Sad Pair of E Bodies
- Thread starter 340challconvert
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Rob C
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You should help him restore them then. Donate $100,000 to the cause!
Rich G.
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Very sad if there only going to sit there. I’ll take the Cuda
rbbruno3
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Are they local to you or Internet find?
budascuda
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They will be saved one way or another, with or without 100k...
340challconvert
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Internet find
Wish they were!
aussiemark
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The Cuda looks like it could be driven away and from what I can see of the Challenger it doesn't look too bad either.
What really grinds my gears over this:
You are a Big Time E-Body Enthusiast. You locate the owner(s) of both the Challenger and the Cuda. You make contact with him (or her) and find out he (or she) is older than dirt. You ask the patented question, "Do you want to sell?" 99 times out of a 100 they will return with the patented answer, "No!" Why? They are waiting for the value to go up. Of course, the rest of the story goes, they die and the kids have the "Old Rusted Cars" hauled off to the bone yard, not knowing the established value. Sad! So-so sad!
Traveling through CA, AZ, NM, CO and UT I have literally seen hundreds of street rods, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s rides that were very doable for restoration. It's just becomes the same old story, repeated time and time again. All rotting away...
You are a Big Time E-Body Enthusiast. You locate the owner(s) of both the Challenger and the Cuda. You make contact with him (or her) and find out he (or she) is older than dirt. You ask the patented question, "Do you want to sell?" 99 times out of a 100 they will return with the patented answer, "No!" Why? They are waiting for the value to go up. Of course, the rest of the story goes, they die and the kids have the "Old Rusted Cars" hauled off to the bone yard, not knowing the established value. Sad! So-so sad!
Traveling through CA, AZ, NM, CO and UT I have literally seen hundreds of street rods, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s rides that were very doable for restoration. It's just becomes the same old story, repeated time and time again. All rotting away...
budascuda
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But thats generally how it goes...
young folks can't be enthused by things they consider old and outdated, that's why young adults don't wear their parents' old clothes (as a rule)
when one generation dies off, the next generation does away with their past generations' belongings and hopefully their eccentricities and their ridgid opinions, thats called progress, and thank God for that!
Imagine if we had to contend with Ford's union busting goons and all his model Ts still on the roads to this day, frightening!
Having said that, i think, challengers and possibly the future cuda's are exempt.
young folks can't be enthused by things they consider old and outdated, that's why young adults don't wear their parents' old clothes (as a rule)
when one generation dies off, the next generation does away with their past generations' belongings and hopefully their eccentricities and their ridgid opinions, thats called progress, and thank God for that!
Imagine if we had to contend with Ford's union busting goons and all his model Ts still on the roads to this day, frightening!
Having said that, i think, challengers and possibly the future cuda's are exempt.
Last edited:
aussiemark
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When ever younger people see my cars they really like them and I am sure some of them will be future enthusiasts. Cars styling just got better with time up until the 70's then it took a turn for the worst, I work with some young guys and when they look at images of different cars they agree the cars from the 60's and 70's are the best looking so I think there is a future for the hobby once we pass away. It is sad to see fools allowing good cars to waste away but the upside is it just makes the survivors more rare and sort after.
340challconvert
Well-Known Member
The sequence of automobile "progress" and progression is interesting;
American cars were always stylish with the changes made every 3 years to update the look before a new model change.
You almost couldn't wait to see what Detroit would come out with in late summer of each year.
Think of how the design of the 70 Challenger was modernized to 21st century styling; the design of the original held it's own and is classic.
In the 1970's cars were designed for so called "safety" and emissions with the big, ugly bumpers and the power robbing/gas burning emissions equipment added to just make the cars more miserable (for car enthusiasts anyway) We all lusted after velour interiors and wanted to imitate the John Travolta "look". "Rock was Dead" and the gas shortages kind of put another nail in the coffin of car individuality.
Technology later advanced and at least restored power and better efficiency for our transportation. But MOST vehicles are now just transportation. It seems that the young generation is almost rejecting cars; which were kind of a lifestyle right of passage for my generation, especially for guys.
Today's cars are SUV station wagons that all look alike; little to distinguish them from each other. Boring and bland unless you are buying an updated muscle/performance type car.
They had to go back to some earlier designs for modern cars; and cars like the new Challenger and Mustang sold very well in a new 21st century environment.
That is saying a lot about how timeless the original design of the Challenger was. I see so many new design Challengers on the roadways today.
(I won't comment on the Camaro. I personally did not like what GM did with the update, and I owned a 69 396, 4 sp back in day)
Back in the 80's, people started calling my car a "dinosaur" (my 70 Challenger) by others. It's the reason why I nicknamed my car DINO and use the green dinosaur as my signature.
It pains me to see our classic cars sitting anywhere just rotting away by the "I'll restore it someday crowd". Let's save what we can!
Of course this is all; JMO
American cars were always stylish with the changes made every 3 years to update the look before a new model change.
You almost couldn't wait to see what Detroit would come out with in late summer of each year.
Think of how the design of the 70 Challenger was modernized to 21st century styling; the design of the original held it's own and is classic.
