Noob with a survivor '71

[///Matt]

Hey guys. Just picked up a '71 Charger. It's pretty well optioned (AC, PS, etc), but the beauty of it is that it's unmolested and 99.999% original. It's had the radiator replaced, and wearable items, but best I can tell it's totally original paint, interior, body, motor, and trans.

318-2bbl, 904 trans. Never rebuilt, runs and shifts great. Got me from Reno to San Jose when I bought it, with not so much as a hiccup.

Dark Bronze paint, with its share of dings and chips, but overall excellent for 43 year old paint. the tan vinyl interior is in incredible condition, aside from the driver seat tore and a couple of seams have split. ALL the electronics and lights work.

NO RUST. No rust anywhere. I can't even express how little rust there is, it blows my mind. All the sheet metal on this car is perfect.

What do you guys think something like this is worth, roughly? I feel like I got a steal of a deal on it, but I'll wait and see what you guys say.

I'm trying to figure out if I should do a numbers-match resto, a restomod, or just leave it the hell alone.

 

[Budnicks]

nice 71 Charger

welcome to FBBO from NorCal

 

[Xp29h]

Very nice! Welcome!

 

[super-bee_ski]

Beautiful car!

Welcome aboard and thanks for joining the forum....
From: Mojave Desert

 

[Car Nut]

aboard!

Nice looking Charger!

 

[HawkRod]

Welcome aboard.

I don't know value, as I don't have a lot of experience with that year Chargers.

In my opinion, if it is that original, I would try to keep it that way. They have some paint-less dent and ding guys that can work wonders with small dents and dings. Maybe get those addressed, clean up the car really nicely and show it and enjoy it as it is - an unmolested survivor.

Good luck whatever you choose...

 

[mr. b]

welcome to FBBO nice looking charger

 

[aldal]

Welcome from Minnesota....nice Charger.

 

[ZR9B]

very cool to see the ones that made it with no real work done to them.....nice score

 

[dieseldazzle]

I say worthy 5K and leave it the way it is.

 

[snakeyes]

hi and welcome to the site ,drive the **** out of it !:headbang:

 

[Dennis H]

Leave it alone. Drive and enjoy it. More pics please.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Welcome and nice find.giveing a value off of one picture is very hard. These cars arnt worth a lot ,unless there a special car like an r/t,rallye,super bee, or if it has special options like a hemi ,440+6 ,sunroof ,4 speed.
A 318 auto car is as people call there a stripper, now I don't know what you have as options on it but from what your saying it's not much. I don't want to put your car down I love these cars and a rust free car is hard to get so that's a huge plus, these cars restored org don't bring much $10-14k (I just sold a loaded "stripper" had all the options but no go faster ones . I got 14k for it it did have a lot of mods eng trans shifter exhaust wheels, and a he'll of a paint job.
So If it was mine I would have fun with it put a huge eng in it (if you want a 4 speed ) put one in if you want a purple car paint it purple,no harm no foul . I have a 72 that I work on here and there it also was a stripper it now has a 440 4 speed it's painted a Sun burst Orange and has lots of fun stuff done to it (all new )and the owner paid 17k .
So don't worry about leaving it org it's not going to affect it's value at all .
As for a value I buy a lot of these I would say (in my area) a car like that would be around $2500-3500 but diff areas are diff prices .
Agen I'm not trying to put you or your car down I'm just trying to help out and if you have any ?'s about the car send me a pm and I will gladly help out I'm building a 72 and 74 now. Good luck with your new car enjoy !!!

 

[eric383]

Welcome. Drive it for now and think about what you want to do to it.

 

[gdrill]

Welcome to FBBO. Cool find. Not very many cars are still that original.
My vote: Go through the brakes and suspension, add Cragar SS's with 295/50/15's out back, some form of dual exhaust (for "that sound"!) and drive it like you own every bolt in it!!
Congratulations, enjoy.

 

[jenkins71]

MOre pictures!!! Nice Car, i have a 71 Charger too!

 

[YY1]

Welcome to FBBO. Cool find. Not very many cars are still that original.
My vote: Go through the brakes and suspension, add Cragar SS's with 295/50/15's out back, some form of dual exhaust (for "that sound"!) and drive it like you own every bolt in it!!
Congratulations, enjoy.

I tend to agree.

My 73 318 Satellite does just fine in today's traffic and has enough power to get with it when necessary, and still get double digit gas mileage.

I am, however, adding various items from the factory options catalog, that were available, but not ordered on my car.

So far, I've added:

Tuff wheel
Rallye wheels
Bucket seats and buddy seat
Rallye mirrors
Tach
Stereo and rear speakers

and have the following to put on:

Machine gun tips
Roadrunner hood
Rallye dash
Power windows
Cruise control
Roll down rear windows
Casette recorder pod
Resistance rear window defog/deice
8 3/4 SG axle
Four barrel carb

So far I've only drilled five holes, and only one is visible (pass side mirror)

 

[YY1]

ThreadKilla

 

[themechanic]

Howdy! Drive it; but you can't help but spend money on upgrades.

 

[monaco66coupe]

Leave it alone. there are already to many hopped up modifieds, the money you spend to do that won't come back. My favorite all time Charger was my 68' 318 luxury loaded charger. I put more than 70,000 miles on that car. It was a great car, and I miss it. I have a big block charger now, but I would prefer to have my standard charger back.