Rarity of 100% OEM Restored A Bodies - Rant/Whine

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Has anyone noticed how rare it is to see an A-Body for sale (on any internet site) that is 100% OEM factory correct? I'm not talking about bolt head markings and paint daubs but significant, visible features and options.

I see lots of nice cars but hardly any are correct for the year and model. I occasionally scan ads for 340 Dusters/Demons just because I like them. Most have major deviations from stock: '71 side stripes on other years. Dual scoops on Dusters. Rallye wheels on cars that never offered them. Engine compartments and trunks painted black.

The correctly restored B and E bodies seem to appear much more often. I'm not sure what this means and I don't object to modifications. I simply wish it was easier to find correct A-Bodies.


is this a serious question???

goto Carlisle and you'll see plenty of "correctly" restored 340 and big block abodies. for sale? who knows. you would have to look/offer cash to find out.

the reason why.. abodies aren't worth the money. cost you more to restore then they are worth finished in most cases.. they were also never as popular as B and E bodies as muscle cars...

i don't know why someone would want a boring, see one ya saw them all "correctly" restored car anyway..
 
Don't forget , with the same drivetrain , the A body is always faster .
Here in is where the problem lies, plain Jane A bodies get converted to high performance models which destroy their originality so we are our own worst enemy. 6 cylinder and lesser V-8 cars are modified and in most cases the original drivetrains are scraped either due to being worn beyond repair or incompatibility with our idea of the end product.
 
Here in is where the problem lies, plain Jane A bodies get converted to high performance models which destroy their originality so we are our own worst enemy. 6 cylinder and lesser V-8 cars are modified and in most cases the original drivetrains are scraped either due to being worn beyond repair or incompatibility with our idea of the end product.

no problem there. if you look around there are some restored 6 cyl and 318 abodies out there... boring as hell to look at and drive but they are out there.

i had no problem pulling that slob of an engine slant out of our original paint 70 dart and dropping in a 340 look alike 360. best move we have done to the car so far. next t may get a modern hemi.

if it bothers you so much just suck up every plain jane slant or 318 car you can find and "correctly" restore the thing.. see how easy that was.. :)
 
no problem there. if you look around there are some restored 6 cyl and 318 abodies out there... boring as hell to look at and drive but they are out there.

i had no problem pulling that slob of an engine slant out of our original paint 70 dart and dropping in a 340 look alike 360. best move we have done to the car so far. next t may get a modern hemi.

if it bothers you so much just suck up every plain jane slant or 318 car you can find and "correctly" restore the thing.. see how easy that was.. :)
It doesn’t bother me but it’s does bother the OP.
 
I restored my GTS with mods easily reversed. That wat should I sell the car the buyer has the option of running It OE correct. The car is totally matching numbers and has the factory broadcast sheet.

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i don't think it bothers the op that A body cars are modified, he's noticing they are not usually restored back to original. One thing i do notice a lot is that restorers quite often take a lot of heat?
Personally i prefer nice original part on my car rather than a perfect re-pop.
 
Nobody takes exception to a painter cutting and buffing to perfection or questions the quarter milers that wring maximum horsepower out of their race car. But a guy who takes on the task of getting everything back to the condition it was when new may very well have the most difficult task of all.
Well done dart4forte!
 
I agree and looking for those parts to complete your car can take a lot of time and can usually cost more than an after market part.
 
How many B and E bodies that are "correct, number matching" cars do the owners actually drive and enjoy? Most of them seem to be too worried about how valuable it is and are afraid to drive them in case something happens to it, I understand that, but it's not for me.
Mine damned sure ain't correct, both the 70 challengers I have are modified. 1 was a 340 4speed car now with a 440 6 pack setup. the other was a /6 3 speed car. now 383 dual quads and pistol grip 4 speed console car. I put 21k on the 440 last year and will have to paint it again in the near future due to paint chips and road trash. I finished one (340 4 speed) up 10 years ago that was numbers matching,(yep paint the bolts and added all the crayon marks and everything.) Miserable job , ***** to find parts and when I did they cost him an arm and a leg along with a lot of begging., guy loved it but it cost(parts and labor were about 48k without paint) wayyyyyyy more than he was going to get out of it
 
Not a Mopar #s match collector guy. Have a MCSS for 30 years all correct and has held me up from being 'made better'.
No matter what the 'Letter' ... Stay sane .. Build it how you like it and change it when ever you want.
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A bodies have been modded pretty heavily since I got into them mid 80's. I have no idea how many I bought and sold since then but only a handful were still fairly original. I dunno the real reason but it's a your car, your way kind of deal....

