WIW 70 Challenger R/T-S.E. 383 Auto FC7

[quapman]

The good: JS29N0B...Purple! Solid frame rails, clean title.

The bad...pretty rotten, from the top down. I think it was a coastal car. No fender tag or b/c sheet. Original door VIN shows purple around it, otherwise no way to prove color or options. Small upper consolette is there, but the headliner is gone. Motor/trans gone, but a 383 core comes with it.

Pic link: http://s449.photobucket.com/user/quapman/library/JS29N0B?sort=3&page=1

Whaddayathink? Cody? Anybody?

[farmboy70]

To buy 1500.00 to 2000.00
To restore 20k in parts
35k in restoration
55k plus total Not a lot of good options and missing tag and sheet. Looks like a parts car to me.
Dave

[anlauto]

Looks to be a few decent parts on it. $2000.00 is not out of line. Not worth restoring or spending any money on it.

[blown motor]

So you can't restore it and make money. Big deal! If you love Challengers and love restoring them then buy it. I have a lot more money in mine than I will ever get out of it but some day if I sell it I will get something back. I have a lot of friends that spend a pile of money every year playing golf. They'll get nothing back.

Feed your addiction.

[Cuda Cody]

Love the color and RT/SE's are super cool, but it's in bad shape.  I'm not going to go in to the bad as it's obvious it's in tough shape.  The good, it's FC7 and a RT/SE. The tail SE tail panel, window plug, rally dash and over head console are there along with some other items.  However, everything needs work to be used or saved.

The car is not worth restoring if you're looking at it from a cost stand point, but not many cars are worth restoring if you're only looking at it from the numbers point of view.  Is it a super cool car? YES!  But it's going to take someone willing to lose a lot of money to make it happen.  Even free the car is not worth restoring because I don't see it being restored correctly for much less than around $60K and then you have a restored non numbers engine / trans and no buildsheet or fender tag car worth about $35k.  I think a fair price would be about $2,000 to $3,000.  Might get someone on ebay to pay $4,000 to $5,000 for the opportunity to build a real RT/SE purple car, but that's a long shot.  Hope that helps.

[farmboy70]

So you can't restore it and make money. Big deal! If you love Challengers and love restoring them then buy it. I have a lot more money in mine than I will ever get out of it but some day if I sell it I will get something back. I have a lot of friends that spend a pile of money every year playing golf. They'll get nothing back.

Feed your addiction.

BUT I have also seen divorces and bankruptcy when people get in WAY over their head on cars just like that one.
Dave

[anlauto]

Well I guess if you're a multimillionaire and love throwing money away...then , YES, you should go for it.

If you're at least a half-sane person who watches where their money goes then this would be the worst car to choose for restoration even if it was free

They don't all deserve to be saved.

[blown motor]

Dave and Alan, you're both right. If you`re restoring a car you have to be `truly`able to afford it and any significant people in your life have to be on side with it.

[quapman]

Thanks for the useful input, Cody. 

From the responses, it's obvious I need to open a resto shop that sells parts, since apparently nobody does any work themselves and part prices have doubled in the last three years.

Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence of what 70 Challenger projects are selling for? (Anecdotal means you ACTUALLY bought or sold one recently.)

[Katfish]

I need to open a resto shop that sells parts, since apparently nobody does any work themselves and part prices have doubled in the last three years.

I've said this over and over, these cars (even the "restored" ones) are worth at least 2-3x parted out compared to the complete car.  Buy someone else's complete car for 30 cents on the dollar.

[anlauto]

Actually with the introduction of SO MANY new reproduction parts for our beloved Mopars over the last 5 years....The value of original parts has dropped way off as well.

[anlauto]

Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence of what 70 Challenger projects are selling for? (Anecdotal means you ACTUALLY bought or sold one recently.)

I haven't bought any 70 Challengers in that condition recently, however a close friend of mine bought one a year ago. His is similar in one respect where it's also missing the BCS, fender tags and original drivetrain, but I think the condition of his, rust wise, is slightly better. He paid $4500. for his.  Now, as you have, by inspecting what's still there, his is a FM3 R/T 440+6 4spd, rear window louver car. His will never get restored either because of the severe lack of documentation.

[quapman]

Wow. Call me crazy or overly ambitious, but I'd do the V code car, docs or not. These cars are like puppies or kittens by the side of the road. You just want to save them all!

[RusTy/SE]

I bought my FC7 R/T SE project twenty years ago - the bill of sale is dated within a day of the scheduled production date - for $3500. Not a recent purchase, I know, but mine was in just slightly better shape than your pictures reveal. A link to my locked resto thread is at the bottom. The important difference is that I do have the original fender tag.

The information on that tag sealed it for me; not every code mind you, but the major items - motor (E86), trans (D32), axle package (A36), interior (H5X9) without ac, and exterior (FC7.) I had decided exactly what model of 1970 Challenger I wanted and how it would be optioned before I began my search and the tag simply matched.

I agree with everyone who has responded in regard to the $$$ aspect. With that in mind, if an N-code FC7 R/T SE is what you seek, you would do better in the long as well as the short run to buy one in as close to turn-key condition as possible as they come up for sale regularly.

Unfortunately, Challenger SE sail panel emblems do not. And when they do, and are in mint condition, you pay dearly

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-NOS-1970-Challenger-SE-Roof-Emblems-Medallions-PAIR-/310714270558?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item485803835e&vxp=mtr#ht_2862wt_758

However you decide, best of luck!

Russ (RusTy/SE)

[ChallengerHK]

Wow. Call me crazy or overly ambitious, but I'd do the V code car, docs or not. These cars are like puppies or kittens by the side of the road. You just want to save them all!

I'm not that huge on slavishly restoring cars to begin with, so my thought is this. Without the fender tag or the broadcast sheet, why not buy a better condition 70, and clone it into an RT/SE with a plum crazy wrapper? It will have the same value, plus, you'll spend a lot less getting it where you want it.