'68 Roadrunner-bought it new

I bought my 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner (vin # RM21h8G224279) new in June of '68 from Brambilla Motors in Shakopee, Mn. I was 20 years old and my dad had to sign for me. It has the 383 Roadrunner engine (the engine is painted green) and the Hurst manual 4 speed tranny. The color is black with white seats, and red dash, I always thought that it was a goofy color combination, but that is the way it came new. I got married in Aug. of that year and drove the Roadrunner till '77 when by that time we had 4 kids and the Roadrunner wasn't enough room for everyone. I went from the Roadrunner to a new '77 Chev. Impala wagon, what a let down in performance. I parked the Roadrunner in the old garage until '87 that is when I pulled the engine and a mechanic friend of mine completely overhauled the engine, clutch, and brakes. I still drive it once a year, but other than that it justs sits there. My two sons, now in there 30's aren't that crazy about it and I was just wondering what the value is on something like this. It is all original with nothing changed, the only thing I did do was put a set of rear spring shackles on to jack up the rear end a bit. It needs body work as the Mn. salt has done it's job on it and a few other minor dings. I have a new drivers side door on it and had it painted and I have two front fenders in the shed to put on when ever that point in time comes. Just wondering what the value would be in case I decide to sell it. Thanks for your time.

Those cars are bringing an obscene amount of money if real nice. If value is your purpose, you would be WAY ahead to spend the money for the body work (have it done by a pro that's GOOD) and a high quality (high dollar) paint job.

I would think it may cost you in the neighborhood of $10K to redo the body and make it look new. If someone is willing to paint it for less than than $2K, you don't want the paint job. Original color and type of paint will add to the value. Color change or cheap paint will reduce the value.

Have as much of the original documentation from the sale, and service records to make it more attractive. Having the original title and registration card made my brother's '78 King Cobra (Pinto in drag...) worth well over $10K for a car virtually NOBODY wants... There are plenty of MOPAR sickos out there ready to donate to your family inheritance... Any Road Runner is getting tough to find. A "1 owner, 4-speed" car will bring a lot. Too bad it has the base engine. A 440 car would be worth $5K more... And a Hemi? Fergit it!

Realistically, if you make it nice, $25K isn't out of the question in today's market. If you don't want to make it pretty, it's probably worth in the $5K range. Rust doesn't help sell cars... That's why I believe you should consider doing the restoration on the body BEFORE you advertise it for sale. The mechanicals are the "easy" part. Body and paint is the tough part.

Good luck, regardless!

Jim

25k for a restored car is not out of the question. However what you have described is probably a 30k job if you have someone do it. It is not a particularlly rare RR, and in this instance I do not see you getting money out of it as a resto project. As is, I could see 2k maybe for that particular car. That is if it still runs and drives as is. The amount of rust you talk about as well as dings and dents detract greatly from the value. The only reason I see 2k or so is that it is a 4 spd car, and should have a suregrip and torque boxes on the car already, and would make an easy conversion to a hemi car.

I bought my 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner (vin # RM21h8G224279) new in June of '68 from Brambilla Motors in Shakopee, Mn. I was 20 years old and my dad had to sign for me. It has the 383 Roadrunner engine (the engine is painted green) and the Hurst manual 4 speed tranny. The color is black with white seats, and red dash, I always thought that it was a goofy color combination, but that is the way it came new. I got married in Aug. of that year and drove the Roadrunner till '77 when by that time we had 4 kids and the Roadrunner wasn't enough room for everyone. I went from the Roadrunner to a new '77 Chev. Impala wagon, what a let down in performance. I parked the Roadrunner in the old garage until '87 that is when I pulled the engine and a mechanic friend of mine completely overhauled the engine, clutch, and brakes. I still drive it once a year, but other than that it justs sits there. My two sons, now in there 30's aren't that crazy about it and I was just wondering what the value is on something like this. It is all original with nothing changed, the only thing I did do was put a set of rear spring shackles on to jack up the rear end a bit. It needs body work as the Mn. salt has done it's job on it and a few other minor dings. I have a new drivers side door on it and had it painted and I have two front fenders in the shed to put on when ever that point in time comes. Just wondering what the value would be in case I decide to sell it. Thanks for your time.

Congratulations on holding onto your first car. How solid are the framerails, floorpans, trunk floor, inner fenders(front + rear), and the torsionbar crossmember? Email me some pics and I'll post them here.

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You're best bet is to sell it as is on ebay. Give a detailed and accurate description and as many pics as possible and you will get a lot of interest in it.

25k for a restored car is not out of the question. However what you have described is probably a 30k job if you have someone do it. It is not a particularlly rare RR, and in this instance I do not see you getting money out of it as a resto project. As is, I could see 2k maybe for that particular car. That is if it still runs and drives as is. The amount of rust you talk about as well as dings and dents detract greatly from the value. The only reason I see 2k or so is that it is a 4 spd car, and should have a suregrip and torque boxes on the car already, and would make an easy conversion to a hemi car.

Torque boxes are for convertibles and Hemi cars.

Actually some 4 spd cars came with them as well. Perhapes not a 383 4 speed, but that was my understanding. 4 spd and dana package came with the torque boxes.

Man what a great story! Thats so cool that your the original owner. Wow, that is a long time to hang on to a car. I'm not an expert in the value of mopars, but it seems like even though its not a hemi or the rarest of mopars it could still sell above market value because of the history of the car. I know I'd be willing to pay quite a bit more to buy a car this old from its original owner. Either way thanks for sharing!

I wonder what the record is for longest time someone has been the original owner of a car?

Now and then I will come across an article with an original owner of 50 years or more with a car.

Me, I almost always buy used. Among my toys is a '64 Corvette I picked up in December, 1966 at age 17 for $2600. I'm the third owner and I'll bet it's worth at least double that today.

Wow, that had to be quite a bit of money back then? I can't imagine many 17 year olds being able to afford a 2004 corvette today.

Actually, Doit, it would be an '03 Vette, and you can find those for what kids are laying out for new Hondas plus rims, tires, sound system, etc. I think unaffordable or even unavailable insurance is probably keeping the younger teens out of high-powered sports cars these days more than purchase price.

My family had an orange ranch with a big creek running along the south side. A cement
company was paying us to mine gravel from the creek bed and 1966 was a good year.

My grandparents basically said "Go buy a car" with no stated budget. My mind flashed for a moment to a $7000 Eldorado, but I quickly set a personal limit of $3000, the price of a V8 ponycar with a few goodies.

Good thing this is the Plymouth section; my dream car was a just-introduced 1967 Barracuda Formula S fastback with the 273, four-speed, discs and power steering. The local dealer wouldn't budge an inch from the $3500 list, too much for my self-imposed budget.

So I shopped around and found the Corvette roadster with hardtop. It had no options other than Posi, not even a radio. I had driven only sticks and this had a Powerglide. But I drove it, liked the seating position, handling and of course the interior/exterior styling. With only 16,000 miles Blue Book retail was $3495, so $2600 cash looked good.

Never did get a Mopar until second child was imminent. Pulled up at the dealer's lot in the 'Vette with first child in baby seat and fully-inflated wife riding the console sidesaddle! Picked up an '80 Le Baron woody wagon; only one I've ever seen with full power and MANUAL windows! It had the California-only 318 4bbl - great car for 10 years!

A V8 LeBaron wagon? wow, I never new that. And they only sold them in california? interesting.

You're probably thinking of the front-wheel-drive little K-Car Le Barons. I had the bigger rwd Aspen/Volare-based taxi and police car Le Baron, and plenty of these had V8s!

The other 49 states got 318s with 2bbl carbs, 120 net hp as I recall. California had only smog-approved the 4bbl so Chrysler sold them here exclusively to get into the market. I think the net hp was 135 - took a few months to find one so equipped.

It was a one-year-old Chrysler "executive" company car with 7000 miles. Supposedly the official drove it just to work and back; it still had plastic on the rear seat. This was in 1981, the month Chrysler was supposed to go out of business - $11,000 sticker became $7500 used price with new-car warranty. I was told the manual windows were required on the company cars because some West Coast Mopar official's kid got his neck stuck in a power window a few years before.

This particular dealer on La Brea also handled celebrity loaner cars for Beverly Hills and Hollywood. You would see Angie Dickinson and Ricardo Montalban in the service department!