Opinion: One nicely restored Mopar or a yard full of projects?

[Budnicks]

When I was much younger I was guilty of collecting 68-70 Chargers
had 5 Gen 2 68-70 Charger R/Ts at one time, 4 of them 4 speed Dana 60 cars
(I've had 12 in total)
&
I had 13 68-70 RRs, not all at once but had 2 at a time a few times
when I was younger Charger's/Mopar's in general found me, for $500-$1500
some were really nice cars, it helped fund my racing addictions...
&
I had a bunch of bikes & dirtbikes, Yamaha, Honda, Bulltaco, Husky,
KTMs, RMs, KXs, ITs, YZs, several at a time
& 4x4s, mostly Power Wagons (or PowerRams/Ramchargers/Trail Dusters)
from 66-84, or Jeeps, I had a couple at a time normally, at my places
most my stuff was garaged or in my warehouse, never out in the wild...

Also when I had the 5 Charger R/Ts
& 1 68 Sport Satellite, 1 68 RR, 76 PowerWagon DD
& a 71 Demon 225/6 3 on the tree,
I ended up trading my stepdad & $300 for the Sport Sat. 383 4 speed (my mom's old car)
when I 1st came back from school OU...
Lil' did I know or expect any trouble;
it started way before I got there
& my mom was getting pisses at my stepdad Bob
he was a slob & my stuff got caught up in his mess,
mine were organized/clean, out of the way, covered...
She had all his stuff towed, mostly junk, relics most was worthless stuff,
he was a real hoarder... Flee Marketer Guy...
He had **** willy nilly everywhere on 4 acres & while they (wreckers) were there,
taking his, they took mine "she was on a roll & pissed off at Bob"

they took, 4 of the Charger R/Ts that were projects,
1 had a full trunk of very expensive parts/race parts & NOS parts...

My only saving grace was she didn't have "MY titles"
& with a good lawyer friend of mine
1 call, I got them all back, they (wreckers) were pissed,
"they know they had a goldmine for free"...
only thing Bob got back was his old 53 F100,
& the property looked way better, without the junk...

Reason;
I was staying at my parent's place temp. while my "New" house was being finished...
I had the cars in storage prior, in a 47k sqft warehouse I was leasing,
from the dealership group I worked with, 4 dealers in Concord, warehouse was in
Port Chicago next town over from Concord going east, when I had to move them,
& it was, just to paint the place, for temporarily...

that's the short version

Now 1 car 68rr & my DD 1 truck 99 Dakota 4x4
& another truck 1 2020 Gladiator Rubicon
I got for my dad to drive, so he doesn't drive my Dakota, but he rarely drives now,
it's under the side carport, outside my office window
all my stuff is either under carport or in the garage, always
parts are in the shed or stored in the garage too
No outdoor crap or nonrunning or random parts or junk/cars
in waiting or parts everywhere ever...
Oh yeah
& an old 16' 77 Glasspar bowrider boat, with a 50hp 500 Merc. outboard
was dad's boat org., bought new-ish, in 78' IIRC has sentimental reasons,
& it will be sold soon...

I don't have room for "stuff"

I absolutely hate that crap (junk/parts everywhere) more then, my mom did,
I wouldn't subject my neighbors to that crap either... Never EVER

I don't have room for a bunch of junk either

 

[RR Fan Dan]

If your project is going to sit outside then no. Sell it to someone who will appreciate it and want to restore it. It’s just down right criminal to let these cars sit outside and rust away. Not to mention your yard looks like white ghetto trash. Only have enough projects you have garage space for.

 

[3sloppydogs]

I was watching a YT video of Chris Birdsong giving a tour of his yard to one of his fans/followers. Disregarding the high-dollar engines in some of his cars, the overall state of disrepair of his lot of projects got me wondering...if you didn't already own a nicely restored car, would you rather have one nicely restored car or a yard full of projects in various states of rust and decomposition?

I love what he does with the Junkerup channel but my vote is, I'd rather have one nicely restored car. Share your opinions.

 

[BigFlo]

One and done for me. Can jump in it anytime for a ride.

