68 Charger Project

[ETD66SS]

Buying a 68 318 Charger, will be my first Mopar, have some questions already.

Was at the sellers' location today looking at parts that come with the car as he partially disassembled it a few years ago. So trying to make sure I get as many original parts as possible.

1) First issue is with the grille assembly.

Is this AMD support assembly all spot welded together or bolted? Was OEM bolted together?

Grill Support

He showed me the 68 grille assy going with the car. All the plastic was there, all the surround trim was there. As far as the metal, the buckets were there as well as the lower horizontal piece that the headlight buckets connect to. What was missing was the top portion that actually bolts to the fenders and has the hood catch and the vertical member that I presume mounts to the lower core support. He told me the grille that came off the car years ago was stolen and that's where those pieces went...

Are finding good original pieces a possibility or is that an unobtanium scenario?

2) Second issue is the front fenders. Very rust free but both front "caps" are damaged. I would essentially be looking for used fenders not caring if the lower brace and section behind the wheel openings are rotted, I'd only need the front shells from about the side marker lights forward to graft in. Could possibly even use 69 fenders for this task.

Are the full AMD fenders a legitimate option? I know from restoring my 66 Chevelle anytime I bought repo steel it was horrendous. I watched all the Graveyard cars episodes etc and tons of youtube videos featuring AMD panels. I'm just wondering, for those that have used a lot of AMD parts, are they that much better than the garbage panels the GM guys are forced to use from Dynacorn and the like?

3) Third issue I noticed was the stainless trim for the windshield, rear window and drip rail. Not all the pieces were there. The pieces that were there for the windshield are quite the disaster.

For my Chevelle, I bought many used pieces from eBay, removed dents and polished and selected all the pieces that came out the best.

I see AMD makes those trim pieces. Wondering if those repos are actually good or if the eBay/Marketplace route is still the best alternative? I recall trying to buy repo drip rail moldings for my Chevelle back in the day and they were an incredible joke, on a Chevelle those are aluminum and the repo aluminum didn't even look and feel like aluminum...

I guess this is turning into a "how good are AMD parts" post.

4) I still have to review most of the interior pieces, which he did not have at this location. For my Chevelle, I recall buying a full interior package from Legendary or PUI, can't recall which. It was like $400 back then for everything. Now it seems to be more like $4000-$5000 lol... Are PUI and Legendary where I should be looking for Mopar interiors?

Also on the interior, he is missing the passenger bucket seat, uhg. All the seats need new foam and upolstery, but will finding a 68 passenger bucket be a huge deal? Are 68 & 69 the same?

From what I am seeing, to fully restore a B-Body interior including the dash, looking like at least $10k?

Just trying to size up what I will need. This is a down the road long term project so don't mind scanning marketplace and eBay for years to come to collect used original parts.

Yes I know, stupid amount of questions, I have many more but these are the hot items I noticed today before I plopped down a deposit.

Overall the car is more rust free than I would have expected. The seller has owned it since the mid 1980's so probably didn't even pay $500 for the car.

I feel I am way overpaying for a 318 Charger but I'm not a flipper so I guess I have to view it as just a hobby where money is lit on fire.

Also, I have been on/off looking for a 68 Charger for like 10 years now. This is the first one that made sense to me rust/rot-wise. Plus I didn't want to inherit someone elses metal work. This car is original medium green paint painted over with a pretty horrid gold color back in the 80's. It's about as unmolested as I feel I'm going to get...

 

[davek]

I doubt your over paying , Im paid a good penny on mine that was surprisingly solid. And yes mine is a 318 ac ps pb base charger.

 

[davek]

You can do most of the interior yourself. A friend painted my dash frame , I did it 4 times myself and was not happy. I paid for headliner to be installed. Buy on the holidays from Legendarys interior,always a sale.

 

[70 sublime]

Any Charger you can buy you will feel like you are over paying for it in what ever shape it is in because if it was cheaper someone else would have already bought it

As for your parts search try to not let it take years and years to get the car done
Make a list of what you are looking for and post a wanted ad on here to see what can be found

 

[pnora]

1- Welded
2-I would try to straighten the front fenders.
3-Most aftermarket is questionable. Shop used and get them straightened and polished.
4-Legendary and yes it gets expensive.
You bought an easy 100k out of pocket fixer upper.

 

[ETD66SS]

1- Welded

Just the AMD repo or from factory too?

 

[davek]

My friend is doing a 68 hemi charger and said all of his AMD FIT with little to no problems.

 

[ETD66SS]

My friend is doing a 68 hemi charger and said all of his AMD FIT with little to no problems.

My first choice is to always try to fix original parts. I don't always succeed.

I plan to make more of an effort to do that on this project because I want to increase my skills. Previous projects impatience got in the way, but I was 20 years younger...

 

[pnora]

Just the AMD repo or from factory too?

Both

 

[Bighouse]

I’m a GM guy and my charger was my first mopar. I’ve done many many many GMs.
I like everything about the mopar way better. The way it’s put together and the way it drives
The only thing I don’t like is everything is Chevelle money times 2 at least.

