your gonna end up sticking over 15,000 in body, wiring, interior and engine alone, besides what you pay for it. if your not handy it's gonna cost u more money in the long run. I'd find one in better shape that you can drive. Wait till fall when people don't feel like paying for storage over winter. Not sure what u want to spend.
Goon, thanks for the feed back. I am looking to spend up to $12k, but would like to stay in the $10k range. I have convinced the wife to go for this and she would rather me be in the sub $5k range, but I know that's not going to happen. I can afford the money to restore it over time, and with my wife it's going to be a lot easier for me to throw chunks of $2-$5k a year at it over the next 2-5 years. I would catch hell if I went anything above $12k, and I will probably catch a little hell even at $10k, but I can smooth that over, I think, easier.
Some things, I guess come down to price, if you get it a good enough price would it be worth it? I know some things are just too far gone, but that is what I don't know how to determine yet and am looking to learn from you guys. To me it's not really about making money, but I don't want to just throw my money away either.
My uncle that lives about 4 hours away is a professional body man, over 30 years, and has offered to help some. He is super talented and has restored, for himself, a 1970 Superbird, 1972 Challenger, and is working on a resto-mod 1970 Challenger Convertible. He also helped on my dad's 66 Satellite. He is older and recently recovered from cancer so I know he doesn't want to do any more full rotisserie restorations, but said he would be glad to handle much of the basic stuff. As well, he is willing to teach me some stuff as we work on it.
I am pretty handy when it comes to electrical and interior fabrication. I worked in a car stereo shop installing and fabricating interiors for about 6 years in high school and college, so I fell pretty confident that I could handle some of that, and I am a super fast learner. I have a graphic design degree, but now manage the company that I started at straight out of college manufacturing tool kits for the military; and purchased, learned how to operate, and trained our employees on every piece of equipment we have, from CNC end mill routers to laser etchers.
I have sent my uncle these photos as well and will be talking with him today. There have been a few others I have come across that he advised me to steer clear of based on condition (worse condition than this one). He knows a heck of a lot about Mopars, restoration, and the cost to do it, but not as much on what the cost of Road Runners are going for as he hasn't been buying cars for a while, just Challenger parts.
Other than that I would probably be using Clark Classic Restoration, which is about 15 minutes up the road. I haven't been there yet, but from what I have heard they do amazing work and specialize in Mopars...but are not cheap.
Also, I have tried to decode some tags as I have been searching, and it looks like the tags are stamped different depending on the plant they came out of? Is that correct? Based on this fender tag, it looks like it only tells you the color, engine and tranny. Is that correct, or was this RR so basic it had absolutely no options, or did this plant not include that information on the tag and it would have been on the build sheet?
Thanks again guys for all your input! The more I get back from you the more I learn and the better I will become at identifying things for myself (hidden rust, incorrect parts, problem ares, etc.). I am a firm believer that the more you know the better off you are, and knowing is half the battle.
