thoughts on this car ?

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diymirage

diymirage

HP@idle > hondaHP@redline
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hey guys

me and the wifey are planning on having a look at this car over the weekend

http://nmi.craigslist.org/cto/4715097330.html


it sounds like the 225 is leaking a little oil, and the HVAC controll panel is broken

the VIN is VL29C1B413989

anyone know if this would have power steering, power brakes or any other options ?
(probably not since the L is in the VIN)

anything i should look for?
thoughts in general ?

anyone else in the area have one for sale ?
 
better make sure and take your body filler magnet to take a look .....looks like a big time flipper resto to me. That interior looks absolutely horrible and the dash and color scheme is all upside and backwards. Cut up dash, missing parts, painted "chevy guy" style. No pics of the engine compartment.........hmmmm. :thumbdow:

must have the rare stainless window trim delete package.
 
So let me get this right....If a car is cleaned up and has nice paint it's probably a flipper special with hidden problems and if it has old paint and a tore up interior the seller is an idiot for trying to sell a piece of junk.What exactly are you looking for ?
 
Wolfy, I bought a new Swinger and a new Duster in 1971. Both were slants, autos, and vinyl roof. The Swinger had AC bench seat, and some other goodies. The Duster had buckets, console, and a couple of other things. BOTH cars, together, cost me less than $6500.00 lol
 
Back in Time said:
So let me get this right....If a car is cleaned up and has nice paint it's probably a flipper special with hidden problems and if it has old paint and a tore up interior the seller is an idiot for trying to sell a piece of junk.What exactly what are you looking for ?
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No, it's just a buyer beware situation. I agree with Rani -- approach this one with skepticism to avoid getting burned. But, if it DOES check out and it's a solid car, and you don't mind the customizations (I personally don't like them, but I've seen a lot worse, too), then it could be an okay deal. It's just so hard to tell in pictures. It could be a beautiful, solid, well done car, or, it could be a total POS.
 
Frankie said:
Wolfy, I bought a new Swinger and a new Duster in 1971. Both were slants, autos, and vinyl roof. The Swinger had AC bench seat, and some other goodies. The Duster had buckets, console, and a couple of other things. BOTH cars, together, cost me less than $6500.00 lol
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Those days are long gone.
Three grand would buy you a nice ride.
 
It looks good in the pictures and is a steal at that price.

But crawl underneath it and look it over good ,it could be looking good today and next week body parts could start falling off it.
 
thanks for the input guys

i will definetlaly bring a magnet to check for bondo

as for the interior, i kinda like that (looks total 70s muscle car to me) and i dont mind it not being stock, as long as it is done nicely
 
Best thing to do is go look at it, drive it crawl all over and under it and make an educated decision. Looks can be deceiving so take a magnet for the filler as mentioned already. I have found that sometimes when you look at a car as a "project" and do some quick analysis of what you want to do versus what the car already has to offer it might be cheaper to spend a little more and get one that will save you a fortune and a lot of time. This car is a 6 cyl so it will have small rear end if you "invest' your hard earned money in a 6 banger car you will never have a car worth much, unless you plan on keeping it forever. My point is don't be impulsive and do some serious searching for maybe a factory 340/360 duster/dart that has the potential to be both a great car to build and be worth a lot more when finished and not just another 'cloned car"
 
Being in northern michigan look for rust in frame rails, trans mount crossmember and take a magnet to check 1/4s

Really lots of cars out there now with interior that looked like that. Has a carpet cover on dash painted dash exterior color, see it all the time. I wouldn't do it but it isn't my car. Would I avoid it if looking for a car, no, I would look at what it is, not what it was out of the factory.

As far as more than new, seen a 1977 Aspen Wagon with 64,000 miles and very nice survivor and they wanted $6,500 and I was thinking that I paid $6,300 for my fully loaded 1977 Aspen coupe with lots more options

Keep an open mind and don't go in love with the car. Keep in kind there are some good cars brought back from out west that are close to rust free, might be more money, might need paint, but that is better than dealing with rust bucket. There was a clean 70 in Indy that was west coast car for $7,000 everyone thought was too much money. But if you start with clean car will be cheaper in the long run, unless you do the body work and rust repair yourself. Then it is a lot of work.
 
Seems worth looking at and if it is as good as the pictures, including underneath the money seems fair.

Keep in mind you still will have a long way to go as far as money to invest to get the interior, engine and driveline in shape as well as any odd ball stuff you'll have to attend to.
 
thanks for the advice guys

the interior is actually a plus point because the wifey likes it (apparently it looks retro instead of old, Rani, maybe you can translate that for us guys?)

Dan, you make a good point on looking for something that is closer to what i want but it seems a bit of a toss up, i feel more confident to swap out a drivetrain then i do to fix a rear quarter, so the solid shell trumps drive train
im not to worried about resale, not planning on letting her go anytime soon (if i get her)

speaking of drive trains, im looking at a 360/727 combo out of a 75 motorhome with 46K on it, no smoke and 40 pounds of oil pressure at idle.

sounds like a good donor?
and what else would i need, a set of conversion mounts and...
 
went to look at her today and here is what i found, body is an 8 out of 10, found 2 3-inch scratches on her, 3 small bubbles in the bottom of the driver side door and light bondo in the 1/4s (just enough to make a fridge magnet not really want to hold on)
there is a crack in the tail light panel but overall the body is in good shape and looks nice and straight
the paint looks good too

underneath was a pleasant surprise, very little rust indeed
solid frame rails and trans mount (few specs of surface rust)

there are a few dime sized holes in the spare tire well but that is all the rust i could find

it was a factory AC car but i couldnt check to see if that worked since the HVAC controls were frozen up.

the interior actually looked pretty good, there is a small section of the actual dashpad missing under the carpet pad so that will be replaced at some point

the motor was a little bit of a mess, oil everywhere
but, being a leaning tower of power it didnt faze her much (looks like a leaking valve cover gasket, i hope)

considering this is michigan and i was planning on swapping in a 360 anyway so i decided to try see if the /6 would survive the trip home


$3800 dollars and 3 hours later she is sitting in my driveway :)
 
diymirage said:
$3800 dollars and 3 hours later she is sitting in my driveway :)
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Congratulations......it sounds like you worked a better price and the flaws are all things you can work with.

what is wrong with the a/c controller .....that sounds like a part I probably have.
 
ill shoot some pics tomorrow :)
(looks like he deleted the CL add allready)

as for the AC panel, you know how it has the push buttons, heat, ac, max ac, defrost, and such ?

i presume you are only supposed to be able to push one, and the other will pop back up
well, it looks like all of them are pushed in at the same time
 
Sounds like you did ok. What was the asking price again, was it $4500? I can't even remember what this was now... a Duster? Can't wait to see the pics.
 
72Dodge said:
Sounds like you did ok. What was the asking price again, was it $4500? I can't even remember what this was now... a Duster? Can't wait to see the pics.
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yes, the guy was asking 4500.00 in the CL add (5500 in the for sale sign in the window) and he let it go for 3800.00

its a 71 duster and at some point must have lived in canada

as i was taking pics i noticed the passenger side indicator lens is missing, not sure if it fell off on the way home or if i plain didnt see it at first

(left the keys inside so only exterior shots right now)











 
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