|
 Sad story of a 1960 Dodge MatadorJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
| Forward Look NON-Technical Discussions -> 1955-1961 Forward Look MoPar General Discussion | Message format |
imopar380 |
| ||
Expert 5K+ Posts: 7207    Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | Some of this is posted on the Ebay/Craigslist for sale, but here goes the story: In July 1980 I attended my first WPC National Meet in Seattle. While I was there a 1960 Dodge Matador came up for sale. As I was attending the meet in my 1960 Polara, I was quite excited to hear about the Matador, never having seen another 1960 Polara or Matador prior to this. I went out an viewed the car, returned to Seattle via ferry a week later and bought it, & drove it home and paid the cross border fee. It was a very nice maroon four door hardtop with a white roof, and mint original gray interior that still had plastic seat covers over the upholstery. The body was solid as a rock, with only a few bubbles around the headlight pots. In 1981 I used both my Polara and the Matador for my cousin's wedding, both of them were decorated up with ribbons etc. for the occasion. I kept the Matador until 1982 and sold it to a friend of mine, Rod Lindsey who also became a WPC member at the time and was active in our local club. Actually his wife bought it for him as a birthday surprise. He drove the car as a daily for quite a while and put many trouble free miles on it, even drove it as far north into the Yukon one summer on a sales trip. He ended up selling it to another guy named Lyle, who then also joined the WPC Club and our local chapter. He was excited about the car, drove and enjoyed it and had the headliner replaced (the acoustifoam was tattered around the visors). He drove it for a couple of years and got cancer and passed away. His wife sold the car to someone else, who I never met but apparently knew someone that I knew. This was now into the mid to late 80s. The next time I heard about it was in the mid 90s when a guy named Greg bought it and decided he wanted to repaint it. He took it out to my friend Ron Wenzel ( who now owns my old Polara) for some servicing and Ron recorded the VIN# on his work order. Next thing I heard was that this guy greg had stripped the car of its paint to restore it, then lost interest and the car was sitting outside with no paint. Ron and I talked about buying it but both of us had no time or storage for another car at the time. And I still don't. So this was about 1996 and I had not heard of the car since. Now this week a 1960 Dodge Matador turned up on usedvictoria.com with no engine or transmission, lots of primer and bare metal with surface rust. http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/1960-Dodge-Matador_263944... I looked closely at the pictures, and while it appeared to be maroon originally, and had the same gray interior, the bumpers had no bumper guards as mine had. SO I discounted it as being the same car. Meanwhile, I talked to Ron Wenzel about it and he found that old work order from 1996 with the VIN#. SO today I contacted the owner and asked him for the VIN#, and it is a match. TO make a long story shorter, it turned out that the current owner has also lost interest, but he bought it from the previous owner who was also going to restore it but actually found a Phoenix 2 door Hardtop to restore, and he donated the bumpers from the Matador to the Phoenix. I don't know what became of the engine and transmission from the Matador but they are missing. Ron, Myself and Chris Gannon who is also a FL member are going to take a look at the car on Saturday. I still have no room or time for this but there is another FL member here who may be interested. SO here are a few pictures. First picture is the car in the mid 80s. Second picture is the car as it appears now. Third picture is the Dart Phoenix that has the bumpers from the Matador. Edited by imopar380 2015-11-24 12:06 AM (1960_Matador in 1983 (2).JPG) (1960_Matador_2015.jpg) (Beverly Corners Dart Phoenix with bumpers from my Matador.jpg) Attachments ----------------  1960_Matador in 1983 (2).JPG (112KB - 168 downloads) 1960_Matador_2015.jpg (149KB - 227 downloads) Beverly Corners Dart Phoenix with bumpers from my Matador.jpg (73KB - 178 downloads) | ||
| |||
| imopar380 |
| ||
