It was recently brought to my attention that the term “survivor” is thrown around a lot these days, almost like the term “patina” is. To the seller’s credit, the car is never referred to as a survivor. Why say it is sort of a survivor? From the pictures, it looks like about half of it is. The seller is the second owner and this is a complete car still wearing its California blue plates and with only 48,000 actual miles. However, the passenger side has been painted in primer and it sounds like there may be some body work underneath that. Coupled with collision damage to the tail panel, this car sits right around halfway between project and survivor. Find it here on eBay in California with bidding at $20,000 and reserve not met.
The interior seems to be complete and certainly reflects very little use, which supports the 48,000 mile claim. Since someone has already started on prepping the exterior for paint, perhaps a good direction to go would be to clean up the interior thoroughly and paint the car in its original color after repairing and prepping the body. It still won’t be a survivor, but to have a desirable car like this with a nice, original interior is still something to be proud of! The only defect is a small tear in the driver’s seat.
The engine is the original 383 Chrysler big block with its original 4-barrel carburetor. Numbers-matching drivetrain is everything in the world of restored Mopars, and with necessary cosmetic restoration taken care of the seller is not wrong to say that “With all the original components intact, and documentation, this will be a high-dollar car upon completion of restoration.” A full restoration may not be necessary, but a cosmetic restoration would go a long way on a car like this.
Shown here is the damage to the tail panel and quarter panel. With no apparent rust, as most of these cars eventually succumbed to, it’s really a shame that this car has been damaged on an original quarter. The seller has two original build sheets, an original registration card, and a California pollution compliance certificate. The trailer hitch is a cool addition, and a remnant from a time when this was simply an old car. Though the damage will necessitate body repairs and a repaint, there would still be enough original parts on this car to make it a collectible and valuable vehicle once restored.
Can anyone tell us just exactly what the definition of “survivor” is, as it pertains to old cars?
I consider “survivor” to mean all original. Paint, interior and drive train.
Agreed BUT I would allow for things like a dealer engine/trans swap that was done under warranty when the car was only a couple years old. if you banged up one or 2 panels and had them repaired when the car was quite new…..these are things that happen.
A full repaint is not a survivor. a new interior is not a survivor.
In my opinion, it can be in terrible condition but never repainted, original drive train, original interior and be a survivor…..it just is not nice much like most of this car and still be considered a survivor because it is original and Unrestored.
I have a 64 Olds 98 that my dad bought in 65 the year before I was born. 58K miles, original drive train, original interior and original paint. LF fender was obviously fixed and repainted at one time. Windshield was broken and replaced. I still consider this car a survivor.
My definition of survivor would be a car with its original drive train, original paint, original interior that looks like a good “used car” something that you would be proud to take to the local “cars and coffee” with just regular maintenance and a wash and wax anything else is a project car or a restored car… Patina is just a fad started by people who could not afford to get their car re-painted….
Survivor and “looks like a good used car – something to be proud to take to …” sorry I disagree.
Survivor is a check list of original and unrestored for the most part. Does not have to be pretty.
Respect the truth of the saying “it is only original once”. Original and flawed often brings more money and interest than restored these days because…it is only original once. Patina is a word used to explain this condition, not an excuse for being poor.
Lately I guess it means still on all four tires.
A survivor is an unmolested, unrestored older car, basically what Anthony and William have said above. The reason I call this sort of a survivor is because it is unrestored and mostly original, but you’ll notice it’s listed under “Projects” instead of “Survivors” because it has had some work started on it, and will need more work to be nice! Project as it may be, it’s still a nice, low-mileage example with lots of original parts.
Sorry, don’t agree with you. read my comment to Anthony above.
Ask Wayne from Chasing Classic Cars….pretty sure he would disagree with you too.
Additionally, restoring certain cars when you COULD have left them alone my bring LESS money. Check out some of the Shelbys and really old cars that there are only a few that have been found.
Also I will add in what is sometimes called a “sympathetic restoration” which is basically a survivor, with a bunch of great detailing. MAYBE a little repair work on say on the driver seat that was worn out but the rest of the interior is original and great. Or a piece of trim that is damaged and needs replacing. Newer safer tires. basically things fixed to make the car safe and really nice without “full restoration”.
