For Sale 1973 Polara Coupe - Not Mine

[mdh157]

It's in Cali. Body looks pretty nice!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/545509829375233/

 

[Davea Lux]

It's in Cali. Body looks pretty nice!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/545509829375233/

With that interior, that would be 139k miles driven.

Dave

 

[polarus]

Interesting car, big block, low line interior, rear window defog, vinyl top, two speed wipers, strange choice of options. I like it, thanks for posting.

 

[saforwardlook]

With that interior, that would be 139k miles driven.

Dave

I believe that car has been exposed to a lot of California heat/sunlight that has torn the seats (a notably weak fabric from my observations from other 1973 Dodges in the past with it) over time rather than high miles. The interior is too clean, the door arm rests are still nice and in the correct colors, the engine compartment is very clean, the washer bottle is not baked from engine heat, the firewall is too nice, the decal on the air cleaner is still pretty good and there is a general lack of grease all over the engine compartment. I believe the claim of 39K in the absence of other compelling evidence to the contrary.

 

[polarus]

It's fortunate those door and quarter panels are in good condition as they are made of unobtainium. First time I've seen this style panel on a two door.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

WHAT NO PICTURES? I kind of agree with saforwardlook, I just had a enlarge geez at the first engine bay pic and without going into a long winded finetooth analogy I'll just say "looks to be original engine painted battery ground cable".
Pictures to follow (I'll do it).

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Well I may take it back a little on the battery cable as in the second enlargement it appears the terminal maybe aftermarket and the blue paint extends almost all the way to the end of the cable. I don know what do you guys think? A big shout out for the FireShot Chrome extension for being able make some sense out of the cellphone screenshots.
2 red flags IMHO, flipper trailer? cellphone screenshots?

Odd the interior is being lowball plain jane, looks like it could be a good starting donor for a cop car interior restoration pieces.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Pics part two.

 

[cbarge]

It's fortunate those door and quarter panels are in good condition as they are made of unobtainium. First time I've seen this style panel on a two door.

Is it me or the left quarter panel was worked on? side molding missing.
Looks like a dent/crease at end of body line before the wheel well.??

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

After downloading all the pictures I notice that there were only a couple of the drivers side quarter panel and I thought the same. These big panels were targets for parking lot idiots.

Here's the text of FaceBook AD.

Marketplace > Vehicles

1973 Dodge Polara
Modesto, CA 3 days ago
$5,500

About This Vehicle
Driven 39,000 miles
Automatic transmission
Exterior color: White
Interior color: Tan
Good condition

Seller's Description
Last year of the legendary Polara. California car with 39000 miles. 400/383 runs like new. Needs work, but runs good. Mopar lovers need to check this out.

 

[Davea Lux]

I believe that car has been exposed to a lot of California heat/sunlight that has torn the seats (a notably weak fabric from my observations from other 1973 Dodges in the past with it) over time rather than high miles. The interior is too clean, the door arm rests are still nice and in the correct colors, the engine compartment is very clean, the washer bottle is not baked from engine heat, the firewall is too nice, the decal on the air cleaner is still pretty good and there is a general lack of grease all over the engine compartment. I believe the claim of 39K in the absence of other compelling evidence to the contrary.

The one thing I have noticed about sun baked cars that have this level of interior damage is that usually the tops of the door panels will be burnt and discolored also. These are not. That suggests that this car may not have seen a lot of sun baking. In any case, the dash is trashed as are the seats. Driver side carpet is rust stained. Car also would "need work" which suggests some mechanical issues that keep it from being a driver (tow truck used to haul is a dead give away). Car is priced at $5.5k which is pretty aggressive. Needs about $2.5-$3k just in interior work. I think this vehicle, regardless of the correct mileage is going to be a tough sell at much over $2.5k.

Dave

 

[saforwardlook]

The one thing I have noticed about sun baked cars that have this level of interior damage is that usually the tops of the door panels will be burnt and discolored also. These are not. That suggests that this car may not have seen a lot of sun baking. In any case, the dash is trashed as are the seats. Driver side carpet is rust stained. Car also would "need work" which suggests some mechanical issues that keep it from being a driver (tow truck used to haul is a dead give away). Car is priced at $5.5k which is pretty aggressive. Needs about $2.5-$3k just in interior work. I think this vehicle, regardless of the correct mileage is going to be a tough sell at much over $2.5k.

Dave

This Polara could have been sitting in a hot shed most of its existence and that alone would crack those dashpads and split the seat material - it doesn't have to be direct sunlight. It gets to 112F in California during the summer a lot of the time, especially in Modesto, and even higher and when parked inside a closed shed, much higher. Do you think the rear seat of the car was used so much that it would cause those tears? Also, the arm rests are not even split, and their color matches the trim panel perfectly - how can that be the case on a car with over 100K miles? The underhood could not look that good with over 100K miles on it - no way around it. The washer bottle would be discolored with oil/grease and very likely cracked the first time someone leaned on it to change the spark plugs. Also, a car with the low miles claimed would have had to be sitting a lot, and that alone would require a lot of work to get it running again properly. I don't buy your arguments and believe you need to look at all the information/photos before you impeach it.

