Rkoetting5
Member
Always have been a MOPAR guy, first car in 1977 at 16 was a 1965 Plymouth Satellite factory 426 wedge 4-speed car. Paid $700 for it, and promptly sawzalled out the rear wheel wells, threw away the heater box, rear seats, and every other item with "extra weight." Bitchin' car in high school, bracket raced it from 1979 through 1984, then sold it after I scattered the second motor, second pass with 5.13 gears (didn't make the 1-2 shift in time...)
In 1996 got the bug again and bought another 1965 Satellite, original 383 automatic car. Pro-Streeted it with 13-31 tires, tubs, SS springs, B-1 heads, roll cage, etc. Went too far and made a great bracket racer, but a terrible street car. Won class at the Sacramento Autorama, but spent too much garage time and eventually sold it to a buddy.
Picked up a 2006 Corvette roadster a few years ago as a "hobby car" but then found that while the car was great to drive, what I really missed was working on a car, and a 2006 vehicle, especially in California, was completely outside my experience.
Started looking at the Mopar B bodies and found that the market had definitely gone way upscale from my early days. Looking for a driver that had potential for a mild restore. Hoped to find a Road Runner, or Charger, or Super Bee, or Coronet RT, but all of them were priced at $25K or more in the condition I was looking for. Started looking at Satellites and Coronets that would be suitable "tributes," but even they were $10k and up for anything decent, and would be hard to justify putting much money into. Stumbled across an ad for a 1967 RT Coronet for $18.5k that looked decent, and finally called. Met the owner a couple of hundred miles away and found that he had an original RT, 440, automatic column shift, original AC car that still blew cold, power steering, power brakes, all original. Still had correct exhaust manifolds, original carburetor, air cleaner, steel wheels with hub caps. Only modifications were a crappy 1980s radio (with dash insert cut...), some of the interior redone, and a really horrible Grabber Blue paint job done over the factory Bright Blue metallic. No significant rust that I've found yet, and the car drives great. Needs a tune, misses at 3000 RPM's and up, got a few oil leaks, but the car is in better shape than I am...
Negotiated a bit, ended up paying $15k, drove the car 240 miles home, through San Francisco bay area commute traffic, and up the valley on a 95 degree day. Purred like a 50 year old kitten. Just ordered replica Magnum 500s and tires. Plan on a disc brake conversion, an electronic ignition swap, freshening up suspension on both ends, fixing leaks, to start with. Eventual plans would be to redo interior and all seals and rubber, freshen motor and trans, and get rid of the hideous paint and return to the original color. Try to refrain from any modifications that can not be undone, the car really is too nice to screw up.
Been coming here to get myself back into the MOPAR way of life. Looks like parts and restoration service availability is far better than it was 15-20 years ago, but still a little sparse for a 67. Fortunately all of the RT specific items are intact and in fair or better shape, like the front and rear grilles, the "RT" inner door emblems, the speedo and the quarter panel emblems.
Look forward to participating in the forums and learning as much as possible. Thanks for the education I have already received as a lurker, and I will be back for more!
Bob Koetting
In 1996 got the bug again and bought another 1965 Satellite, original 383 automatic car. Pro-Streeted it with 13-31 tires, tubs, SS springs, B-1 heads, roll cage, etc. Went too far and made a great bracket racer, but a terrible street car. Won class at the Sacramento Autorama, but spent too much garage time and eventually sold it to a buddy.
Picked up a 2006 Corvette roadster a few years ago as a "hobby car" but then found that while the car was great to drive, what I really missed was working on a car, and a 2006 vehicle, especially in California, was completely outside my experience.
Started looking at the Mopar B bodies and found that the market had definitely gone way upscale from my early days. Looking for a driver that had potential for a mild restore. Hoped to find a Road Runner, or Charger, or Super Bee, or Coronet RT, but all of them were priced at $25K or more in the condition I was looking for. Started looking at Satellites and Coronets that would be suitable "tributes," but even they were $10k and up for anything decent, and would be hard to justify putting much money into. Stumbled across an ad for a 1967 RT Coronet for $18.5k that looked decent, and finally called. Met the owner a couple of hundred miles away and found that he had an original RT, 440, automatic column shift, original AC car that still blew cold, power steering, power brakes, all original. Still had correct exhaust manifolds, original carburetor, air cleaner, steel wheels with hub caps. Only modifications were a crappy 1980s radio (with dash insert cut...), some of the interior redone, and a really horrible Grabber Blue paint job done over the factory Bright Blue metallic. No significant rust that I've found yet, and the car drives great. Needs a tune, misses at 3000 RPM's and up, got a few oil leaks, but the car is in better shape than I am...
Negotiated a bit, ended up paying $15k, drove the car 240 miles home, through San Francisco bay area commute traffic, and up the valley on a 95 degree day. Purred like a 50 year old kitten. Just ordered replica Magnum 500s and tires. Plan on a disc brake conversion, an electronic ignition swap, freshening up suspension on both ends, fixing leaks, to start with. Eventual plans would be to redo interior and all seals and rubber, freshen motor and trans, and get rid of the hideous paint and return to the original color. Try to refrain from any modifications that can not be undone, the car really is too nice to screw up.
Been coming here to get myself back into the MOPAR way of life. Looks like parts and restoration service availability is far better than it was 15-20 years ago, but still a little sparse for a 67. Fortunately all of the RT specific items are intact and in fair or better shape, like the front and rear grilles, the "RT" inner door emblems, the speedo and the quarter panel emblems.
Look forward to participating in the forums and learning as much as possible. Thanks for the education I have already received as a lurker, and I will be back for more!
Bob Koetting
aboard!