Expert 5K+ Posts: 7207 Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | |||
| |||
| wizard |
| ||
Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 13054   Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | Really a shame - I whish someone would save that car, a rare and beautiful ride  | ||
| |||
| SavoyPlaza |
| ||
Elite Veteran Posts: 1172 Location: Georgia | |||
| |||
| imopar380 |
| ||
Expert 5K+ Posts: 7207 Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | I still have the 1963 Washington State plates that were on the car when I bought it. Edited by imopar380 2015-11-24 11:39 AM (washington_1963.JPG) Attachments ---------------- washington_1963.JPG (100KB - 182 downloads) | ||
| |||
| FINS! |
| ||
Elite Veteran Posts: 943  | |||
| |||
| imopar380 |
| ||
Expert 5K+ Posts: 7207 Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | I went and looked at the car this morning, took a few more pictures. The car is still solid, though it has a lot of bare metal because the paint was stripped, some was primered, but then it was left to sit outside uncovered for quite a few years. So yes, solid but pitted bare metal. I would think a redi-strip on this body would be the way to go....... All the trim pieces appear to be inside the car. I could not see the trunk floor but it is likely surface rusted on top. When I owned the car back in the 80s the only rust on the car was some bubbling just starting around the headlight pots/eyebrows. As of 1996 the car still had the paint on it, then the current owner decided to strip it for repainting. He then lost interest and let it sit outside........ The clear/sparkle steering wheel was donated to the Phoenix pictured above, as were the front and rear bumpers and back up lights. The tail lights for this car are sitting inside the car. The upholstery used to be mint..... what I don't get is why the idiot who took the car apart just threw all the parts on top of the original seats without covering the seats first. Maybe they could be steam cleaned but there is a tear in the driver's seat backrest cushion near the top. I have no idea what the seat bottoms look like as they are covered in trim pieces. The lower front bumper valence is in the trunk. What is really interesting about this car is that the horizontal panel above the front bumper that holds the V shaped stainless steel molding is made of fiberglass, which is what was there when I bought the car. All the others I've seen were stamped sheet metal, not fiberglass. The windshield is cracked. The engine is available -it's still sitting inside the garage of the person who owns the Phoenix. The current owner has had the car since 2003 and lost interest. Someone needs to rescue this car! It's too solid a car to junk - it's a hardtop, and has the optional Sky-High rear window. The headlight eyebrows have sort of been patched a bit but poorly. The guy will take $500.00 and the engine goes with it. He doesn't know where the transmission got to at this point. (IMG_0001.JPG) (IMG_0002.JPG) (IMG_0003.JPG) (IMG_0004.JPG) (IMG_0005.JPG) (IMG_0006.JPG) (IMG_0007.JPG) (IMG_0008.JPG) (IMG_0009.JPG) Attachments ---------------- IMG_0001.JPG (235KB - 176 downloads) IMG_0002.JPG (149KB - 165 downloads) IMG_0003.JPG (132KB - 161 downloads) IMG_0004.JPG (112KB - 181 downloads) IMG_0005.JPG (163KB - 160 downloads) IMG_0006.JPG (134KB - 177 downloads) IMG_0007.JPG (137KB - 157 downloads) IMG_0008.JPG (87KB - 182 downloads) IMG_0009.JPG (96KB - 177 downloads) | ||
| |||
| imopar380 |
| ||
Expert 5K+ Posts: 7207 Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | |||
| |||
| wizard |
| ||
Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 13054 Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | |||
| |||
| Flamin.J |
| ||
Regular Posts: 55 | |||
| |||
| jimntempe |
| ||
Expert Posts: 2312 Location: Arizona | |||
| |||
| imopar380 |
| ||
Expert 5K+ Posts: 7207 Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | |||
| |||
| firedome |
| ||
Expert Posts: 3155 Location: NY & VT | |||
| |||
| imopar380 |
| ||
Expert 5K+ Posts: 7207 Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | |||
| |||
| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] |
| Search this forum Printer friendly version E-mail a link to this thread |
| (Delete all cookies set by this site) | |
