CitronPresse
Member
Hi there!
First of all: please forgive my terrible english: I speak french habitually (I'm from Quebec) so I try to do my best but it's not always a success
My name is Loïc, 28 years old I'm a car maniac and I owned approximately 65 different cars in last 10 years, every type of cars (little european cars, sports cars, big landyachts and a lot of shitty cars...)
I had a nice bunch of big old american cars...'72 and '75 Cadillacs, '78 Marquis, '76 Electra ParkAvenue, '77 T-Bird (and probably some other that I forgot) and of course some Chrysler C-bodies:
A '68 300 and a '71 Imperial
I already created a thread about my '68 300 (my first Mopar), I suggest you to read out this thread where I posted a lot of pictures:
My first Mopar : '68 Chrysler 300...needs a lot of love...
After the 300 I had (for a couple weeks only) the Imperial and the next summer (2016) my '78 Mercury Marquis
I sold (or rather traded it for a shitty '06 Audi A4) after a couple of weeks and then...nothing...I didn't own any "big boat" for 3 summers
I fall in love with Fuselage Chryslers and especially with the '70 2-door 300, so I managed to find one in last 3 years but these cars are really rare in Canada and the good ones became more and more expensive so I planned to buy a solid one in the south of USA
But the importation process is a pain for a newbie like me and as the years passed, my dream to find a clean 2d 300 under 5000$ seemed to come unrealizable...
So I more or less put this idea aside and continue to check other models
Last winter (early 2019) I found a '69 Mercury Marauder not far from me (1 hour far) for a decent price, a barnfind (not running) in very nice original condition, so I decided to go see it
The guy is a big classic car enthusiast like me, and his barn if full of nice project cars...
While we cross the barn to enter in another one, I find myself face to face with this:
Obviously I immediately ask if this one is for sale and obviously the answer is no
So we continue to the Marauder, which is beautiful and probably more "exclusive" than the 300 (the 300 is more common), but now I only think to the 300...
I kept contact with the owner, he finally told me that when he would be ready to let it go, the car would be for me!
And he kept his promise: after 6 months, he called me and told me that the 300 was for me!
It's a '69 and not a '70 like my dream model so:
-rear bumper is bigger
-no full-length taillight (it's in 2 sections)
-no pan under the bumper...so the rear fascia doesn't looks as large and "bestial" as the '70
My dream was to have a red 300 (with black or white interior), this one is "light green", clearly not my favorite color...BUT:
-it's not brown, gold or beige (I had too many brownish cars and I hate this color
)
-it has a front bench seat...for me a real landyacht must have a bench seat
-it has power windows
-it is mostly original (paint, interior...)
-it has some features specific to early Fuselage C-bodies: ignition switch on the dash, front window vents, hood latch in the grille, horn ring...I know it's ridiculous but I love those features
And the most important points:
-it is really clean and sound since it had never seen winter (reason why most of canadian cars are rotten)
-it is closely at my door: 1 hour far from Quebec-city where I live...I was planning to buy one in California
More informations:
The car car has 89,000 original miles, but the engine was changed under warranty when the car was at approximately 35,000 miles, it's not a good thing...the original 1969 440 engine was probably the better one for the specs: beginning in '72/73 (depending on the manufacturers) were the first antipollution devices, the cars from this era were not as powerful as the late 60s models...and if the car was 35,000mi when it received a new engine, it should be in '72/73 (maybe 71, maybe 74?), am I right? I'll be able to determine the year with the engine number
But anyway I have a beautiful '70 440 HP engine in my garage, I picked it up on my friend's full-options '70 NewYorker just before it send it to the junkyard (a real canadian rotten car), so it shouldn't be a problem on long term
Habitually I'm a "purist", I like to keep my cars in original condition, but this one has already a non-original engine, so why not?
You will hate me but I also plan to give it some modifications...slight lowering for the suspension, dog-dish hubcaps, dual-exhaust with headers, aluminium intake manifold, a carb and probably a camshaft...spread on a a couple of years
But before that I have a lot of work: the car has not been on the road since 15-20 years, its previous owner bought it in 2017 from the first owner and it was already in this condition...the fuel tank is full of deposits that probably clogged the fuel lines and it will probably need an intensive tune-up: ignition system (spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor), a carb cleaning, and when I look at the pictures I think valve covers gaskets and brake master-cylinder are due
But the owner said he made some test drives with a fuel can under the hood and it works really fine, needing mainly a good brake bleeding (but for me the master-cylinder is dead)
Now it's time for some pictures:
The "moonbeam" style wheel cover are not my cup of tea but the car comes with its original covers...anyway I think I already have some nice Mopar "poverty caps" in my 1000 wheel covers collection
The dog-dish caps will look good with the white letters tires
I don't know what in the engine bay is original or not (what is from the original engine and what is from the later one), I like the dual-snorkel air cleaner but it'll take a fresh black paint coat and new "440 Four-Barrel" stickers
The body seems to be clean under the vinyl top, a rare thing on a canadian car, even my '71 Imperial that beautifully restored in an amazing condition was beginning to rust around the vinyl top rear moldings
I only seen the car in its dark barn so I'm aware I could find some bad surprises when I'll be able to take a closer look...
The green interior is awful (in my opinion) but at least it is pretty clean and original
New master-cylinder and valve cover gaskets will be needed unless I'm mistaken
[the end on the next post...I can't upload more than 20 pictures in one post...
