Introducing a 1970 300 TNT convertible

ayilar

Old Man with a Hat
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Until Saturday, CM27U0C250282 had had a single owner since new. He put it up for sale last week and, on the basis of a lone low-resolution screen shot of an old photograph that he posted in an online ad, I decided to contact him.

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Good thing that I did as, with @Ripinator's help, I ended up buying the car this Saturday. @saforwardlook and @polara71 have often advised folks not to dismiss sellers from the photos they post, and my experience is proof positive that their recommendation is on target!

This 1970 300 'vert is EB7 blue, has white buckets/top/stripes, a console, cruise control, manual A/C, disc brakes and... a TNT engine, 3.23 gears and SureGrip. Save for the lack of power windows/seats and the presence of a rim blow wheel, it is pretty much equipped the way that I would have optioned out a car (if I had been a buyer back in 1970).

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This car has high miles (138k) but was left to sit under cover in the first owner's garage for many years. Before being parked away, it had been repainted "a few times" -- once it came back B5 blue and he sent it back for the proper B7. The front seats were redone twice: when he first had it re-upholstered, he was not happy with the results and sent it back. The rest of the interior appears original, save a couple of extra speakers (I'll be looking for unmolested kick panels) and an extra radio under the dash.

Bottom line, I could not pass on the car. It is a one-owner U-code 'vert that I plan to get back on the road. I will need help, of course. I am lucky that @71Polara383 will continue to help me improve my BB 1970 Polara 'verts and my two NYBs, and I am lucky that @david hill (who did an amazing job with his 1969 300 TNT 'vert) will help me bring back this 300 'vert.

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What a great score, congratulations!!

Please post some full-body pics of the car (this website needs a centerfold every now and then :rolleyes: )
 
This is great! I'm surprised it's a SureGrip....are there remnants of a hitch on the back?

If I can add any insight to the bits and pieces of a 1970 300 TNT (as if @david hill can't do it all, he's currently helping me with brake booster initiatives), I'd be happy to help with the many, many pics I've taken of the innards of these cars (at Mecum, at shows, off the Interweb), and with sourcing "stuff" as you move through this resurrection.

:popcorn:
 
View attachment 451536

Until Saturday, CM27U0C250282 had had a single owner since new. He put it up for sale last week and, on the basis of a single low-resolution screen shot of an old photograph that he posted in an online ad, I decided to contact him.

View attachment 451535

Good thing that I did as, with @Ripinator's help, I ended up buying the car this Saturday. @saforwardlook and @polara71 have often advised folks not to dismiss sellers from the photos they post, and my experience is proof positive that their recommendation is on target!

This 1970 300 'vert is EB7 blue, has white buckets/top/stripes, a console, cruise control, manual A/C, disc brakes and... a TNT engine, 3.23 gears and SureGrip. Save for the lack of power windows/seats, it is pretty much equipped the way that I would have optioned out a car (if I had been a buyer back in 1970).

View attachment 451537

This car has high miles (138k) but was left to sit under cover in the first owner's garage for many years. Before being parked away, it had been repainted "a few times" -- once it came back B5 blue and he sent it back for the proper B7. The front seats were redone twice: when he first had it re-upholstered, he was not happy with the results and sent it back. The rest of the interior appears original, save a couple of extra speakers (I'll be looking for unmolested kick panels) and an extra radio under the dash.

Bottom line, I could not pass on the car. It is a one-owner U-code 'vert that I plan to get back on the road. I will need help, of course. I am lucky that @71Polara383 will continue to help me improve my BB 1970 Polara 'verts and my two NYBs, and I am lucky that @david hill (who did an amazing job with his 1969 300 TNT 'vert) will help me bring back this 300 'vert.

View attachment 451553
That is the best color combination you will find on a car, period.
138 isn't high.. just over 2700 miles a year, it's been pampered.
Nice car, can't wait to see the photos.
 
