Restore or "Restify?"

[CAL]

You know? I've seen similar threads like this in the past, and it always seems like it's the Mopar guys that come flying out of the woodwork. This is not a slam, just an observation...and a question. I wonder why? Is it because Mopars are generally more expensive to restore (or do anything with for that matter). Is it because the cars talked about are usually the most sought after (Cudas, Challengers, and Hemi anythings)? Just curious.

Yeah, they are always, sometimes a lot more money and generally have more significant problems.

I am sure and MOPARs worth anything have already been snapped up and all you find that seems like good deal anymore are fakes and frauds.

Edited March 16, 2010 by CAL

[dwc43]

i just don't see the same thing when it comes to Ford or GM enthusiasts. unless we are talking about Corvette's and then that's borderline, even crossing over into insanity.

a good example here again would be any one of the cars that Sox and Martin ran as racecars. it may have been a desireable car "stock" but it's higher value comes from it's association with the team and what they did with it and it's history. even say Dick Landy's daily driven and modified Challenger is worth more as it was when he owned it then it would be restored back to factory stock or stock specs.

Dave

Might be because chevy and ford made a 100,000 plus of ea. model and Mopar's 25,000 of ea. Made up number to get my point across.

And you can't use those as comparisons to a restored antique either. Those cars were either given to them from Mopar through sponsorship or sold cheap to them as BODIES in White. I have the address and number where I can buy bodies in white today. It's nothing but a body with mounts for stock suspension and nothing else. And you have to go to Mi. with a flat bed to pick it up when it's ready. When it comes to those cars, there is nothing to restore. There's not even a vin on those cars.

You can still argue the fact they are worth more restored as a race car. Soxs car would be worth more restored as his car than it would be if it was restored as my car if I once owned it and raced it.

[Blake Rogers]

your right there dwc43 same idea with the new challenger. i look at this way if and when i get my dream MOPAR she will be a resto/clone. at lest she will be on the road but if she is a matching numbers car i will take my time building her

[Junkman]

Let them peoples do with their cars whatever they want. The cars are out there. If you think what you want to do is right, go get the car and do it.

Edited March 17, 2010 by Junkman

[dwc43]

AMC built a little over 1500 SC/Ramblers in '69, Plymouth built over 80,000 Roadrunners the same year. how about '69 ZL-1 Camaro's? just 69 of them produced, that's it. '68 Ford Mustang 428 Cobra Jet Super Stocks? just 50 built by Ford. back to AMC for '70 they produced only 2300 Rebel Machines and 4100 AMX's, Dodge sold 9500 Charger R/T's and nearly 20,000 Challenger R/T's!

These cars should be restored too, but how many exist due to racing and crashes? Few if any. That's the whole point behind needing to restore this classics, not thrash them into rust piles and modding them till they are no longer what they were and pretty much worthless.

[notfastenuff]

After all... there are only so many old cars still left, and they ain't makin' any more of 'em!

Not to sound like a smart a@@, but actually, they are. Here's one example. I own 4 classic/antique cars and one truck. I have mixed feelings on this topic. If it's a rare car, (Hemi, COPO, odd options, low prod. numbers) then by all means restore it. My '69 Camaro hardtop is the opposite side of that statement. It is a base model, no option, non-numbers matching car. It's getting the full protouring treatment. My wife's '69 Camaro 'vert is the opposite. It's an all original survivor that I'll upgrade with original parts, but it's not getting modernized. Nothing that I do to it cannot be put back to stock.

At the end of the day, there's no right or wrong answer. It comes down to each owner. It's a shame to see a nice, original car hacked to pieces (tubbed cars/pro street cars come to mind). The saddest thing is what Barrett Jackson has done to the collector car hobby. Go try to buy a rusted out shell. Good luck.

[Harry P.]

Not to sound like a smart a@@, but actually, they are. Here's one example.

I know about modern repro bodies. I know that you can buy an entire brand new "1957" Chevy. That's not the same as an original car. Anybody can make new repro parts, new sheetmetal, etc., that looks like the original. I'm talking about THE originals, not copies of them.

[Tommy Kortman]

...The saddest thing is what Barrett Jackson has done to the collector car hobby. Go try to buy a rusted out shell. Good luck.

I whole hartedly agree. The BJ auction has helped put the car hobby way outside the avg Joe's wallet.

[James Flowers]

A restored car is just a copy of an original. They will never be the same as an original car. A restifyed {if that's a word }car can be way more fun than any original car. The new after market bodies out there today just show how hard it is to find a good body to do either one with. Do what you can afford to do and have fun.

[Ryan Quantz]

Let me first say I'm no Barrett-Jackson fan, their auction is appropriately held in a side-show tent because it's a circus.

But to suggest that somehow it's the "fault" of the venue that people pay what they do is utter nonsense. First, it's an auction. There's no set price. The price stops going up when there's nobody left willing to raise it to take the car. If the bidders didn't want to pay the money...they don't bid. The reality is that the market for old cars is what it is. Don't blame the seller for getting what the market will bear, because if it were your car to sell you'd do the same.

The market has gone up because the same people that had the cars years ago...trashed and abused them...now want that part of their childhood back badly enough to pay thousands of times what they sold off the used-up remnants of those same cars for decades earlier. The cycle moves forward and the objects change, but the desire to have stuff back doesn't. Who would have thought that people would pay big bucks for a '77 Trans Am not that long ago? Now they're as expensive as a lot of other traditionally coveted muscle cars. That's not the grand design of some auction house...that's the buyers collectively saying "I want it" and opening up their wallets.

Exactly. Whoever has the title decides. It's their car.

People were making very general "Mopar people do _____" comments when it comes to their response to these types of threads based on, well, nothing. So I'm going to make another general comment that IS based on what happens in these threads every time, and can be proven in this one as well. Just because people are enthusiasts of certain cars, they feel they have the right to tell others that have the cars they like what they should do with them. People that don't own a car have no more right to expect the owner of the car to care what they would do with it than they should expect that person to agree with their taste in music, clothing, food, or anything else.

Everyone has an opinion on what should be done to a car. Personally, I prefer factory stock...put my money where my mouth is...and have an MCA Gold class 1970 Mach 1. You may not care for the car, the style it's presented, or anything else. To which you're free to go buy your own car and do whatever you want with it.

NICELY put, my friend.

Seriously though, in the end we cannot take ANY of this ###### with us. So enjoy what you have while you have it, and do it however you want- Because it's yours. The nay-sayers and boo-hooers are all probably just jealous anyways..