i went to lqqk at a 73 charger se for sale ( market place ) with a guy from town wanting a father and son project. it was a good hour away in Rockford ill this guy knowing I'm into Mopar's and have many asked me to come along. the father is a ford mustang guy and son 14yrs old wants nothing to do with them and really is a Mopar or Nocar kid !!!! lol the car didn't look too bad in pics asking 3 thousand dollars. Now I told myself I wasn't going to say too much and let him make his decision.so we get there and OMG!!!! what a pos!!! no dash ... nothing !! no wires huge holes everywhere !! firewall. no floors. Rockers gone. Rear rails not even there from midway back. Basically, all I saw was??? passenger side door useable? maybe hood? had a 383 block in it that looked like it got pulled from a river. Glass that's it!!! you had to see it to understand!! I just couldn't stay silent as hard as I tried. I felt / feel so bad ...! the kid was there, and the dad was surprising him and he (kid) didn't care he just wanted it no Matter what!! I said I don't see 8 hundred dollars in even parts, and he agreed, and we pulled out trailer in tow the owner never even came out. This guy doesn't have much $ so in my mind I did wonder if he may be seen it different?? this was a few days ago and since I been thinking about how bad it's gotten especially with chargers!!! I can understand if you are after a title and a rt or #s car? BUT A RUSTED OUT 73??? COME ON!!! my gut told me I shouldn't of went along and I was right !! I just got the message that " the kid ". wants to make a stock car out of it cut and widen it whatever?? whatever?? and Hes not cutting up a good car. just sad !!! I have restored my share of Mopar's and no way this car will ever go down a road again ... and if by chance it doses it's a safety Hassard. ps . never going on a lqqk see again!!

Hell, there was a running/driving 73 Charger for sale down here in GA a couple months back with the hideaway headlights and the guy only wanted $3,800obo for that car. Some people just like to pull random numbers out their crack in the back it seems.

Sometimes local cars are not the best choice. If they need a project car and don’t mind going out of state, you can score good deals without braking the bank. Most people won’t pay high shipping cost to get a clean body to start with, but will spend ten’s of thousands $ on body panel repair/replacement because the car was within driving distance. If they can’t find anything, offer some site suggestions and see what their buy budget is.

too late !! they went right back and bought it !!! and yeah you right? but you / we know the cheap comes out expensive!! I don't believe for a minute this guy is going to put the money to it ? i can see the typical tear down and 5 years later the realization sets in? the kid is 14 and is what it is ... Dad is 50 and I just can't help but shake my head??( again you would have i see this ( car)? with the sun shining through it you can see a million little rot holes !!! can't fix stupid !!!

If you live in IL and get depressed over seeing one pos, used up, over priced, Mopar its going to be pretty tough for you to help this family. There are a boat load of these kinds of cars out there, every make and model with prices all over the board. Its the times we live in.

If you really want to seriously help them, you need to sit down and they need to come up with a plan on what they are after as a finished project, what their skill set really is, what their budget is, and what the time frame they have for the project. The reason you need to be there is for an honest appraisal of their skills, and to guide them to be sure the project they are looking at fits their plans. Their plans and expectations may not match yours. Its important you help them find what they want, and to guide them so they don't get ripped off.

if they are looking at a long term project with which they want to learn build skills and experience, that project they seek may be pretty rough. Rough projects should reflect their condition with a price in the same range.

If the son wants to build a vintage stock car, the Charger you looked at could probably be a great starting point, if what is there could be bought for its parts value. There is a current trend to take old racing chassis and convert them to street use with old car bodies on them. Not everything should be restored.

Just because you can't picture it doesn't mean someone else can't create it. If you are helping them, you help them find what they are looking for, then give them a fair value range of the pile of stuff they are looking at, and then the final decision is theirs. You have done your part, now help them get their project home. If you are unable to do that, maybe you are not the right guy to help them.

yes the deals do come up still !! you just have to have the $ and trailer ready to go!!! the dad is just justifying it saying he don't want to cut put a good car because " the kid " wants to make it custom? truth is Hes so cheap I think he thinks he will make it all lol I would not want this car going down the road next to me or my family or my son in it for that matter with what I'm betting his plans are? I know I probably shouldn't care but that ((((car )))))

Putting the body over an old roundy round chassis has become pretty popular with extremely rusted out hulks to keep them alive, thats what the kid meant.