Tell ya what OP, I am sitting on one in the shop that you can go crazy with or get it pretty close to original. Bring a checkbook (though not too big of a number) and it can be yours. Personally if I wanted original, it's to the car lot to find a Hellcat lol....

JW
 
My car is a totally numbers matching 1975 Duster 360-4bbl HP car. Any part that has ever been taken off of it I have other than the tires. 41,000 original miles. Kim
 
I'm going to swear till the day I die. This combo came like this from the Factory. :)

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To me it is great to maintain a true survivor, even if a mundane slant car. True survivors are scarce!!

Really desirable models deserve to be kept original. But if Jo has # 67 Hemi Coronet and wants to make it a resto rod, it is his car, give it Hell.

Most people get into A bodies because they like them, they want light cars, they want cheap, they want sometime to change and make it their own ca,r they want easy to find,.. did I mention cheap?

In our hobby we have everything and everyone from the number cruncher 1968 air in their tires guy, to the demo derby guy, and all in between!

Just painted one of my cars other day, the next day a bird pooped on it, the cat walked on it, and the wife actually touched my pretty(ish) new paint job...... got to do it all over!!!!! YEA Rightttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
 
Has anyone noticed how rare it is to see an A-Body for sale (on any internet site) that is 100% OEM factory correct? I'm not talking about bolt head markings and paint daubs but significant, visible features and options.

I see lots of nice cars but hardly any are correct for the year and model. I occasionally scan ads for 340 Dusters/Demons just because I like them. Most have major deviations from stock: '71 side stripes on other years. Dual scoops on Dusters. Rallye wheels on cars that never offered them. Engine compartments and trunks painted black.

The correctly restored B and E bodies seem to appear much more often. I'm not sure what this means and I don't object to modifications. I simply wish it was easier to find correct A-Bodies.

I'm actually going to disagree here. I've seen far more original condition A-bodies. Yeah, there are a lot of restored E-bodies out there that "look" factory, but if you look closer a lot of them are wearing options they didn't come with from the factory. I think the B/E guys just spend more money to hide their modifications.

I'm not a "factory correct" guy. I usually look for non-numbers cars, just because I don't want some purist to blame me for modifying an "original" car. And yet, I have a couple of A-bodies that were basically original when I bought them. Not restored back to original, but actually original. My butterscotch '71 GT was. Mostly original paint (one quarter paint blend from a long ago fender bender), all numbers matching drivetrain, original interior, suspension, brakes, AC, all of it. Bought it for $1,500 (on eBay!!!!) because it's just a boring 318 car, even though it's a 1 of ~1255 GT.

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Same for my '74 Duster. All original paint when I bought it. Original interior, drivetrain, heck even had the original hub caps, pretty much no rust to speak of. Paid $2,500 for that one, it was almost 5 years after the GT and the body was cleaner. This is it basically as I bought it, a quick polish and a wheel swap.

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So what's my point? Original condition A-bodies are still out there and relatively cheap to purchase. Yeah, my GT was 11 years ago now, and the Duster was almost 7. But they're still out there. As a guy that generally looks for non-factory cars, I have two that I bought cheap. So I dunno where you're looking, but they're out there. And in much higher numbers than B's and E's, because darn near all of those have been restored already. Plenty of resto-mod B's and E's too.

And yeah, too late on mine BTW. The Duster is now a '71 Demon clone with a 340 and a T56. The '71 GT is keeping its original drivetrain, so the major numbers will all match. But it got a full US Cartool chassis kit, BBP upgrade to disks, greatly improved suspension components, etc. I'd feel worse about the modification, but at the prices I paid no one really wanted them as they were originally. If I could have bought clean modified cars for those prices I would have. The GT will be fairly simple to take back to stock if someone really wanted to except for the frame connectors and things, but those should be on every musclecar. The DustDevil would be pretty hard to take back to original, but I don't see too many people crying about original /6 '74 Dusters. Or paying anything for them either.
 
ALLL original 6 except grill paint and window tint. Bought it for my daughter, she hatted it, gave it to my son...he sold it in 2012. FL. car went to Jersey and buyer got a 6 pack hood for it...lol

Maybe one of you guys has it... :rolleyes:

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I like both myself. I find it a challenge to get an A body as close to factory as reasonably possible. Learning what goes where, how things are positioned or optioned and what color or plating a part should have. I can also appreciate the other. I was at a car show and someone had a stock 1970 Duster with patina, took out the six and put in a 360 with some old school slot mags and a tach on the dash and it was so cool. Brought me back to how they were back in the 70's and early 80's.
 
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