C body querys

71ChargerRT

71ChargerRT

Well-known member
I delivered some parts for a friend of mine to a guy south of me. He's working on a '70 'Cuda, but that's not important here. He has a '66 Newport Custom, he bought it for the powertrain and wheels. I glanced at it but didn't give it much thought. He called me up a few days ago and asked if I knew anyone that might be interested in the complete body (minus aforementioned items). I told him to shoot me some pics and tell me what he's asking. I spoke to him this AM and he was telling me the guy from whom he got the car was killed, but he received folders of paperwork, including receipts for complete new brakes around the car, power front disc, a trunk load of extra parts, as well as a complete dash assembly. As we spoke he was telling me over and over about the parts and about how clean the car was and how much he didn't want to "put the car to sleep" and he would really like to find someone to buy the body and put it back on the road (I'm putting all this detail here so you have to deal with part of the converstaion I had this morning, should have been 5-10 minutes, I was on the phone almost 45!) The car looks like it could be a nice cruiser, it has all the original paint and interior and I have a motor, trans and most other necessary parts to get it back together and on the road. The only thing I'll have to buy is a new set of rubber.

What should I offer? During our converstaion his number dropped from $1500 down to $1200 without me expressing a bit of personal interest. I was originally thinking of offering $500 and see where it went from there.


Anyway, here are a couple pics...


66Newport6.jpg


66Newport4.jpg


66Newport2.jpg


66Newport12.jpg
 
I was offered $1000 for my NewYorker "just for the drivetrain".

So, that makes me want to say that a lot of the value is gone from that car and should be priced at around scrap value.

Now, THAT is NOT what I think of the car. It doesn't look like scrap at all. It looks like a nice solid car. With all of that work and parts into it already, I think you're on to something. Especially, if you already have something to put into it.

I mention the scrap thing because that's what he really bought when he bought it for the drivetrain. At least to him and within the realm of that transaction.

Thank goodness he has the sense to try and put it in the hands of someone that will keep it going.

My point is that he should be expecting to get scrap value out of it and be happy. Offer him a bit more and he should ecstatic.
 
Yeah, I have to go with DCF's thinking on this one. The disc brakes are a nice option, a bastard to rebuild, and hard to find (they're Budd 4-piston, same as my friend's '66 300). You can't just go purchase calipers for that car; they need to be rebuilt at home. It's a base 4-door sedan, not even a hardtop, but it looks to be a clean car.

Personally, I would skip it entirely unless you have a serious fetish for 1966 C-bodies. You have other projects on which you can concentrate, and this is just money you'll be taking away from those. You can't save 'em all, and that car would be something that should you need to turn, you'd lose on your investment. Keep your eye on the prize; I've had trouble doing that in the past; a year ago I had 5 cars because I couldn't stop myself. Now I have none. I still have right of first refusal on my Imperial, which was really the only one I had after which I'd lusted. Everything else is a soup can now. I want one car, one project, and that's it. I don't need the confusion of trying to save every old Mopar I see.
 
I get your point Doc, other cars are "distractions" from my original goal. I also need something to tinker with and cruise around in while my Charger is resurrected into the monster I want it to become. The Charger, to hit the lofty goal I'm aiming at, is going to take a lot more time.

My heart ISN'T set on this car, and if he is stuck on crazy money than I'll keep moving. That said I have the parts and such to make this car a driver, and I think once this one is together I'd be able to flip it and make a little coin, which could go back into the Charger. If I didn't have parts this car wouldn't even be a consideration and this conversation would have never taken place : D
 
$350, tops. It's a four-door, which to most people is a parts car... and the parts just aren't worth that much.
 
Too bad it's been parted, but as DCF said, now it's a parts car at scrap value.It would be nice to see it back on the road again, but any value it had (or hoped to attain) went with the original drivetrain.I'd be offering no more than the aforementioned $350 and that would be stretching things...
 
