How much did you pay for your A Body

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$6000, good interior, 4 speed, freshly rebuilt 273, 489 case 8 3/4 sure grip, 3.55 gears. This is when the economy was good and prices on cars was steeper than they are now. Picture is when I first bought it... same day.
 

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I used to work in a Dodge dealer. One day some old guy came in and had to have a new Caliber. After a bit, the sales manager asked me to go with the salesman on the deal and see what it would take to get "the old Dodge" this guy had running. We went into the garage and see a carpet heap with box's piled all around it. I was expect to find a "K" car under there.
Pulled back the carpet and there it was. I tried like hell to buy the car from the guy then and there, but the salesman insisted that it was part of the deal. I wound up buying the car for $5K. This was at the beginning of price surge. It didn't take much to get it running, cleaned out the carb, changed the oil and she fired right up. Everything is original, with the exception of wear items and the bias ply tires.
It's a 4 door and the car is a blast to drive.
 
I bought it for $1000 from a guy in San Diego (thats him in the pic) in '05 as a birthday present to myself. Even though he advertised it for sale, it took a lot to get him to sell it to me. He owned it for 6 years and talked about it like it was his son. He could tell I was a car guy and would take care of it, so he took the money.

I've put roughly another $1400 into it (new tires, tune up, brakes, exhaust, interior redo, replacing missing/worn parts, etc).

I started selling parts on eBay to help finance its restoration and have managed to get it all back, plus a few extra bucks toward future paint and a new drive train. So, essentially, I have almost nothing into it at this point. My insurance policy puts its worth at $6,500 so I'm happy.
 
my current 67 Dart convertible I bought in 1993 for $1,700.00

The car was advertised for $2,500 and my wife and I were thinking about getting a fun car.

It was about 1 hour away so a nice drive if nothing else.

we get there and it was a nice old car with some rips in the seats,cracked dash, hole in carpet, ok (thick and some runs) paint with some crappy body work, leaking lower radiator hose from fan belt too looseas in the oil and a knock when driving.

The girl that owned it had bought it was in a band with her boyfriend and he was going to help her fix it up. Well as all good intentions go, they broke up, she couldn't fix it herself and didn't have the money to pay someone.

When driving it I thought it had a rod knocking and since I could smell gas in the oil figured it had washed the bearings out.

I offered the her $1,500 for the car. She said no and that $1,700 was the least she would take. Since I was not a fan of a 67 Dart and thinking it needed a new engine, I told her to call me if she changed her mind.

A few weeks went by and no call so i called her. Again she said no, $1,700 was her bottom dollar.

My wife who has a white with blue interior 89 Daytona liked the little white dart with blue interior and top. her comment to me was "WHAT IS $200 DOLLARS?"

So at that I called the girl back and said I would give her the $1700. I took oil & filter, lower rad. hose, anti freeze some tools. I had driven my brothers 67 Dodge pick up with a hole in the block 17 miles so figured I could drive the Dart an hour with a rod knocking

Once I got the car home I found the exhaust loose and that was the knock.

We drove it a couple of years then it was disassembled and a 340, 4 speed, 8 3/4 rear, and just about everything else was rebuilt or replaced and most of it was done at least 2 times. 10 years later and more money than I want to admit it was back on the road

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When I brought it home

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At mopar Nats in 1994 indy

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1st place Carlisle 2007

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photo shoot shortly after getting back on the road around 2005
 
Hmmm... My first car was a free 74 Dart Custom in 1983... Old guy came into the shop where my father worked as a mechanic 'cuz it was not running well... Told the old guy it needed a full tune-up, the intake had to come off to clean the carbon-clogged exhaust changeover so it would warm up properly on cold mornings, needed front tires, and belts and hoses. The old guy left with a sad look on his face - this was his baby. The next day it quit running on him in the center of town. He had it towed to the shop and later that day brought dad the title, said he could have it, and thanked him for being honest about what it needed...

I'll go one further - My second car was a free 71 Dart Swinger - the owner owed dad for working on his other car and gave it to him as payment. So I sold the 74 and started driving the 71... Sold that to the same guy when I bought my 1st 71 Barracuda....

Fast forward to 1998 - Original owner gave me the 69 Fury ragtop in my avatar 5 years after seeing it rot away in his front yard...said if I wanted to try and save it, I could have it. Deal was that he would be my 1st stop when the car was completed. I kept my end of the bargain - He was all smiles and 5 hand shakes when I rumbled into his driveway in June of 2004! It has been on the road for 7 summers now - Carlisle 3 times, MoPar Nats once and driven everywhere.

Jump to this week - My 14 yr old son is giving a whopping $400 for his first Mopar - a 65 B'cuda - complete, unmolested, 273/auto on the floor, no console.Complete with wasps, yellowjackets, mouse turds and one 5ft black snake coiled up under the hood..... Needs 1/4's, but it is 100% complete and absolutely no rust under the hood!

The deals are out there - just gotta hunt for them.....
 
I aquired my 71 duster last year for free...but sinse then put quite a bit in it, but at least it's nearing completion, of a full rotissery resto. car is now lime green, mildly built340, 4 speed, 4:30 gears.
 
I bought my cuda in 2006 we were between projects came into some money went looking for another truck or a 69 camaro,went to this guys house to look at a 65 ford F100 fleetside orig. everything he had done a restoration on it had 20 Gs in it was asking 8000$ sitting next to it was my cuda [that was not for sale] i never looked at the truck after i saw the cuda every thing i wanted in my next project,factory air v8 auto power steering all orig. beat him up for over two hours finally came to a price and bought it a little more than i wanted to spend but less than the truck he had for sale. Added SSBC disk conversion,formula s manifold,edelbrock carb,timing chain,new suspension,rebuilt rear brakes,ralley 14 wheels,lowered 32 inches rear 2 inches front,car had an amiture restoration in 1996 i have done nothing to the body or interior except clean it up.The car was bought new 23 miles from my house have cert card and some recepts.
 

