hi famous bob...
this car was advertised on ebay two years ago in boston. it was all set up for drag racing and looked like the picture i posted. it had a 426 hemi in it at the time. the owner was advertising it as a "real M-Code drag car." i got in touch with the guy and tried to buy it without the engine and trans. he wasn't interested in selling it that way. then last february (2016) the car shows up again on ebay, the same car but now with a 440 in it. a guy from bartlesville, ok who was a mopar guy and had a race garage had purchased it from boston wanting the hemi for another car he was building. i was able to negotiate a deal with this guy to sell me just the rolling chassie. i wasn't interested in any of the race parts so i let the race car guy keep whatever he wanted. we were able to agree to a price that made sense to me knowing what the costs would be to repair and replace all the race preparations and to install a OEM drive train. the market is down on mopars and i'm not the kind of collector that invests outrageous amounts of money in my cars. i have 4 Cudas now with this M-Code and every one of them could be sold tomorrow at current market prices without me losing any money. i do have to say, however, that i have done all the restoration and paint work on my cars myself so i don't have any labor costs invested in my cars. i watch every mecum auction and it is now cheaper to buy a fully restored car (any make or model) than it is to buy one and take it to a shop. american metal direct is only doing the rough panel repair on my car and i will be doing the final bodywork, paint and drive train installation. when this car is done, i will have about $37k in it which is a good number for a restored 69 M-Code Cuda.