Hmmm…”un-molested”. There’s another term that seems to be ambiguous. My definition of molested is when people just can’t resist the temptation to slap a Nardi steering wheel on any BMW, or replace the seats with Recaros, or, God forbid, put Panasport wheels on just about any European car you can think of.
Generally speaking, I like to respect the careful design choices that went in to the original designs of most any car, and I rarely see molestations that improve on the original design. Like those little cabbage-patch dolls apparently playing hide-and-seek you see at car shows…who cares?
Low mile, tow vehicle. Check out the hitch.
My favorite year for this body,as I really love the
wrap around grill/bumper on a 70.I Think 70 is probably the
hardest year to find stuff for,because they built less that year.
Very nice original shape,and I would try to keep it that way,
other than a really nice repaint,and extreme detail job,
fixing/replacing only whats needed to drive=sparingly.
Its funny how nice old cars, are often a shade of nature
such as blah tan,…or grandma green.If this was red or
blue or yellow,…or black…….
.it would be like most,and be a semi-destroyed mess…!LOL..,
Really nice find for those with some wealth,but mostly time.
i wonder which clone it will become?
Looks to have rare Red plates.
Who puts a hitch on a Charger?! More important, what the heck do you haul?
I can’t see going slow enough to haul anything
“Who puts a hitch on a Charger?! More important, what the heck do you haul?
I can’t see going slow enough to haul anything”
My old man – that’s who. He had built a tent camper and use the axles from a Ford Falcon. (Bonus points if you know the issue with those. lol)
Our family car was a Dodge Charger – and we used that to pull the camper. Honest to God’s truth – we were headed out on a trip and my mom started out driving. The old man loved to get on the road around 3 or 4 AM. Since my mom was a nurse who worked 11-7, she was more in-tune with driving that early.
Anyway, we were “zipping” along and she must have hit a bump in the road…enough to wake up the old man. He woke up, glanced over at the speedometer and to this day, I still remember the words he uttered:
“Goddammit Phyllis – you’re doing 90 – slow down!”
Yeah – that trailer pulled very, very well. Honest to God’s truth.
Thats hilarious!
Towed a boat behind mine.
Had one exactly like this one. I think I mentioned it before but, long story short, I loved it. Pass anything but a gas station and was the biggest collection of bad automotive design issues on 4 wheels.
I have a good friend with a show stopping 65 Hemi Dodge and he built a station wagon identical in color, wheels everything to match it….put a hitch on it to pull the 2 door on a trailer to match as well. Pretty freakin cool.
I once saw like a 63 Galaxy 2 door with the 427 tear drop hood on a trailer being pulled with an identical wagon…..again, pretty freakin cool. Hard to stop staring at it.
Also…..have you ever looked at collateral material from dealerships back in the day when they show the Charger pulling the “camper of the day” through a wooded or coastline scene. why is it so hard to understand?
Funny you guys never heard of a tow package….mopars had there’s in a brochure…only thing out of place is the electronic ignition….other wise…looks pretty good under the hood !
“Who puts a hitch on a Charger?! More important, what the heck do you haul?
I can’t see going slow enough to haul anything”
My old man – that’s who. He had built a tent camper and use the axles from a Ford Falcon. (Bonus points if you know the issue with those. lol)
Our family car was a Dodge Charger – and we used that to pull the camper. Honest to God’s truth – we were headed out on a trip and my mom started out driving. The old man loved to get on the road around 3 or 4 AM. Since my mom was a nurse who worked 11-7, she was more in-tune with driving that early.
Anyway, we were “zipping” along and she must have hit a bump in the road…enough to wake up the old man. He woke up, glanced over at the speedometer and to this day, I still remember the words he uttered:
“Goddammit Phyllis – you’re doing 90 – slow down!”
Yeah – that trailer tracked very, very well.
I put a trailer hitch on my GTX convertible to pull my sailboat. It was a 16 foot aluminum boat that had all the flotation material below the deck saturated, so it weighed about 700 pounds. That car pulled that boat like it wasn’t even hooked to the hitch. I probably could do 90 mph and still not feel it.
Decent body but just remember any body part is similar in price to taking a non mopar part then times it between five and ten times the part amount. This is the welcome to the mopar family tradition :-0
It’s why it’s great to see non rusted projects but still high pricing .
A coworker of mine had one of these in the early 80s. The motor went bad and he junked it. Body was perfect. The only imperfection it had was the blue paint peeling from the sun as most of the Mopar’s of that timeframe did.