To Sell Or Not To Sell...Mopar Madness

Hi. I'm a new member and quite frankly I cannot understand anything about this forum in a way of navigation. But hey, got to start somewhere. Found this way to start a new conversation? HOpe I'm in the right place...

My name is Rick and I acquired a 74 scamp this year due to some buddies of mine telling me I need to buy it and fix it up and then sell it for a profit.

Yes, I can restore cars. I do it as a hobby. Not really to make profits as that is the most difficult thing you can do in restoration. But I have a 70 mach 1 in the shop today working on it.

Trouble is the Plymouth was more of a project car. And I really didn't need to have two. The guy before me started ripping everything out to turn it into a drag car...So missing everything. no A/c inside or out, changed power steering to manual, (I think it had power before. Not sure.

Does have a freshly rebuilt 318 and new auto transmission. Lots of expensive performance parts that you can never make money back on.
It seems though that no one is interested in it. And parts are extremely hard to find for this car.

I put some paid ads up and some free ads up. Not a single reply. Probably due to it being a scamp. A valiant? And maybe my asking price is too high.

Paid $4k for it and found out it needed lots of work, time and money to even get it to drive down the road correctly, like a real car. My mistake of course.

I have recently put $1600.00 in it just to get it running and driveable. I rebuilt front end, aligned it. put new tires, new brakes front and back, new master cylinder, pwr booster, new proportioning valve, electric fan, new AutoMeter Instrumentation gauges, new tires, I painted rims, B&M auto shifter added to the floor, expensive ignition system, new steering wheel, battery, etc..

I did lots of dent removal, no rust. New exhaust pipes to the rear bumper. It's a good running straight car now but needs paint. carpet and rear seat cover.

And now it needs even more. As seats are some racing variety that needs to be removed and new buckets put in. back seat needs to be covered. everything is green and so I was going to turn inside to black. Purchased new $300 dollar OEM Dash Pad. Coming in soon.

Needs carpet. Needs paint.

Do I try and sell it for a loss now. Or do I keep putting money into it to try and eventually find that narrow market buyer?

Negative profits will be a solution. But where will my shortest loss be at?

What next? After interior and exterior paint, carpet, seats and custom wheels I would do next... in the future?

Or try and give it away now, before I ever put another $2 to 4k in it. I think it is already getting out of hand. At $6500.00 But it would have been hard to sell as it was. Was missing many parts, like driver window and crank, shift cable, ignition system, glove box, radio bezel, seat belts, wiper system, wheels, shift cable, mufflers, pipes, steering wheel, etc... Not sure why I bought it now that I'm finding out there is no interest in them. Damn friends of mine!

If anyone can give me advice or any help with this please let me know. Thank you.

Cordially,

Rick Bell

If you have no heart for the mopar. Sell it now and cut your loses early. Your going to go in the hole exponentially.

You’re already $5,600 into it plus the other parts you haven’t installed yet. That probably doesn’t include your time either. As the other post says, you’re already upside down on the car. Best to sell now before the losses get even greater. It’s a ‘74 Scamp (and I’m not trashing it as a later year A body since I have a ‘75 Scamp and love it) so it’s never going to appreciate as much as the 340 A bodies. I think you might have overpaid on the $4k but take it as a learning experience and jump out now with a lower loss.

Just my opinion- the important things to make this car more attractive/sellable, would be paint and rims. These are high ticket items and would quickly remove any profit in the car. If you were to keep the car, this would be a nice driver. So the advice "to get out while you can" is probably best.

You could make a few changes to make it more appealing, will give you a better chance to find that buyer that wants a fun driver.

• Switch to the oem front seats like you mentioned.
  
• Find a Dart/Valiant parts car and raid it for all your missing parts. Try to buy a rusted out POS so you can buy it cheap then crush it and recoup your investment.
  
• A bodys already have a wider front track that looks a bit awkward with certain wheels, switch to narrow fronts and fatter rears. If you don't want that look, at least find wheels with a deeper backspace so they get sucked in more.
  
• Do some budget paint, but take tons of pics of the body beforehand to show how solid it is. Since you're changing seat colors, body color is more flexible. Maybe do a poll here and see what fellow A-body guys think it should be to look the best.
  
• Dress up the grill and maybe the rear trim with some masking and black paint. Not totally blacked out, just parts that give a nice contrast. Example below.

Thank you for the info. I do appreciate it coming from owners of these type cars. I think the trouble with getting out now is I cannot find anyone wanting it, even on the cheap. Just no one wants it period. I can keep it also for 5 or 10 years if that would help me break even. Just need to work on my mustang project and possibly park this somewhere until I find someone who actually wants the car...And like most have said. Get out while you are only 5600 in the hole!

I'd give it away if I knew the outcome was to spend more and lose this much anyway. Anyone want to make an offer? LOL

I agree also with perhaps the right looking paint, wheels and interior I'd have a better chance of getting some money for it, and also selling it for more. Perhaps a silver with black interior. nice wheels and off set size. and factory looking seats. The 318 is a problem. And it would cost $3000 to turn it into a stroker. But then the rear and drive would have to be upgraded. It is not a ten bolt or tuff rear end. It's the 7.4?

Thanks guys. I don't know how to respond to you all at different messages so hope this covers the input.

74scamprb said:

Thank you for the info. I do appreciate it coming from owners of these type cars. I think the trouble with getting out now is I cannot find anyone wanting it, even on the cheap. Just no one wants it period. I can keep it also for 5 or 10 years if that would help me break even. Just need to work on my mustang project and possibly park this somewhere until I find someone who actually wants the car...And like most have said. Get out while you are only 5600 in the hole!

