Survivor car

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^^^ I agree. I figure the guys into ONLY survivors came up with percentages maybe for a class at the big shows ????? Or trying to establish a guide line for such.
I have replaced stuff on cars only to have some dude tell me how I "ruined" the car. Ha I just pissed him off and told him I bought it, mine to ruin! Ha
LIke said, you common sense will tell you what needs attention!
 
Garrett Ellison said:
Seriously nice find. I would love to see more pics. I don't recall seeing any 340 cars with the spear strip molding on the side. Is it a bench seat car?
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First this is one great find --- the new owner is my hero for finding and saving this car ---- with the high impact paint, once cleaned up it will look great. It might be best to fully research the best products needed to retain the originality, and stay with only those if the goal is a survivor car. You might want to reach out to a top auto detailer on what products and steps needed to remove the grime and how to prepare the paint for a renewal.

Body side moldings were a factory option on the 1970 Plymouth Duster 340. You rarely see cars equipped with the factory body side moldings as these cars are 51 years old and almost all have been repainted, where many current owners removed the moldings prior to the repaint. AFAIK the body side moldings in original style form are not being reproduced so once removed they are very difficult to re-attach as the adhesive is specific to that molding and not available.

Back in 1970, these cars were daily drivers and owners wanted to spare the sides from door dings.

These moldings substituted for the factory longitudinal stripes.

In 1970 when I factory ordered my B7 Duster 340, I specified the optional body side moldings, and yes, my car was ordered with the bench with center arm rest optional seat and the exact same steering wheel shown for this car.

Take a look at the factory options pocket guide for salemen on the following website library :
The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1970 Plymouth Salesman's Pocket Guide
 
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Yes I know it will need new carpet for sure getting the drivers seat redone I’ll see how the others clean up I know there will always be people that want to bash us but I’m going to drive this car and enjoy it unfortunately the gentleman that bought in new has passed away and when I did talk with him he could not remember anything he had dementia it is a awesome find fir sure
 
Whether or not it is considered a survivor depends on whose opinion is being used at the time. In reality it is what you want it to be, I think it should be considered as a survivor, it was obviously given some day 2 modification by previous owners, but if the original engine and transmission are still present, why not?
Great find and look forward to seeing more pictures as you delve into it.
 
IMHO a true survivor is one that has not been modified in any way.

100% would be very low miles with no replacement of wear parts (tires, belts, hoses, water pump, etc.) Not a realistic number unless the car was drained of all fluids and put into storage in a climate controled environment.

75% would be car was driven but low miles wear parts replaced, oe paint.

50% would be car driven high milage, wear parts and some other items (carpet, seat covers, arm rests etc) may have been replaced, may have had an accident with a repair. May have been repainted, engine, trans, other parts rebuilt

25% would be a car that has most of its original parts but they have been removed and reconditioned, may have had any of the 50% (above) items done to it.

0% would be a rotisserie or the like full restoration with lots of aftermarket OEM style reproduction parts.

Just my opinion.
 
Vs29H1B said:
First this is one great find --- the new owner is my hero for finding and saving this car ---- with the high impact paint, once cleaned up it will look great. It might be best to fully research the best products needed to retain the originality, and stay with only those if the goal is a survivor car. You might want to reach out to a top auto detailer on what products and steps needed to remove the grime and how to prepare the paint for a renewal.

Body side moldings were a factory option on the 1970 Plymouth Duster 340. You rarely see cars equipped with the factory body side moldings as these cars are 51 years old and almost all have been repainted, where many current owners removed the moldings prior to the repaint. AFAIK the body side moldings in original style form are not being reproduced so once removed they are very difficult to re-attach as the adhesive is specific to that molding and not available.

Back in 1970, these cars were daily drivers and owners wanted to spare the sides from door dings.

These moldings substituted for the factory longitudinal stripes.

In 1970 when I factory ordered my B7 Duster 340, I specified the optional body side moldings, and yes, my car was ordered with the bench with center arm rest optional seat and the exact same steering wheel shown for this car.