I couldn't agree more with you !! and this is why i just couldn't stand by and say nothing!! without seeing this heap you'll never understand !!! it has been a part car and all is gone .. not even a wiper motor or heater box >> just a 73 rotted out shell it's the price that is so sad! you got to be smarter than that!!

i feel if I was to tell it any other way isn't being a friend !!! so yeah... I will just never take that ride again!! have I done it?? (Buy the first one that popped up) yeah, I guess I was 16 once. But they asked me to go and asked for it ??

My Dad always told me that every lesson in life has a price tag.....some are just more expensive than others.

When you are young, you believe that any old car can be fixed, after 45 years of fixing rusty New England cars, I buy them from down south and out west!

true that !!! live and learn. my first Mopar at 16 was a 69 dodge A108 over the last five years or so with all the f/b A100 sits these vans have really blown up and some people are asking 15 thousand for just a ok solid driver and then you got some asking 30 thousand for nicer. I now have 3 A100 vans 1 A108 pop top camper van and 1 64A100 truck all very nice!!! nothing I call over the top but super solid. I wouldn't have more than the one I started with if the others didn't pop up at a price (1800$ ) you couldn't walk away from!!!! also picked up a 68 dart 340 4sd gts for this same reason. I have never been a flipper so I kinda do have a problem ??lol all I'm trying to say is the deals will always come up if your patient and have the money and trailer /time !!! every year about this time i had another buddy that called me and wants me to help him find a 68/9 Dart. Every year i ask him if he has the cash in hand and every year it was the same thing ~ he wants to find the car first once that happens, he will then get a loan? i told him the only cars he will ever have to choose for are the ones nobody wants and been for sale for years. . not to mention no bank is given loans on a 50-year-old car. after a few years of this he bought a brand-new truck??there is no doubt in my mind that in the years that this guy and his son is working on that pos 73 charger (and I love them) I can find a 71/2 a million times better!!! I just wish they had more discipline and patience.

Nearly all the cars and trucks I've built were piles of metal that sort of resembled a car or truck, but I sure didn't pay $3 grand for any of them. The hard reality is, once I get them to the street, it probably would have been cheaper to buy a nice ride, but where is the challenge in that?

When I get done, the build from a pile of parts to a vehicle I can safely drive on the street generally takes a bit over a year (I've done several and have picture proof), But then there are a couple more years of refining before they reach what I call a decent ride. By then I'm bored with it and I'm looking for whatever is next. When I find it, I begin the build and get it to road worthy and sell the old one to cover the cost of the new one. The process starts over.

I believe its the challenge to make that pile into something I can drive, then put a bunch of miles on it to prove I can do it that drives me to build these piles no one else is dumb enough to do. That worked out well when I was younger, but these days the drive to accomplish a build isn't so strong anymore, or I've finally got something I really like. I'll let you know how that works out for me in a couple years. The current truck has been licensed for 2 years, and we have been driving the coupe since 2012.

I think it is safe to predict that older IC engined USA vehicles will be repaired and kept running for longer lifetimes.
This is already a trend the past 30 years, and the trend will continue at an increased rate.

Many USA spec “prestige” cars that were in minor accidents that set off the airbags were shipped overseas in containers where lower cost body shop labor fixed damage but not airbags. This was already “a thing” in NC in the 1990s. I would not be surprised to see some of those vehicles re-imported to the USA, but with working airbags.

The newest diesel commercial vehicles are such headaches that there is a trend to take new vacuum trucks, crane trucks, dump trucks, etc
and strip the specialty parts off and install them on an old chassis with a more reliable older emissions spec engine that does not frequently light the CEL and derate power.

Trailer mounted Industrial equipment that used to be ordered new with coupled diesel engines are now being ordered with big HP 440 volt AC motors so that older emissions spec separate diesel generators can power them more reliably.

Much of this equipment is to “repair infrastructure” so these costly work-a-rounds will be paid by taxpayers.

The crazies are making noises to require military equipment to sacrifice reliability for emissions.