 

[hemiheadnc]

...I understand what Birdsong is doing..I've been there!! I love his passion for all things automotive, and I did the stock car stuff. Im an old roundy pounder, 18 years worth, and I put that away( sorta) when I realized that Hemi cars were just as much fun and expensive as a race car..At one time I had six 66/67 Chargers at my house, 2 Hemi, the rest parts for the Hemi cars. I got one restored by 1990/91 that I still have and enjoy ( std bore , original piston)( still looks and shows mint) and not long ago I sold off the other Hemi car, motor and parts. I knew I could never finish it the same way I did my other car...The parts cars are all gone and I'm selling off a 35 year collection of misc parts. BUT if a deal comes along for a complete 66 , I'm there!! and if someone said, "would you drive my stock car tonite", you bet I would be ready to go left again...it's a passion that some of us never outgrow...My wife figures that she will find me on my creeper under a vehicle when I cash out..what a way to go!!!

 

[Ray70Chrg]

One and done for me. Can jump in it anytime for a ride.

I always wanted to get my ideal car and make it look and ride like a very well maintained older car. I finally got the chance 10 years ago when I was 68. ALL the usual situations made it impossible until I was about 60 years old. Luckily, this '70 charger came into my life as a early Xmas gift from my wife in Dec. 2015. Now at 78 I'm glad this came my way, its been a real challenge and very rewarding. I had it back on the road by may 2019. Many upgrades have been done since then and I'm nearing the end of the list of things to do. It's been fun but, even if I was a much younger man now, I think I would still be ONE and DONE.

 

[Cranky]

After having a few really nice cars, I found myself enjoying the slightly beater cars because I didn't have to worry about them getting banged up or someone stealing it. None of my cars (well, a couple) got banged up and the ones that did get banged up were mo doors or crap to begin with. What can I say....I've had way more fun with beaters than the really nice ones that I took to the shows and got all kinds of tire kickers calling a Challenger a Camaro and on and on. I still have a 'newer' 95 Dakota that all I did to it was beat the living hell out of it! Had fun with it too in making it handle very well and showing up some imports but who knows how much longer it would have lasted if I hadn't done that to it. It's only showing 106k miles but it feels like it has 300+ miles but it's still going.

 

[Hey-O]

I would build a car, in my garage, nothing outside. When I was building a car, I would collect extra doors, fenders, hood and a deck lid, all inside. Obviously I had a bunch of small stuff, also inside. When I was done, all of it went with that car and I would start over. Building a building to store is on thing, but I don't do Friedman Railroad salvage in my yard. Having a pile of projects is not a plus, not for me anyway. I get it and I can appreciate the love for the hobby, just not all over the place. I no longer have a 4 car attached garage or a storage building. One car at a time for me, plus my daily driver.

 

[68BabyBlue]

I have one pretty nice one and one not quite so nice. I like them both. I was thinking of selling both my cars and I could get 1 real nice one but I don't have the patience or energy to keep it that way and the last thing I would want is a trailer queen.

I had the driver/show car duo before I retired. My situation is pretty unique in that the show level GTX that replaced them had been on my radar since I drove it at age 16. Previous owner treated it as a trailer queen, 1000 miles in 28 years. I'm in my final chapter, and drove that GTX more miles my first year than it saw in the previous three decades. The son of the original owner told me to run the wheels off it. Said his dad did back in the day, things have gone full circle.

As Cranky said, I had more fun with Baby Blue and two other semi-retired driver cars than the show cars. I never would have bought the current one without the history, and I would have been happier if it hadn't been brought to such a high level. I've driven it to Carlisle the last three years, hope I have a few more left.

 

[toolmanmike]

I had the driver/show car duo before I retired. My situation is pretty unique in that the show level GTX that replaced them had been on my radar since I drove it at age 16. Previous owner treated it as a trailer queen, 1000 miles in 28 years. I'm in my final chapter, and drove that GTX more miles my first year than it saw in the previous three decades. The son of the original owner told me to run the wheels off it. Said his dad did back in the day, things have gone full circle. I've driven it to Carlisle the last three years, hope I have a few more left.

View attachment 1943047

That's the way to do it.

 

[68BabyBlue]

What can I say....I've had way more fun with beaters than the really nice ones that I took to the shows and got all kinds of tire kickers calling a Challenger a Camaro and on and on.

I've always had better conversations when I've had a GTX in a grocery store parking lot than at a car show. People these days aren't used to seeing something like that on the street, want to hear the history. The goofballs "who had one with a 383 six pack" seem to congregate at the car shows, so far haven't run into them in my mainstream travels.

 

[Hey-O]

I bought it to drive, not a trailer queen. That means nothing to me. I bought mine for the little piece of history. Believed to be the first or one of the first B body 5.7 conversions, it was a mule car and the write up in a magazine about the conversion. It was built to drive. Heidts built a front suspension for it last month, I believe it's now available for all 65 B bodies. Another step forward for the hobby.