I'm Heartbroken. Time to face reality that my Cuda is a parts car.
It all comes down to what you want for yourself. I wanted a 65 Valiant wagon back in the 1990's.I was given this total basket case that was rust from end to end.I made it work .I replaced the cross member,the trunk floor,used Barracuda quarters and made them work,cobbled together a floor,when the transmission started to slip I made it a 6 cylinder 4 speed,when the 225 died I put in a 170.I used this car for work,I'm a carpenter.I sprayed it with white epoxy primer and it looked pretty good for 3 years then it started rusting again and I brush & rollered Rust O Lium on her.Did that a second time a few years later.As long as she looked good going down the road to keep the cops off my *** I was good with it.Today I'm getting ready to take her on a 1500 mile trip up to my camp in the Adirondack Mountains .It's a 400 mile ride up.Last week she got new tires new brakes,a full tune up & oil change . Upon my return a good rust free front clip goes on and after that 4 good rust free straight doors go on . Then I hang a set of 65 Barracuda rust free quarters on her and the body work gets done to make her a cool ride that is going to be very presentable with a proper paint job.Don't need her to work any more so now she can just be a toy. You see,it's all about what your expectations are for the thing.Anything can be fixed and kept running and even brought back to decent shape .If you want to do it you will if you don't there are plenty of guys out there that will so don't turn it into a parts car if you can possibly avoid that. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I'm 70 and started with this car in my mid 40's
It all comes down to what you want for yourself. I wanted a 65 Valiant wagon back in the 1990's.I was given this total basket case that was rust from end to end.I made it work .I replaced the cross member,the trunk floor,used Barracuda quarters and made them work,cobbled together a floor,when the transmission started to slip I made it a 6 cylinder 4 speed,when the 225 died I put in a 170.I used this car for work,I'm a carpenter.I sprayed it with white epoxy primer and it looked pretty good for 3 years then it started rusting again and I brush & rollered Rust O Lium on her.Did that a second time a few years later.As long as she looked good going down the road to keep the cops off my *** I was good with it.Today I'm getting ready to take her on a 1500 mile trip up to my camp in the Adirondack Mountains .It's a 400 mile ride up.Last week she got new tires new brakes,a full tune up & oil change . Upon my return a good rust free front clip goes on and after that 4 good rust free straight doors go on . Then I hang a set of 65 Barracuda rust free quarters on her and the body work gets done to make her a cool ride that is going to be very presentable with a proper paint job.Don't need her to work any more so now she can just be a toy. You see,it's all about what your expectations are for the thing.Anything can be fixed and kept running and even brought back to decent shape .If you want to do it you will if you don't there are plenty of guys out there that will so don't turn it into a parts car if you can possibly avoid that. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I'm 70 and started with this car in my mid 40's