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I did not pay a dime for it. My dad bought it for me 6 years ago for about $1600. He wanted to get me into cars and it worked. Here is how it sat when it came home.
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A few grand into it so far and much more to go. Thankfully I have gotten a ton of Freebies and Christmas/birthday gifts of parts. If I only could find a job I could do a lot more to it.](*,)
 
I got my '69 Dart as a trade for Honda Civic hatchback last month. Even swap! Rusted quarters but everything else is great. Now it's my daily driver AND project car.
 
I had been looking for a Mopar, preferably a Challenger, but they were way out of my league. I started looking for Darts and never found one I just had to have. Then I was leaving for work one day and a half a block away they are having a yard sale and there is a 73 Dart in sublime green. I stopped and looked at it and it was rust free, custom interior, 318 slightly built. I gave him $2000 to hold it, came back the next day and picked it apart and bought it for a total of $6000. It was a lot of money, but loud and quick and pretty. Getting pretty close to the purchase price in all the stuff I have and am putting into it, but who cares? I love it!
 
Lets see, I paid $400.00 for the blue 66 in my avatar. It was sitting in the field next to my buddies house and I was building him a new shop and I saw it sitting out there. I asked him about the car and he told me it belonged to the previous owner of his house, an 86 year old gent that bought it brand new. He had a minor fender bender with it and just parked it out there in 1978. I bought it in 1993. Of course it didn't look like it does now, that came with a price tag spread out over about 12 years!!! Also out in the field (still) is a 73 Scamp, a 57 Chevy Nomad, a 68 Charger, an old Studebaker Hawk, a Vega panel, a 64 or 65 Chevy II, an old 40's Ford pickup and an even older 30's Walton's style pickup. All of the later model cars have slight front end damage, and I believe one of these cars is what finally took the old man off the road!!!
 

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cosgig said:
Lets see, I paid $400.00 for the blue 66 in my avatar. It was sitting in the field next to my buddies house and I was building him a new shop and I saw it sitting out there. I asked him about the car and he told me it belonged to the previous owner of his house, an 86 year old gent that bought it brand new. He had a minor fender bender with it and just parked it out there in 1978. I bought it in 1993. Of course it didn't look like it does now, that came with a price tag spread out over about 12 years!!! Also out in the field (still) is a 73 Scamp, a 57 Chevy Nomad, a 68 Charger, an old Studebaker Hawk, a Vega panel, a 64 or 65 Chevy II, an old 40's Ford pickup and an even older 30's Walton's style pickup. All of the later model cars have slight front end damage, and I believe one of these cars is what finally took the old man off the road!!!
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Love that 'Cuda!
 
Wow those pics came out way big. Sorry computers not my thing. Anyway $1500 redoing interior needs tires a little dented (better than rust). 95% compleate and running. Saved it from being parted out.
 
bought my 71 dart b5 blue with a giant rust hole for 600 bucks it ran but was weak traded it for my current 67 coronet 440 and the silver 4 dr parts car and the coronet was very high on my want list so i dont miss the dart one bit.
 
got my 74 duster for my 16th birthday as a gift from my dad back in 06 came with a stout 360 727 and 8 3/4 rear w/ 3;23 GEARS paid 1200 for it drove it from san fran to san jose no problems at all had minor rust but nothing not fixable . couldnt really tell over the garbage paint job rust was all under neath oh interior was just done as well right before i bought it.not only my first a body but first car ever thanks DAD love YOU RIP :-| its now 410 stroker witha 4 /speed and 323 sure grip wainting on paint and suspension work

heres a pic the day i got it in san francisco then a pic of it how it sits today


and my 67 belvedere with a mild 383 i bought last december for 900 bucks:yawinkle:
 

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dustya_383 said:
got my 74 duster for my 16th birthday as a gift from my dad back in 06 came with a stout 360 727 and 8 3/4 rear w/ 3;23 GEARS paid 1200 for it drove it from san fran to san jose no problems at all had minor rust but nothing not fixable . couldnt really tell over the garbage paint job rust was all under neath oh interior was just done as well right before i bought it.not only my first a body but first car ever thanks DAD love YOU RIP :-| its now 410 stroker witha 4 /speed and 323 sure grip wainting on paint and suspension work

heres a pic the day i got it in san francisco then a pic of it how it sits today


and my 67 belvedere with a mild 383 i bought last december for 900 bucks:yawinkle:
Click to expand...
man nice price sorry bout ur dad tho never sell that car man
 
This thread is making me depressed. My wife paid, well, wayyyy too much for my Barracuda. I had a $1500 72' Charger when we were dating and had to sell it when we got married and transferred for her job. My wife always said she would get me another Mopar. She contacted the seller and had pre-arranged everything for a surprise Xmas present a few years ago. The car looked great at first. New interior, wheels, and rims,....at first glance it looked awesome.

After getting home and getting under it I noticed the entire suspension was shot. Wiring, cooling system, and just about everything out of sight needed to be replaced. So this "Turn Key" Xmas present has turned into another wrenching project that I don't have time to work on but she paid so much for it I can't get out from under it.

I kick myself when I see much better buys out there that cost the same as this lemon. I could have had a wayyyy cooler and complete ride for the money.

So DO look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if it has shiny black paint and silver stripes.
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