Can you find a Muscle Car for under $1,000?

[SteveSS]

It doesn't have to be a Mopar. I'm interested in what you can find. I just bought a 1971 Buick Skylark coupe with a 350-4 for $870. It's body is kind beat up but not rusty. Put some Trans X, an oil change and new plugs and it's going up and down our street for under $1,000. Not very fast yet but that may come. Okay I know a Skylark is kind of blurring the lines but it kind of looks like a GTO, Chevelle, Cutlass.

What can you find?

 

[paladin06]

Not much I'd say.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

Dude, that's such a crap shoot...never know who needs to dump what and when. I've seen some guys buy great stuff for virtually nothing, then see guys give their first born for dog doo.

Hard to predict, but I do know patients and perseverance will pay off.

 

[YY1]

I just picked up (literally 9:00 pm tonight)) a 1980 D150 step side...original manual trans (O/D I think) with a 1969 440 with performer intake and headers.

Cab is rusty but bed is super nice.

Seller couldn't get a starter on it. The ones from the parts store bottomed on the bell housing.

I brought one over from my shed and it worked.

Runs pretty good, but not totally without issues.

$800 and it came with LRE stack shields and tailgate wood.

I had a 72 350 Skylark. Pretty but didn't handle near as well as my Mopars.

 

[snakeyes]

[video=youtube_share;LJrJw149jMo]http://youtu.be/LJrJw149jMo[/video]

 

[99ss]

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/cto/4143745732.html

$550

 

[krowbar]

I picked up my coronet for $500.

 

[Budnicks]

Probably not much, even in a GM product for $1000, for any of the popular "true muscle cars" like the 442, GS, GTO, Chevelle, or even better a RR, Charger, Super Bee, R/T etc. & that's not a total pile of rust or something that needs "absolutely everything gone thru", that you will spend another $20k to fix/build, unless your just looking for a beater project car maybe, to fix a little at a time... Now back in the late 70's they were still a dime a dozen... I'm sure there are still deals out there too, if your persistent enough & look long enough, but they're too few & far between now thou, people think that ol' rust bucket is worth it's weight in gold now... SteveSS I like the 70-72 GS Buicks, especially the 455 cars, they are very underrated/overlooked in the realm of muscle cars, the 350 cars are much more of an executives ol' luxury cruiser, from back in the day, more than a muscle car, but are still cool cars none the less, especially if you can pick up a decent car for under $1000...

 

[Bruzilla]

You can't find many for $1,000, but you can buy some for that much. When I have $1,000 to spend on a car, I start looking at $1,500-$2,000 cars. Lots of owners will sell for a lot less if you show up with cash and not just talk. Even better. most folks selling in this range are motivated. They're either looking to get rid of that "old car" that someone left behind, that eyesore the wife says has got to go, that project car that someone is tired of, etc.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Time to set the Wayback Machine to 1979.

 

[NJRR]

I bought my first 70 Satellite convertible for $400 in 1979. Drove it for 4 years of college. Had ALOT of fun in that car!!!! :icon_super:

Probably not much, even in a GM product for $1000, for any of the popular "true muscle cars" like the 442, GS, GTO, Chevelle, or even better a RR, Charger, Super Bee, R/T etc. & that's not a total pile of rust or something that needs "absolutely everything gone thru", that you will spend another $20k to fix/build, unless your just looking for a beater project car maybe, to fix a little at a time... Now back in the late 70's they were still a dime a dozen... I'm sure there are still deals out there too, if your persistent enough & look long enough, but they're too few & far between now thou, people think that ol' rust bucket is worth it's weight in gold now... SteveSS I like the 70-72 GS Buicks, especially the 455 cars, they are very underrated/overlooked in the realm of muscle cars, the 350 cars are much more of an executives ol' luxury cruiser, from back in the day, more than a muscle car, but are still cool cars none the less, especially if you can pick up a decent car for under $1000...

 

[Budnicks]

I bought my first 70 Satellite convertible for $400 in 1979. Drove it for 4 years of college. Had ALOT of fun in that car!!!! :icon_super:

Yeah I can relate, I bought my 1st 68 Charger R/T for $350 from a hot divorced single mom/neighbor lady, in 1974... I drove & owned it for well over 10 years, had a few different engine, trans &/or rear gears, tire & wheel, color combos green/black then yellow/black, over that period of time, I miss those days sometimes when $1000 would buy a decent car, that was allot of money for me in 1974 I was 15 y/o, I mowed allot of lawns & helped my Pops allot, for that amount of cash...

 

[barnfind]

Yeah I can relate, I bought my 1st 68 Charger R/T for $350 from a hot divorced single mom/neighbor lady, in 1974... I drove & owned it for well over 10 years, had a few different engine, trans &/or rear gears, tire & wheel, color combos green/black then yellow/black, over that period of time, I miss those days sometimes when $1000 would buy a decent car, that was allot of money for me in 1974 I was 15 y/o, I mowed allot of lawns & helped my Pops allot, for that amount of cash...

Worked at a gas station in 82, in Arizona, Had to ride my bike by the main station where a white superbird sat for $1200. It wasn't there when I rode by 45 min earlier for lunch. I went to the bank got cash, when I got to the corner I watched the car drive away with new owner behind the wheel.

 

[SteveSS]

I just picked up (literally 9:00 pm tonight)) a 1980 D150 step side...original manual trans (O/D I think) with a 1969 440 with performer intake and headers.

Cab is rusty but bed is super nice.