In the 1970's cars were designed for so called "safety" and emissions with the big, ugly bumpers and the power robbing/gas burning emissions equipment added to just make the cars more miserable (for car enthusiasts anyway) We all lusted after velour interiors and wanted to imitate the John Travolta "look". "Rock was Dead" and the gas shortages kind of put another nail in the coffin of car individuality.
Technology later advanced and at least restored power and better efficiency for our transportation. But MOST vehicles are now just transportation. It seems that the young generation is almost rejecting cars; which were kind of a lifestyle right of passage for my generation, especially for guys.
Today's cars are SUV station wagons that all look alike; little to distinguish them from each other. Boring and bland unless you are buying an updated muscle/performance type car.
They had to go back to some earlier designs for modern cars; and cars like the new Challenger and Mustang sold very well in a new 21st century environment.
That is saying a lot about how timeless the original design of the Challenger was. I see so many new design Challengers on the roadways today.
(I won't comment on the Camaro. I personally did not like what GM did with the update, and I owned a 69 396, 4 sp back in day)
Back in the 80's, people started calling my car a "dinosaur" (my 70 Challenger) by others. It's the reason why I nicknamed my car DINO and use the green dinosaur as my signature.
It pains me to see our classic cars sitting anywhere just rotting away by the "I'll restore it someday crowd". Let's save what we can!
Of course this is all; JMO
rbbruno3
Well-Known Member
Cool , now we know what the dinosaur is for.
This alway make me wonder what will happen to my car when I am done with it. Neither of my girls have interest in it, not talk about driving in general. It's not a numbers matching machine, so nothing truly collectable about it. If nothing else, I hope it does not end up in some field somewhere. I would like to think that someone else will drive and enjoy it, because that is what I am building it to do. My Challenger was project that someone had started and could not finish. So, I kind of feel like I rescued it from a possibility of it being in a field or barn. Never really thought of it that way before though.
aussiemark
Well-Known Member
I think the days of these cars wasting away are over as long as your family are willing to let it go I am sure it will find it's way to a new owner. It may end up powered by an electric engine god only knows what will happen down the road.
budascuda
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Agree %100, going electric is game changer.
In few more years picking up an electric setup from bone yards will be a common thing.
I think we are a quite a ways from electric being able to be retrofitted into an older economically, but it will come in time for sure. One of my friends does high end electric conversions, and his thoughts are until battery technology gets less expensive, and provide amble range, it will not be something the average person will do. We talked about my Challenger, and part of the issue with older vehicles like ours, is the weight. It can be done, but not with a good performance level. He is currently doing an old Rolls Royce right now, which is probably in the 6 figure range since they bought a Tesla as a donor car.
I have recently received two e-mails, by a reputable insurance firm, pointing out the jeopardy of buying or restoring classics with the younger generation. Within their correspondence they pointed out the ever increasing rate of parts. Batteries are not cheap and if this correspondence is correct...Well, adios investment and adios hobby when the old fuds die off.
I live in a small mountain town. A lot of tourist walk through old town. Sometimes, I drive through old town with either my '68 Mustang, or my '70 Challenger, reading the body language of generations. It is a riot. For the most part and I stress 'most' the 20 to late 30 something crowd will not bother to look at what rumbles by them. They keep their cue on the wife while dragging the 2 1/2 kids in tow. On the other hand, the 40 to one foot in the grave crowd will turn to look. A lot of thumbs up, a lot of "Nice car" by this gen when I roll by.
Ok! So...
Maybe the insurance co is right? But from where I sit, I just don't see a continuing interest with the younger gen. I hope I am wrong on this. A lot can be learned from our past as 340challconvert hinted towards. I would hate to see either the Challenger or Cuda (in the picture) reduced to a cube.
BTW - In recent years till I purchased my current ride, I have made offers on Challengers just sitting in the yard or driveway. Every time, I was told "No" they weren't ready to sell. When I asked why, the comeback was always waiting for more money from a higher offer somewhere down the road of life. MEH!
I live in a small mountain town. A lot of tourist walk through old town. Sometimes, I drive through old town with either my '68 Mustang, or my '70 Challenger, reading the body language of generations. It is a riot. For the most part and I stress 'most' the 20 to late 30 something crowd will not bother to look at what rumbles by them. They keep their cue on the wife while dragging the 2 1/2 kids in tow. On the other hand, the 40 to one foot in the grave crowd will turn to look. A lot of thumbs up, a lot of "Nice car" by this gen when I roll by.
Ok! So...
Maybe the insurance co is right? But from where I sit, I just don't see a continuing interest with the younger gen. I hope I am wrong on this. A lot can be learned from our past as 340challconvert hinted towards. I would hate to see either the Challenger or Cuda (in the picture) reduced to a cube.
BTW - In recent years till I purchased my current ride, I have made offers on Challengers just sitting in the yard or driveway. Every time, I was told "No" they weren't ready to sell. When I asked why, the comeback was always waiting for more money from a higher offer somewhere down the road of life. MEH!
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