I'm considering this '15 Challenger SRT 392 at Copart

I looked at this car yesterday. I'm all over it. Really clean inside although it's been smoked in. The right rear suspension is knocked loose, the right front suspension is hurt, too. Needs a wheel and a couple of tires. Has creases down the right side that will fix without too much trouble. Side curtain air bags and seat bags are popped and the red belts are locked. The seats are actually the biggest problem.

I am not into these late model Challengers much, although I have a '16 V6 car now that I daily because it still has the XM active and gets almost 30 miles to the gallon. But this one just struck my fancy and if I can get a good enough buy on it, I'M IN!

It goes through this afternoon. Just for fun, how high would you go on this one?

www.copart.com/lot/48962253

I was in a car accident about 10 years ago, got T-boned in my Camry...air bags deployed on seat. Seat replacement was $6K. Be careful....that car could be a money pit, and will always carry a Salvage/Rebuilt title.

My 16 charger needs side airbags and belts. Replaced all with used except the anchor belt wich i didn’t realize had a tube that pulled down the seat belt when in a crash. I bought rebuilt ones from my air bags for those. seat bags I have a buddy who replaces the bags and has the. sewn back up. Wheels can buy new repro ones at summit $225 or so they used to be. Best guess on price and this is a total guess 16-20k? maybe more?

I guess that I should have noted for those that don't already know; I am a licensed rebuilder here in Illinois and have been for decades.

The curtain bags are readily available for $125 to $200 a piece. The belts can be recharged for about $75 a piece. I have done that work many times, so I am familiar with the routine. It is labor intensive, much of the interior must be removed but I don't mind. It's way better than swapping engines or trannies. (Automatic transmissions, that is) We can have the A/B module flashed for little to no money. Often without even removing it anymore.

The seats are ugly as #@$& anyway, so I would just replace them all and probably the door panels, too. $500 to $1,000 used depending.....

The suspension situation is garden variety. No big deal although some pieces may be unique to this model.

The info about the repop wheels is good to know.

Since I am not a body man those repairs would have to be farmed out and would account for the largest repair cost for me.

So, I figured somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500 in repairs leaving some room for surprises. MMR puts the car at $26k with a deduct for miles, KBB puts it at $28 with an add for the miles. The difference is that one is average auction money and the other is retail money, so they look at it differently. There will be something like $1,400 in auction (don't get me started on Copart) and state fees (don't get me started on Illinois). If I stay around $15,000 (not a firm limit) I would be in it for less than $20k. That should leave me some margin when I'm done with it. I never keep anything like this very long. Fix, enjoy awhile, and move on.

I am done with the muscle car projects for a whole lot of reasons. These late models are almost as much fun, but are not nearly as difficult nor have nearly as many unknowns. And, there's lots more to choose from.

Did you get it Dave?

I have a friend that buys and parts out SRT8 and Hellcat Challengers, Chargers and Jeeps. He fixes very few and makes very good money off of parting them out. Occasionally he runs across stuff like ported heads in the trunk, Edelbrock $7,000 supercharger and all kinds of expensive stuff people have put on these cars.

If you need anything, let me know and I can put you in touch.

Dave I was about to type that it might be only a drivetrain transplant source for you because of the high cost of repairing properly, but I see you're a licensed rebuilder. I like the car a lot! Hope you got it!

I understand where you are coming from regarding vintage cars and projects. Sometimes they really take it out of you! But then I still crave something vintage to drive for the feel, looks, sound etc. and always need to have one for occasional driving.

Cool! Thank you.

The car went for $17,200. Copart fees would have been over a grand. And state fees would have been several hundred more dollars. And Illinois' fees are going up AGAIN, July 1. It just never ends.

I stayed on it till $15,600. But it blew right on past that. That is not to say that the car wasn't worth it. I just didn't want to end up with $21 or $22k in it in this market. The branded title would ding this car pretty good. It would probably have been a good buy if a guy was looking for one and was going to keep it. I could easily see it being worth that money to that guy. I think it would make a good machine.

I will have to satisfy myself with the Cuda and the V6 Challenger.

For now