New guy

[Tom]

Not new to Mopar, but after 25+ 3rd gen Chargers over the years....I finally bought a Plymouth. A 72 Sebring Plus that was recently on eBay. A 318 car, so I plan to take some liberties with it.

Looking forward to learning a bit about these cars. Yesterday was my first learning experience....when I realized that unlike Chargers....that the repro rear valance with tip cut-outs I planned to order was a 71 only item. Was the 72 valance also one year, but not reproduced?

Already bit the bullet and ordered repro 72 tail light lenses.

Anyway, great to be here and hope to learn some.

[Tom]

[ILUV72RRs]

Unfortunately the rear exhaust valance for a '72 Plymouth is not being reproduced. Hence why they usually ask big bucks for one when you run across them.

[Eric]

Welcome to the Nest!

[71Beeper]

Nice cars you have there Tom. Welcome to the nest

[GTXS]

Hey Tom I see you made it here. Welcome! You will learn a lot here. The bodies is the only difference. I sent you a PM on the 71-74 charger board. I have the pan your searching for. Send me a PM. Enjoy your stay here.

[71bird]

When you get your tail light lens compare them to orig and let us know how good they are. Most repos are not dark enough and let too much light through. Welcome.

[Tom]

I bought the repro tail light lenses from PGClassic. I really don't like buying from them since they have never answered any of my questions...as well as the made in China aspect. However, they make a lot of stuff that is not available from other sources. As luck would have it, a pretty nice used pair showed up on eBay tonight with a buy it now, so I grabbed them too for good measure. I have a tendency to be disappointed by reproduction parts, so I figured I would nab the used ones too. Not really thrilled that I now have $600 tied up in tail light lenses....but nobody said this hobby is cheap.

[gary]

Welcome to the nest! If the E-bay lenses are good maybe you could return the Chinese Junk.I have a '71 and all the Repro side marker lenses I have seen are upside down.I hunted down used ones and polished them out.Not all Repro stuff is exact i am learning.But at least we have choices,which is a good thing for unobtainium. Gary '71 GTX

[Tom]

I will likely keep the repro lenses regardless of quality. I don't feel like returning them to Canada...and maybe getting a refund of the purchase price. PG has never answered a single question that I have asked them via eBay, so my trust in them to issue a proper refund is not especially high.

With that said, what I have ordered from them in the past has been of reasonably decent quality.

[Eric]

PG and B/E&A parts all come from the same place, the only difference is B/E&A parts are licensed and have the correct part number (last I checked, the PG parts did not). I've seen the B/E&A 72 lenses, and they are amazing. I personally prefer to buy from Mike
http://www.beaparts.com/

[Tom]

That is certainly is good news about the B/E&EA lenses being nice. I am aware of the PG/BEA relationship. I think that I will start ordering from Mike at B/E&A. In the past I have tended to buy from PG via eBay.

I don't plan to tear into this car anytime real soon. I still have a few things to complete on my Charger. However, I would like to drive it a bit in the meantime. I need to put the front bumper on and get the tail lights squared away first. What is funny is that the car came with a newly re-chromed front bumper. It would seem silly to put it on the car prior to body and paint work. So, I am currently looking for a "driver quality" front bumper to temporarily put on the car.

The steering box also needs to be replaced due to way too much internal play. I am going to put a later reman box on it with the appropriate pittman arm. I'd really like to go with a firm feel stage 3 box....but don't know if I want to pay the price right now. I already have the reman box and arm....so doing it that way involves no additional expense.

[71ChallengerSE]

Hey Tom I was watching that ebay auction for the Satellite because I wanted to see how much it would go for and I must say that you stole that car! Good luck and let us know how those tail light lenses are. I have 2 72s now and none of my lenses are perfect.

[Tom]

Actually, the car never made reserve on eBay, though it was listed twice. It maxed out at 3700 or so, reserve not met. Initially, the guy wanted 6k for it....which I thought was too much for a 318 car. I exchanged a few pleasant messages and one telephone conversation with the seller over the course of the 2 weeks it was on auction. At one point, I offered him 3.5k which he declined.

When it was all said in done.....he called me and offered it to me for 4k, which I still thought was a tad high. I really thought it was worth 3.5k max, but I was not going to lose it over $500....especially on a car that was 45 minutes from where I live. The car had quite a bit of documented mechanical work done to it recently. New tires, new Holley carb, Valve job and timing chain, brakes and calipers, front end rebuilt....etc etc It also came with a freshly re-chromed front bumper that looks beautiful. The previous owner had owned the car for around 25 years. He really loved it and it was hard for him to sell. He had a stroke recently...had lost use of one of his arms, so working on cars was no longer feasible for him. As part of the deal, I promised to send him pics of the car when I am done. This was at his insistence. Since he lives only 45 miles away, I'll probably just go visit him in person.

I went ahead and looked at it in person...and made the buy. It is not quite as "rust free" as the ad indicated and it definitely has some filler in it here and there. There are a few small holes under the vinyl top around the rear glass. The drivers quarter is questionable, the drivers door has a good bit of rust bubbling on the lower area. The seller definitely could have done a better job of pointing out issues. With all that said, I am OK with the deal.

[gionni]

Welcome here and nice Sat...