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

Coelacanth

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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.
 
My wife made the decision for me back in late 1979, when I bought her a brand new daily driver, took my old Valiant back, and retired my first GTX from daily driving. She said if I wanted to stay married, I was limited to one non daily driving vehicle. In later years I got around this by storing a second GTX at the shop that did the maintenance on my Peterbilt. Owner was also a GTX guy, owned a nice '67. When I retired, I cut back to just one. Married 48 years. One nicely restored car, that also gets driven.
70 GTX.jpg
 
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No question. One nice car

There MIGHT be a 2nd done nice car in my future. But not in the immediate future And even then it would have to be THE perfect car in body style, color and options
 
No question. One nice car

There MIGHT be a 2nd done nice car in my future. But not in the immediate future And even then it would have to be THE perfect car in body style, color and options
As you know, Bill, I got incredibly lucky and own it. Would it be correct to assume that one of your former GTXs would be a candidate for the second slot?
 
As you know, Bill, I got incredibly lucky and own it. Would it be correct to assume that one of your former GTXs would be a candidate for the second slot?
You betcha, And in no particular order

The B5 blue auto vert - my oldest daughter came home from the Hospital in this one

The F8 Green hardtop , the car I owned when wife and I started dating, It would be her 1st choice for that and it had factory air

A 1970 Coronet RT vert with high options would round out the top three

Problem is, I have NO idea where either of my former cars are

69PGTXConv-vi.jpg


GTX-Green.jpg


70rt5.jpg
 
As an option would be another car I used to own long ago
Spring green 1969 Roadrunner , hemi 4spd
Or a car I was $2000 short and it sold before I could raise the difference . 1970 Coronet RT hardtop , Hemi auto. It sold for $13,000

320961666_857963752197056_8389877764724770206_n.jpg


316313377_6423980090964443_1117092296071891569_n.jpg
 
When these cars were new and I was dreaming about owning them when in high school, never once did I think "boy I'd sure like to have a yardful of beaten down project cars". I've owned up to 5 or 6 cars at a time with some of them being projects and I found that it just kept me broke financially and timewise spreading myself over the different projects. Then if you have 5 or 6 done cars, keeping them all clean and maintained also takes a bunch of time.
 
I was always been one for one nice car.

Then a new project car comes along and over the years becomes another nice car. Then another new project car comes along and over the years also becomes another nice car and the cycle continues. Now 8 cars deep. However, they are all plated and insured and all but 2 are currently running and driving and driven regularly.
5 of my 8 cars out front while rearranging things in the garage. Not including the 3 of my trucks in the street.

123_1.jpeg
 
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No question one really nicely restored car. I have a friend that has several Mopars. Challenger's,Charger's,Roadrunner's. Nothing is
Finished and junk everywhere.
 
Going back to mid to late 80s timeframe I owned , all at same time. MOST were project cars
1969 Roadrunner , hemi 4spd complete car, bought as a project I eventually got running and driving. Sold a few years later
1969 Roadrunner A12 4spd - body only no engine or hood
1970 Roadrunner Hemi 4spd , less engine project
1970 Roadrunner V code sixbarrel 4spd running driving car
1969 Charger Daytona 440 auto, complete but project
1968 Charger 440 auto project and or parts car for daytona
1970 Superbee V code sixpack 4spd , running driving car
1970 Coronet 500 conv 383 auto my DD running driving car


And I have NO interest to repeat this scenario, ever again
 
I will never be able to settle for just one nice car because polishing, cleaning, and kicking tires are not where I get my kicks. I have to be racing, driving, and building stuff.
 
My wife made the decision for me back in late 1979, when I bought her a brand new daily driver, took my old Valiant back, and retired my first GTX from daily driving. She said if I wanted to stay married, I was limited to one non daily driving vehicle. In later years I got around this by storing a second GTX at the shop that did the maintenance on my Peterbilt. Owner was also a GTX guy, owned a nice '67. When I retired, I cut back to just one. Married 48 years. One nicely restored car, that also get driven.
View attachment 1942645
yep.... when were were ready for a bigger house my wife said " I want to be able to look out my back yard and not see dead cars.

20200601_184059.jpg
 
I understand your question but I can’t pick one or the other ,
For me it has to be somewhere in between. Leaning towards finished cars and a project or two. Wait,finished….they’re never finished
 
Whenever I watch Birdsong's YT channel, I always wonder about the neighbors. It's got to suck living next door to that.
 
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