Question on '71 300 for sale

Rubatoguy

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I was wondering if I could get some wise comments on this car posted for sale in IL. It looks to have road salt issues, but I don't have the knowledge to know if this does not look to bad or a rust bucket that looks good from 10 feet away. Comments?
https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/chrysler/300/2141438.html

Thank you
Todd

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It would be nice if someone could put eyes on it for you, I went through the pic's and it has some rust but there could be more. Maybe a member is close by and could have a look or you could hire a independent inspector to check it out.
 
Looks like a car that went through a few Midwest winters. Doesn’t look as bad as most would look though, especially if they were not rustproofed.

Body panels, trunk and floor pans can be fixed.

The main thing to really check is for frame deterioration. Hard to say from the picture how bad it is.
 
From a Dealership POV they likely paid $2k at most and put a little time in on detailing. Looks like a nice car though. Eyes on is the best insurance...
 
This car went through here not too long ago, and the same photos are in the current listing. I would wager that it is on consignment to this dealer by the current owner, rather than the dealership owns it.

But they are at least honest that the odometer has rolled around once, and haven't tried to pass it off as an original mileage car since it is a 5 digit odometer, which might bode well for the claim about the "minor rust" claim. But as stated above, eyes on the car are cheap insurance. The biggest turnoff so far is the dark green to me at least. Interesting that it would have power door locks but not power windows.

These are my favorite cars of all, and the price seems reasonable for what I see. It is very unusual to even find all the factory side trim in place or not totally mangled (even though the ribbed moldings on the top of the trim are almost always gone by now - fell off). I believe the claim that it was owned by the same owner since 1973, in which case it probably was given good care.

I believe it is a potential very good candidate for a driver. You might want to replace the brake lines after all this time in that climate and do some rear quarter rust repair, and hopefully the stub frame is in nice shape. Have someone look at it.
 
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Doesn't look too bad... my concern would be with the mounts at the stub frame with the rubber insulators looking as crusty as they do. I mean, that happens but if it was run in a lot of salt there may be a good amount of damage there.

The carpets look pretty thrashed which doesn't necessarily mean anything but what's under those rubber mats would tell you quite a bit about the floors.

As has been said, trusted eyes on it would help a great deal.
 
There seems to have been some lower Quality repairs bubbling up once again on the lower Body like the rear quarter Panels. I'd pass on this one as it will have some surprises in the Body department alone that will cost you a lot to fix properly.
 
As the car has a factory hood insulator, it should also probably have factory undercoating on it, I believe. But that trunk floor section looks suspect if it does.

I'd also highly suspect the rh front floor section has some "issues" hiding under the carpet. Reason? That solid vinyl/rubber floor mat! That solid mat will trap moisture under it, from temperature variations AND the typically leaky a/c cases, from what I saw with my '70 Monaco.

Otherwise, the body issues seem to be what I might suspect as "normal" or better than normal for that locale and the age of the car. A visual inspection, as mentioned, would be necessary.

Personally, I like that dark green/vinyl roof combination. But that's just me. The darker metallic colors tended to show up the great lines of those cars.

The interior "wear and tear" items can be expensive to fix, too, as might the vinyl top to replace later. Much of it "par for the course", though.

Unless this car is just what you desire, there might be better ones later on, with fewer rust issues. Just from what is visibly, to fix them might cost what a better-condition car might cost by itself. But it does look pretty good as it is. Probably good enough to be a driver until repairs could be made? Still, an inspection is needed before making a final decision.

CBODY67
 
The stub frame actually looks surprisingly good for an Illinois car, almost as clean as a California one. There is a small section next to the exhaust pipe that is dark, but I don't think that is rust out, as the rest of the frame doesn't even have much scale on it.

I don't think the lower front fenders or the quarters would be that expensive or difficult to repair. The trunk floor probably needs the most work it appears to me. Maybe Wyatt can shed more light on it if he can look at it, although I know he is plenty busy these days!
 
Thanks for all the replies - if anyone is in the area and can put eyes on, I would appreciate it. Our family had a '71 in Tahitian Walnut Poly with matching brown vinyl roof and all vinyl interior with the bucket seats and center arm rest. I think the only option was AutoTemp II (Which would crack its plastic housing if ever there were not enough water in the radiator - interestingly Mercedes used the same units.) Anyway, I've always missed that car.
 
Just my 2 cents worth.....I am suspect of the "minor rust" statement. Rust is like an iceberg....you only see a 1/4 of what's actually there and I see a fair amount. See both lower fender and rear lower quarter have been repaired, those stub frame mounts look iffy at best, and the trunk extension rust doesn't look great either.

I have been through the financial wringer with restoring a rusty vehicle and I would never travel that road again. That is why I spend the time and money to find, and have shipped to me as clean a vehicle as I can find....rust wise. The rest, drive trains, interior, etc are easy fixes compared to rusty sheet metal and frames.
 
Thanks for all the replies - if anyone is in the area and can put eyes on, I would appreciate it. Our family had a '71 in Tahitian Walnut Poly with matching brown vinyl roof and all vinyl interior with the bucket seats and center arm rest. I think the only option was AutoTemp II (Which would crack its plastic housing if ever there were not enough water in the radiator - interestingly Mercedes used the same units.) Anyway, I've always missed that car.

Interesting that you bring up your family car. I also have one in the color combination you describe. The one I have does have quite few options though, including a factory sunroof. It is shown in the Mopar Sunroof Registry for our cars on a page with the following link:

https://moparsunroofregistry.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/sunroof1971chryslercars1.pdf

It is the last one on the page and has no rust. I bought it out of Colorado when it was going to be scrapped. But it is a complete vehicle and I couldn't let it be scrapped especially because it is an original sunroof car.
 
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Interesting that you bring up your family car. I also have one in the color combination you describe. The one I have does have quite few options though, including a factory sunroof. It is shown in the Mopar Sunroof Registry for our cars on a page with the following link:

https://moparsunroofregistry.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/sunroof1971chryslercars1.pdf

It is the last one on the page and has no rust. I bought it out of Colorado when it was going to be scrapped. But it is a complete vehicle and I couldn't let it be scrapped especially because it is an original sunroof car.
Steve you have sunroof cars needing resto???
 
Thanks for all the replies - if anyone is in the area and can put eyes on, I would appreciate it. Our family had a '71 in Tahitian Walnut Poly with matching brown vinyl roof and all vinyl interior with the bucket seats and center arm rest. I think the only option was AutoTemp II (Which would crack its plastic housing if ever there were not enough water in the radiator - interestingly Mercedes used the same units.) Anyway, I've always missed that car.
I can get eyes on it for you
 
Steve you have sunroof cars needing resto???

Yeah, as the sunroof site shows, I have three of them left. I recently sold my 1971 sunroof Imperial to Australia to a really dedicated restorer who will make it new again. Here is the photo from the registry of this blue one that I sold:

https://moparsunroofregistry.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/sunroof1971imperialcars.pdf

I will post photos of it when he is done.

Your whirlwind visit recently probably caused you to miss all of them.
 
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Yeah, as the sunroof site shows, I have three of them left. I recently sold my 1971 sunroof Imperial to Australia to a really dedicated restorer who will make it new again. Here is the photo from the registry of this blue one that I sold:

https://moparsunroofregistry.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/sunroof1971imperialcars.pdf

I will post photos of it when he is done.

Your whirlwind visit recently probably caused you to miss all of them.
I saw the yellow car in the garage. The other two I missed...I need one...
 
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