My new 1973 BB Duster, how did I do?
My father came over to my to tell me about a BB Duster car he found on eBay. He highly encouraged me to check it out because it’s something that I would be interested in owning. I looked it up and found quickly. I really liked what I saw and the fact that it is only 10 hours away made it all the more appetizing. The guy added his phone number to the listing so I call him up as I see a few flaws that I can pick apart which will hopefully give me some wiggle room on the price (and hopefully show that I am fairly knowledgeable about these cars). The guy was extremely pleasant to talk with and I asked if I bought/paid for the car if it could sit for a few months in case I couldn't make it down there to pick it up right away. He said that wouldn't be a problem. I said I'll think about it and consider bidding.
Yesterday morning I looked at the auction when I woke up and he added a $3,500.00 ‘buy it now’ price to it. Dang, that’s more than I wanted to pay. My dad is kind of prodding me saying "you wanted one, don't let that one get away. A rust free shell and those parts alone are worth that kind of money". This was shocking to me as he is the tightest person I kno. Truth be told he was right and you certainly couldn't buy the parts to put this car together for that kind of money. Still debating if I really wanted another car lying around I kept watching the auction every hour or so. Last night I noticed he added a "best offer" option so I'm staring at my computer monitor with a big dumb smile on my face like I was 8 years old and my best friend just dared me to do something.
UGH! Musssssttt resssiissst temmmppptaaaatiiooon... and I did!
I decided to sleep on it instead of making an immediate purchase. My son goes to school about three blocks from my fathers repair shop so after I drop him off in the mornings I stop in at my dads shop for the usual B.S. session. As soon as I walked in the door he started: “Buy that duster yet?”, “When are you going to get it?”, and “Did you notice he lowered the ‘buy it now’ to $3,000.00?”. I have no shortage of projects right now, but I dislike passing up good deals. My dad reassured me that as long as it’s what the seller says it is even he thought the car was well worth it. The auction still had 5 days to go still, Grrrrrr!
I called the seller again and asked every question in the book and I could think of so there wasn’t any surprises upon pick-up. He gave what seemed to be honest answers and really knew what he was talking about. We spent about 2 hours on the phone talking specifically about the car. I told him I'd think it over some more and I will more than likely bid. Just before hanging up I asked what his bottom dollar on the car would be (even though it ticks me off when people ask me that). He said because I was really interested in the car, he would sell it to me for $2,500.00. I told him thanks and I'll be in touch. My dad was like “you're crazy, someone else is going to buy that thing, and then you'll be whining because you didn't”.
I stewed on it for the rest of the morning and over lunch. It was time to pull the trigger so I called him back after lunch, around 1:30.
I offered him $2,000.00 cash and told him I could be there tomorrow to pick it up. He said he'd go $2,200.00 and I’d just agreed rather than lose the car haggling over $100-200.00. I told him I’d rather wait to pick it up on Saturday as long as that was cool with him.
Instead of ending his auction as~is he told me to send an official “Best Offer” through eBay and he'd accept it (even though it would cost him a couple more dollars; probably to make sure I wasn't just a tire kicker, I don’t blame him for that though).
