New Guy with some questions on a 73 challenger

[Shmingey]

Hi everyone, I am new here but would love to ask you guys some questions about a 73 Challenger that I am on the verge of buying.

The car comes with everything needed to finish it, all the body work was professionally re-done by a body shop and is in primer.
The engine is a 340 and was blue printed and balanced and the auto transmission is rebuilt as well and are matching numbers.

I was wondering that with a car like this, how much of the value will I be losing by not keeping the car "original" looking?  I love the original, stock looking cars but have always been a fan of modifying things so I was planning a custom paint job along with some suspension upgrades and new rims/tires but keeping the interior fairly stock.
Is there much value to be added for the engine and tranny being numbers matching?


I have always wanted a Challenger or a Cuda since I was 12 and now am in a position to buy one but to be honest I haven't really looked into the cars much for the last 10 years so I'm kind of out of the loop.  Any suggestions or info on this car would be great.

Thanks

[74CudaDave]

Depends what you mean by 'value'. To some, value is complete bone stock, numbers matching, all original, and nothing else will do. To others, value is measured by the happiness they get from their car, and what they do to it. Others still go by what Barrett-Jackson say. What are you starting with, and where do you want to end up? If you have a super-rare car, and want sonething to provide for your retirement, then making non-factory changes will deteriorate it's value. On the other hand, if it's one of 5,000 built, nothing special, then you may actually be able to increase it's value to someone who appreciates the changes. It all boils down to, value to who? You, or the guy you sell it to? My car is pieced together, I've dumped more into it then I will ever get out of it, and I'm OK with that, 'cause it's gonna be my coffin one day

[brads70]

Depends what you mean by 'value'. To some, value is complete bone stock, numbers matching, all original, and nothing else will do. To others, value is measured by the happiness they get from their car, and what they do to it. Others still go by what Barrett-Jackson say. What are you starting with, and where do you want to end up? If you have a super-rare car, and want sonething to provide for your retirement, then making non-factory changes will deteriorate it's value. On the other hand, if it's one of 5,000 built, nothing special, then you may actually be able to increase it's value to someone who appreciates the changes. It all boils down to, value to who? You, or the guy you sell it to? My car is pieced together, I've dumped more into it then I will ever get out of it, and I'm OK with that, 'cause it's gonna be my coffin one day

   he said it all!  In terms of price usually it's a 70 Challenger and 71 cuda's are the most popular then 70 Cuda and 71 Challengers, then 72-74 Challengers and Cuda's
Welcome to CC.com ! Maybe look in the cars for sale or E-Bay sections for leads on cars to give you idea's on prices?

[Chryco Psycho]

it is your car , do what makes you happy with it .
unless you are buying it as an investment

[Charles]

Welcome to CC!

Collectors like having everything numbers matching, so having the original motor and trans would increase it's worth to them.

If you want it because you've always wanted it, then does it really matter? I'm not going to keep my challenger numbers matching, I'll never sell it. The "value" will always be that
smile on my face when I think about working on it with my dad and cruising around in it, which is priceless.

Do whatever you want, they're amazing cars.

[Shmingey]

Thank you all for your help and the warm welcome. You all have said simar things to what I was thinking so it was good assurance. For what I'm thinking of doing I think I'm getting a good deal on it and it's almost the perfect project for me as the body work is all done and I can figure out the mechanical things. I just have a couple other little snags to sort out than I think I'll be making a trip to get it.

The car does need seats and I have searched google hard but can't find any replica seats. Does anyone know where I can find good seats? I can find replacement foam and covers but no complete sets.

Thanks again for all the help. If there is any other knowledge you guys can share with me on these cars I am all ears. This will be my first restoration project.

[challengermaniac]

Recommend you work up an intensive project list with all of the estimated costs, then add 25% more to figure out just how much you will be in to the car.  I have seen so many guys dump a lot of coin in to a car, especially the custom jobs & clones (did that one myself) only to decide to sell it for whatever reason and then find that few perspective buyers have an appreciation for what they have done.  If it's just upgrading the suspension/brakes and droping a modern manual transmission in, that's usually a plus.  Modifying the body, paint and/or interior usually a minus.

As noted, the 1970 Challengers & 1971 Cuda's are the favored years and carry a larger ticket price when buying or selling.

[Chryco Psycho]

You may just want to pick up some aftermarket full support seats , they are generally reasonably priced , you can adapt them to factory seat tracks , for better support than the flat factory seats were !!