WIW....the dreaded question.. 71 SSP

[1carcrazyguy]

I am currently in the process of making the dreaded decision to downsize. One of the cars I have, is a 71 Satellite Sebring Plus that is EV2 , with white interior (black dash and carpet), with a full white vinyl top. The car is a 383-2, buckets and console shift, A/C, and rallye gauges. The car was sold new locally and was last tagged in 1981 and has about 43k miles on it. It has most all the chalk marks and inspection marks still in place and visible. The trunk floor looks new with factory shiny paint but does have rust through on the lower rear quarters, a dime size hole in the rear passengers floor pan and a small pin hole in the rear wheel house (drivers side). I also have part of the original window sticker. I bought the car in about 2006(ish) and the car has been stored inside since. It is wearing most of its original paint. It appears someone did repaint the back half of the drivers rear quarter and about 1/3 the trunk lid. However looking in the trunk it does not appear that any of the inner structure has ever been messed with.

[1carcrazyguy]

Well I thought the pic was attached.....

[1carcrazyguy]

Pic test/attempt 1

[1carcrazyguy]

Pic 2

[1carcrazyguy]

Pic 3

[1carcrazyguy]

Floor pan...

[1carcrazyguy]

Trunk floor.....black is just the tar from the trunk mat...

[1carcrazyguy]

Engine compartment....

[1carcrazyguy]

The not very nice part....

[1carcrazyguy]

Drivers side...the worst part of the car.....

[1carcrazyguy]

I guess a little backstory... this is from my resto thread (70 Duster and 71 Charger) on forabodiesonly. If you have seen it (been going on since October 2009)..

Anyway....here is the post I made today..

Heard back from the 2 shops that looked over the Barracuda (and Satellite). After talking with them yesterday and again today. I have decided that I am going to work on selling off all my projects. I am to the point that I needed to buy land and a building to store to my cars and parts. So for the last few months my wife and I have been looking into that option. We found some properties that would have fit what we wanted. Before we made a land/shop purchase, I decided to check into some more resto hot rod shops to work on my two projects that I had been putting off (Barracuda and Satellite). When I bought the Barracuda I planned to do it first (resto mod). Then the Satellite (full factory correct because it is so original and has a long history coming from same dealership my parents 71 Satellite came from). Well when the time came to build a car (the Duster) was the best option to fit the budget we had at the time. I wanted the Barracuda done but knew the first shop was not the quality I wanted for the Cuda so I sent the Duster. Well we know how that has gone from the length of this thread. Anyway. The 2 shops that came out to look at the Barracuda and Satellite, both do not want to a "full factory correct resto" so that rules out the Satellite. So the quotes on the Barracuda range from a driver quality 30k (labor only) plus parts to 70-100k for "done right" (plus parts). So going off what I have bought for the Charger....I would have about 30k minimum in parts. That would put the resto at somewhere between 60-130k for the Barracuda. The Satellite, both shops said they were not interested in doing the "correct chalk mark, correct plating, OE type resto". It is not that they would not do it they just knew the price was going to be probably more than any reasonable person would tackle.

With all that in mind....I have decided that I am going to work on selling off all my projects, and not purchase the extra land and shop. When I look at all the costs involved....it made no sense.

Land/shop - 60k min
insurance - 1500 year
1 resto - 50k (low end of what I was priced but more than I was willing to spend)
insurance for the cars (likely 4 cars minimum Dart-Duster-Charger and the 1 resto) - 1500 year

I love cars, I enjoy the hobby and will always have a Mopar or two...but time to downsize..



Just to clarify..no the Charger and Dart are not going anywhere! Those are the "done" cars.

[bruce]

Wow that's a nice car! GREAT color combo. Wish my Road Runner had been that clean when we started. Also wish my wife was bigger into '71s since that one would be perfect for her--automatic and AC... Afraid I don't have an idea what it's worth though.

Finally, restoration prices are insane! It's a wonder any cars are getting done at all...

[1carcrazyguy]

Thanks Bruce. I hope that I can find someone that really likes 71's that will make a good home for the car. I plan to go up to Amarillo in a couple of weeks and get the car out of my dads shop. I will get it cleaned up, put the hubcaps back on, clean the tar (from the trunk mat) off the trunk floor, and get some better pictures of the car. Then I will list the car here first. Then either the b-body site and if still available at the time I will haul it to the Pate Swap Meet in April. I just need to figure out/decide what price to start at.

[Limecuda]

Looks nice. Wish I could snag it. I'm in the middle of the Barracuda though. I'd prefer the bbody over my 71 e.

[71_bronze_gtx]

These cars are very hard to price since the market is small and not many change hands often. I know of a no-rust survivor car with a beat-up interior that went for $12k in 2010. I thought that was way more than it was worth, and didn't buy it. Someone did, so maybe I was wrong. It was a 383 2 BBL originally, A727, with A/C. Gold leaf paint, white interior, green vinyl top that someone whitewashed.

As a side note, you could do the site and current/future 71 owners a big favor by taking a boat load of under-hood photos with lots of closeups to help preserve the knowledge of how an original car looked. It would obviously be a huge help with restorations.

-Mark