What to look for when buying an A body?

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zfriedbauer

zfriedbauer

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Hey guys, my girlfriends brother and I are going up to our favorite junkyard on friday. Apparently the owner has a running 1972 Dodge 2 door. (Scamp?) Anyways, ive seen it only once before. Its black, not incredibly rusty, with a "Re-assembled" Slant 6. It comes with black seats and a set of these Flower pattern seats as well. If the price is right we want to get it, but what else should i look at on it before i make an offer on it? Any ideas guys?
 
Frame rails front and rear, upper control arm mounting tabs on frame. Look over the frame real close. frame rails and crossmembers are the hardest to fix. I take a rock/brick hammer and tap lightly on any suspect areas. If I find one use the pick end to see what you got and how far it goes.
 
it depends on how much you can fix on your own .....but main thing is frame rails.

If you live in the rust belt take pics and post so the fabo crew can look out for you. If you live in a dry area don't have to worry so much..


Also old collision damage .....look for wrinkles on the frame rails and in the trunk if you can and around the radiator.
 
zfriedbauer said:
Hey guys, my girlfriends brother and I are going up to our favorite junkyard on friday. Apparently the owner has a running 1972 Dodge 2 door. (Scamp?) Anyways, ive seen it only once before. Its black, not incredibly rusty, with a "Re-assembled" Slant 6. It comes with black seats and a set of these Flower pattern seats as well. If the price is right we want to get it, but what else should i look at on it before i make an offer on it? Any ideas guys?
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dodge made the dart and Plymouth made the scamp. if your not sure what you have there look at the vin number

Dodge dart will start with LH23C2 possibly but not as likely LL23C2 (still a dart with different trim)

Plymouth Scamp should be VH23C2
 
Flower pattern seats? Get the VIN and others can check to see if maybe a ModTop car? Not sure if they made a ModTop Scamp?You never know,it may be a odd find.:D
 
check the trunk to make sure Jimmy Hoffa isn't in there


that and rust
 
If it has a vinyl top, take a close look at the roof to make sure that moisture hasn't gotten under the vinyl and is rusting the roof skin! Bubbling and crunchy spots under the vinyl usually hide much worse things than a first look would provide!! Look over the rear wheel area, behind and down along the quarter panels behind the rear wheel for signs of body repair! Also check the trunk pan, under the car at the foot wells for sign of rust through of the floor pans, and make sure that if it is running that the lights, signals and anything electrical is working! Geof
 
Rust and structural rust. A little rust spot here or there an a 40'year Old car is to be expected and can be repaired. Structural rust should be avoided. Shipping a car from the west coast to the east coast may cost a couple thousand. Repairing deep structural rust may cost two to three times that.

Paying less in the beginning may cost you way more in the end.

Note: I'm on vacation an d drinking cocktails so what I just posted may be total bullshit.
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
Rust and structural rust. A little rust spot here or there an a 40'year Old car is to be expected and can be repaired. Structural rust should be avoided. Shipping a car from the west coast to the east coast may cost a couple thousand. Repairing deep structural rust may cost two to three times that.

Paying less in the beginning may cost you way more in the end.

Note: I'm on vacation an d drinking cocktails so what I just posted may be total bullshit.
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Lmao,68... Enjoy your vacation, still the most relevant post yet. Don't buy, a bondod up bucket.
 
Abodybomber said:
Lmao,68... Enjoy your vacation, still the most relevant post yet. Don't buy, a bondod up bucket.
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one of the easiest ways to detect mass amounts of bondo under the paint is a refrigerator magnet
you just take one along and put it on the problem areas (fenders, rear quarters, anywhere you expect bondo) and see if it sticks
if it doesn't your not looking at metal
 
Cars are in a junk yard for a reason. Examples: don't run, tranny gone, wiring a mess, rear axle failure, etc., you get the picture. Other examples: rot, crash or some other reason for not passing inspection. IMO mechanical issues are easy to repair/rebuild/enhance. Structural/rot/crash issues are not so easy. I got lucky after 4 years of searching I found a '72 Scamp in a junkyard for cheap. No rust/rot/crash. The owner junked it because the bushing in the distributor went bad and it couldn't hold a dwell. A $20 repair. And, one owner with 68k miles. But if the car you look is good enough for parts maybe that is a way to go. Good luck
 
What is your plan? To restore it?

