mixing years

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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i would like to know on average: Do people get turned off with mixed year cars or do most people not even care?

what i mean by mixed years is say you have (for example) a 67 barracuda and it has say 68 taillights and 68 bucket seats and you open the hood and there is a sweet engine in there but the air cleaner is a 72 trap door unit. Say it has rally wheels which is not correct ....lets go as far as maybe its not even a year correct color. Maybe it has, EV2 orange from the early 70s. and so on and on.

Do little details turn people off to the car (say its not for sale, just at a show) or am i over thinking this whole thing.

what do you think??
 
I'll be putting a '67 front bumper on my '66 Coronet. Why? Because that is what I have that is in good condition. It will have '69 door panels, again, this is what I have. Oh ya, back seat, I have a '69 cover, if it fits............!! I was going convert the grill as well, but I think I have changed my mind on that. Obviously I don't care if they are mixed. Mind you, this is no "special" car.
 
I always figure two things:
1. It's your car, if your not selling it and you have likes/dislikes or reasons for it. More power to ya... mod away

2. If it's not a true resto, or at a a judged show, I doubt people will notice small the changes. Especially if they are tasteful and cleanly done.

My 67 dart has 5.7 Hemi that gets noticed immediately but not rest. It has a valiant dash (because I wanted the larger cluster opening), modified Badges, deleted trim, seats from a WRX recovered to look factory. Quarterstick under factory console, tons of other small details that rarely get noticed at all. When I bought it years ago, it had a 68 grill, I swapped to a 67 GT grill, and I really wish I hadnt. I like the 68 look better, so I'll be back shopping for that soon...

People may occasionally ask about what's this or that, but I never get a bad vibe from most people. the only crowd I ever get any grief from are the true resto guys who are amazed I sold this or chopped that. I simple say it's not that kind of car, it wasn't rare, special, or even close to original when I got it, so I built what I wanted...


Just my opinion,

Joe
 
you would be surprised how many people wouldn't have a clue what is really going on. the folks that know what year is what and how many yada yada can pinpoint it, but most wouldn't know. I say do what you want and do what pleases your eyes. you wouldn't believe how many people don't even know what my car is , they just see the charger badges and go "oh , its a charger , what year?" even my rustang neighbor called it a 70 charger (74).
 
I use what ever good parts that I have that fit.
Right now my 73 duster has new upholstered front buckets, rear seat and sail panels are from a 72, door panels are from a 74. Kind of a Frankenstein but it look good.
Front clip and doors from a 75.
Motor 72 340 with a trap door air cleaner.
833 and 8.75 out of a 70 Dart.
Parts are somewhat hard to find for 40+ year old cars, so use what you have, drive it and enjoy them.
 
73AbodEE said:
you would be surprised how many people wouldn't have a clue what is really going on. the folks that know what year is what and how many yada yada can pinpoint it, but most wouldn't know. I say do what you want and do what pleases your eyes. you wouldn't believe how many people don't even know what my car is , they just see the charger badges and go "oh , its a charger , what year?" even my rustang neighbor called it a 70 charger (74).
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it`s yours, do what you want, p on the others who may not like it! mine is a 68 M code fastback. what, they only made 69 M codes?!
 
i like to stay with the correct grill and headlights and tail lights for the corresponding year, same for interior...

I'm building my 68 fastback pretty much from the ground up, so if im gonna buy all new interior, might as well go with the correct year stuff..

now paint, engines, front and rear suspensions, transmissions, wheels, etc, all that doesnt matter...
 
Seen a 69 Barracuda, had parts from 67,68 & 69

The guy had several cars and put this one together. It wasn't a high dollar car, just a car for him to take to cruise in

Decent looking car, took me a while to figure out what it was then talked to owner.

My dart is a 67, has 68 buckets, 69 hood, 71 340, 69 GTS stripe

Would have a 69 grill & tail lights if the guy at the body shop had did the work he was suppose to.

Had rally wheels on it before I re did it.

If someone is doing a car for sale or as a high dollar show car use good taste in building it. If someone is making the best car they can and have parts, by all means build it.

The reason I used the 68 buckets is the soft backs and the 4 67 seats I had all had bad hard backs, plus I like the safety latch on the 68 that the 67 didn't have
 
I build them for myself and enjoy the ride, if anyone is turned off because of my wheels and hacking the small holes in the inner fenders for Hooker super comp headers and 360 small block :glasses7: they have there opinion :color: But it's mine :cheers: A car that I will be driving for the rest of my life
 

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If you don't count my hood scoop, side stripes, wing, spoiler, wheels, engine and trans, mine is all 1969, LOL.

