I’m currently converting my ‘70 Coronet from auto to four speed. Because of my location it’s very expensive; I’ll be right at CAN$10k just for parts, so around $7,500 in U.S. greenbacks.
My reasoning is this, and forgive me if I ramble:
As someone mentioned, there’s nothing like a standard with a high torque engine; especially second gear from a slow roll.
The pistol grip shifter is a work of art. And that’s why wife and I are building this car in the first place. It is an artistic statement. Every component is selected by us to represent our vision of a muscle car. Every colour, option etc. In our case we went with B5 blue paint, white top, white bucket interior, white C stripe. Done 440, pistol grip four speed, magnum or road wheels. Other then the colour and top none of these items are on the fender tag. We don’t care.
We could have bought a built one for half of what we’ll have in this, but there’s a few things to consider. We live in the freakin’ arctic. There are no built ones here to buy. We are not interested in any other combination of features, so to buy a red or green one and paint it brings the price up to where we’ll be.
A hassle to convert? Oh yeah! Expensive? Sure. But we’re at that late stage of life where we can afford to do it. Money we have, time we don’t. If we could go to the local Dodge dealer and buy a new one we would, with these exact options only. We can’t, so we’ll build one. Fender tag douchebags will sneer. We don’t care. It’s a nice car, our car.
So forgive me for being long winded. You’ve seen me be long winded before Kern. I guess what I’m trying to say is this: if you’d be happy with a standard, do it. Be happy.
I love your red Charger, by the way.
