I am currently looking for a 1970 - 71 Challenger Convertible for a resto mod project. This is definitely not my first rodeo building a car but it will be my first Mopar build. The details are new Hemi motor with a 5 speed, 13" brakes, aftermarket A/C, nice interior, premium custom wheels.......a nice car on the upper scale of quality. The car will be built at a shop rate and not in a garage by an owner. The question is at what level to purchase a car for something like this. There is nothing that I cannot do in my shop from fabrication to paint to electrical. I do know that parts are cheaper than labor. Anytime I can buy a part instead of using labor its a financial savings. So, the $15K rust bucket concerns me because the tremendous amount of metal work and the fact many parts are missing......interior, bumpers, and what ever else is hard to find. Cheap entry cost but much labor and many parts. Or, the nice driver quality better put together that might not need as much metal work and might have some additional good parts I could use. Case in point.......I bought a 70 Chevelle convertible project a few years ago with all new metal but a bare shell. Although it was mainly a shell I literally built the car via Ecklers because darn near every part is available. What I find is no matter what kind of car I build when it gets to a certain level old or worn parts don't look good on a nice car. So..........what would you buy if you had $100K to throw around on a project?