I did have one 340 Formula S owner at Carlisle yell at me "that's a lie" while pointing at the 340 letters on my side stripe (it's actually a Magnum 360 with a 340 pie plate), and that's after I helped him trouble shoot his ignition problem. I just laughed, but his was the only complaint I've heard in the thirteen years it's been on the road.
 
im one of those guys who notices things that would be considered incorrect. for the most part i dont care if the car wasnt rare, but if someone does something dumb like swap a modern hemi where a cross ram 413 should be in a 300g and the original engine is avalible would be disappointed.

but i think it would be cool to have a say a 68 duster or scamp with the marker lights replaced to look original. 70-72 dart verts look really good too.
 
I've got a '63 grill that's destined for one of my '64 Darts, because I think that's the coolest of the early A grills - and I really like the way the bumpers looked on that Great 8 Dart that was posted a couple of weeks ago, so I'm looking for '65 bumpers (smooth across the front, rather then the double-bump on the '64), but put the '64 tips on them to get the point that looks right.

If you're building it for yourself, run what YOU like!
 
I like to try to keep them as close looking to stock as I can....

No bastards...
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
i would like to know on average: Do people get turned off with mixed year cars or do most people not even care?

Do little details turn people off to the car (say its not for sale, just at a show) or am i over thinking this whole thing what do you think??
Click to expand...

If I had mt druthers, my '64 Valiant would have '65 front fenders on it (but with the '64 grill.) I like the angle of the downward sculpture line more on the '65.

I'd like to get some opinions about whether to even run a front bumper or not on my car. Here it is, both ways; which looks better on a race car?

Your opimions, please... (sorry for the hijack)

:wack:
 

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Interesting idea for a thread,Rani. I like mixing stock type cues from different models,on Mopars. (Shaved side marker lights/blacked out hood,68 Hemi scoop installed,'72 Scamp).My idea: make the car,your own vision. If you like a stock style car,so be it. I would kill to build a stock looking 63-64 B body Max Wedge clone, steelies and all. It's all ,in the mind.
 
do whatever the hell you want its your car... if you're building it to please someone else you're not doing it right!
 
Bill Dedman said:
about whether to even run a front bumper or not on my car. Here it is, both ways; which looks better on a race car?

Your opimions, please... (sorry for the hijack)
Click to expand...

With the bumper looks better, unless you want to save weight - (IMNSHO, natch)
 
Bill Dedman said:
I'd like to get some opinions about whether to even run a front bumper or not on my car. Here it is, both ways; which looks better on a race car?

Your opimions, please... (sorry for the hijack)

:wack:
Click to expand...
The rebuilt bumpers look great :cheers: memikie likie the bumpers on also :glasses7:
 
Bill Dedman said:
If I had mt druthers, my '64 Valiant would have '65 front fenders on it (but with the '64 grill.) I like the angle of the downward sculpture line more on the '65.

I'd like to get some opinions about whether to even run a front bumper or not on my car. Here it is, both ways; which looks better on a race car?

Your opimions, please... (sorry for the hijack)

:wack:
Click to expand...

Like it with the bumpers. I've changed my 64 over to 65 fenders because I also like the lines on 65 better then the 64's.
 
If it's for sale for top dollar, then I might have a problem.

Lots of my earlier cars had whatever fit.

There are a couple of areas that are kind of a peeve for me, though.

A lot is personal taste.

For example- I don't care for HIP colors on pre- HIP era cars, however, the EV2 you mentioned is a 1969 color, and could have come on a 69 Barracuda, so it's potentially appropriate for that body style.

66 and 65 window cranks are commonly replaced with 68 and up. 67 is one year only (B Body). 66 and 67 Arm rests (again B body) are two year only. It's nice to see the attention to detail to have these little things correct.

OTOH, sometimes it's fun to see anachronistic mods, provided they are in good taste. I like seeing what different factory hood treatments look like on different bodies. That 70-74 Challenger (non-shaker) hood looks good on just about anything.
 
Ya, know Rainy you most be reading my mind. I've been going back and forth on my Barracuda. I usually keep things factory correct,but this will be the last car I build. I like certain things about 67,68,and 69 Cuda's,so I'm thinking about incorporating them all into my build. It's my car. Right!
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
i would like to know on average: Do people get turned off with mixed year cars or do most people not even care?

what i mean by mixed years is say you have (for example) a 67 barracuda and it has say 68 taillights and 68 bucket seats and you open the hood and there is a sweet engine in there but the air cleaner is a 72 trap door unit. Say it has rally wheels which is not correct ....lets go as far as maybe its not even a year correct color. Maybe it has, EV2 orange from the early 70s. and so on and on.

Do little details turn people off to the car (say its not for sale, just at a show) or am i over thinking this whole thing.

what do you think??
Click to expand...

Depends on the car in my opinion. The rarer/more desirable the car, the more i want it year correct.

IE: 70 cuda should be all 1970, not have a 71 grille... same with a 68 charger, should have a 68 grille, not a 70..

now a 74 dart like mine...the outside appearance will be 74...inside and under the hood, not so much
 
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