 

[ETD66SS]

I’m a GM guy and my charger was my first mopar. I’ve done many many many GMs.
I like everything about the mopar way better. The way it’s put together and the way it drives
The only thing I don’t like is everything is Chevelle money times 2 at least.

I've had GM's my whole life. Really like my 66 Chevelle SS396, it's a childhood dream car etc.

But I have also always wanted 68 Charger, and maybe someday a 66 Fairlane.

Can't wait to start on the Charger, but it will be a while as I have a house and shop to finish first. In the meantime I will search for parts.

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Put some pictures of them both, Charger and Chevelle.

 

[ETD66SS]

Put some pictures of them both, Charger and Chevelle.

There is an album here for the Chevelle: 1966 SS396

I don't have pictures of the Charger yet, where it's at in the guys barn does not lend itself to great pictures.

The Chevelle project is a similar sad tale many other guys have told. Restoration was going good, then sent it off to paint and body, experienced the typical 3-year body shop hell. When I finally got the car back I was not happy with the paint job, it was good for driver quality (not what I paid for!) but showed obvious issues. The guy wold not fix most of them them.

Paint on the bottom door skin pinch seams bubbled & rusted, but that was my fault. I sent them away to get acid dipped nuetralized and e-coated. That tuned out to be a bad decision. The acid was never fully neutralized and messed up the paint. The body shop did fix those at a cost to me, but when I got the doors back there we sanding scratches in the repair due to shrinkage.

I did find another a much better set of rot free doors, but the PPG paint this car was painted with combined with the color, I'm told it is impossible to match. The whole car would need to be blocked & resprayed, as well as any bubbling fixed (few tiny pops). I lost all motivation to put the car back together with a paint job I wasn't happy with.

This was 23 years ago lol! Other things in life got in the way.

My plan is to use this 63 Impala SS I got for a super low price as a practice car for metal work, body & paint to learn how to do it all myself before I tackle the Charger. But who knows, I might want to start on that sooner rather than later.

I'll have a shop soon, so hopefully I can get back to working on cars. Part of the issue is I have not had a great place to work on them.

I have no idea where these three car projects will go once I get back into them. The past 20 years I have been in Diesel Creek Mode buying old beat up construction equipment, tinkering on them and building a homestead.

I can't wait to get back to working on cars...

 

[Dutchrebuild]

Sounds to me like your interested in Paul Cs car, at his barn in Darian...I looked it over real good a few years ago when I was in the market. Car came out of a salvage yard in North Carolina in the 80s...which is why parts are missing. He had no paper work for it when I looked at it. While a solid car, it needed everything. The big *** fork lift dent in the passenger side rocker, fenders caved in front from bulldozer blade, and missing parts turned me off. Especially for the crazy high price he was asking for a beat 318 car...I believe around 20k. I passed on it, and got a much much nicer car for less than half of what he wanted. Just about everything he has is over priced by crazy amounts. I would look elsewhere.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Take a look at my thread 68 Charger quarter panels
Will answer a lot of your AMD questions, I was happy to have them.
My grille assy is sitting right here on my couch if you need any closeup photos of anything

 

[ETD66SS]

Well, not getting my 68 Charger afterall.

After some good advice from a few Members here, I decided what I had agreed to pay for the car was too crazy.

The search continues...

 

[davek]

Well, not getting my 68 Charger afterall.

After some good advice from a few Members here, I decided what I had agreed to pay for the car was too crazy.

The search continues...

Now you can tell us what he wanted for it. If not I understand.

 

[davek]

Take a look at my thread 68 Charger quarter panels
Will answer a lot of your AMD questions, I was happy to have them.
My grille assy is sitting right here on my couch if you need any closeup photos of anything

View attachment 2063384

Now I dont feel bad having mine on the dinning room table.

 

[ETD66SS]

Sounds to me like your interested in Paul Cs car, at his barn in Darian...I looked it over real good a few years ago when I was in the market. Car came out of a salvage yard in North Carolina in the 80s...which is why parts are missing. He had no paper work for it when I looked at it. While a solid car, it needed everything. The big *** fork lift dent in the passenger side rocker, fenders caved in front from bulldozer blade, and missing parts turned me off. Especially for the crazy high price he was asking for a beat 318 car...I believe around 20k. I passed on it, and got a much much nicer car for less than half of what he wanted. Just about everything he has is over priced by crazy amounts. I would look elsewhere.

Now you can tell us what he wanted for it. If not I understand.

Like I said, I could not get good pictures, but it is 100% as Dutchrebuild described. However, I wasn't given the same story in terms of the damage to the car and why some of the parts were missing, nor that it came from a salvage yard.