I'd give it away if I knew the outcome was to spend more and lose this much anyway. Anyone want to make an offer? LOL

I agree also with perhaps the right looking paint, wheels and interior I'd have a better chance of getting some money for it, and also selling it for more. Perhaps a silver with black interior. nice wheels and off set size. and factory looking seats. The 318 is a problem. And it would cost $3000 to turn it into a stroker. But then the rear and drive would have to be upgraded. It is not a ten bolt or tuff rear end. It's the 7.4?

Thanks guys. I don't know how to respond to you all at different messages so hope this covers the input.

Click to expand...

If it's a factory v8 car it may be an 8 1/4 rear, which is plenty strong enough for a street driver.

Actually, I am trying to sell it. Trouble is I cannot find anyone interested in it even for half the money I have in it. Sad day in the life of this Chevy and Ford guy. This image is of my last restoration. I did make a profit. ONly if you don't count the hours of labor. But I think you guys are correct. Sell if possible and stop the bleeding.

Thank you.

Which ever of your buddies that gave you the advise to buy , owes you some serious $$ !!! Here is the deal. You have a not so sought after year. Even IF YOU fixed all the rust and had it pretty straight, and still needed paint,.. it is a hard sell without that shiny stuff..
Fresh engine, trans did you say??... you better had all the receipts and details for your buyer, otherwise,,,
HP??? parts for the 318??? .... would be way better of 340 or even 360.
You spent $1600 on the new work. YOU did the work or is that costs of parts? Remember this is a hobby, and that 74 rarely will anyone credit that car with the $ and work put into it.. A real 71 A body , different duck maybe.

If you had bought a "desirable" B body and spent $$ on it , you would be way better off. 74 A bodies are not highly sought after nor brings many $$ especially here in Texas!

You paid $4000 for it with a fresh eng/trans. That means the seller probably gave $1000-1500 for it, and then spent $3000 for the meh work, and bailed put of a total left to be done project. I say cut your losses if you can...
Get it running/driving, way easier to sell. Get the missing parts. Have the paperwork for all the mechanical work, and all work done. IF YOU can give it a decent paint, will help a bunch.
Wanna be, cut up, missing part, drag cars... usually not good.

And, Tx is not a great Mopar state!! Its Chevy land. Good place to find NOT rusted out rust belt jjnk, but the guys back East do not want to buy long distance and pay shipping!!!!

Lesson we know.. buy a project because you will love it.....

I like the car, might be later A but has the right DNA. The only reason to put more into it is if you have to have the car for your daily driver. Be patient, it’s worth break even money all day to the right guy. Someone will finish that car.

Well you said that is driveable.
One way to get part of your investment back is to drive it, make it your daily driver.

O.K. now you've added another part of the story. When you stated 5 or 10 years. I'd say you'd still be hard pressed but....... Let me tell you a little story. When I was a kid I bought my first car for $600 bucks. It was (and is) a 1957 chevy 2 door hard top Belair. You could buy any of the wagon series (except nomads) for around $300 bucks. Parts cars galore. Fast forward almost 40 years and you can't even touch a rust bucket 4 dr wagon for anything less than around 2.5 to 3K. Guys want Belairs and can't afford them so they start settling for what they can afford. It starts driving up the cost of the less desirable. 1974 Scamp desirable right now? Maybe as a parts car (but even now they reproduce so much). Will it be later? Maybe. But right now it's a money pit for you that your heart isn't in to. Have you noticed that parts are twice as expensive because "MOPAR" is attached to them yet? Cut your loss, sell it, trade it, raffle it, give it to one of those help a veteran places to auction off and take it as a tax right off. Lease it to someone. Donate it to a high school as a drag race project. Hell, shock the bejesus out of some kid. Take it to a car show, watch the crowd, and the first kid that comes along and shows any admiration, throw him the keys and walk away. What a great story that would be. Maybe it would be made in to a movie and you'd get rich.

I have always loved the tri five chevies, but I admit I have stayed with the Mopars all these decades. I knew 2 brothers that bought totally done a 55 and a 57 chevy last fall, both gave around $35 for each car. Here is the $ part of your equation, that Chevy of your was probably sold for maybe $30000-35000 depending on what it was.
Your 74 318 car completely done, is maybe a $7-10,000 car to the right guy. Key is right guy, just like getting your $$ back out you have in it today. Key is finding a guy that can finish your body work started HIMSELF. He probably would not be necessarily in your backyard either.
Mopar guys, A body guys in particular, tend to value everything pretty conservative, they will also take the $ your spent and value that at 50 cents on the dollar. Slant guys are even worse! lol
The majority of guy that gravitate toward the "lesser" cars, they tend to buy cheap, long term projects. The guys that go for the higher end E and B bodies, tend to be willing to pay for $ and work spent. Check out cars for sale here on FABO and go to FBBO and see where cars are listed as SOLD!!

Rims and tires will go a long way towards generating more interest. It doesn’t have to be a new set of each, but the performance look is what you’re after. Next, did you try listing it on the many free Facebook sites dedicated to A body cars? There is a Valiant/Scamp site, A body Mopars, and a bunch of others. They have a lot of members there, and a nationwide audience.

If you’re near Michigan, my brother just pulled his large bolt Rallyes and BF Goodrich tires, and has them for sale for $500, that would go a long way towards a better look on the cheap.

That reminds me- making contact with other Mopar clubs might lead to a sale.

Murray said:

That reminds me- making contact with other Mopar clubs might lead to a sale.

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THIS... if you can't find any interest through the usual advertising it might be time to hit up some TX Mopar clubs. See if there are any Mopar car shows coming up where you might try to sell it.

I personally would seriously consider buying it if I had some extra cash. I'd slowly restore it over a few years and daily drive the heck out of it in the process. Those Scamps are interesting, they're basically a 2-door Dart (longer wheelbase than a Valiant) with Plymouth front end and taillights. The body looks really solid from the pics too.