Cars rust. Road Salt, age, weather, moisture.. it's a fact of life. The
only cars in my price range, are mostly crap. But when they're gone,
they're gone. I wasn't around in 1966 or 1971 when these cars were parked
for the last time until I got there. If I want old car parts I can't even
find them in my home county - it's a drive west 30 minutes, northwest 90
minutes, east 2 hours, or north an hour plus have to BS just right to get
the one guy to maybe deal with me.
So even if it's a rusty wreck, if I like the car, to me it's worth the time
and metal work to put it back together. I know how to weld, paint, do
mechanical work - I can do everything but interior work.
I picked this wagon because overall it is not in bad shape. Outside of the
engine it's pretty well all there, some of the interior is decent, and the
outside metal is all intact if dented. Most of the metal work even if it
has to be fabbed from scratch is not complicated. The rusted areas of the
doors, for example, could be made up with one bender and cut to fit. They
may not be perfect - but I don't want a 101 point show car you can eat off
the undercarriage and spends all it's time rolling on and off trailers. I
want to use it for it's intended purpose - to thoroughly drive the wheels
off it and enjoy every minute. Who knows, I might even save the doors and
stuff off the 2-door hardtop out there and change this to a 2-door wagon one
day, for the one-of-one Chrysler never made. I even considered an El-Camino
variation, but it looks like he## on paper - a shorter top is out of
proportion to those fins. I don't care if I ever sell the ones I like - I
don't even mind if they have (gasp) FOUR doors. Some of the sedans look
better than the hardtops (1957-8 Dodge 2dr comes to mind there). Heck my
spring project to raise a little money for the New Yorker is a '57 Pontiac
4-door I picked up dirt cheap with an excellent body. Someone parted it out
to restore another '57 that had been a hot rod. I throw a 455 and a trans I
already have into it with a $150 mount kit, scrounge the missing trim from
the yard 90 miles northwest, clean up the surface rust and prime it, a pick
your part steering box and a column I have sitting here - or a manual setup
out of the same yard - and it aught to be drivable. Seats from the pick
your part for under $30, and power ones to boot. My investment, under $500.
Asking price: $1250 and take $1000 for it. Someone will buy it.. the 4-door
parts cars with decent bodies go for $500+ on ebay all the time. Plus I get
to enjoy it for a while - I have to, to get a clean registration for this
one.
But I'm cash poor. So if I can make a hundred here or 200 there finding
someone parts, parts cars, or matching up the right rustbucket to the right
guy - thats a little more money I can spend on my own pile of metal. If
this was a 30's Ford coupe, they'd be lined up out the door for it. Takes
longer to find the next guy with a liking for a particular car and no
concern for trying to sell it for half what he put into it when he's done.
I really don't want to sell to guys like that at all - usually I am wasting
their time as much as they are wasting mine, we're both dissapointed.
No one saved these cars. As recent as 5-10 years ago, mass quantity of
vintage tin was getting pressed - a solid 52 Hudson 2-dr hardtop basket
case, numerous Forward Look cars, one place had a '47 Buick, 59 Olds 98 and
two other ragtops I forget what they were - all they saved was a pile of
early Hemi's and not a single 392 in the pile - and they still sit in a pile
in a field for all I can see. A '59 Imperial, a '56 Chrysler 2-dr hardtop,
a row of '55-9 Plymouths. A '57 Lincoln. A '40 Chrysler. a '64 Riviera.
'59 DeSoto. '58 Studebakers. Sad remains of a 46 Chrysler Town & Country
convertible. Maybe a '57 Dodge convertible which was complete and not
rotted too badly... another place, a '59 Pontiac still dirty from sitting
in the garage for the last 20 years needing only a windshield and the
rockers patched up - crushed 100% complete (that one hurts particularly).
Why? It was a city tow, the place that had it was unwilling to part with it
intact.
So as far as I am concerned the only obstacle to restorability is if the car
breaks in two when you pull on it and the willingness of a person to save
the car because they like it and not worry about dollar signs when it's
done. Some people it's a business and that's fine, but this isn't a great
business to try to make a buck in. One of the magazines has had a 2-part
article on the extra $5000 a guy spent on his $25K "restored" GTO to correct
all the shortcuts and incorrect parts.. they called it a 'puppy mill' car.
Not all the business guys are like that, but if thats what you have to do to
make a buck it's not worth the screwing to people.
Bill K.
----- Original Message -----
From: <Archangel1390@xxxxxxx>
To: <pontiac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] 1960 Chrysler serial numbers
>
> Bill, I know of no place else the number is stamped other than the door
post
> and on the frame over the back driver side rear wheel and it is not real
easy
> to find. I have been collecting Mopars since 1957 that is about 46 years I
> have raced them to the tune of over 300 trophies. I have owned more than
100
> Mopars, I noticed you talk about finding super rusty cars. I live in
Pennsylvania
> and in one day I could show you 50 to 70 rusty cars from the 50s and 60s
just
> in my immediate area. If someone want to spend $30,000 on restoration and
tons
> of grief and disappointment and then turn around and sell it for about $15
to
> 17,000 they would have to be either not very bright or very very young and
> inexperienced.
> Ron Allyn Swartley
>
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