I just got home from checking out my friends 67' HEMI GTX with 4 speed and Dana. The car is on a rotiseree, and the most rust free body I have seen in a while. It is complete with some paperwork. Evidently, it was bought new in Washington state and lived most of it's life in TN. Here is the question, what to do with it? It has a warrenty replacement block, (to be expected) with a metal tag riveted to the pan rail. Other than that, it is amazingly original. Red, Black interior, Disk brakes, and that is about it. The bottom of the car clearly shows undercoating in the rear wheel well only. The bottom has Black? primer with drips, with Red/Maroon paint overspray. It came with an amazing collection of NOS parts, chrome trim, compelte exhaust system etc. None of the trim is as nice as my custom plated, etc. Does he respray the bottom with the dry spray (Black primer/Maroon looking dull paint, etc. or finish the PERFECT underside like mine? Does he paint with "orange peel" like the factory? If he goes for an "OEM" type resto, he has a trailer queen that he can't drive to shows etc. like he sees me do in my "trubute". He even has NOS front end parts etc. non of which look as good as my "restored" Firm Feel parts. He is afraid to hurt the value, but what is an original/warranty block, HEMI 67 GTX worth? What would you advise him to do?

Paint it with the factory primer-like, but use matte primer appearing paint.

Document the placement an pattern of the factory undercoating and put it back.

Not sure if that car was grey primer/dip or black. Usually L.A. built cars are black primer/dip. Maybe something different for 67?

67 St. Louis cars (at least) had a very dark dip sealer (not black, dark grey but looks black in some light).

Is the car a 4 speed or auto?

To me, the smart thing to do with a car like this is clean up the underside, paint the top to satisfy yourself, use the NOS parts it comes with and enjoy driving the car. Either COMPLETE resto's you are referring to will leave you under water on value verses investment. This way you can drive without worrying about ruining what you have spent a lot of money on and if and when you sell it the next owner can make that decision if it is important to them.

Anyone bent over snooping around under your car is in a perfect position for what they deserve IF they are making derrogatory comments about what it looks like anyway. When and why did we become so obcessed with the underside of the car anyway? Most of us will be much happier and have more money left in our pockets if we get over it and just enjoy our exterior top finish and restored interiors.

Again, the car is not mine but the owner is asking me for advise. It is a 4 speed, with console, Dark Red with Black interior. In my opinion, he would waist a lot of money trying to do an "OEM" resto locally. No matter how good the job might be, no one can agree on what was right. A "name" mopar restorer would cure that problem to an extent, but the cost would be more than the car's finished value. He is actually wishing that he had just built a trubute as I did. That way he could enjoy the car and not worry about it.

If your friend is looking to just have a driver car than he may just want to sell what he has and get a car that is done. I think there would be great interest in the way the car is. If the originality is lost due to someone just painting over everything to make it look good that documentation will be lost and so will the value of the car go down. Sounds like this car deserves a proper restoration and trailer queen status. Just my

I see it as a no-winner deal. I do agree that if he touches anything, that the best thing to do is refinish that part as original.
If you spend the money and time to do an OEM resto you will be upside down on the car and you won't want to drive it. If you do a quality repaint on the outside, perfect the interior, trunk area and underhood, Mopar(ts) guys will heckle the car for not being perfect OEM.
What I do is; avoid all shows and Mopar gatherings and drive the heck out of my car as much as I can,

Sheldon

Tell him to sell it to me and he won't have to worry about how to go about restoring it. All I have to say once on a rotisserie it will be big $$$$$$$ any direction he goes. Been there and will never do again as I don't want to burn through money like I use to for something I want to drive.