Condition of the body:

1) Very rust free for one of these cars from what I have seen so far (in person):
a. Trunk floor pan had two rot holes about 2" diameter, lot of pitting, trunk pan would have probably been the only full panel replacement
b. Top rear of roof skin had about a 1" wide rot hole near window modling (vinyl top car)
c. Driver side where qtr meets deck filler in window channel about a 1" diameter rot hole
d. Surface rust on entire roof skin but very light, no pitting

2) Body damage was the worst part about the sheet metal:
a. Both front fenders wiped out at the fronts (now I know from a bulldozer) I assumed he ran into it with his tractor that he parks in front of the car, he would not tell me how it got the damage
b. Damage to front of the hood (I guess from the dozer blade) very fixible damage though
c. ~8" long rather deep dent in the passenger front outer rocker panel
d. Bondo filled dent behind the wheel well on passenger qtr flaking off, at least 1/4" thick bondo there
e. Driver upper qtr about a 12" long by 1/2" deep gash just behind wheel opening
f. Rear valanace and valance corner caved in on passenger side, tail light panel looked fine
g. Both front & rear bumpers had damage that would have been a question mark whether or not a re-chormer would fix

3) Missing parts, this is where I felt uneasy about offering what I did, he initially told me he had 99% of the parts he just had to find them, but that % kept dwindling over the course of a week
a. Missing pass bucket seat
b. Missing grill support (the grill he was going to give me, plastic was in great shape so was the surround molding, but the steel remnants attached to the plastic was about 30% of what the grille support structure should contain. was completely missing the top portion that bolts to the fenders, obvioulsy the unit was not from this car as the rot in the metal was severe)
c. Missing most of the front & rear glass molding
d. Missing the tail light panel center moldings
e. Missing the vinyl top moldings
f. Missing hood hinges
g. Missing rado bezel
f. Not sure if all 68 Chargers had front bumperettes, but those were missing

4) Parts that he said he had but I never got the chance to see because I killed the deal
a. All the interior door panels, window regulators, arm rests etc
b. Center console
c. Carb, water pump, fan, pretty much most under hood components that attch to the engine and inner fenders (engine did tun over by hand just fine, not that I really cared about the 318 anyways)
d. Tons of little stuff, like most of the hardware I'd be buying etc

He had two hoods, one in much better shape than the original one that was damaged when the fenders were presumably damaged. Initially he said I would get the better of the two hoods, after I made my offer and came back to look at more parts he had gathered, the story changed to I am not getting the better hood and I was only getting the damaged one. This is where I felt doubt creeping in.

I still gave him a depost because I was not going to see the rest of the parts he had unless I did so.

He was asking $26k and I offered not much less than that thinking, well, this must be what is required to get a 68 Charger... I figured I was paying $5-6k higher than what the car was worth. But after talking to some members here, and what they paid for their Charger projects, I realized I was paying $12-16k more than I should be. I decided at that point it wasn't a Mopar tax I was just being stupid.

Luckily I was able to get my deposit back.

I certianly could have worked with this car, it is very restorable. It is pretty much exactly the type of project car I am looking for. I don't want to buy someone elses poor metalwork, I'd rather pay a bit more for an original/near original unmolested (meaning poor resto workmanship, not wear/damage) car with a bit more rust and damage as opposed to one that has new AMD metal on it but with suspect pinch welds and misaligned panels etc.

When I look at 64-72 GM cars, I have a pretty good intuative gut feel for their worth. I don't have that with Mopars. I see all these 68-70 Chargers on marketplace/Craigslist for $20-30K, rotted beyond belief, no interior, no trim, sometimes no drivetrain. Is anyone actually paying for those? It's either the $20-30k rotted roller "project" or the $60-80k driver quality R/T clone Chargers then the $100k+ restored real R/T Chargers. It almost feels like there is more scamming going on in the Mopar world (especially at the project car level), like I am never going to find a car listed online that is not a scam or a top dollar restored done car.

This particular find was not from an online add, it was word of mouth, so I thought I was finding one that I could work with. But in the end, seemed to have a delusional pricetag nonetheless.

I can find tons of GM cars online that are priced somewhat appropriately (Harder with 66 & 70 Chevelle SS cars but still doable). Numbers where a decent deal can be had. This seems impossible with Mopars (Mainly 68-70 Charges, other years/models maybe it is less of an issue).

Seems like if I don't find some incredible secretive barn find car that no one else knows about I don't stand a chance at a reasonable deal. I have been looking for ~11 years now (on and off so can't say dilligently). Bought and sold a 72 GTO in that timeframe thinking I could use profits to secure a Mopar. It's been 6 years since I sold that GTO and this was the first Mopar I looked at where I made an offer.

In any event, I guess I am learning more about the Mopar market.

I have to assume no one is actually paying asking price for one of these?: (The car I was looking at is in better shape than most of those rust-wise and less $$ than what these adds are asking for except the real wreck listed at the end lol)

Charger 500 rt

1968 Dodge Charger · XP29

1968 Dodge Charger

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1968 Dodge rt

1968 Dodge charger

1969 Dodge Charger · XP29

1968 Dodge Charger · Sedan 4D

Maybe looking for a project car is not the right approach for a 68 Charger. Need to be looking for a "done" car like some have suggested.

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Buy a done car, you’ll save money, lots of money in the long run. Of course you’ll need to check it over really well.