The car is a 1973 Plymouth Duster originally from South Carolina. It’s a rust free car and was originally a 225 slant six with a T/F-904 and a small 7-1/4” rear. It also has standard non-power 4-wheel drum brakes. The good news is that it only has 26,000 actual original miles on it and the clean/clear title is from the original owner (signed off of course; current owner never registered the car). The only thing MIA from original is the entire A/C system, which kind of sucks, but I don’t think this car will be much of a cruiser anyways. If it turns out to be one, it can be swapped in from a parts car easily enough. Everything else is still functional on the car (windshield wipers; though the wiper arms are removed, but included; horn; lights; blinkers; …). The current owner removed the original slant six engine / transmission and installed a late 70’s 440 engine and T/F-727 3-speed auto transmission. He used the car for shifts ’n grins drag racing from time to time. He said the car (with the late ‘70s cast crank / low compression 440) would run an easy 13.4x E.T. spinning pretty good off the line. Unfortunately last summer (I think when he said?) he blew the 440 up. He painted the car in the fall of 2008 (while the engine was out). Then he installed the current 62,*** mile 1974(he thought?) steel crank 440 that he pulled from a nice running Winnebago motorhome. He said he ran the engine for awhile before pulling it from the motorhome and it ran great! He swapped the stock motor home heads for rebuilt ‘906’ casting units that he had on the other engine. He also removed the water pump because motorhomes use an oddball piece, so the one off the previous 440 was to be reused. As you can see in the photos he never did get the water pump installed. The 440 also has a Holley 750 vacuum secondary carburetor, nearly new Hooker Super Competition series fenderwell exit headers, and an 8-quart oil pan. He also swapped the rear end for a Mopar 8-3/4” unit with 3.23:1 gears (no sure-grip; one wheel wonder). I asked if it was an A-body rear and he didn’t know. He did say it measured the same width as the small rear end he pulled out of there. The front seat has been recovered (headrests were not re-installed) and the rest of the interior looks pretty good. The dash pad will need replaced eventually though. He got the car to the point it is at now and lost the building he had his projects in so he was selling some of them off.
She surely isn’t the prettiest thing around, however the seller swears up and down that the body has its original panels and none of them has ever had any cancer. He also says that all of the wiring is intact and there isn’t any cuts or splices anywhere. To me it just shows that even though this guy may not have done show quality work at least he wasn’t a total hack. It’s too bad he cut those inner fenders for those headers.
This will be one fun street machine, especially with a 4-speed and a set of 3.91 or 4.10 rear gears!
I was thinking just apply some black side stripes, maybe paint the hood black, install some nice wheels & tires, and sprinkle more go fast parts under the hood and call it good (for now).
I'll report back when I have had time to give it the full looking over in person. I don't feel the seller has stretched the truth on anything, but we'll see.
I realize it’s my car now and nobody else opinions matter but it’s nice to hear them anyways
I think I did pretty well, what do you guys think?
My father came over to my to tell me about a BB Duster car he found on eBay. He highly encouraged me to check it out because it’s something that I would be interested in owning. I looked it up and found quickly. I really liked what I saw and the fact that it is only 10 hours away made it all the more appetizing. The guy added his phone number to the listing so I call him up as I see a few flaws that I can pick apart which will hopefully give me some wiggle room on the price (and hopefully show that I am fairly knowledgeable about these cars). The guy was extremely pleasant to talk with and I asked if I bought/paid for the car if it could sit for a few months in case I couldn't make it down there to pick it up right away. He said that wouldn't be a problem. I said I'll think about it and consider bidding.
Yesterday morning I looked at the auction when I woke up and he added a $3,500.00 ‘buy it now’ price to it. Dang, that’s more than I wanted to pay. My dad is kind of prodding me saying "you wanted one, don't let that one get away. A rust free shell and those parts alone are worth that kind of money". This was shocking to me as he is the tightest person I kno. Truth be told he was right and you certainly couldn't buy the parts to put this car together for that kind of money. Still debating if I really wanted another car lying around I kept watching the auction every hour or so. Last night I noticed he added a "best offer" option so I'm staring at my computer monitor with a big dumb smile on my face like I was 8 years old and my best friend just dared me to do something.
UGH! Musssssttt resssiissst temmmppptaaaatiiooon... and I did!
I decided to sleep on it instead of making an immediate purchase. My son goes to school about three blocks from my fathers repair shop so after I drop him off in the mornings I stop in at my dads shop for the usual B.S. session. As soon as I walked in the door he started: “Buy that duster yet?”, “When are you going to get it?”, and “Did you notice he lowered the ‘buy it now’ to $3,000.00?”. I have no shortage of projects right now, but I dislike passing up good deals. My dad reassured me that as long as it’s what the seller says it is even he thought the car was well worth it. The auction still had 5 days to go still, Grrrrrr!