Seller couldn't get a starter on it. The ones from the parts store bottomed on the bell housing.

I brought one over from my shed and it worked.

Runs pretty good, but not totally without issues.

$800 and it came with LRE stack shields and tailgate wood.

I had a 72 350 Skylark. Pretty but didn't handle near as well as my Mopars.

Good job! that's what I'm talking about. As far as executive cars. I'm sure there were plenty of 318 Mopars that will qualify as lowered powered muscle cars.

 

[Budnicks]

Just for clearifacation.... Not to be a nit picker/stickler know it all type a--hole, I know it's semantics, but the coined term "muscle cars" from Hot Rod mag. writer, was for the 64 GTO Bobcat edition 389/421ci 4speed version originally, in a test against the GTO Ferrari's & back when that phrase "Muscle car" was started/coined & stuck, for a easy description of a style & size of car, they were all Big Block powered/mid-size cars, originally base models for the most part, with little to few options/thrills, especially in the Mopars, none were ever small block powered, the smaller cars like A & E-bodies Darts, Valiant's, Barracuda's, `Cuda's, Challenger's, AAR 340-6bbl Cuda's & R/T 340 6-pak Challenger's etc. or GM's & Ford's, Camaro's, Firebird's, Mustang's, Fairlane's, or the AMC's AMX's, Javelin's, Rebel's etc. were all considered a smaller "pony cars", sportier version, even when they had a Big Block V8 in them... The people today seem to call everything of that era, with a V8, a muscle car & that really wasn't the case... OK back on subject, done with the overly **** retentive history lesson...LOL... continue discussion...

 

[Bruzilla]

I enjoy getting a rise out of the Pony car boys by pointing out their cars are Ponies and not Muscle. What's really ironic is it's the same reaction pony car owners used to have when they were associated with muscle cars back in the 60s and 70s. Back then they were only wanting to be affiliated with sports cars. Back then a pony car was a sports car with a back seat while muscle cars were nothing but big lumps of steel with big engines that couldn't handle or run on a sports track.

My how times have changed.

 

[44070dart]

I think its just about impossible to find an actual "muscle" car for a grand in my area ..maybe a clone model (Skylark to Grand Sport) but you better be ready for some work..I looked at craigslist for my city and area around and found nothing for a grand ..think you got a good deal on your Skylark ....455 Grand Sports especially stage 1's were 500lb/ft torque monsters that surprised many who thought they were just an old mans Buick.. 70/71's great body style too

 

[1971 plymouth roadrunner]

You can, I've bought several good cars for over less than $5000. It really depends on weather or not you know you're looking for, and how long you are willing to commit to the restoration and search. I've gotten good deals, however I would never recommend the rout I've taken, as it drains everything you've got. Occationally I see a good car on eBay, but most cars are nothing more than rust, or the prices are inflated by kids wanting to buy a car with their parent's money. I would recommend Craigslist if you have hours to kill every day. As I have seen everythin fron 1970 roadrunner 383 4 speed airgrabber cars, to your average pinto. You just need to determine how far you are willing to travel, and how much you are willing to spend "yes there are still workable projects out there for less than a grand", but sometimes you need to go outside your comfort zone to get the car you really want. I have herd some people on this site and others recommend that you settle. To that I would disagree, as buying a classic car is a little like getting the perfect girl. If you go to the bar with a attitude that you need to sleep with someone now!! You will get the 300lb girl that you will wake up the next day, wondering WHAT!?!?!, but if you hold out for a while and expand your search, you have a better chance of getting the perverbial playboy model. Believe me I've settled in the past and when I started to think about the car that I had bought, I was not happy, and eventually sold the car. After that I only bought cars that I wanted to own and started buying what I liked and knew

 

[gdrill]

You can buy a car to build into a muscle car for $1000 or less sometimes, but not very often will you get a true muscle car for that. At least not one in decent shape.

"Just what is a Muscle Car? Exactly what the name implies. It is a product of the American car industry adhering to the hot rodder's philosophy of taking a small car and putting a BIG engine in it. To balance this out, handling, braking and related essentials are modified to result in a performance machine for the streets. They tack racy names to the car: GTA, GTO, GTX, or just plain GT; R/T, SST, SS, GS or, for the lack of better initials, 4-4-2. They doll the car up with fancy trimmings and put it up for sale. And it sells like crazy"....Road Test Magazine 1967

 

[super-bee_ski]

It doesn't have to be a Mopar. I'm interested in what you can find. I just bought a 1971 Buick Skylark coupe with a 350-4 for $870. It's body is kind beat up but not rusty. Put some Trans X, an oil change and new plugs and it's going up and down our street for under $1,000. Not very fast yet but that may come. Okay I know a Skylark is kind of blurring the lines but it kind of looks like a GTO, Chevelle, Cutlass.

What can you find?

You may be "missing" a key point, but then again, an ambigous question....
By definition, the "Musclecar" definition...
1. YES
I'ts possible to find a very nice Musclecar for under $1,000.
Simply put, Rare Barn finds are happening all the time.
You can NOT find them on ebay nor Craigslist.

It is highly unlikeley you will find one for under $1,000 because of such "ILLUMINATION" of the hobby today. People are selling (asking high dollars) for crap fbecause of Barrett-Jackson auctions...

Now, can you buy a nice "hot-rod" potential car for under $1,000
YES
How about a nice Dodge Demon OR Plymouth Duster, fix it up slowly then get your self a nice 360 for the build-up?
A 1969 Plym Valiant and eventually add a built 440?