Just keeping mind do you have enough money to restore it even if it is solid?

99% of the people out there are better off buying a car that is done. I paid 16,000 for my current dart and it was done and show ready. I've since done a bunch to it but none of it was mandatory stuff. My last car I did ground up and I had about 30,000 into it and that was over a decade ago.

Considering what paint alone costs now a days unless you want to do a resto because you love doing such things it isn't financially worthwhile in one of these cars because the end value just isn't there, especially in a 72.
 
Go through my build thread if you want to see some areas of rust rot. It will show you a lot of the main areas to look at where rust occurs. I had to repair 3 frame rails, the rear crossmember, trunk pan, inner quarter panels, the upper control arm mount tabs and the frame that they attached to, torsion bar crossmember was rotted and I reinforced that, where the torque boxes (not sure if I'm calling it the right thing) attach to the rear frame was rotted, and a whole lot more beyond that even. It seemed never ending with the rust repair. The only thing that saved my arse was repairing it all myself so I only had the cost of the materials. When I bought the car, it was cosmetically in good condition. But it turned out to be a structural rust nightmare.
 
clinteg said:
Go through my build thread if you want to see some areas of rust rot. It will show you a lot of the main areas to look at where rust occurs. I had to repair 3 frame rails, the rear crossmember, trunk pan, inner quarter panels, the upper control arm mount tabs and the frame that they attached to, torsion bar crossmember was rotted and I reinforced that, where the torque boxes (not sure if I'm calling it the right thing) attach to the rear frame was rotted, and a whole lot more beyond that even. It seemed never ending with the rust repair. The only thing that saved my arse was repairing it all myself so I only had the cost of the materials. When I bought the car, it was cosmetically in good condition. But it turned out to be a structural rust nightmare.
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Same, here, I knew about most of the issues on mine and still ended up deeper than what I thought. Got a build thread going on also that shows what a previous owner can do and what a covered up mess can be. If you see rust on the outside there is certainly more on the inside. Rust starts from the inside out. Check it out it'll show where to look.
 
This area is pretty dry. I bought my F-150 body there, and there is very little to no rust and I couldn't pay the guy fast enough for it. Its on the other side of the Cascade Mountain Range. If it spent the majority of it's life there it should be fairly low on rust. That said, do check it over for rust or body damage, run the Vin, and take pictures, because it helps when you leave and go "Oh yea, I forgot to look for or at that one thing..."
 
another spot to at least look at is the door jams. the striker where the door closes on. in A bodies this can be a problem area. easy fix if you have a welder and can fab a little. also lift up on the doors. it will give some indication how may miles it has seen, or at least how many thousands of times the door was opened! LOL
and realize this. the guys that spend say, that $30,00o on restoring one of these old cars, I dare say, he did NO work himself, paid it all done. yes parts and materials add up but........but I can add
 
dano said:
This area is pretty dry. I bought my F-150 body there, and there is very little to no rust and I couldn't pay the guy fast enough for it. Its on the other side of the Cascade Mountain Range. If it spent the majority of it's life there it should be fairly low on rust. That said, do check it over for rust or body damage, run the Vin, and take pictures, because it helps when you leave and go "Oh yea, I forgot to look for or at that one thing..."
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Yeah, east of the Cascades in the Pacific NW seems to be a good place for cars to not be rusted. I have considered several out there. Shipping to VA on an open carrier runs around $900-$1000 which is cheap compared to a lot of rust repair.

Oooops....hope I did not just run up the cost of old cars in the PNW!
 
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