Take a look at the factory options pocket guide for salemen on the following website library :
The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1970 Plymouth Salesman's Pocket Guide
Click to expand...
That is beyond cool to see. I am right there with you in cleaning it and leaving as much of the factory finish alone as possible. I'm all for driving it and using it, and not only would I leave all the day two modifications on it, I would probably go as far as to add more period correct aftermarket goodies from "back in the day". I get a bigger kick out of seeing these cars as period correct built performance cars than as they were driven off the lot.
 
I would like to offer this....it is your car now, and only you know what direction you will take with the car. It doesn’t need a name, a category, or anything else for you to enjoy it. In the end, you will find out that you will need to do certain things to it to enjoy it. Don’t feel obligated to keep it a certain way to make it fit into a certain category, do what it tells you it needs to be able to enjoy it for what you want it to be. I hear from both sides of the fence about my car....” you’re gonna restore it, right”?, or....”don’t touch a thing, you’ll ruin what it is”! In the end, I just want to drive it, and beat on it like I do all my cars, just like the original owner did. My goal was simple, return it to the road as close to the day it left it as possible, and pick up the original owner and let him enjoy it with me. I’ve accomplished both, and can now enjoy it as my car, and that’s what I’m doing.

I wish you great times ahead with your car, it’s gonna be a great car that you’ll get tons of enjoyment out of, and in the end that’s all that matters!
 
Just document it the best you can. Photos and notes, plus drawings and sketches if you're into that too.

You've got to clean it to make a full assessment.

What you do with it from there, and how you want to define survivor is up to you. I think Day 2 or 'as raced' or 'as driven' are all just as valuable time capsules as factory showroom.

When I was at Carlisle 2 years ago looking through the 'survivors' for various details of interest to me, many of these details had been replaced. Others had their hoods and trunks closed - I think on purpose. So my take away was the amount of original unrestored remaining on any individual 'survivor' varied quite a bit.
 
Man, I love seeing cars like this come out of the woodwork. I have a couple that were in similar condition and my philosophy is get them looking the way they were when they were parked or taken out of regular service back in the 70's or 80's.
There are a ton of restored cars out there as well as many modified and now restomods.
There are very few true survivors left and also not a whole lot of cars out there that still look like they did when they were drivers back in the day.
That's the vibe I try to keep, basically just make them roadworthy and clean, degrease and revive them without repainting or refinishing anything.

I have a 66K original mile unrestored Road Runner that's mostly untouched. One of the best conversations I had was at a show with a retired Chrysler tech who work at a dealership from the 60's through the 80's and he loved the car, said it looked like something that would have come into the service bay around 1977 or so.
It's so rare to see something like that still around. Most got fixed up at some point or left outside and neglected to the point where they needed a complete resto or became a parts car.
I'll definitely be following this thread.

Regarding what to do with the paint, this is probably the most definitive write up about restoring old paint that I've run across. It's a long read but tons of good info inside:

The Secret to Removing Oxidation and Restoring a Show Car Finish to Antique Single Stage Paints


Also, this thread has a lot of info about stripping off unwanted paint like the black on your inner fenders. It's on a VW van forum so those owners know a thing or two about bad paint jobs.

TheSamba.com :: Body/Paint - View topic - Removing aftermarket paint to get OG paint
 
It's a survivor. imo the car is 50 years old and over 90% intact.
Nice find !
 
Great idea getting it where it was when parked. Really excited about this car.
 
Just pulled it out of the barn here a few more pictures found the broadcast sheet and has the fender tag bonus

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Has tow bar brackets on the front bumper back in the day 13.05 @ 105 looks like it’s been sitting since late 70s early 80s
 
superbeesrt8 said:
Just pulled it out of the barn here a few more pictures found the broadcast sheet and has the fender tag bonus

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now that’s what I’m talking about!! I give this post 10 thumbs up! I’ll bet you didn’t sleep a wink last night.
 
Give it a good cleanup. You'd be surprised how it'll look. Might not need as much work as you think
 
Way to much work for you. You better sell it to me.
 
Yunick13 said:
Give it a good cleanup. You'd be surprised how it'll look. Might not need as much work as you think
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that’s what I think as well. Change the fluids, run a remote fuel source, and throw a battery in and try to fire it. I’ll bet it fires right up.
 
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