This 1969 Plymouth Sport Satellite was a great car – until it came into contact with a deer or a telephone pole. Only 818 of these convertibles were produced, and the numbers are even fewer with a 383 cubic inch V8 and 4-speed manual transmission combination. Fortunately, the damage seems to be limited mostly to the front clip sheet metal. So, if there is no structural damage, this could be a viable project. Located with a dealer in Granite City, Illinois, this needy drop-top is available here on eBay for $21,900 OBO. Many thanks to “Curvette” for this cool tip!
In 1969, the Sport Satellite was the swankiest mid-size Plymouth you could get – unless you opted for all-out performance with the GTX. The seller’s car was plenty potent before the accident, and the VIN decodes as a Sport Satellite with a 383. We have to assume this hardware is original, but no details are provided by the seller, so we have to guess. From the looks of things, the car may have once been partially restored, as most of the light blue paint looks great, and the interior is stout except for fading carpeting.
The odometer reads 88,000 miles, so that’s logical as the car has probably been a weekend driver in recent years. The whack in the front hasn’t prevented the Mopar from being drivable around the lot, but that’s about it. Good judgment and a salvage title would prevent anymore experimenting. The intake manifold and the area around it look a bit rusty, so did some coolant spew over there in the crunch?
Given the rarity of the car and the hopeful likelihood of no terminal issues caused by the accident, this ragtop strikes me as worth saving. Front sheet metal for these cars should be available, and a good body shop ought to be able to put Humpty Dumpty together again. What’s your take?
That Salvage Title should lower the price by a lot.
I don’t know about Ill. but here in Wi if the car is totaled and you keep it ,and collect the ins money it does not get a salvage title,,,I know this by experience,,not mine my daughter and another person that also happened to
Dude, your old man is going to kill ya’,,I never gloat in these situations, even though we all know what probably happened here. Front end damage is almost 99% the fault of the driver. It’s still a nice car, not sure why it wasn’t repaired, structural damage, perhaps? The doors have gaps, this took a hard hit. Someone found out what happened to all the ’69 RoadRunners,,:)
The deer was at fault, coming from the driver’s left. It was cited for failure to yield and its insurance went way up.
But Dad!!!!!
Anyone with a third grade education can tell the entire front structure has been shifted to the right a fair distance. This is going to need EVERYTHING forward of the firewall. 21k? Hard pass. Viable project? Not for most, at least nothing reasonable to an average person. This isn’t a “money car” when it’s finished, so you’d be upside down instantly.
It explains the salvage title. It usually means “not worth fixing. Junk project, good for parts”
No structural damage? I may have a bridge to sell you…
Would it be located in Brooklyn? And lordy, look at the welds that popped at L & RT at the firewall to-inner fender areas
Better check that frame
Unibody construction, but yeah, the damage appears to have affected a bit more than the outer sheet metal.
Hit a deer? More like a buffalo. That’s a lot of hard to find sheet metal that needs to be replaced there. That and a salvage title drop the value way below their asking price even if there is no structural damage.
I imagine the owner got the insurance settlement and sold it to this dealer and they seem to think they’ll make money off of it, flip it to someone who isn’t paying attention. The car is worth saving, it should be saved, but this is in no way worth what they’re asking.
Many body parts are reproduced, pretty good quality and made in the US. Unibody and needs to be done right, but is repairable.
Wish it didn’t have a salvage title, as mentioned above that kills its value and desirability to many.
IMHO, value wise without a Salvage title I could see $15k, with the Salvage title it’s about $5k – 7k.
My take is, if it really is an easy fix, the seller would fix it.
I’ll be darn – there’s financing available thru eBay.
Do they get to charge interest between now and when it gets back on the road?
This is going to be a big project to fix that unibody of its bent. But I have say this is a very interesting car. It had to be a special order by someone who didn’t want a Roadrunner of GTX. Maybe for insurance reasons? When I was 17 I bought a ’71 Plymouth Duster with a 340 and a 4speed. I thought I was in for a big increase on insurance, but to my surprise it went down. Insurance guy said Duster and Valiant were the same and I got a discount for a compact car. If I had bought a Barracuda instead it may have doubled.
