1965 Dodge 880 Custom......

Hello all.
First time here.
I found a 1965 Dodge 880 Custom in a garage last weekend for a great price and I am trying to decide if I should buy it or not. The person selling it is the original owner and he thinks all of the parts are there. (I could not find the rear bumper) He has put some bondo on the front fenders behind the wheels and a little on the passenger door and other than that the body seems solid.
My question is this. (More like questions)
How easy is it to find body panels and other trim for this car?
The convertible top is all intact except for the rear glass/plastic.
The carpet and padding is gone and the seats need to be redone.

Can you guys give me some ideas on where to find these types of parts and if this car is worth putting the time and money into? From what I have seen, this car has not been on the road since 1973.
Are there any problem areas on the car that I should check or any known issues? Rotting? Mechanical?

The only holes I can see are the small ones in the trunk area so I think the unibody is pretty solid.

Thanks for you time

Jim

I love the 64 880 but would say walk away.
65 has several 1 year only pieces that will be expensive or hard to find.

unless you really love this car, or are getting a heck of a deal(ie free or really darn close,) there is not a lot going for it.

it is a c body, so suspension is pretty easy to come by. same all the way up to 73 basically.

but trim and body parts are going to be tough.
64 the 880 was all different. 66 is the polara as they dropped the 880 line.
65 and 66 fury might be close as well.

the only thing people would want out of it is the cable shift transmission.

It's a convertible. It will make a very nice cruiser. It will cost you as much or more to restore it than it will be worth, but you will have fun driving it. Everywhere you go, people will love your car. Also one plus, if it mostly saw summer days for eight years then maybe it's not all eaten up by rust.
I'm thinking a couple of grand would be a fair price.
A '65 will have a rear end with one piece axles, this was the first year.

The negatives have already been spelled out above, except to say it is going to be more work than you expect, they always are.
R.

Cool find!

Your happiness may depend on what you want from it. A restoration to as-delivered condition is probably not practical if you want to maintain your wallet and sanity. But a shiny complete-looking convertible cruiser with some liberties taken where you can't find the "right" trim parts, is entirely possible.

More optimistically, the '65 880 shared a lot with the '65 Polara and Monaco. Same drivetrain, chassis, sheetmetal, bumpers, front trim, tail lights. Not side trim. Interior is different, but it would fit if you switch it all over from another model (Polara/Monaco). Standard engine was a 4bbl 383 / 315hp. I found no production numbers.

Best of luck,
-Art

One perennial weak spot on them is the front stub frame. The back end of it is right under the front seat and it's typically rotted through just in front of the rear cap. Custom 880 trim is going to be the hard part; C880, Polara and Monaco all have the same sheetmetal as previously mentioned, but the only other thing common between any of the three on the outside is the grille and front end trim. Same thing inside, all basically the same but for the trim design and a medallion or three. That one looks better from the one pic than the 65 Polara convertible in my back garage waiting on me.
Mike

Thanks for all of the input guys.
The owner is asking $500 and I figured to make it a driveable
cruiser it was going to take around 5-10K
I am going to sit on it for a few days and decide (well, talk to the wife) if it is worth it.

Thanks again

Jim P

for 500 you cant go wrong...


I used to know a guy who had a 65 Custom 880 Hardtop. Land Yacht to say the least. He had dropped in a 426 Max Wedge motor and installed the Long Ram intakes. I think the car ended up in Ohio somewhere...

For $500 it would already be home if it was me. If all the trim is there and the rust is minimal it will be no harder to shine up than any other c-body. Give Dante a call to see if Legendary makes seat covers for it. I know they do for other C-bodies. If it has a bucket seat interior they list them for a Polara which at least in Canada was a c-body in 65 https://www.legendaryautointeriors.com/w...amp;desc=polara Carpet is available also. Check out the C-body DryDock forum. http://www.cbodydrydock.com/forum.php Somebody there will have a bumper if the one that belongs to it has gone missing.

Kevin

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

It has been my experience that once a guy starts thinking about selling a car he sells it. If you wait you'll be looking at an empty space in his garage.....

It's worth $2K as it sits. You could flip it easily.

You're right about $10K if you go with most of your own work and a high-end MAACO paint job.

DO get the metalwork right under the paint. You cannot fix rust with plastic body filler!
DAMHIK.

R.

Btw Tzimmy...Geia sou

Jimmy,
As everyone says it is kind of a one year only kind of deal. Alot of 66 parts are interchangeable. My Dad had a 66 Polara 500 that is real similar to this car. I loved that car & wish he never traded it. I am also in Livonia Mi. If you decide not to buy it or would like me to go with you to look at it a little more let me know.

I have had both, my parents bought a 64 Custom 880 brand new, had it till 89.

I was driving it in the 80's in high school. Finding body stuff was hell, as it was a one yr bodystyle. There was a 2 door in a junk yard that i got most of he stuff off of. It was a stock driver.

The mechanicals were pretty easy to find, regular mopar stuff, took a long time as in the 80's there still wasnt a good after market supply.

1965, pretty much the same as Polara, Monaco, the 880 was just a upscale Monaco. Most of the C body chrysler stuff will work, and its available, just gotta search for it.

Bad ass car, if you search the 62-65 mopar site, for 65 880, i think the black one they have on it was mine.

Black, with blacked out windows, red interior, lowered on chrome reverse 60 series rims, 383 with a cam and 727 with a manual valve body