How much did it cost you?

I grew up in the road salt covered northeast and after 10 years most of these cars were looking like "Flintstone-mobiles" and on their way to the junkyard. The unfortunate fact is that Ma Mopar didn't design, build or rustproof these cars to last 40+ years.

$heetmetal work gets expen$ive in a hurry. Fenders doors and floorpans are one thing, but when you start getting into frame rails, inner fenders, quarters, cowl and firewall you're talking BIG $$$.

I agree with the idea of looking for a relatively clean western car to start with - it will save you $$$ in the long run. Or you might want to consider looking for one that is already done. We all know that you never get out of a car what you put into it - somebody's loss could be your gain. You can get into a nice finished driver for a lot less than what it would take for you to build the car - unless of course you have all of the skills to do all of the work yourself and a lot of time, years, to do it in.

I'm in my early 50's, so I don't want to spend years building a car - I want to enjoy it now. So I'm looking for a finished driver and I think I finally found one. I am close to closing a deal on a nice '68 Barracuda that spent most of it's life in Oregon and needs practically nothing for it to be show worthy.