How did you guys find your car?

[696pack]

So did you get it for a steal? (No pun intended) Cant believe no one else had looked at it and did the same process you did! That was just meant to be!

Yeah, I got a good deal on it but even as low miles as it is from sitting In the Cal. sun uncovered, and going through the drivetrain, I now have a lot of money in it. Not a big deal as when the market turns again it will sell. There is always a buyer out there for a rare low production Hemi car like it.

I bought the car within an hour of seeing it, and since the meet was clearing out it wasn't seen by many. Just a matter of being in the right place at the right time with a seller that just wanted to get rid of something that they didn't want and didn't know how to market.

 

[Revhendo]

I bought my first '69 Charger for 150 bucks and a used rototiller when I was 15. Well, it did need some work and it was a couple of years (sic) ago.....

Rev.

 

[Dans 68]

I wanted a '68 4-speed Charger, and start looking by doing a google search. Finally found one on OldRide.com. Took a plane trip to look it over, and made a deal with the owner (who is now a friend).

Dan

 

[Norwoodville Speed Shop]

first car find

My car sat on a trailer in a back yard of a house near my high school. I drove by that house every day on way to and from school. I could tell it was an old drag car by sickers on car and hood scoop. After about two years of driving by, I got the nerve to go to the door to see if it may be for sale. Guy says yes, he would sell it. This is 1984. Bought it for $1500, including trailer. Sold trailer for $850. Got car and motor and 4spd and parts for balance. Was an old stock eliminator car ran locally here in Iowa. Have owned it ever since.

 

[shadango]

Searching the web for 4 month a lot of hours. ;)
i get my dodge here: http://www.coolcarsforsale.net/

Not a car on there I could afford except fopr the two bumper cars...LOL

 

[Coyote with a roadrunner]

I bought my 69 Roadrunner from my uncle. It has been in the family a long time. The funny part is that my 17 year old son decided last Thanksgiving to ask my uncle at the dinner table if he wanted to sell it. He of course did not let me know her was going to do this. I just about swallowed my tongue because I had no idea how he would reply. He simply chuckled and said yes I would like to sell it. That began our journey.

 

[Meep-Meep]

This is a great thread!!

So much for my intent of a short story, but it's good for me to tell it as none of us is getting any younger and I'd like to remember it.

I found my white 68 Road Runner in the local paper around 1980. The ad read: 69 Road Runner, rebuilt but not running, make offer. When I got there I saw it was a 68 with a bench seat and a column shift. I was immediately disappointed with the granny interior (I was 16 and needed a 4 spd and buckets to be cool) but I did notic how nice it was compared to the 69's I have been looking at. I asked what the highest offer was and he said $400.00. I offered $450.00 and went away to let him think about it. A few days later the owner called to basically say come get it but my dad intercepted the phone call and all I heard was "I'm sorry, but he's not buying any cars". Poof! My RR dream was gone, at least for the time being.

About a year later I was helping a buddy with a cam swap in his 68 Charger and when we were done we went on a test drive. He lived near the neighborhood where I saw the RR so I said "let's try to find that white Road Runner I looked at a year ago". We bounced around a while until I found the house then I jumped out of the car and looked over the fence and there was the car exactly as I last saw it! I immediately knocked on the door and a lady answered and I very politely asked if the car in the back yard was still for sale. She said "yes, but how did you know about it?" Feeling very embarrassed about my dad flaking the deal, I said I looked at it about a year ago and was wondering if it was still here. I finally met up with the owner and asked how much and he said $450.00. Apparently I was the last offer and he must have given up trying to sell it.

My dad must have gotten over the fact that I shouldn't have a car at my age so nothing was going to stop me this time. The deal went through as expected and me and my buddy Mike started loading parts and hooking up the tow bar to the 72 LTD. Just before the tow ball was engaged the owner said "Oh, I forgot to mention I had problems with the calipers leaking". Mike said "calipers? It's got discs?" Without further hesitation the tow bar was secured and we were on the way to my house. Later would I realize the curse of the Bendix 4 piston brakes. The parts list included a freshly rebuilt 383 out of a 69 Road Runner that was never fired, a complete air grabber hood setup off that same car (he had a 69 that he rolled and scavenged all the good parts before junking the rest), the original 383 covered in grease, brake and suspension work done but never driven on and a trunk full of new parts.

The best part of this story is I still have the car and all the parts except the rebuilt 69 383 (I traded that for a 426 Max Wedge in the mid 80's) and I still have the Max Wedge short block but sold the top end about 10 yrs ago.

 

[shadango]

Hey Meep-Meep....

VERY cool story.....I am hoping I can have a similar story (well, no Dad to intervene at my age...LOL) and make a find like that......

 

[Histoy]

Hey Meep-Meep, did you by chance sell the Max Wedge top end to a guy living near Chicago Illinois?

