WIW '72 'CUDA

[mopardug]

Hi Sportsfans. I'm wondering what to do with 'Shelia'?
She's a 340 Pistol Grip car. THERE'S NO FENDER TAG! I haven't looked for a build sheet.
She's been sitting outside since around '85, and the last tags are from '89.
The clock shows 16xxx.
Is she too far gone to restore? I don't have nearly enough $$ for me to tackle this project.

 

[mopardug]

More pics

 

[mopardug]

I had a guy look @ her this AM, Mark Grafton. He said that the floors and rails look pretty good.
Thanks for looking.

 

[Cuda Hunter]

I'm surprised that the floors and rails look pretty good as it appears all the outer panels are in need of replacement. Roof, quarters, fenders, hood, dutchman's panel, doors possible rockers and a pillars. Likely with the rear quarters in such poor shape, the inner's are in just as bad of shape. The trunk is beat as well since there was obviously water getting into the trunk through holes in the dutchman and deck lid rails.
I have to say this car is pretty beat. And I don't like saying a car can't be brought back.
Not having the fender tag hurts the rebuilding of this car.
You would do yourself a huge favor by looking for a build sheet as that might be the only thing that puts this car back on the road again.
Perhaps there is a restomod guy out there looking for a car to make what he wants.
Problem is with a car in this shape it's gonna cost minimum 40K, most likely 50K to bring it back to par. Not meaning an OE restoration but a good driver quality car restoration. Then the car will only be worth 35K to 40K on the market. 2-4's just don't hold much more value than 40K at the top end. Even if they have 80K worth of money put into them.

What's your idea of value on the car?
Does the motor turn over?
Is the motor numbers matching?
Is the tranny numbers matching?
Do the radiator and cowl stampings match the vin?
Is the color b7 or b5?

Find that build sheet.

 

[mopardug]

Thanks for your input.
I'm thinking somewhere north of $7K, as she sits. But I also have NO idea of her value.
I used to be way smarter than I am today Where would the radiator, radiator support, and cowl #'s be? And how do you pop out the back seat to look for the build sheet?
She's supposed to be Lemon Twist with a 3.91 Sure Grip. I did get some additional pics tonight.

 

[57fury440]

Would it run with some minor work or does it need a complete rebuild? That will have something to do with what it is worth.

 

[mopardug]

More pics

 

[mopardug]

I'm going to try and authenticate the 340 & 833 this weekend. I can see if she's in the mood to turn over as well. I'm not going to be able to restore her, so does anyone have a ballpark on what she might be worth?

 

[Cuda Hunter]

Maybe some more questions would help some of us with an approximate value.

The rear seat has two bolts, I believe 9/16 heads that are between the upper and lower seats. Spread them apart and unscrew. Then you can push the front of the bottom seat towards the rear of the car to unhook the seat and it will come out. The upper will come out by lifting it up after you have the bottom out.
In the last picture you can see the hook on the floor and the rectangle with the bolt hole in it.

The cowl and radiator numbers are in the pictures. Should be within 12" of where these pictures are. Probably closer than that.

 

[fastmark]

I have bought, owned, and sold lots of ebodies. Barracudas are my speciality. All of my cars are from Texas and pretty much rust free. 70-71 sell very well. 72-74 Cuda are not as easy to sell. People want 70-71 when building clone car, too. That car must have been around salty air because it appears to be rusting from the inside out. I’m afraid it’s a parts car and would be hard to fix. I’ve seen people foolishly spend money on a car like that because it’s cheap. Then they get it apart and realize they are screwed. What is worse, someone will take a car like that and hack it together cheap with new panels and paint and sell it. The new owners buys it over the internet and gets sick when it’s delivered. The fact that it is a Cuda will have little effect on the value except for the value of the motor trans value. You’ll get some guy to give $5000 or so and he’ll regret it. Lots of people have $5000 to spend. It’s the $50,000 to fix it they don’t have.

 

[Cuda Hunter]

That's the truth right there.

 

[57fury440]

If he had the fender tag and build sheet it would be different. The 340 and 4-speed will have some value that is why I asked if it ran. Fastmark hit it on the nose.

 

[mopardug]

Thanks for all of the input. I'm trying to get some additional info from the PO. And then this weekend, I'm going to try to verify the numbers, find the build sheet, and see if she'll turn over. I was going to pop the plugs out, and put in some Seafoam. Would anyone suggest something different?

 

[57fury440]

I'd squirt some light oil in the plug holes and see if it cranks.

 

[mopardug]

She said that she thought that she was the 2nd owner, and that the car was originally from Frankfort. She couldn't remember why she quit driving her in '89.

 

[mopardug]

I'm going to try and take her down to London this coming weekend.

 

[mopardug]

HOT DOG!!!!! I found the Build Sheet in the back seat back. She's a true BS23H2 car! The last four of the dash, door, and Build Sheet match-those were the only VIN #'S that I checked. And I've got Marvel Mystery Oil in seven of the eight cylinders.

 

[57fury440]

Having the build sheet adds value to the car. If someone wanted to restore this and can do most of the work themselves they can now see how the car came originally. I see cars worse than this being done.

 

[mopardug]

The Cowl # matches. For the life of me, I just don't see any radiator support #'s

 

[Cuda Hunter]

The radiator ones will be there somewhere.
It doesn't have to be right where the pictured one exists. It can be in a few locations within something like 10" from there.
But I'm no expert. Only know from what I have seen.