]
First of all: please forgive my terrible english: I speak french habitually (I'm from Quebec) so I try to do my best but it's not always a success
My name is Loïc, 28 years old I'm a car maniac and I owned approximately 65 different cars in last 10 years, every type of cars (little european cars, sports cars, big landyachts and a lot of shitty cars...)
I had a nice bunch of big old american cars...'72 and '75 Cadillacs, '78 Marquis, '76 Electra ParkAvenue, '77 T-Bird (and probably some other that I forgot) and of course some Chrysler C-bodies:
A '68 300 and a '71 Imperial
I already created a thread about my '68 300 (my first Mopar), I suggest you to read out this thread where I posted a lot of pictures:
My first Mopar : '68 Chrysler 300...needs a lot of love...
After the 300 I had (for a couple weeks only) the Imperial and the next summer (2016) my '78 Mercury Marquis
I sold (or rather traded it for a shitty '06 Audi A4) after a couple of weeks and then...nothing...I didn't own any "big boat" for 3 summers
I fall in love with Fuselage Chryslers and especially with the '70 2-door 300, so I managed to find one in last 3 years but these cars are really rare in Canada and the good ones became more and more expensive so I planned to buy a solid one in the south of USA
But the importation process is a pain for a newbie like me and as the years passed, my dream to find a clean 2d 300 under 5000$ seemed to come unrealizable...
So I more or less put this idea aside and continue to check other models
Last winter (early 2019) I found a '69 Mercury Marauder not far from me (1 hour far) for a decent price, a barnfind (not running) in very nice original condition, so I decided to go see it
The guy is a big classic car enthusiast like me, and his barn if full of nice project cars...
While we cross the barn to enter in another one, I find myself face to face with this:
Obviously I immediately ask if this one is for sale and obviously the answer is no
So we continue to the Marauder, which is beautiful and probably more "exclusive" than the 300 (the 300 is more common), but now I only think to the 300...
I kept contact with the owner, he finally told me that when he would be ready to let it go, the car would be for me!
And he kept his promise: after 6 months, he called me and told me that the 300 was for me!
It's a '69 and not a '70 like my dream model so:
-rear bumper is bigger
-no full-length taillight (it's in 2 sections)
-no pan under the bumper...so the rear fascia doesn't looks as large and "bestial" as the '70
My dream was to have a red 300 (with black or white interior), this one is "light green", clearly not my favorite color...BUT:
-it's not brown, gold or beige (I had too many brownish cars and I hate this color
)-it has a front bench seat...for me a real landyacht must have a bench seat
-it has power windows
-it is mostly original (paint, interior...)
-it has some features specific to early Fuselage C-bodies: ignition switch on the dash, front window vents, hood latch in the grille, horn ring...I know it's ridiculous but I love those features
And the most important points:
-it is really clean and sound since it had never seen winter (reason why most of canadian cars are rotten)
-it is closely at my door: 1 hour far from Quebec-city where I live...I was planning to buy one in California
More informations:
The car car has 89,000 original miles, but the engine was changed under warranty when the car was at approximately 35,000 miles, it's not a good thing...the original 1969 440 engine was probably the better one for the specs: beginning in '72/73 (depending on the manufacturers) were the first antipollution devices, the cars from this era were not as powerful as the late 60s models...and if the car was 35,000mi when it received a new engine, it should be in '72/73 (maybe 71, maybe 74?), am I right? I'll be able to determine the year with the engine number
But anyway I have a beautiful '70 440 HP engine in my garage, I picked it up on my friend's full-options '70 NewYorker just before it send it to the junkyard (a real canadian rotten car), so it shouldn't be a problem on long term
Habitually I'm a "purist", I like to keep my cars in original condition, but this one has already a non-original engine, so why not?
You will hate me but I also plan to give it some modifications...slight lowering for the suspension, dog-dish hubcaps, dual-exhaust with headers, aluminium intake manifold, a carb and probably a camshaft...spread on a a couple of years
But before that I have a lot of work: the car has not been on the road since 15-20 years, its previous owner bought it in 2017 from the first owner and it was already in this condition...the fuel tank is full of deposits that probably clogged the fuel lines and it will probably need an intensive tune-up: ignition system (spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor), a carb cleaning, and when I look at the pictures I think valve covers gaskets and brake master-cylinder are due
But the owner said he made some test drives with a fuel can under the hood and it works really fine, needing mainly a good brake bleeding (but for me the master-cylinder is dead)
Now it's time for some pictures:
The "moonbeam" style wheel cover are not my cup of tea but the car comes with its original covers...anyway I think I already have some nice Mopar "poverty caps" in my 1000 wheel covers collection
The dog-dish caps will look good with the white letters tires
I don't know what in the engine bay is original or not (what is from the original engine and what is from the later one), I like the dual-snorkel air cleaner but it'll take a fresh black paint coat and new "440 Four-Barrel" stickers
The body seems to be clean under the vinyl top, a rare thing on a canadian car, even my '71 Imperial that beautifully restored in an amazing condition was beginning to rust around the vinyl top rear moldings
I only seen the car in its dark barn so I'm aware I could find some bad surprises when I'll be able to take a closer look...
The green interior is awful (in my opinion) but at least it is pretty clean and original
New master-cylinder and valve cover gaskets will be needed unless I'm mistaken
[the end on the next post...I can't upload more than 20 pictures in one post...
]
