In light of my recent discover

[73'BIRD]

Im wondering what I should do to my 73 roadrunner. It came with a 440/727 from the factory but the engine and trans are gone. Its a shell. Like in a previous post I discovered if the car was a 440 then it was automatically a GTX in 73. Should I put a 440/727 back in it along with all the GTX options with interior/exterior color correct or should I do a resto mod? What will be worth more?

[steved]

I've been watching values recently of "drive them anywhere" builds. Those sort of cars seem to be going up in price. There will always be call for a numbers matching car, but if you only have a shell, then a 5.7 or 6.1 swap that will start and drive just like a new car is definitely the way to go.

I started with a shell with my GTX, but a '67 HP block was included with the purchase so I kept it faithful, but added FAST fuel injection. it starts and runs and drives, but it's not really "daily driver". for that i'd do a 5.7 swap, probably into an early dart...

is doing a 5.7 swap more or less work than building your own engine, putting all new bushings in, finding a 727, attaching, driveshaft, rear end, etc? in my opinion, not really.

my shell, if you're curious: https://picasaweb.google.com/111609703238637837036/Gtx

6 years to get to this point. it's a brand new old car.

sjd

[moparite]

Question is is it wort more to you or somebody else? Are you building it to sell or keep? You don't have the original drive train so it's your choice at this point. I seen guy on another forum take 5.7 and make his own intake for it so he could put a carb on it. A little of both, Old and new.

[rr6pak]

Nice car Steved. It's something to go from one end of the spectrum, tearing a car apart (or if found it like that anyway), and to start to put it back together. Time consuming, frustrating, a lot of $$$, time, patience but I look at the vision I want and anticipate what my car will be in the end. All in all, I need to post pictures of everything on my car.

Good questions from moparite.

[71_bronze_gtx]

The 71-74 Plymouth B-bodies in general don't fall into the investment grade category because not all that many people want to own them - at least up to this point in time. That said, as another generality, unmodified, numbers matching cars hold the highest value. Next would be unmodified with "correct" drivetrain, meaning engine and trans from the same year, and preferrably a B-body. Technically it's now modifed, but it's correct.

I'm often surprised by high selling prices of some of the less popular cars that have been modifed-particularly the drivetrain.

If you're concerned about what you can get out of the car depending on how you build it, then presumably the real concern is whether you lose money, break even, or make money. Very difficult to predict. The more work you can do yourself, the better. If you have to hire it all out, you'll probably not be able to get your money back out of it.

My vote - put in the modern Hemi with a modern transmission.

[rr6pak]

If your intentions are to "flip" this car, then this is probably not the car to do.