All –

I’m tackling the restoration of my 70 Cuda in sections, and have used parts needs for original bolts, rubber body bumpers, braking components, etc. Being new to the Mopar community, and living in Indiana, I’m interested to know if there are any Indiana collectors that have several E-Body parts cars that are available for these types of needs?

Is there anyone in the U.S. that has a collection of E-Body parts cars?

Thanks for your help everyone.

Rob

Most of the parts you need to buy new. Like rubber parts. It's 45 years old. There are many sources. All of the 70 barracudas I have collected over the years are no longer considered "parts cars". I have about 8 parts cars. All but two could be put back one the road. They are priceless to me. Nuts and bolts would be too rusty if they have been in your state for 40 plus years.

The days of "parts cars" is well over, any yards/collectors still having "parts cars" are going to charge you dearly for the basics, never mind specialty items/hardware, the Year One catalog, Legendary, Classic Industries, Dales Cuda shop, etc, etc as well as Ebay are now your sources for most of your needs

Rob,

Save everything. Your car came out of CA so the condition of the hardware should be good.

I've saved every bolt from every car I parted out in the day and plated them to by used later.

M

Thanks for the thoughts and perspectives, everyone.

True my car is from CA, but the issue is my car is missing a lot of correct parts/bolts, and the reproduction items don't look the same. Some of the best used stuff I've found is from California, however…so I agree.

It seems like many people in this forum have access to these components because they have been involved in the hobby for many years and also have several cars (parts/future projects). I'm trying to get my Cuda to an OE level without reproduction hardware. So I wasn’t sure if there was anyone out there that knows of someone who sells these types of items (or is willing to from their own stock).

Similar to many guys in the community, I appreciate the rarity/uniqueness of the original parts and am willing to pay what it takes. I imagine it’s getting very hard these days to come up with clean, original parts for a restoration, so maybe we are all in the same boat.

Thoughts?

We used to have a big yard here that never hardly crushed old c bodies. Sometimes you can get bolts and things from them. I made several trips out there to gather up parts. I have several of those here as well. Every time I walk out to my yard at the shop, saved me an hour or two trip. Most of those cars are gone or picked over now. You may have to just advertise and pay the price. You never know what someone is willing to part with until you ask.

It would be far cheaper for you
To go buy a parts car
Then to try to piece it together.
i have parted about 10 cars myself
For my projects.

The thing is not everyone has the resources or
A Place to do that.

Your best place to find that kind of stuff
I think would be at a swap meet.

you will find that
Most people out there don't do oem restorations
they will beg to differ but
As soon as they can't find it,
They open a catalog and order and then
Tell you they are doing a oem resto
At the same time..lol

Another idea
Find someone parting out a car
Offer them a couple of hundys for every last
Nut,clip,bolt off the car..
for clean original hard to find parts,pay the price.
it might be years before you see
another for sale.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll keep my eyes out for a parts car and hit up some swap meets next summer...Carlisle and the Nats, perhaps.

I was told there's a guy in Pennsylvania not too far away from Carlisle that has several E-Body parts cars. I didn’t have the opportunity to get his name/location. I’ll have to ask around to see if that’s a “real source” or not.

send me a PM I may be able to help you with a source

Rob,

I probably fit into the category you are talking about. I've owned 92 Mopars over the years and parted out plenty of cars in the 80s and 90s. I kept as much of it as I could to help support the cars I have to restore. The rule of thumb used to be you needed to have 2 parts cars to your 1 restoration car. This of coarse before all the restoration parts that you have today which are close.

On top of this your car is from LA. Things done in the LA plant were not 100% the same as what your car would be like. Maybe fortunate for you is that most of the cars I parted were from the LA plant.

I still have a 1970 Dodge Challenger LA Built "parts car" - I did not part it out because it became to valuable. I can use it for fastener reference to help you in some cases and I can see if I have stuff in my collection of re-plated hardware. This might be limited because there are no more parts cars out there. Or at least they are damn expensive.

Chris

Thanks for your help Chris. I'll PM you with my questions and what I'm looking for to see if you have a reference I can use, or extras available.

Rob

Rob,

Email me. It's way faster.

Got it..thanks.