Leave as race cars or restore to original?

[malex]

No reason you can't have them both street and strip.
Best of both worlds that way.

 

[67 coronet]

it kinda sounded like you answered your own question in your statement. to each is own, so you want to drive em on the street, resto mod and make them look like race cars you are driving on the street. fun is fun, make em the way YOU will enjoy them.

 

[Steve1967]

I bought a 67 Satellite as my first net experience. Even after paid inspector it showed up as drag car. Been changing it back to street. 7 years and over$20,000 later, still not finished. Depends on when you want to drive it. Good luck.

 

[malex]

I bought a 67 Satellite as my first net experience. Even after paid inspector it showed up as drag car. Been changing it back to street. 7 years and over$20,000 later, still not finished. Depends on when you want to drive it. Good luck.

Tough break. Were the pictures and description not current when you bought? It had to be quite modified.

 

[POMONAMISSEL]

well my 63 sf was a racer from the past , just dress it up so we could driver it around town . its more fun now , lol ;)

 

[Steve1967]

Tough break. Were the pictures and description not current when you bought? It had to be quite modified.

Pictures were from prior to car being raced. It had been used in a country music video. Seller lied his a__ off. I love the car so I didn't give up on it. Now I'm thinking about selling it.

 

[Steve1967]

This is it now. Still not finished but really close.

 

[Canada440]

With 2 you could leave 1 as is and turn the other back into a street car

 

[Tuk]

My 74 Charger SE was not numbers matching and had spent it last few running years as a Drag Car in the 90's.
Suspension was beat to hell, K-member cut to fit big block engine sump, Engine compression was all over and Rear end was full of shavings.
But I bought it for the body which after striping verified it has never been wrecked.

So I am going the "Modern Resto-Mod" route:
- New suspension, K-member, remove torque bars & replace with duel coil overs and 4 link
- New Crate 440 + efi carb
- New Modern Transmission 5-speed manual
- New Dana-60 with 3.73
- Modern Disc Brakes
- Mopar Ralley Wheels or Cragar SS 61c ???

I will look stock from a distance but have the benefit of 40 years of industry development.
Down side is that it will cost about $80,000 to complete this project.
Nobody ever said Mopars were cheap!

I am making this car what I always wanted my last triple black 318 74 Charger Spring Edition 'Celebrity Top' was.

 

[66Satellite47]

Converting a drag car to "streetable" car, is not really that hard, depending on what has been done to it. Making one like an OEM car is really tough & expensive.

 

[stage3]

my '63 is an ex racer..heavily modified,,motor is in as raced tune which is how im going to leave it...I agree with 66satelite47...its not that hard to put on the street...all I did was add 2 1/2" super turbo mufflers,make sure all electricals work with horn,,and a license plate.+insurance,.I like the patina.can u say 2 lane blacktop!.and I don't worry about it as much when its sitting in a car show like I did with my restored '71 cuda.there were times when I thought I mite have to put barb wire around it!lol..

 

[Cudadude2]

Just picked up a 67 GTX and 67 R/T. You can read the story here:

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...-couple-of-67-b-bodies.139340/#post-910790795

My question to you guys is do you think I should leave them as 1/4 mile cars or restore them back to original? I have not personally run down the 1/4 mile since the early 90's and just do cruise-ins and generally drive my muscle cars; often using them as daily drives for weeks at a time weather permitting. The two I picked up are really cool nostalgia drag race cars, but I don't think it would take much to get them back on the roads.

Thanks for your input!

View attachment 526587

There is a third option. Stock appearing drag car.
Supercarraces.com

 

[64plybelvwgn]

A little over a year ago I acquired a 65 Belvedere from an elderly gentleman who gave up on a project car he presumably brought up from the south. It has a mildly worked over 440 with a " Purple Cam " of unknown spec backed by a beefed 727. Judging from the tied rails, the QA1 shocks , '489 carrier with SureGrip, full 3" exhaust etc., someone wanted it to be a race car... or maybe it was...many years ago. At first I was going to go the resto route, but have since decided to fix / repair / update wiring etc., and just do cruise nights as a " Nostalgia " drag car. I can tell you that whenever I pull into a cruise night, people bypass the Vettes, Chevelles, Camaros ... and even new Challengers to see the old car. I've elected to clean it, but the old paint remains with its scratches and dull spots. I even received a trophy ( totally unexpected ) in a field of over 200 cars because one senior judges said " I knew I was giving you a trophy as soon as I heard you pull in ". So regardless of what you elect to do, just have fun with it. ( BTW, I'm going on 72 yo... so every cruise is a good experience for me. )

 

[ed-pv]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I think I will just work on getting them road worthy and drive them! I do love polished show cars, but something about driving them around looking like they did when we owned them in high school gives them a soul!

 

[malex]

my '63 is an ex racer..heavily modified,,motor is in as raced tune which is how im going to leave it...I agree with 66satelite67...its not that hard to put on the street...all I did was add 2 1/2" super turbo mufflers,make sure all electricals work with horn,,and a license plate.+insurance,.I like the patina.can u say 2 lane blacktop!.and I don't worry about it as much when its sitting in a car show like I did with my restored '71 cuda.there were times when I thought I mite have to put barb wire around it!lol..

View attachment 529158 View attachment 529159

Exactly right. As a teenager I ran the 64's on the street with 413's, lots of cam, lots of noise. Going out for a cruise and doing it all over is as good now as it was 4 decades ago!

 

[Budnicks]

Make them a better race car a better street car
no reason you can't do both

I'd side with a day 2 car either way, race or street/strip

good luck & happy Moparing

 

[Aesellitto]

I bought my 72 SE car because it had that old school look that was far from stock. Pulled the engine and was delighted to see the non numbers matching 318 and 727. Now I am in the process of a 440 swap + EFI. Make it a daily driver but have that mean second day look that I grew up envious of. God bless the unwanted 318 family car (and add the swapped engine to boot) that no one seems to want. The car is my childhood dream and found its forever home!

 

[66Satellite47]

All depends on what YOU want! I got a car that was "streetable" but set up mostly as a drag car. That is what I bought & now it's slowly back

 

[ed-pv]

I was able to work on the Coronet R/T today! Got it cleaned up a bit on the outside and tuned the dominator carb. Runs great! Also changed out the wheels/tires with some I had in the garage. To get it more streetable, I need to change the gears in the Dana and probably change out the torque converter to a bit tighter one.

 

[POMONAMISSEL]

if your an auto you could swap in an 8 3/4 for the street . under one under mine , just after to check on it with big rubber .