Author Topic: Shoulda bought it!  (Read 1351 times)

Offline cudabob496

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Shoulda bought it!
« on: January 02, 2017 - 10:30:25 PM »
I'm flipping through a 78 Hemmings.

1971 GTO Judge Convertible, only 17 made, $5000.

dang, think they go for over a million now.

72 Cuda, owned 25 years. 496, with ported Stage VI heads, .625 in solid roller, 254/258 at .050, 3500 stall, 3.91 rear. 850 Holley DP, Reverse manual valve body.

1999 Trans Am, LS1, heads, cam, headers, stall, etc! Love to surprise the rice rockets with this one. They seem so confident, then it's "what the heck just happened?"

2011 Kawasaki Z1000




Offline JH27N0B

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2017 - 10:39:40 PM »
There was a '70 hemi Challenger vert listed in a SIAC newsletter in Canada in the '81/'82 era for 12K FIRM!
And an original Challenger Trans Am race car complete with trailer and spare engines listed a few years later in several places for $15K. 
Oh to have a chance to go back in time and stock up on cars with the knowledge I have now!

Offline cudabob496

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2017 - 11:04:46 PM »
I also recall seeing a Tucker for sale, in the early 80's, for $10,000.
72 Cuda, owned 25 years. 496, with ported Stage VI heads, .625 in solid roller, 254/258 at .050, 3500 stall, 3.91 rear. 850 Holley DP, Reverse manual valve body.

1999 Trans Am, LS1, heads, cam, headers, stall, etc! Love to surprise the rice rockets with this one. They seem so confident, then it's "what the heck just happened?"

2011 Kawasaki Z1000

Offline 70chall440

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2017 - 11:11:06 PM »
I have an ad some place for a Superbird 440 AT for like $2500... I think the time frame is 79 or 80.
Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)

Offline JH27N0B

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2017 - 09:27:13 AM »
Is that one a real JS27R0B car I wonder?  I don't recall hearing the history of any hemi Challenger convertible being in WI.  And none were built with shakers.
The one advertised in Canada back 35 years ago was supposed to be real.
A good friend of mine here in IL said when he was 17 or 18 in the '72 or '73 timeframe, there was a hemi Challenger convertible in the Chicago suburbs for sale for around $3000.  His dad wouldn't let him buy it, or cosign the loan or something like that.  He ended up getting a '71 340 4 speed convertible instead, which he still owns today.  Thing that I question on that is that I don't recall hearing about any hemi Challenger convertible ever being in the Chicago area either. (other than on display at MCACN in recent times of course!)  Seems like the histories of the hemi Challenger convertibles are pretty well documented so if there was one for sale here, was it actually an R code.
In '82 I really wanted to find a hemi Cuda or Challenger but between college and 2 part time jobs, I couldn't travel across the country to look at one for sale so limited my search to places within maybe 300 miles where I could drive to and back in one day.
Ron Adair advertised a triple black 4 speed R/T SE with added shaker and rubber bumpers in the SIAC newsletter.  No price listed, and I always took it that if no price was listed the asking price would be really high.  So I didn't call. Years later someone told me Ron was asking $8500 for that car and had trouble selling it.
I guess I should have called, that was a few grand over my budget, but somehow someway I might have been able to come up with the money!
I had no luck finding a hemi car then.  These days I often read Rob Wolf in MCG talking about how back then they were "just used cars" and you could find hemi cars sitting at gas stations everywhere with For sale signs in the windows with cheap asking prices.
I guess I was driving by the wrong gas stations because I never saw any of them!


Offline 1 Wild R/T

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2017 - 11:43:25 AM »
I used a low res photo for file size, the car was Mitchell Barrok's out of Lansing Michigan.....

I deleted my above post with the fuzzy photo..... 
« Last Edit: January 03, 2017 - 11:46:12 AM by 1 Wild R/T »
JS27N0B 70 Challenger R/T Convertible  FJ5 Sublime, Show Poodle w/90,000 miles since resto
WS27L8G 68 Coronet R/T Convertible  PP1 Bright Red, Project
RM21H9E 69 Road Runner Coupe R4 Performance Red, Sold...
5H21C  65 Falcon 2 dr Wagon... Dog Hauler...

Offline JH27N0B

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2017 - 12:08:26 PM »
I see now the ad was from someone in MI not WI!
What year was that ad from?  I have all the old SIAC newsletters stashed away, I need to dig them out and look at them again soon!
So that was a real JS27R0B?  What color was it originally, seems like all of them were purple, green or orange and of course the black one that was made into the Diamante and yellow jacket show car soon after build and displayed at Auto shows for several years.
I used to read the classified ads in the local papers here daily, and buy the new Trading times as soon as it came out every week to look for treasures! Some interesting cars were advertised over the years back then, but most sold instantly.
The ad I saw that always intrigued me most, was a '69 Trans Am convertible that was advertised for $2000 one day I'm thinking around 1980 or early '81 in the paper with a phone number of the neighboring suburb north of mine.  I called and got an answering service.  Left my name and number and never heard back.  Was it real, or was it a joke of some kind?  I will probably never know.  I don't run with the Pontiac crowd so I don't know much about the history of the 7 or 8 Trans Am convertibles made, like if one was in my area at that time.  There is one here now that has been owned by the same guy for a while, but I don't know much beyond that about it.
There was a Superbird advertised around that time for $6500, and I recall seeing several hemi cudas advertised in the Chicago Tribune, one in MI and one in St Louis, for around $5000 in 1980.  So, despite all the people today who look back at those times with rose colored glasses saying they were "just used cars" then, many people already recognized them as being rare and valuable then.
Didn't have the internet yet, so guys wanting to get top dollar for cars had to advertise in papers not just local but in nearby states as well to try to find a buyer.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2017 - 12:16:43 PM by JH27N0B »

Offline 1 Wild R/T

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2017 - 01:29:20 PM »
Don't know if it was real or not, ad sez White, blk top, interior & stripe... I always assumed it was real & figures the shaker had been added.... Back then adding options was easy & generally accepted... I'd have to dig out my old SIAC newsletters to know for sure but I'm thinking 82-83, the ad ran for three issues...
JS27N0B 70 Challenger R/T Convertible  FJ5 Sublime, Show Poodle w/90,000 miles since resto
WS27L8G 68 Coronet R/T Convertible  PP1 Bright Red, Project
RM21H9E 69 Road Runner Coupe R4 Performance Red, Sold...
5H21C  65 Falcon 2 dr Wagon... Dog Hauler...

Offline Gumby

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Re: Shoulda bought it!
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2017 - 04:08:11 AM »
I have an advertisemet from the Houston newspaper back in the late 80's.
'70 'cuda, 426 HEMI. Balanced and blueprinted, race car, with trailer. $5,000, extras.

I ended up buying a new '87 Grand National. Didn't want the hassel of working on a car every day. I hate 'cuda's anyway. (go ahead and hate)
If it would have been a Challenger, I would have bought it. I owned enough Chrysler products, to know that I just wanted something factory new,
that wouldn't break down, at that time. The GN was nice, but I still wanted a decent Dodge. Dodge didn't put out a decent full size car at that time.
The only thing that they offered was the turbo 4 banger Laser. Small car. Or a Shelby Colt, or whatever the hell it was. They were TURBO, and COOL, but to small.

I test drove a Mistsubishiee Challenger - NO THANK YOU! Then I test drove a GN.

WHERE DO I SIGN THE PAPERS? is the first thing I asked the salesman! LOL. I went to the dark side, I admit.
{oo/-------\oo} In '69 I was twenty-one and I called the road my own. I don't know when that road turned into the road I'm on. Jackson Browne