Project Car Minimum Requirements

[zerfetzen]

I'm thinking about getting a 69 charger project car, and am willing to rebuild it all.  I'm sure there's a ton that I can't do, and that's fine, I'll pay someone over the years if I have to.  My end goal is to drive it whenever I want, but not necessarily every day, and although I want to treat it well and increase in value, the value is far less important to me than the fun.  I'd like the chassis to be able to handle 500hp, and think that means that thick enough remaining stock sheet metal will do that, with subframes welded in place.  My question is: what are the minimum requirements of a 69 charger project?

I know it is best that frame rails are in good shape, but then again, they also have caps for these cars, right?  What parts cannot be missing?  I'm sure it's "possible" to find just about anything, but what would make it not worth it to buy that particular car, and it's better to shop for another?  Thanks all.

[Chatt69chgr]

My recommendation is to read this forum for the next six months, start going to car shows where they have Mopars, meet some people that own these cars, and ask a lot of questions. They will be able to point out things on their own cars to look for.  And look at EBAY listings too.  After you do all that, you will start to have a pretty good idea of what you are getting into and what kind of problems and dollars are involved. 

From what you have said, you would be looking for a 318 powered charger with the best body you can find and few to no missing parts.  The drivetrain can all be dealt with later.  They built about 30,000 318 powered 69 chargers.  You will be much much better off in the long run to buy a good body for extra money.

[zerfetzen]

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it much.  For example, is anybody manufacturing the grille, the quarters, the doors?  Another way to put it is, what are the parts that are hardest to get on a 69 charger?

[moparguy01]

my only advice is to buy the BEST car you can afford. That does mean looking around. try to get one that needs the least amount of metal work possible, cause metal work isn't cheap.

[Mike DC]

Sheetmetal work is the most difficult, most expensive, and least-rewarding part of the resto.  No question.

IF YOU'RE SPENDING ANYTHING LESS THAN $10,000 OR SO IN THE INITUAL PURCHASE, THEN FORGET ABOUT THE DRIVETRAIN.  YOUR ALL-CONSUMING GOAL AT THAT STAGE SHOULD BE JUST GETTING THE NICEST & MOST COMPLETE CHARGER BODY THAT YOU CAN AFFORD.  (If you really want to make it a beautiful car eventually, the you might drive this threshold all the way up to $15K or more.)  I'm serious about this.  When you're dealing in $5000 cars or something, a low-rust body without any drivetrain at all is a better starting point than a big-block car with bad framerails.  It's not that the rusty cars can't be built too, but you'd better have been born with a MIG welder in your hand to make it happen affordably.


There's essentially no such thing as a "rust-free" car anymore.  And it's getting pretty hard to find a car that hasn't already seen a certain amount of restoration work done to it.  It's more a question of "how much did it rust before the restoration work started?" and "How well was the resto work done?"

In just about every area of the car, be very wary of past work by anyone other than the factory.  You can't avoid it anymore, but you can control how much of it that you purchase and how good/bad it is.  Basically, you have to either like the resto work well enough to not re-do the work at all, or else you should assume that the work left those pieces worse-off than if they had remained un-fixed.  You can't really "finish" a restoration job that you're only somewhat content with.  It's either leave it alone, or else tear the whole area down to nothing and start all over.

 

[Chatt69chgr]

Two years ago, the list of items that were not available was a lot longer than it is now.  They just keep reproducing items.  That doesn't mean these items will be available forever.  But used to be, the grill was pretty hard to find.  Now, they have reproduced most of it.  You still can't buy front fenders or complete rear quarters but these items are supposed to hit the market pretty soon.  Other items have appeared.  You can now get the correct disk brake master from NAPA.  That little item just appeared a month or so ago.  The brake booster is still not available but it too is supposed to be available before too long.  Even the rear taillight die cast chrome surrounds have made their appearance.  Also, the dash plastic is now available new.  I just noticed that the disc spindles that everyone had to go to the junkyard to find (off 73-76 A-bodys) are now available new.  You can even get a repro radiator (if you have $1200) with the correct stampings on it.  But---------these cars are not like Chevrolets where every part, every nut, screw, and bolt is available cheaply from Classic Industries.  Nope, this stuff is very expensive.   So the problem you will run into is, you will want to nail down all the parts you need to do your resto once you get your car as soon as you can because they may disappear------forever.  That's the problem you will have.  And there are still a few items that have never been reproduced.  But if you are willing to deal with all of this hassle, then by all means, go for it.

[zerfetzen]

Thanks for all the good advice.

[Brock Samson]

i'd say the bottom line is your budget,..
  a few years ago i was recommending the bottom end figure was 11 grand US, but now that's pretty low,.. i'm taking about the price of getting a decent project car,.. from what I've seen if your serious about a 500 H.P. car, $18,000 would be a nice start... and yes, alot of the parts you mention are now or soon to be avail.
all the answers to the questions you have are here in great detail,.. for more specifics try the search fuction,.. and no,.. that will  not find you a Charger... 


good hunting..