Although it shares many of the same components with a Road Runner, you won’t find Road Runner badges on a 1970 Plymouth GTX. While the Road Runner was Plymouth’s mousetrap to catch young muscle car enthusiasts who wanted to go fast on a budget, Plymouth marketed its GTX as a more upscale B-Body that came standard with some of the equipment that was optional on the Road Runner, and the GTX offered a few additional luxurious goodies as well. So if you had some extra bucks and wanted to go fast in style, the GTX was a great choice. If you’ve been thinking about buying one of these cars to take on as a project, this 1970 Plymouth GTX would certainly be worth taking a look at. Located in Millsap, Texas, it can be seen here on eBay with a current bid of $12,500. There’s no reserve so the high bidder will be the new owner. As always, Barn Finds wishes to thank reader Larry D. for another great tip on this one.
Although it still wears its original Burnt Orange paint, the patina is looking pretty worn and this GTX could sure benefit from some love. But the good news is that the original paint is just that, original, and at least there’s not a fresh coat of paint on the body to cover up some future surprises. Both of the quarter panels are showing rust, and while it looks like the car would benefit from replacement quarters, a skilled and patient body man might be able to adequately patch them. The rear window has some rust areas in the corners as well.
The interior is said to have originally been Burnt Orange as well, but you’d never know it as the majority of the inside has been removed, and what’s left of the dash is going to need a lot of attention. Fortunately, the carpet is also MIA and most of the floor pans are looking solid, except for an area under the pedals which is going to need to be repaired. The interior originally came with a split bench seat and a fold-down armrest. Other equipment included a factory tach, side and hood stripes, power steering, and power brakes.
The seller included 3 photos from underneath the car, and while there is some surface rust showing overall the undercarriage is looking pretty solid, with no obvious serious corrosion issues that would immediately cause a major concern. The trunk floor has been removed and a new one installed, but it still needs to be finished up, as do the rear wheel well areas.
Gone is the original 440 cubic inch V8, and under the hood now is a 1967 date code 440. The seller says the engine fires right up and idles great, and that the car will move around his yard. While it obviously needs a lot of work, at least this one doesn’t seem to be hiding much and might be able to be turned into a decent driver without investing your whole life savings. What are your thoughts on this 1970 Plymouth GTX?
I enjoy this site to read what the pros identify what has to be done and figure what the costs would be to get the Branfind cars in the condition of similar restored cars. I have found restored 70 GTX’s like this one for sale between $15K and $40K. After having just gone through a painful, EXPENSIVE body shop experience I am thinking this car will need at least $12K in body and paint, if the owner is lucky. And I am thinking these interiors could be costly and hard to come by.
These are the two areas that set me back the most in my projects so I am interested in the members input.
Restoring a car today, especially as extensive a restoration as this will need,, to make it “auction worthy”, has to be the dumbest thing. Since everything today has to be “nut and bolt”, heaven forbid you have non-original lock washers, you’d be a fool to do that. With prices changing almost hourly ( price a McDonalds cheeseburger lately?) or the shop closing entirely, leaving you stranded, just go to St. Louis Mecum auction, and just buy one someone already lost their shirt on, they claim for the “fun” of doing it,,and be driving your “new” 1970 GTX that very afternoon. I feel, this segment of the classic car hobby, restoration, will lose all steam altogether, only because it relies on too many people to make it happen, people that all want to be rich, and if you have enough to sink into a rust bucket like this, and all the heartaches it involves, you certainly must have enough to just buy one already done.
I am totally in agreement w/ Howard on this one! Someone really wanting a GTX will be pulled into thinking they can “save money” only to go underwater and ending spending much more! Even if you’re handy and do most of the work yourself as a labor of love, and not a “nut & bolt” type, (IMO) you’d still be better off just buying the best one you can afford. :-)
On the other hand, some broke Joe-dirt type of guy (like me lol) might be able to scrape up the purchase price and that is it for now. That $12,500 won’t buy the car from Mecum. We all know that.
A year later he has enough money for an interior kit & a Maaco paint job. 2 years later he has enough to fix the mechanical demons enough so it is safe & reliable to drive. In the mean time the auction cars keep getting more & more expensive. That is the guy that will buy this.
Can’t see this car being a deal, no interior and body is fair. These square B body cars rust and this one is getting along. Wrong engine and most likely tranny isn’t original to the car. Throw a bunch of cash at it and it can look good, but won’t be worth what you put into it.
How about the 70 Mustang sitting on the trailer in the back round, Even the Christine looking Plymouth.
This car did NOT come with a split bench seat. It came with a bench seat, period. The seat backs are split and fold up to allow access to the rear seat. That is NOT a split bench seat. A split bench seat would be split on the bottom. These new youngsters selling cars!!!!! Geez, get it right. OR, show me the factory literature listing a split bench seat for this model car.
The factory literature – specifically the color-and-trim book – is here https://www.hamtramck-historical.com/dealerships/1970ColorAndTrimPlymouth-04.shtml
No split bench as such was offered but the choices were a split-back bench with pulldown center armrest or buckets with the same type of armrest and a sort of bridge cushion fixed to the tunnel that gave the buckets split-bench functionality. Either could be had in burnt orange.