Wow, absolutely incredible. This is June 9 scheduled build date, mine is June 11 they might have passed each other on the way out of the factory, lol. That was in the Craigslist Moron thread and I remember thinking that it was only a days drive from here, but then promptly forgot about it. Good for you for following your instincts. Great find for sure! BTW, A nice Dodge boy like you doesn't need a big 'ole Chrysler, so think of me when you get tired of this new toy....
 
That is a very cool car. It would be right at the top of my list too for C-Bodies to own, that is just the right car and the perfect group of options and colour combo.
I can't wait to see more pictures.
Congratulations.

Dave
 
What a great score, congratulations!!

Please post some full-body pics of the car (this website needs a centerfold every now and then :rolleyes: )
That is the best color combination you will find on a car, period. (...) Nice car, can't wait to see the photos.

Thanks to all for the positive comments. "Centerfold" pictures will have to wait. Space was at a premium around the car when @Ripinator and I saw it, and as a result all of the whole-car and interior pics that I took this past Saturday clearly show the seller's face. I therefore don't want to post them here for privacy reasons (once a photo is publicly available on this site, it somehow gets indexed in internet search engines and there goes the person's privacy).

I may have an opportunity to take more pics till the end of this month, at the earliest. Work will be crazy till then (I am writing this on a quick lunch break), and work comes first. Meanwhile, below is a pic of the rear.

This is great! I'm surprised it's a SureGrip....are there remnants of a hitch on the back?

No remnants that I could see.

I am just repeating what the seller told me about the gears and SG -- I did not get under the rear diff to check. The seller's story is that he used to work as a mechanic for one of the biggest Chrysler dealerships in the DC area (a company that later took on Volvo and VW franchises, for which he worked as well). After driving a bunch of Mopar muscle cars in the late sixties (he's now in his 70's), he wanted something bigger/more comfortable that he could still take to the drag strip. He specced this U-code after seeing a blue/white/white 300 'vert delivered for a customer and falling in love with it -- a sequence of events that is consistent the late scheduled build date (June 9, 1970).

I have no reason to doubt his word, as he seemed like a straight shooter and everything that he said has panned out so far. Hopefully, @david hill will be able to confirm it if he finds a build sheet when he spruces up the interior later this spring -- although the fact that the interior has been redone and the car repainted (and, if memory serves, the carpet replaced) lowers the likelihood that one is still in there. David and I will need to take off the interior rear side panels to fix a couple of tears (one on each side) and to free up the rear windows, so that is one more location we'll naturally have an opportunity to search -- that's how a build sheet was found for Poppy, my first C-body.

138 isn't high.. just over 2700 miles a year, it's been pampered.

2.7k miles on average, true. However, the last year when the car was registered is 2001 -- so we are just upward of 4k miles/year if we assume a constant annual mileage from 1970 till 2001 -- see the number plate below:
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Still, I agree, even 4k/year would still be lowish mileage. This said, the seller told me that he had not driven the car for 35 years. Even if he referred to something different by "not driven for 35 years" than what I thought it meant, a life on the road limited to 1970-1985 would double the mileage to almost 9k/year. That might explain the "multiple" repaints and the front seats redo that he mentioned.

Regardless, you are right: this car clearly was given a lot of attention by the first owner and, as a result, it presents well today after sitting under a cover in a garage for all that time.

On the downside, lest you get the impression that it is all rainbows and unicorns, there was some work done in the rear. The seller had mentioned on the phone that the rear frame extensions have (had?) some rust, and the trunk pan shows clear evidence of bondo inside the trunk too. The rest of the car seems solid -- dunno why the rear was affected more than the front, perhaps clogged water drains? We shall see...

PS: as an aside, the seller had told me on the phone that the trunk was "solid" -- but his meaning (as @saforwardlook guesses, probably just that one can still put heavy stuff in the trunk without worries) seems different than what I mean when I say "solid (original metal and no weak point).
 
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Its funny but I vaguely remember Dr Welby MD having a 1970 300 Convertible in EB7 with white interior. Back then Auto Manufactures sponsored shows so the good Dr drove a Chrysler. You should do a bit of research as I know I have seen it before....here is the into for 1969 I believe:


Dave
 
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