Need help with purchas of 68 Dart!

[Andre68]

Hey guys new to the forum, but glad to be here!

Got a question for you guys, I'm interested in buying this 68 Dart. I am new to Dart's so I don't know what to look for, what they're worth, etc...

So if you guys an help me out that would be great!!

The car is a 68 dodge dart 2 dr, has posts comes with 318 and a 4 speed transmission. He's asking $1500 for it, but I have no idea what could be wrong with it, and where to look for issues. Its okay if it has a little bit of rust, and im not expecting the motor and tranny to work which is fine, because I want to learn to do all of that stuff, which is why im kinda looking for one that has everything but isn't running, so I can learn without ruining a perfectly functioning vehicle.

I believe these cars are unibodys right? So I don't know what to look for as far as any type of frame damage.

Im going to attach the only picture of the car, there also wasn't any info really. And I take it the 2dr post cars are not as sought after? When restored what would be the value of the car?

I was gonna offer him $900, and no more than $1000 if its in the condition it looks like its In.

 

[BrianT]

Welcome to FABO!

Some guys like post cars more for drag racing because of the added rigidity. You're gonna have to crawl underneath and inspect the frame rails for any rust or damage. I usually ask the seller if I can poke the frame rails with my pocket screwdriver. Look closely at the front rails where the suspension bolts on behind the tires. Dirt likes to collect there and it starts to rust. A buckled floorpan would indicate the hit before, look in the trunk also.

Take cash and good luck!

 

[Sedanman]

X2 If that all checks out it's worth $1500 all day long. Is the 4spd installed and the car runs and drives? If so you'd better grab it quick. Is it a CA car? If so I doubt there will be anything more than surface rust but will need most of the interior replaced and all rubber seals due to the sun.

 

[Andre68]

Not sure if its a CA car, might be. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't run, I will check that out

 

[Andre68]

What's the value of the car? Like overall when it's done. I know you kinda lose out when you do a project because you put in more than you'll get back but, what are these worth

 

[inkjunkie]

X2 If that all checks out it's worth $1500 all day long. Is the 4spd installed and the car runs and drives? If so you'd better grab it quick. Is it a CA car? If so I doubt there will be anything more than surface rust but will need most of the interior replaced and all rubber seals due to the sun.

Have purchased a few "California car's".......and they all have had rust. So even if it is a Cali car don't bypass looking at all the usual spots. Check around the torsion bar sockets. Closely look at the area just past the rear tires. Seems Mopar liked to glob a crap load of sealer between the quarter and the trunk extension. If water found its way down in that area and the car has the big blob of crap that mine did it will have some rust....if not now sometime soon. Check the door striker area for cracks...if the area of the door just below the window is dented there is a good chance that the hinges are gone..and on mine the hinges were shot from the cracks around the door striker allowing the door to sag some. Check the floor pans. Cars that spend there life in the desert, if it did, often have severely rotted weather stripping, seals around the wipers will often leak (mine did) causing the floors to rot.

 

[clinteg]

Someone on here posted about this ad and swore it was a picture of HIS car but I don't know what the outcome was upon investigation. If it is indeed a real car and not a scam, look at the rear frame rails where they attach to the rear crossmember and the spring boxes, rear inner fender skins, the lower rockers, where the torque box attaches the frame in front of the rear wheels, anywhere in the trunk pan and the floor, look closely at the frame where the upper control arms attach. You'll probably need to get the car off the ground to get the tire out of the way to see clearly, and check out the bottom of the front frame rails in the area between the driver and front wheels. These were all areas that I found serious rust issues in my car. My terminology is probably not correct on all that but I hope you get the idea. Good Luck!

 

[RedFish]

Anything can be fixed including rusted frame rails. For learning, worse shape the better ?
Probably not. Just depends on how much you want to learn and how much workspace you have. Grinding and welding, painting, engine building, upholstery, can all be done in one small workspace but it aint easy. A lot of time will be spent just moving things around. Lots of tools needed too.
As for what vehicle so much time and money is invested in, Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

 

[autoxcuda]

If this is your first older car I would extremely recommend buying a running driving vehicle. There will be plenty to learn from it.

This car wouldn't really get restored to stock. It doesn't have much value or desirability as stock. Restored with common mods like a mild 360 and ok nothing special paint job would be $8K to $15K. If you paid someone else to just paint the car only ($5K-$8K) and someone else to rebuild the motor ($4K-$7K), you could have $10K to $15K in those two items alone paying someone else to do them. Again that theoretical car would be worth $8K to $15K.

 

[Andre68]

Nah it's not my daily driver is a 68 mustang in which I overhauled the front end and did some rear suspension work on, redid the electrical harness in the front end and other slight modifications

 

[autoxcuda]

Nah it's not my daily driver is a 68 mustang in which I overhauled the front end and did some rear suspension work on, redid the electrical harness in the front end and other slight modifications

That's good.

Do realize parts for mopars are hard and expensive to come by. You can buy everything new for a 68 Mustang. For instance 68 Mustang repro hood molding is $18. For a 68 Dart repro hood molding is $150

Therefore, it's more critical to buy a complete Mopar and really analyze the condition, new/used price of the parts that are on a project car.

 

[Andre68]

Bought the car, pretty sweet very little rust! Very little, some surface rust here and there, disc brakes up front, it also was upgraded to 5 lugs on the wheels. It's all complete aside from the motor missing the carb. But I have one at home already, it has a hurst shifter. Over all pretty sweet. I will post pics tomorrow. The whole picture thing was that he just put up a pic of a car that looked similar, I guess for some reason he couldn't put one up haha picked it up for $1,100.

Yea I know mustang stuff is easily found so this is gonna be fun, luckily everything is there.

 

[Kegan B]

Upgraded to 5 lugs?? If it had anything less before then it had a serious problem :scratch:

 

[Elwood67]

I'd say you did very,very well. $1,100 for a 318, 4spd, with disc brakes on already? Disc brakes will cost you about $700 if buying new. Probably $400-$500 used. Post cars don't bring quite the money the hardtops do. They have a more squared off profile like the 4drs, but they have their fans, myself included.

 

[Rocky_JS]

Just an FYI that you made a good deal.
If the gear box is decent, which it likely is. You could probably recover near all that money with the 4-spd (not OD) and associated parts to someone doing a conversion. The 4-gear stuff sells.

Lets see some pictures!!

 

[pauly v.100]

Post cars rock!!
nice find and welcome aboard! -pauly

 

[70greendart]

Looks like you did real good. Like you say if it has no major parts missing, glass intact, any of the rubber still good, and no floor pans to replace, you way ahead at this point. Have fun

 

[crackedback]

cool

 

[V-100]

Pretty sure I read about this car a year or so ago, and the guy got it from an impound/tow lot, did a bunch of work on it. Remember him saying how solid it was. That is a good deal, disc "Upgrade" is probably a large bolt pattern (5 on 4.5" pattern) set up.
For performance, the 2-dr sedans are lighter and more rigid. They tend to be more rare, too- lower production numbers and the fact the overwhelming majority of buyers were cheapskates, not enthusiasts