Non Mopar. Opinions/advise C3

[Mark_B]

Here's my mate's 1968 C3 427 survivor.  It's his second C3, he used to have an 82 crossfire injection, that was a nightmare car.  This is a much more reliable car.

[FM3AAR]

The car was an original factory L71 427/435hp solid lifter tri power car with 4 speed and factory 4.11 gear.

I bet that was a beast. Nice looking '69. Back in the '70's I wanted to add the flares to my '72 but resisted the urge.
All modifications have been bolt ons.

[FM3AAR]

Here's my mate's 1968 C3 427 survivor.  It's his second C3, he used to have an 82 crossfire injection, that was a nightmare car.  This is a much more reliable car.

They have been called ceasefire injection, lol. Beautiful paint on the '68.

[cuda hunter]

Could have bought my fully restored 71 Charger for 14k

Every time you mention that car it just breaks my mechanical heart.  I shoulda bought that one. 
I looked at that soo much!   And just didn't do it cause I was after a "better" cuda than what I had.
  Still like that ride!

[Rich G.]

Nothing like the power and torque of a big block vette!

[jordan]

It is dead middle of winter here in Wisconsin.  We had snow and ice a couple of times this past week and the roads are still messy.  But I did see a C3 vette pulled over on the side of the road yesterday dead with his flashers on.  I feel like he just had to move it from storage to storage and it was not happy about driving in 18* weather.  It was an 80s model, cream over brown. 
   I have often thought about buying one too for cheap and doing some suspension mods and dropping a warmed over 350 in it.  Convert the crappy carpeted door panels to nice ones from the 60s.  I drove one in the 90s for a few months after I broke my shoulder racing motorcycles.  I traded my street bike for a buddies C3 while I rehabbed.  I thought it was nice driving.  It handles good.  Brakes were good. I was able to get 3 women in the car with me at the same time!!  That was fun!! 

[dodj]

Must have been little ladies..lol

[dodj]

Oh as far as problems, really look for fiberglass repairs. You need the car up but worth the trouble. Few people repair fiberglass correctly. They have lots of bonding strips everywhere on the backside. It will become very obvious what is original versus repaired. While it's up, really examine the frame. They are notorious for rusting out. There is another frame in and around the cockpit and windshield frame which supports the weight of everything in the midsection (called the birdcage) these can have rust issues too but much harder to inspect.

So after looking at frame and bird cage rust issue photos, checking out a frame is pretty straight forward, but how do you get an idea of 'bird cage' condition without disassembly?

Thanks all for opinions. I'm not necessarily going to buy one of these cars, but I am told everything works, and if the two I am going to look at have solid frame/birdcage, for $3K I will probably buy one or both.

And like 70Challengerlover says, then a nice '69 Charger or '72 RR will show up and I'll end up selling the vette(s) for the B body.

[RUNCHARGER]

A lot of times when you look at the VIN plate on the A-pillar you can see rust on the pillar as well believe or not!

[70 Challenger Lover]

Oh as far as problems, really look for fiberglass repairs. You need the car up but worth the trouble. Few people repair fiberglass correctly. They have lots of bonding strips everywhere on the backside. It will become very obvious what is original versus repaired. While it's up, really examine the frame. They are notorious for rusting out. There is another frame in and around the cockpit and windshield frame which supports the weight of everything in the midsection (called the birdcage) these can have rust issues too but much harder to inspect.

So after looking at frame and bird cage rust issue photos, checking out a frame is pretty straight forward, but how do you get an idea of 'bird cage' condition without disassembly?

Thanks all for opinions. I'm not necessarily going to buy one of these cars, but I am told everything works, and if the two I am going to look at have solid frame/birdcage, for $3K I will probably buy one or both.

And like 70Challengerlover says, then a nice '69 Charger or '72 RR will show up and I'll end up selling the vette(s) for the B body.

You really can't check the birdcage easily. One spot would be behind the kick panels. The frame under the body will go long before the birdcage so I'd start there. If it's in great shape, then odds are the birdcage would be too.

I found you a cool 72 Charger in Petty Blue with the numbers matching 440 / auto. Bucket seat and hideaway headlight car with what appears to be almost no rust. It's the rallye version with the cool front fender scallops. Guy wants 6k but I'm guessing he would come down.

[hemitomcat]

The best advice I ever got about finding out about a car to buy, C3 in this case, is Join the local car club.  Ask for rides in ever C3 you find.  Ask the owners what are the achilles heel in the car.  Then you can make an informed decision.  Go to the corvette only shows.  Car guys mostly are pretty cool... 

Now back to my cuda, hunting for my 69 RR, fixing my 61 tbird, driving my 03 diesel truck, fixing my wifes 03 caddie....

It never ends...  But who would want it too....

[70 Challenger Lover]

In a C3, 3k buys you a real pile. I totally agree about checking the car over really well but for the price, you can't really turn your nose up at it unless it has a ton of obvious issues.

[dodj]

I found you a cool 72 Charger in Petty Blue with the numbers matching 440 / auto. Bucket seat and hideaway headlight car with what appears to be almost no rust. It's the rallye version with the cool front fender scallops. Guy wants 6k but I'm guessing he would come down.

If it was a 72 RR, I'd be calling you right away. For Chargers, I'm a '69 guy.....