Crunched 68 RR - LA Craigslist - Not Mine

[Budnicks]

I had a good bud that had a car 69 RR
383 4 speed, Post Coupe that was in a similar type of wreck,
wrapped around a Telephone pole @ 50-60 mph
showing off, got sideways, lost control
he walked away too, amazingly, with just belt bruising
serious welts from the steering wheel,
it was bent in like U
looked a lot like that damage, without the rotted stuff

engine & trans still looked good, we assumed anyway
rear end looked good,
we went to tear it apart, the engine wouldn't turn over
didn't look like any external damage or anything touched it even
to it , we assumed anyway
Took it apart, we found out the crank was bent
the tail-shaft & input shafts of the trans were both bent
the 8-3/4 rear had a bent axle on the drivers side,
driveline was L shaped, junk
the steering column was junk
front suspension UCA & LCA all looked OK,
pass. Torsion bar was bent
the collision was all on the pass. side, or he'd been dead...
The radiator was still good
a few exterior parts were still good
Master cylinder etc.
amazingly all the glass was good,
except the drivers side door & rear pop out window, side he hit
the dash gauge panel was good, seat were junk
also a few trim parts were still usable/good
the radio was destroyed internally, I assume from the impact
the front & rear bumpers were still good
tail light housings & trim good
grill was still OK
hood & trunk lid was tweaked a bit, looked usable
IIRC Drivers side front fender was till good
a few other parts were still usable or fixable

all the lights were junk all the filaments were broken

crazy **** happens in a sudden impact like that

pretty much the rest was scrap metal

he bought the car for like $1500 back then mid 80's
he made more parting it out, even with the carnage

not so sure you could come out ahead today

sucks it was wrecked

 

[PatsPolara]

Nice project! I think this falls under "drive it while you fix it..."

 

[FrnkNsteen]

@69b3rt

I still have the door that didn't get crushed in the accident. It's tweaked, but had a lot of components on it that were worth having. Don't why I still have it though. The rest of the door was twisted too bad to ever use. I had my Charger by then, so I figured it was worth hanging on to.

Small world. PM me with your name. I remember you, but can't think of your name. Trust me, I know what your saying about remembering things like it was yesterday. I didn't appreciate being accused of stealing someone's wheels. I apologize for that though. Crappy situation for both of us. Sucked for you, but you got them back. Imagine buying wheels, putting them on, then stopping for gas only to have someone accuse you of stealing them.

Should have known something was fishy when we were sitting at the park and some guy stopped to see if I wanted to buy some rims and tires for my Satellite. A lot of people cruised that park back then, but who carries rims and tires around in the back of their vehicle? I had just got done swapping out the 318 in my '70 Satellite for the '67 440 we pulled out of a salvage New Yorker I bought from the junkyard out west of town for $400. I was running the stock steelies that were under my hubcaps, so I bought them and ran to a friends to put them on. That was what,.... '86 or '87? I was typical young and dumb then and didn't ask where he got them. Should have just bought wheels from the junkyard when I bought the New Yorker! Stock wheels were common back then.

I didn't know you had a B3 '69 Charger R/T. I bought my '69 Charger from a guy on the south side shortly after that. Can't remember his name, but I remember he used to race late models out at the Red River Valley Speedway. It was dark blue, but found out later that it was originally a B3 S/E.

 

[FrnkNsteen]

it was bent in like U
looked a lot like that damage, without the rotted stuff

The one I was describing was too. By the time I got there, they had pulled everything off they thought was worth anything. Told me I could have anything else I wanted. I took the passenger side door and the rear diff out when I got it to the junkyard. After taking off the passenger door at the junkyard, it completely collapsed in the middle as they hauled it to the scrap pile. Guess what was left wasn't enough to support it once the door was removed. Good thing it didn't come apart while hauling it!!

 

[WileE]

Boogered and paint slapped on it 15 years ago. Garbage.