 

[Meep-Meep]

Thanks, SHADANGO, and I hope you do. By the way, I have been to McKeesport, PA. It's right by Glassport. What are the chances?

HISTOY: No, I sold it to a guy not far from me. Good guy, and I still see him at swap meets and asked if he wants to sell me back my heads. He says sure, but I have to buy them with the whole motor. I think he builds clone Max Wedge cars. Now that the 911 is gone I just may do that :grin:

 

[flatlander]

Found out about my dart from a local mechanic.

 

[66sat440]

found mine on e-bay. belonged to a guy who's dad wes an old school mopar mechanic. if i would have had the money for it at the time i think i would have bought his dads 69 satellite...beautifull car!

 

[OG max wedge]

i spend my lunch breaks doing drive by's one day i found my original 1964 dodge 330 max wedge just parked on a driveway in plain view. it had been setting there for many years,
it took the guy a few years to let it go but he finally came around and let it go!
BTW the original aluminum fenders, front bumper, brackets and grill support we hidden away in the garage! score!
P.S. the "do not touch" was painted on the fenders back in 1964 when the car was new!

 

[72 Charger SE]

Never really went looking for my cars. Got my 72 Charger SE for high school graduation in 85 after my parents had it since 73. It was my daily driver until 96, when I pulled the 318 since I needed a replacement engine for my truck.

My second 72 Charger SE I found in 1987 just driving by a motel and saw it in the parking lot and recognized the hideaway headlights. Had a for sale sign wanting $1500, got him down to $800. Car was kind of rough, and the guy I got it from did some real hack work on it, like switching from column shift to floor shift automatic and cutting off the front of the console so he could move it forward (and crooked.) I think he had the wrong shifter linkage and instead of getting the right pieces, he cut up a perfectly good console.

A few years ago, ran across a 74 Charger on a used car lot, but saw that it had a 72 hideaway headlight grille. 1 hard U turn later, I was taking it out for a test drive. Someone put a 440 4 speed into the car and hacked a hole in the floor for the shifter, and the clutch slipped badly, but the engine ran really well. The 440 ended up in my original 72 Charger SE after a teardown and inspection, and some new parts and hardened exhaust valve seats. I even got an extra front bumper with half of a 72 hideaway grill and another motor for the doors thrown in. I started keeping a stash of those grill parts after hitting a deer in Montana in 1986.

 

[eagleone1983]

I found my '69 Runner on a local newpaper website that hosts classified ads. The car was in pretty good shape considering the previous owner used it as a daily driver. Needless to say the I picked it up the next day.

 

[old tired rebel]

Driving past a Auto Zone parts store I seen my Cordoba sitting out front with a for sale sign. Bought it that day.

 

[marcar1993]

I grew up with it. Always knew it as the one old car in the family that we only took out for big trips and for hauling loads only... Never went to cruise nights with it or went out on a nice sunday drive in it. That alone peaked my interests. Then there was the fact that it was my grandparents, and my grandfather had passed away and my father was more or less taking care of it for my grandma. He was the only one to use it anymore.
Then when I was about 9 years old my grandmother got sick and I took over caring for her 2 cars... That is more or less how I got both of my mopars.

 

[69hemibeep]

Mine moved in two doors down and 20 years later it was mine!

 

[moparstuart]

Mine moved in two doors down and 20 years later it was mine!

and in 20 years will be mine :grin::tongueflap:

 

[MarPar]

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

And twenty years after that, it will be mine!!!!:tongueflap:

I was checkin da classifieds, fleabay, and some MoPar guys i know were keepin their ears on for me...so i found her on fleabay, and after a week, she did not sell, and i contacted the guy directly about an hour after the ad expired, and went to take a look at the guy's house in pleasant prairie, wi a couple days later. when i walked into the garage and saw her for the first time, i was in loooooove!!! gave her a checkin over, and dropped the deposit right then and there!!!

So I make arrangements to go pick her up the next week, friday. i had to borrow my buddy's 250 super duty, rented a trailer, and take the day off of work (oh, was the old man pissed off when i a) took the day off, and b) he found out i was takin the day off to buy a muscle car! i had my own house by that time, so he really couldn't say sh*t!) :grin:

All week i was pining for her, and as the week dragged on, reports of massive snowfall were coming out for the end of the week. :Groaner: so on thursday night i take a look at the weather report...8-12 inch snow warning!!! :snow plow: a buddy of mine that was going with me asked me "what do you think? you want to wait till next week?" HELL NO!!!! was the response. he told me i was nuts for going to get it in 8" of snow, but i didn't care...

we pack up at 6 am for what NORMALLY would be a two-hour round trip... it took us 8 hours to finally drop her in my garage!!! we wrapped her up in a cocoon of tarps, and plastic sheeting and trucked her *** home!!! and i have been blissfully happy ever since!!

BTW i forgot to mention i got it cheaper than the last bid he had on e-bay!! :HappyNewYear: :rolling::rolling: