Hey guys, I just joined this forum. Saying hi to all.

I am in the process of looking for my first muscle car. However, I have no idea of the vast selection there is out there, and which one will be right for me. I'm pretty young, so do not have much knowledge of these great cars. What I am looking for is something around $4000 that will run well enough to get me around town (Including parts that I'll need to buy just to get it running.) I plan to rebuild but that will be after college.

What options do I have here? Any suggestions or opinions will be appreciated. Any other resources out there that I can use to help me choose my car? Right now I pretty much only know of the Charger and Challenger. I drool over the challenger, but of course, probably can't afford one.

Thanks for your input!

 

Go to www.autotrader.com or pick up a copy of their mag at a local stop-n-rob. When you see the right car, you'll know it. I had no idea I would be buying a SRT-4 a month before I actually got one....it was love at first sight.

Dusty

 

Autotrader isn't going to really help, since I have no idea if that particular car is worth that amount of money for that kind of condition. That's why I'm asking all of you on here. What are my options for under $4000?

 

Few and far between, I'm afraid.... 4K isn't much in today's market. You'd be looking at a late 70's or early 80's Mustang or Camaro for that kind of money, and even then they'd require some work. If you really have your sights set on a late 60's or early 70's Mopar musclecar, you're going to have to raise more $$$ somehow. The only other option if you want something now would be to find a 318 powered A or B body and build it into what you'd like over time.

 

Go to http://www.classiccartraderonline.com

Put in your state MD and dollar amount and you'd find things that you can start with like this one in Glen Burnie, MD
for $2,500. You can drive it around while you work up the money for a repaint or new motor!

1970 PLYMOUTH DUSTER, 6 cylinders, at, p/s, factory air, vinyl, very little rust, $2, 500 or best offer, 410-590-4748 Glen Burnie, MD #84165

[IMG]local://upfiles/14355/5D8D9A6BECCC46A884A977CD6143FC4C.jpg[/IMG]

 

Another good idea to find a cheap car is to watch the paper for estate auctions. That's how I found my '70 Dart for $4500 a few years back! In my particular case, the Dart I bought belonged to an old old man who had his license revoked for years due to his senility. For some reason, he decided to never sell his vehicles, and left a treasure trove of pristine, low mileage vehicles in his garage when he died. Fortunately for me, his wife had absolutely no clue as to the collector's value of my Dart, and let the car go for an extraordinarily cheap price as opposed to what it's worth. Situations like this happen all the time, you just have to watch for them!

Also, try nosing around the parts of town where alot of old folks dwell. On two seperate occasions, I managed to locate and acquire two perfectly good old cars (a '64 Chrysler 300 and a '69 Dodge Coronet 500 to be exact). Both these two cars had been parked in their owner's garage/yard respectively after their owner's lost their driving privelages. I managed to buy the Coronet off the old man for a lowly sum of $2500 whilst I walked away with the 300 for $50 (the old lady told me I reminded her of her late grandson)!! LoL You can call me a swindler, but I figure that these cars aren't doing these poor old folks any good by sitting in a yard rotting away anyhow! The best part was, all those two cars needed was a good cleaning and a coat of paint (the Coronet needed new tires as they had rotted from the sun) to get them back in action.

One other great place to search would be farmyards. For some reason farmers like abandoning perfectly good old cars out in the middle of fields *shrugs*- I'll never understand why. My friend and I once found a gorgeous old '57 Pontiac Parisienne hardtop sitting out in a farmer's field. Oftentimes, the landowner will be more than happy to move these old "scrap heaps" off their fields, so one can often get a real steal of a deal. For some reason farmers like abandoning perfectly good old cars out in the middle of fields *shrugs*- I'll never understand why. Sadly, my friend and I never finished fixing up that old Pontiac- it just needed too much work for what our time would allow.

So there you go! You don't even have to buy a newspaper to find your perfect, first muscle car. It could be living in someone's garage, two houses down the street right now! LoL

 

Here is another good place to look,http://www.moparcollectorsguide.com/ but the cars are from all over the US. Your best chances would be on the '73-'74 model years for the last of the muscle cars and you can find B-bodies like the Chargers and Satellite Sebrings for around what you have to spend. The E-bodies (Cuda & Challenger) are far too expensive. The only other option would be the Darts and Dusters, but they have been popular for racing so they are all over the place in prices.

 

I'd start with an early (65-66) Mustang and build your way up. It worked for me and I now have a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T with a 440.