chair and look at while the TV is going in the background.

The folks on this forum literally know everything there is to know about Chargers so if you have any questions, just ask them.  I have and I have learned a lot in the last year or so. 

That's an awsome car.  Wish mine looked like that but I have a long way to go.  And the price was really good.  Congratulations.

[Supercharged Riot]

15K!?!?!?

How the hell did you find it? Iv'e been looking for over 2 years for that car and I still couldnt find a deal like you got *jealous*     

Congratulations to yu though man. I'm actually glad to see that someone who appreciates the car got it. I guess I'll wait longer....

[PocketThunder]

You stole that car for $15k 

I just dropped $15k plus two years of my life restoring the exact same car..

[MikeMacCham]

15K!?!?!?

How the hell did you find it? Ive been looking for over 2 years for that car and I still couldnt find a deal like you got *jealous*     

Congratulations to yu though man. I'm actually glad to see that someone who appreciates the car got it. I guess I'll wait longer....

Thanks man, I just searched craigslist... a lot..   
if you hit control and F on your keyboard it brings up a search engine which speeds up the process.

Just keep at it, I missed one on Craig's list by an hour...this guy got his grandma's 1969 Charger that she had originally purchased. He didn't like it due to the 440 engine (guessing it was a R/T) eating to much gas, and it was hard to drive since it was a manual transmission...it was a California car (like 20 miles from where I live) that ran and his grandma was the original owner...he put it up on Craig's list for $4,000. I thought I might be having a stroke when he told me he sold  it for $800. he said I should buy a Camry (ha ha I can feel my blood pressure rising as I tell this story)  for the great gas mileage...I told him he was a idiot and said the grill could go for $1,000...

[Brock Samson]

nice lookin charger and a good deal, i think.
the idiot son of the original owner of my '71 road runner sold it to the guy i bought it from for four grand... NADA price is 23-28 K! 

[70charginglizard]

now what?.....what do you think. Get out and enjoy it.

very nice.

[41husk]

Looks good, congratulations!

[Charger_Fan]

I bought my first Charger...now what?!

Now flip it & get a '70!    





J/K, nice score!

[Anders]

Congrats man, nice Charger . Seeing now that you paid $15k, makes me feel like i paid way too much from mine.

[dkn1997]

CONGRATS MAN!!!

68's are the fastest BTW... 

The red ones are the fastest!!

[Charger1973]

Nice ride!