Also, if the owner were so pedantic to keep the underhood very clean, would he leave the quarter panel in disrepair all this time? I would estimate the car was owned by an elderly driver who messed up the quarter panel and decided to not drive it anymore or something like that. There isn't even much road rash on that flat front end from what I can see.

As for price, I don't disagree with your estimate, and given the left rear quarter panel condition, you may well be right. It depends on finding the right buyer for such a car. It might well be desirable to many folks that like Polaras and can confirm the low miles.

 

[polarus]

Is it me or the left quarter panel was worked on? side molding missing.
Looks like a dent/crease at end of body line before the wheel well.??

Sorry I posted that before I had my coffee, I was referring to the interior panels (my bad) but inside or out it's all hard to find, and yes the left rear quarter has damage. Still this is a car that scratches an itch, I'm glad I'm broke!

 

[polarus]

2.5k. sounds right, then you have to add transport fee's. I would need under carriage photo's. I'd love to see the broadcast sheet on this one.

 

[saforwardlook]

Well I may take it back a little on the battery cable as in the second enlargement it appears the terminal maybe aftermarket and the blue paint extends almost all the way to the end of the cable. I don know what do you guys think? A big shout out for the FireShot Chrome extension for being able make some sense out of the cellphone screenshots.
2 red flags IMHO, flipper trailer? cellphone screenshots?

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Odd the interior is being lowball plain jane, looks like it could be a good starting donor for a cop car interior restoration pieces.

That looks like a completely original battery cable and terminal clamp to me.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Yea looking at it again in a photo app enlargement the terminal looks correct but old and a little abused and has the secondary ground wire, it's just odd that it's painted almost to the battery terminal. Further looking at the engine bay makes me think that it has been cleaned very well but not over done as when using a steam cleaner that will most likely peel some paint off the valve covers but looking around the power steering pump area it's a little grimy for me. Definitely a car that needs some good eyes on as the nooks & crannies appear to be very clean, corrosion and rusty areas could be correct for age if it was near the sea coast, plastic connectors yellowing and aging would be typical, someone would need to take a good look at the underside of engine bay and all the way to the back bumper to see if this car is just not 'Top dressed' cleaned at some time.

I'm curious about the tires, the trunk spare looks to be a original polyglass tire but worn, but the bottle cap hubcaps and no brand marking "Steel Belted M+S" tires gets me wondering if this car was some kind of municipal vehicle. Plain Jane interior, (clock is odd) blackwall tires that look to be the kind a government would stock, hmmmmmm. FBI car?

 

[Davea Lux]

This Polara could have been sitting in a hot shed most of its existence and that alone would crack those dashpads and split the seat material - it doesn't have to be direct sunlight. It gets to 112F in California during the summer a lot of the time, especially in Modesto, and even higher and when parked inside a closed shed, much higher. Do you think the rear seat of the car was used so much that it would cause those tears? Also, the arm rests are not even split, and their color matches the trim panel perfectly - how can that be the case on a car with over 100K miles? The underhood could not look that good with over 100K miles on it - no way around it. The washer bottle would be discolored with oil/grease and very likely cracked the first time someone leaned on it to change the spark plugs. Also, a car with the low miles claimed would have had to be sitting a lot, and that alone would require a lot of work to get it running again properly. I don't buy your arguments and believe you need to look at all the information/photos before you impeach it.

Also, if the owner were so pedantic to keep the underhood very clean, would he leave the quarter panel in disrepair all this time? I would estimate the car was owned by an elderly driver who messed up the quarter panel and decided to not drive it anymore or something like that. There isn't even much road rash on that flat front end from what I can see.

As for price, I don't disagree with your estimate, and given the left rear quarter panel condition, you may well be right. It depends on finding the right buyer for such a car. It might well be desirable to many folks that like Polaras and can confirm the low miles.

Might well have been an elderly owner, I thing the engine bay was probably cleaned up. None of that matters much given the car is not a driver and needs a bunch of work. If this was and elderly owner car, it may well have been bought by a flipper who bought it for next to nothing and cleaned it up some. Description sounds like a flipper piece. I am impressed by low mileage cars that are in excellent condition. This one not so much, especially when over priced.

Dave

 

[polara71]

I'm gonna chime in here, I love this car. Presuming solid metal, white of all the colors would show rust at the pinch welds and door jambs, this car is clean or appears to be clean.
The top, seats and dash is a three thousand dollar bill I'd be willing to put into it if I had to have a 73.
I don't think it's out of line IF the car is solid.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

I don't think it's out of line IF the car is solid.

Even if it has titties?

 

[polara71]

Even if it has titties?

They don't bother me at all