I think I saw this car in Tommy Boy
That was my first thought too.
It was a 67′ Plymouth GTX in Tommy Boy.
Reminds me of back in my late teens/ 20s about 50 years ago I really had a problem hitting those migrating poles/ trees. They were always migrating from one side of the road to the other.
Only Graveyard Cars could do justice to this…
Tipped upside down before you ever get started
Absolutely fixable. I took a 68 Impala sport coupe with a 396 and a four speed back to new that was in similar condition. Needed a whole new front clip, but it was all out there. Thing was beautiful when I finished with it.
Steve, big difference between this (and uni body car) and your Chevy. (Body on frame car) But, a frame shop inspection and maybe even a “pull or two would tell the tale for sure.
This needs a lot more than a clip.
A frame shop could easily measure and yank that unibody back in place. But salvage branded title and price ins not worth it. If it was for sale for about a grand then I sure would think about it. I know a few people who bought there own totaled car car back from the insurance company and it was usually less then a thousand bucks
No.2100.00$,,,mebee. Leave it to a dealer to ask insane money for this.let them try to fix it and then sell it.im just not into shoveling real dollars into a burn barrel.
Russ, I don’t believe that is coolant rust on the intake manifold. Notice none on the valve covers or upper radiator hose. I believe that to be an orange painted intake manifold.
Ad in the possibility of rust. (This is an Illinois car) That fame jig time may be a lost cause.
This being a convertible makes it very repairable because it is not a unibody car. 69 convertibles were a full frame car. I know this for a fact because I own both a 69 Roadrunner and a 69 Sport Fury convertibles. This car is very fixable
ALL Mopar B bodies are unibody cars, difference is the convertibles had extra reinforcing in places to prevent body twisting, basically the same as the hemi and six pack bodies. No full frames were ever used under these cars.
anybody notice that all this guy seems sell are totaled out or heavily wrecked cars. they are pushing a Camaro on eBay right now. salvage title no way. this is a great parts car but not at the price they want. i am sure that Worman can fix it for a lot of bun son burners as he would say
Pile of junk now. Very few skilled body guys left working today. That cowl is hurt bad. I do not care how rare it is, to fix this is financially stupid.
Thats right they are all just parts hangers now,,doesn’t take alot of skioll to do that.
Really sad to see such a previously beautiful looking Satellite in this condition. Had a 69′ Satellite 4dr sedan back in the 80’s that was my daily driver for several years. Just loved that car and still miss it to this day. I’m not saying it would be impossible to repair, but with that title and the amount of damage it’s showing you’d be wayyy upside down by the time you were done. And his asking price is many thousand$ off the mark.
A body man’s special at a rich man’s price.
It’s a clone so the 4sp is in question on the rarity – although 818 is the Sport Satilite numbers for 1969 in the convert line – of note – the Road Runners came in a convertible in 1969 so cheaper ones were to be found….good luck with that price…..think it’s been for sale before….
You can see a buckle in the passenger upper apron. The way to fix this car is a front clip. If in my shop with the parts it woukd be very eay repair that when completed would not show at all. However its priced about 10k too high as mentioned. On a car like this with a salvage title repaired and standing tall woukd be hard pressed to bring 35
I had a yellow on black convertible 69 Sat with 318. Lost it to a telephone pole after lending car to my brother for a week. Had a 72 Coronet and a 72 BMW 750 bike too so i was shamed into the lend.
Crash pushed Rad into motor. Should have kept it under tarp until the wherewithal to fix.
Did not know rarity!
Listing ended with no buyer.
Why am I seeing this now? 10 days after the fact?
Wife had one of these, she got wreaked out on the Narrows bridge.
Idiot forgot he was pulling a trailer.
She was lucky she didn’t end up in the Puget Sound.
The trauma of that has stuck with her for close to 50 years.
Easy pull on the front end, left apron, both fenders, hood, bumper, misc parts, labor $7000.00ish. Value approx $20,000.00. Cost of the car needs to be at $12,000.00 to be viable. My buddy had one and I liked it better than my RoadRunner.