phoenixv8
Active Member
As the title,
I brought this car over to the UK after buying it sight unseen from Montana during the covid lockdown of 2020.
The story goes that the guy I bought it from was a stock car racer who wanted out. He traded his stock car to Chris Birdsong who had found the car sitting out the back of a transmission shop somewhere in Nevada with a seized motor (no heads were on the engine and hadn't been for some time)
As time went on, the seller missed racing and wanted back in, and having done little to nothing with the Charger in the year he had owned it due to other projects, put it up for sale on Facebook marketplace in August of 2020. A friend of mine, after seeing the ad, jokingly sent it to me as he knew I loved Chargers, but was also up to my elbows in another project, restoring and modfying a 1968 Mustang Fastback.
I had just come into a little money by way of a compensation payout from a motorcycle crash back in 2014 (that's right, it took 6 years to pay out) and after looking at the ad, a seed was planted. Long story short, after some umming and ahhhing, I contacted the seller, had a very frank 45 minute conversation over the phone, where he was very honest and upfront about the condition of the car, told me his story and reason for selling, and after some cross checking and researching, a deal was struck.
October of 2020, the car landed in the UK and was transported to me. Ironically, it cost more to get the car, and it's associated parts (of which there were many) transported from Montana to the export company in California, than it did to ship in a container from California to the UK, including shipping costs, registration fees, and duties!
Fortunately, when the car was delivered to me, it was exactly as described and matched the many, many photos that the seller had sent during our communication.
For $16,500 I had my very own 1970 Dodge Charger R/T Special Edition XS29U0G121210
The car needed a full restoration, but came with a lot of parts as agreed in the sale including near rear quarter panels. I also brought many more parts over with the car, as the shipping company stated that if it fit inside the car, it shipped for free, I just had to pay the duties on landing. Needless to say, I filled the car to the rafters!
The engine and trans are non original, not sure on the 8.75 on the rear either (especially as it is currently an open diff) but would love to learn more about the car. Incidentally, it had reinforcement tubes from the firewall, to the suspension tower tops and down to the front of the chassis legs, along with front and mid motor plate mounts when I bought it, adding to the mystery of the car
Thank you for coming to my TED talk, here is the car upon delivery on a cold and wet October morning in the UK
Chris
I brought this car over to the UK after buying it sight unseen from Montana during the covid lockdown of 2020.
The story goes that the guy I bought it from was a stock car racer who wanted out. He traded his stock car to Chris Birdsong who had found the car sitting out the back of a transmission shop somewhere in Nevada with a seized motor (no heads were on the engine and hadn't been for some time)
As time went on, the seller missed racing and wanted back in, and having done little to nothing with the Charger in the year he had owned it due to other projects, put it up for sale on Facebook marketplace in August of 2020. A friend of mine, after seeing the ad, jokingly sent it to me as he knew I loved Chargers, but was also up to my elbows in another project, restoring and modfying a 1968 Mustang Fastback.
I had just come into a little money by way of a compensation payout from a motorcycle crash back in 2014 (that's right, it took 6 years to pay out) and after looking at the ad, a seed was planted. Long story short, after some umming and ahhhing, I contacted the seller, had a very frank 45 minute conversation over the phone, where he was very honest and upfront about the condition of the car, told me his story and reason for selling, and after some cross checking and researching, a deal was struck.
October of 2020, the car landed in the UK and was transported to me. Ironically, it cost more to get the car, and it's associated parts (of which there were many) transported from Montana to the export company in California, than it did to ship in a container from California to the UK, including shipping costs, registration fees, and duties!
Fortunately, when the car was delivered to me, it was exactly as described and matched the many, many photos that the seller had sent during our communication.
For $16,500 I had my very own 1970 Dodge Charger R/T Special Edition XS29U0G121210
The car needed a full restoration, but came with a lot of parts as agreed in the sale including near rear quarter panels. I also brought many more parts over with the car, as the shipping company stated that if it fit inside the car, it shipped for free, I just had to pay the duties on landing. Needless to say, I filled the car to the rafters!
The engine and trans are non original, not sure on the 8.75 on the rear either (especially as it is currently an open diff) but would love to learn more about the car. Incidentally, it had reinforcement tubes from the firewall, to the suspension tower tops and down to the front of the chassis legs, along with front and mid motor plate mounts when I bought it, adding to the mystery of the car
Thank you for coming to my TED talk, here is the car upon delivery on a cold and wet October morning in the UK
Chris
