The only way to sell this car is via an auction format. You need the excitement of the buyer to overcome his/her ability to think critically. The seller's story for selling absolutely does not stand to reason; he bought it with a six-foot sublime erection with a Road Runner head on it. Only after he got it home and appraised did he realize that, erection or not, he was not the one doing the actual penetrating. Also, sitting down was painful for him.
So, exactly how bad did he take it up the chute? Let's discuss.
We'll start with "What the star-spangled f__k is happening here?"
The car obviously has the wrong grille, but here we see that part of the correct, probably original grille is still mounted. Even with that in place, you're about $2,000 from home on the grille. This same shot, in the lower right, also gives a nice view of what I assume is some kind of hood-latch horsefuckery that defies comprehension. Is that an eyebolt?!
Obvious cheap-outs start with the exhaust tips but go much further. Painted bumpers weren't a '72 thing, but are an easy way to avoid spending money correctly repairing/replacing the bumpers. Mind you, I don't mind the look but I immediately see it as a shortcut. Broken/sagging rear springs? Air shocks are much cheaper than a proper repair. The "road runner" emblems are missing from the quarters. The rolling stock probably came from a swap meet, because the builder definitely wasn't popping for repro redlines, which look silly on the car. The Hi Impact paint is much more exciting than the original Basin Street Blue (Petty Blue would be a 999 paint code). It not only drives buying fever also better hides shoddy bodywork. He/they couldn't even be bothered to clean the steering wheel or replace its damaged emblem... it was probably too much work after piecing together an exhaust system from scraps found behind an abandoned exhaust shop. While the dash isn't cracked, everything about it just looks, well, shabby (probably because there's not a hint of the OE chrome anywhere). Shabby also applies to the sail panels, which shouldn't have that kind of wrinkling, nor should the dome like look like an upholstery button. The strobe stripe is about 2" behind where it should be, a strong hint at the level of dedication and care exerted on this one.
Hilarity ensues in the engine bay, where the Corbin clamps are positively laughable with a dirt-cheap, worse-than-stock unpainted Edelbrock Perfomer intake (and too-small carb), $19 Corvette-style air cleaner, and generic plastic fuel filter. The PCV valve will probably pop out during the first passing maneuver. I was impressed that they blacked out the core support, but after consideration realized it was just easier than painting it green. Under the black, it's probably whatever color the car was from which they removed both it and the RH inner fender (read on).
But wait, there's more! Photos meant to inspire confidence instead instill fear. The photo of the driver's side rocker shows evidence of poor repair, most frighteningly at the T-bar crossmember. I'm really hoping that tire angle is some sort of camera distortion, but close inspection of the tire tread isn't promising.
The shot of the open-door passenger's side rocker makes me wonder if that area was repaired by sound, because nobody looked at that and thought it was good. There should not be light visible from the wheelwell, but no one bothered to reinstall the splash shield. Something's wrong about that sill plate, but more worrying is the severe crash damage to the hinge pillar that probably tells us how the missing splash shield met its demise.
Having been wrecked (hard, in this case) and rusted is one thing, but the half-hearted amateur nature of the repairs is what's concerning. Just the missing and broken parts will be thousands to replace, and the car needs quality frame-rack time along with some structural repairs. At best, this is an $8,500 car as it sits... and the seller absolutely knows this.
I would honestly wager that Stretch and I have more time and effort in Agnes than was expended on this entire, *ahem*, restoration.
