New Member, The Search Begins

[CA Expat]

Well my Mole on the inside payed off, eureka! Thank God for parents that have boxes in their closet from the 70's! Time to keep my eyes open and enjoy the search.

VIN: JH23G4B179623

[Bullitt-]

So if you found this car and it was in poor condition would you take on a restoration or would it make more sense to purchase a different unit that was already done?

[CA Expat]

That's a great question, and in all honesty it would truly depend. A very nice driving "tribute" could be had in the $20-$30k range that would serve me quite well. However if the EXACT car is found it would have to be in nearly unrecoverable shape. If it's found with rotted trunk, floors, quarters, roof, and not a straight piece on it, I would probably pass but be thankful for the closure. At the end of the day I want a driver, and it would be "nice" to have had his. I won't however take on an additional $30k in expense for the sake of nostalgic accuracy 

[Bullitt-]

One in the condition you describe $30K would not even touch it....
I don't know you or your dad... My Dad pined for his '63 Dart GT to the end...I never found anything close to it.  I guess depending on the situation you might be well served to find something similar ready to rock...   

[CA Expat]

One in the condition you describe $30K would not even touch it

I'm probably not understanding you correctly, for a 74' Challenger $30k wouldn't grab a nice driver? I see them all day right in that range, now obviously you start moving backwards and they escalate quickly. I've built a car and a truck in the past, I know it's ridiculously expensive "doing everything yourself." Just after body/paint/and interior you're pushing $30k. What I meant was, even for the exact car,  I'm likely not going to be interested in picking it up for $10-$15k, putting $30k into it, to have a nearly $50k base model 1974 Challenger. I'm his son, but also a business man

Everything changes if actually presented with the choice, maybe I'll have that discussion with myself if that time ever comes. If it were just to be a tribute (which in all probability it will be), i'm good with $30k.

[Bullitt-]

sorry I'm referring to restoring a rough condition car as you had described  "If it's found with rotted trunk, floors, quarters, roof, and not a straight piece on it," " I won't however take on an additional $30k in expense for the sake of nostalgic accuracy"

Indeed a nicely done 72-74 can be had for 30K or less.  I'm a business man as well and tend to approach most things from a cost/benefit standpoint..  I checked with a restoration shop and just to prep & paint my car they said 12K-minimum... Mine needs virtually nothing so I'm going to do it myself now that I'm retired ....

[CA Expat]

I won't however take on an additional $30k

Good catch, yes I meant in addition to whatever the purchase cost was etc.

I checked with a restoration shop and just to prep & paint my car they said 12K-minimum

That's rather sobering, but good to know! I'll factor that as well with any potential cost that may arise. I've got some inquiries in to local shops around here, i'm sure they will be in the same ballpark. It's just money though, right!? :-)

[Bullitt-]

I won't however take on an additional $30k

Good catch, yes I meant in addition to whatever the purchase cost was etc.

I checked with a restoration shop and just to prep & paint my car they said 12K-minimum

That's rather sobering, but good to know! I'll factor that as well with any potential cost that may arise. I've got some inquiries in to local shops around here, i'm sure they will be in the same ballpark. It's just money though, right!? :-)

Did i mention I'm a tightwad? Honestly I would was prepared to pay the restoration shop up to $6K LOL.. My parents were born during the Depression in the rural south so everything to do with this Hobby seems ridiculously expensive.  Yea there's  MACO's $499 special & plenty of body shops that will bondo & brush on a coat of paint for $3-4K. Restoration shops make em more or less perfect which takes many man hours..... I've got plenty of those ahead of me if my health holds up... Plus I'm the consummate DIY Guy.     

[CA Expat]

I can definitely agree with you on that. Especially the Maaco paint jobs. I had an old 93' Dodge diesel with the notorious paint peel. I got it painted at Maaco because I thought 'hey, it's a truck'. The advertised "$499" quickly escalates from there to around $2000. With "options" such as, 'Oh, you want us to prep it? That's, another $500. You want a base coat AND a clear? That's $1000" and so on. Anyway, it's worth doing right the first time. Buy once, cry once/buy cheap buy twice kind of thing.

I'm very conservative with my spending despite being a generation behind you. Many of my peers are financing trucks for the same price as my mortgage etc. Toy haulers with more square footage than my house with a 160 month loan being towed by a $900 per month truck is not a sound financial practice in your 30's. These are interesting times to say the least!

Back to the car however, i'm going to play with some of the VIN check websites and see what kind of info comes up. Not expecting anything but you never know.

[CA Expat]

I can't find a VIN check site that can handle the pre-17 Digit VINs, does anybody know of one?

[Bullitt-]

Only thing I can suggest is if you know someone or know someone who knows someone on the inside of the system...... I've heard of this working before...

[CA Expat]

That's most likely the best approach, and my little small town probably wouldn't mind running a VIN for me. Honestly I would just like to rule out that it was wrecked, scrapped, sent on a slow boat to China etc. Or even worse than that, somebody did a "resto mod" and she's sitting on 24's with an SBC 

[Morty426]

Welcome to the site.

I don't recall seeing a dark blue 74 in Roseville but it's a big town. 

If the plate is dead there is no way to trace the car most likely.  They CA DMV will no longer search by VIN

[CA Expat]

Thanks for the welcome Morty! Yes, Roseville is a big town, much larger obviously since I left. I include a daily search as part of my morning ritual; one day she might show up, I just hope she hasn't been severely neglected. It is disappointing that there isn't a true VIN checking service, however I obviously understand why. It would be nice if you could run a VIN check just to see IF and WHERE a vehicle may still be on the road, doesn't have to release any proprietary information etc. At any rate, I've got my eye out.

[Morty426]

Problem is that CA drops the information from the system after 7 years of no activity.

Your best bet is searching with Google and trolling Craigslist.  Not a lot of 74s made. 

Best of luck and if I come across any I'll let you know.