It also shows that was initially a no-cost option but at some point the buckets gained an upcharge, possibly due to sales and parts orders, judging by the handwritten note.
Plenty of good comments here. As a 66 year old who owned a 70 RR FE5 in 1973, I can honestly tell you these cars rotted within 4 years. My RR had blistering front fenders in 1974. I live in northeastern PA, where the idiots throw down a gauntlet of salt at the slightest hint of sleet, snow or ice for all the morons, who can never learn to drive in bad weather, even in their new $100,000 SUVs. I bought a 50 year old Corvette six years ago, with a very good frame and body. To date, the mechanical work has cost me $10,000, and that’s doing a good share myself. Old cars are bottomless pits and this now 52 year old is nothing different. The comment to buy the best you can at auction or on Bring A Trailer is the most logical thing. Buying someone else’s headache like this is insane. Yeah, you saved money buying the thing, but the bottom line is you will be under water like the Titantic. I have worked in body shops for 40 plus years. Most shops wouldn’t touch a job like this. At today’s labor rates, you will be in debt if you cannot do the job yourself. And for those of you that think AMD is the answer to your sheet metal concerns, you are seriously mistaken. That garbage doesn’t fit. A close friend, a police chief, was restoring a 70 Charger with AMD metal. The front fenders were a nightmare. Poor fit, cheap made junk. He spent thousands just getting them to fit. The roof panel just as bad. NOS is the only way to go and even then they need work. The comment here about $12,000 in body work alone is really close. I have seen cars leaving shops with a $75,000 bill and the car is far from “nut and bolt” show winners. There are great shops out there that do incredible work, like Mike Mancini in Rhode Island, Scott Tiemann in Michigan and Level One in Colorado.There are many others, I don’t want to offend them, but can’t list them all. But they don’t come cheap. You want the best, you’re gonna pay, but in the long run it is worth it, if you can afford it. I am a retired Hemmings Motor News editor and I saw closeup many perfect restorations and some not so good ones. I agree the restoration craze will halt soon. Decent cars are getting hard to find, the people wanting 50 year old plus cars is not what it was and each day, we are getting older. Today’s kids don’t want this old junk. They want Hondas, Audis and VWS. That’s the cycle of life. I don’t get it, but they don’t get me driving a 50 year old Corvette. I could care less. Good luck to whoever gets this GTX.
There is hope…my 26 year old son who I have referred to here before as being a Honda head, with the coffee can exhausts & so on, took a picture of a car he saw that he really liked. He showed me the picture & asked what I thought. I was so proud! It was a ’66 Electra coupe!
He is coming around!
My 21 year old LOVES my ’79 Cougar too.
Sure, these aren’t the ’41 Lincoln I lost, or the ’53 Packard I want, but they are way better than the clapped out 19 year old Civics they used to drool at.
Even if this car were free, you would still end up investing money well past it’s worth. Couple that with all the nerve wracking people, parts and services related to a restoration and you will be sorry you ever got started. I have a 440, 4 speed ’70 GTX that I have owned for over 30 years. It was fun to drive around and do some 1/4 mile blasts with for quite a while. Then I decided it needed a restoration. It’s now 10 years and $50,000 later and it’s still about $20,000 and a couple hundred hours of labor from being done. So when it is done, I’ll have around $70 – 75,000 into a car that will bring $60,000 on it’s best day. Keep in mind I am a highly skilled sheet metal / body work tech to boot. Bottom line is, if this car hadn’t been part of my family for so long I would never have started the resto. When it’s done I won’t even be able to enjoy the good high HP blasts anymore without fear of damaging something. As for the “split” bench seat, I’m pretty sure nothing like that ever existed, especially with a column shifted automatic. I’ve seen hundreds of these cars over the years and have noticed 4 basic seat configurations: Buckets with console – either 4 speed or floor shifted automatic. Buckets with the “Buddy Seat” fold down center arm rest – 4 speed or automatic with no console. Straight Bench – 4 speed or automatic with no console. Bench with center fold down armrest – 4 speed or automatic with no console.
I remember this car well from the 1970s. You are right–it needs a lot of work!
I think the 68 and 69s were prettier. Agree with everyone here, only do this if you have an emotional attachment and money is not a concern. Only a fooll would try to restore this for profit. Also agree, those of us with an emotional attachment are all going to be dead soon, only the crazy perfect trailer queens will have any value at all, but there is going to be a shrinking market for them as well. The car culture itself is dying, and how much longer will you even be able to buy petrol? Before you know it, transportation will either be communal, or robot driven. No one is going to understand any of this.
I’ve never understood the desire for a full on restoration. Why spend the time and BIG money to restore as if new? And then not even be able drive the —— thing for fear of damage?
Better to find a runner that you can clean and tune up. Then go drive the wheels off it! Yes. Fun!
Granted it can be a challenge to find a decent runner but …. Whose not up for an affordable challenge? Such a vehicle can be up graded as you use it.
As other poster mentioned, 10 years in and still forking over cash on a resto with more time to wait??