I called the seller again and asked every question in the book and I could think of so there wasn’t any surprises upon pick-up. He gave what seemed to be honest answers and really knew what he was talking about. We spent about 2 hours on the phone talking specifically about the car. I told him I'd think it over some more and I will more than likely bid. Just before hanging up I asked what his bottom dollar on the car would be (even though it ticks me off when people ask me that). He said because I was really interested in the car, he would sell it to me for $2,500.00. I told him thanks and I'll be in touch. My dad was like “you're crazy, someone else is going to buy that thing, and then you'll be whining because you didn't”.
I stewed on it for the rest of the morning and over lunch. It was time to pull the trigger so I called him back after lunch, around 1:30.
I offered him $2,000.00 cash and told him I could be there tomorrow to pick it up. He said he'd go $2,200.00 and I’d just agreed rather than lose the car haggling over $100-200.00. I told him I’d rather wait to pick it up on Saturday as long as that was cool with him.
Instead of ending his auction as~is he told me to send an official “Best Offer” through eBay and he'd accept it (even though it would cost him a couple more dollars; probably to make sure I wasn't just a tire kicker, I don’t blame him for that though).
The car is a 1973 Plymouth Duster originally from South Carolina. It’s a rust free car and was originally a 225 slant six with a T/F-904 and a small 7-1/4” rear. It also has standard non-power 4-wheel drum brakes. The good news is that it only has 26,000 actual original miles on it and the clean/clear title is from the original owner (signed off of course; current owner never registered the car). The only thing MIA from original is the entire A/C system, which kind of sucks, but I don’t think this car will be much of a cruiser anyways. If it turns out to be one, it can be swapped in from a parts car easily enough. Everything else is still functional on the car (windshield wipers; though the wiper arms are removed, but included; horn; lights; blinkers; …). The current owner removed the original slant six engine / transmission and installed a late 70’s 440 engine and T/F-727 3-speed auto transmission. He used the car for shifts ’n grins drag racing from time to time. He said the car (with the late ‘70s cast crank / low compression 440) would run an easy 13.4x E.T. spinning pretty good off the line. Unfortunately last summer (I think when he said?) he blew the 440 up. He painted the car in the fall of 2008 (while the engine was out). Then he installed the current 62,*** mile 1974(he thought?) steel crank 440 that he pulled from a nice running Winnebago motorhome. He said he ran the engine for awhile before pulling it from the motorhome and it ran great! He swapped the stock motor home heads for rebuilt ‘906’ casting units that he had on the other engine. He also removed the water pump because motorhomes use an oddball piece, so the one off the previous 440 was to be reused. As you can see in the photos he never did get the water pump installed. The 440 also has a Holley 750 vacuum secondary carburetor, nearly new Hooker Super Competition series fenderwell exit headers, and an 8-quart oil pan. He also swapped the rear end for a Mopar 8-3/4” unit with 3.23:1 gears (no sure-grip; one wheel wonder). I asked if it was an A-body rear and he didn’t know. He did say it measured the same width as the small rear end he pulled out of there. The front seat has been recovered (headrests were not re-installed) and the rest of the interior looks pretty good. The dash pad will need replaced eventually though. He got the car to the point it is at now and lost the building he had his projects in so he was selling some of them off.
She surely isn’t the prettiest thing around, however the seller swears up and down that the body has its original panels and none of them has ever had any cancer. He also says that all of the wiring is intact and there isn’t any cuts or splices anywhere. To me it just shows that even though this guy may not have done show quality work at least he wasn’t a total hack. It’s too bad he cut those inner fenders for those headers.
This will be one fun street machine, especially with a 4-speed and a set of 3.91 or 4.10 rear gears!
I was thinking just apply some black side stripes, maybe paint the hood black, install some nice wheels & tires, and sprinkle more go fast parts under the hood and call it good (for now).
I'll report back when I have had time to give it the full looking over in person. I don't feel the seller has stretched the truth on anything, but we'll see.
I realize it’s my car now and nobody else opinions matter but it’s nice to hear them anyways
I think I did pretty well, what do you guys think?