I find it funny that he would buy it to rob the motor/tranny and wheels...then feel it's too nice to scrap. Well that's exactly what you've done by stealing those parts for your.."Just another E-body". If he was truly concerned about the car, and how it's too nice to scrap, then he should have left the original motor and tranny in the car and sold it whole. You can buy motors and trannies already robbed from worse cars then that one...all day long.

But having said that it's an extremely nice condition car, and even has power seats! If you can rob it from him for no more then $500 then it might be worth your time to get it going and flip it. But you might not get more then $1500 for it back up and running though...so not much profit for all your time?
 
Being a '66, there's no such thing as "matching numbers" so you've got that working in your favor. You just need to find a correctly-dated block and trans. Good luck overcoming the 41 body style, though.

I know a couple of people will probably not like this statement, but why gut a nice survivor just for a 383? He'd be better off with a 360, for God's sake... but if you're going to do a B/RB, a 400 or 440 are the only choices worth considering, in my opinion. Even if you do want a 383, the Magnum didn't debut until 1968. The 516 heads on that engine are doorstops.
 
I'm thinking more cruiser than flipper, but the ability to recover my investment in a few years is a plus. If parts weren't in my garage it wouldn't be a consideration, but the ability to build a low buck cruiser really gets the jaw rubbing going. :hmmm:

That also leaves me to really blow my Charger completely apart and do a K frame off restification :bwuhaha:I've just started the parts round up, the few I need anyway. I have more stainless pieces to have smoothed out and restored than I actually have to locate, huge plus having a relatively complete car to start with. I need to find a nice used jig so I can really dig in when the time arrives.
 
Well to have a nice cruiser, while working on the "other" car is definitely a bonus....Been there and glad I did. And that Ol' girl looks like a great candidate for a low buck family cruiser. And in a few years when the charger is up and running, and you want to sell the Newport, I'm sure you'll get your money back out of it...and some. Especially since you'll be maintaining it's current condition.
 
Unless you have a ready-to-go drivetrain into which you've got nothing and needs nothing, you'll lose your butt on this car. At $1,200 I'm betting he's asking more than he paid for it. Even if I really wanted the 383 and the wheels, I wouldn't have given $700 for the car. If you want to keep it forever or part it out, go for it. If not, it's a loser.
 
Yep, I have the 400/727 from the Cordoba, as you know it'll bolt right up to the existing manifolds. What I paid for the 'Doba, and what I made parting and scrapping the shell I'm up a 400/727, 11.75" front brakes and about $100 cash. Tires are the only cash outlay, well that and fluids. I'm just pulling the 15X7 wheels, I bought as temps for the Charger, painting them and adding 235/70-15's.

Thanks Cow, I prefer the later C's '69-'72 and wagons, but this just looks like a fun car!

This is true Jass, but this guy sold a '72 Charger 340 Ralley for $750, complete without a title, I wish I had gotten hold of him when he had that! He thinks he's got a 335 horse 383 Magnum too. He has no idea about Mopar, he'll get an education when I go look at this car. If it's as complete, and clean as it looks in the pics my top dollar is $500(depending on spare parts I may make some of those dollars back). Worst case in a few years I'll part it out, best case is I find someone that wants to own a cool old cruiser.
 
My New Yorker is my sanity saver while I work on the Charger.

So far, it's worked on the sanity side... Not so much on the money side.

I don't regret a penny I've put into it, but it's adding up and there are some things that I still want to do to make it nicer and things that need to be done to keep it going.

That said, I'm putting a few hundred miles a week on her and that's usually in one day. So, there's a lot of value in having a nice cruiser handy while working on the bigger project.

Rough math says I still have spent less on it than what the appraiser put down on paper. Not that that really matters because the enjoyment that we are getting out of it has value, too, but it's a bit comforting to me to keep that kind of figuring in mind.
 
For what it's worth my 66 Fury had the most rust in the trunk extensions and the floor over the front spring hangers under the back seat/floor area. looking at that car though I doubt you'll find much in there. Good luck I like it!
 
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