So my husband turns 40 this year and I gave him wife-permission to purchase a Classic Car. He bought a 1971 Plymouth Scamp and we’re waiting for the weather to improve so we can road-trip it home from the US. He plans to take it to Cruise Night and various car shows (Moparfest, that sort of thing) and wants me to be comfortable with it so I can take it out when he’s not around.
I don’t know a damn thing about cars. I look after my Jeep but that’s about it. He tells me all these things about the parts he’s buying for it and what he’s going to rebuild on it, etc. and I smile and nod because I simply don’t get it.
So my question is: When you’re at a car show and see a cool car, what questions about it do you ask the owner? I will take your hypothetical questions to my husband and get the answers so hopefully I won’t look like a jackass when I’m approached by passers-by.
(It really is a cool car - I’m glad he got that one because apparently they’re not very common. The previous owner said that when he took it to car shows many people would say “I’ve never seen one before!”)
I understand buying classic cars for investment purposes, including those that are already restored, because they have historically continued to appreciate.
What I have not understood are people that buy already restored classic cars to take to car shows. I was under the impression that people showed off cars that they personally had invested the time restoring so they could talk about their hobby. I know your husband said that he plans on adding certain parts here and there, but if the previous owners had taken the thing to shows, it already pretty much done. I guess you could tell passerby’s what you paid for it and where you bought it.
He plans to put in a better engine and there are aesthetic things he wants to replace (currently has a cracked grille, for instance.) He’s planning to “soup it up” I believe. He wants something to work on and sees potential with this car.
My parents did this for a long time with their Road Runner (also MOPAR like the Scamp). My step dad had a detailed binder with all of the paperwork he did with the car. They also had a 6 foot tall Roadrunner and put a dish with “Free Seed” next to the statue. Most people just wanna know what size engine it is (it’s a 225 slant six)and what after market stuff there is. It’s a muscle car, so people wanna know how much muscle it’s got.
The question I would ask, is why? A Scamp?? The reason they aren’t common at car shows is they are boring. They are Valiants with decals. Aside from the novelty factor, there’s not much else to ask, if it is stock.
Actually, I would just smile and say, “Well, that’s different.”
Now, if you put a 340, 4 speed, headers, 8 3/4 with 3.55 gears, NOW you’re talking. Then I’d ask about the parts, how well it runs, how fast. No need to ask why there, it’s obvious. Small car + big engine = fun.
“Is it real?” - which has varying reasons for being asked and varying interpretations.
“Do you race it?”
“How fast does it go?”
And, of course, the non-question every classic car show-er gets: “Oh, yeah, my [dad | uncle | friend | army buddy | brother] had one of those back in the day.” (Theirs always had the disc brakes, the 4-speed, the biggest and rarest engine, or was signed by the most famous racer of the model.)
I truly lust for a concours-grade Yugo, preferably the very rare cabriolet. That’ll show 'em.
Omar has little knowledge here…
Very few people turn a profit from ‘investing’ in classic cars. Storage and maintenance aren’t free, and things like tires and batteries die just sitting there from old age.
There are VERY few people that can do all the work on any vehicle. Less and less every year.
As the OP is taking it to a new area, they are giving it a brand new audience.
I had a '67 Chevelle and a '67 Nova. I now have a '53 GMC 5 window pickup. I put a different engine or drivetrain in all of them. None of them made it to car show worthiness. But I’ve been to MANY car shows.
Putting a different engine usually ruins any collector value. OP needs to be aware of that. Keep the original engine if at all possible. Bag, box and label ea part and bolt that comes off.
You will be asked;
What year is it. How many were made. What size engine. Is it the original engine. How many miles. Is it the original paint / color. What has been changed from original. What did it sell for when new. Were there any options your car doesn’t have.
But there were no 225 ‘leaning tower of power’ sixes in RRs (at least, not from the factory). Standard was 383. Belevederes and Satellites has the 6s. A slant six is not a muscle motor. Not even with every part from the Direct Connection catalog!
I worked with a guy who had the most beautiful 383 71 Challenger I’ve ever known - that sear-your-eyes chrome yellow and quite a few original goodies including the pistol-grip shifter. He had what was supposed to be the only 383 six-pack manifold ever made -in an ill-fitting Dodge parts box, with twenty or thirty pages of largely hand-written flow-bench and machining data. I don’t know if he ever mounted it.
That in itself would be a museum piece! But, he did have documentation (and he didn’t get it from the dealer showroom). Can’t deny what’s right in front of you. Was this in Detroit?
I would ask lots of questions there, like “where did you get that?” and “are you going to try to install it?”
It came with the car, or his brother (who bled Mopar) got it for him - or something. He carried it around in the trunk and showed it to us a few times. I really don’t know the details or provenance except that it looked like a genuine prototype from what I could see of the casting, finish, notes and so forth.
He never installed it while I knew him, but as he could lay 100-foot black stripes in the parking lot any time he felt like it (we watched from a second story window as he laid long pothooks around a corner, and a co-worker drawled, “Well, he’s got posi, too…”) I don’t know that he had any motivation to do so.
Well, it’s like instant cred. I knew a guy that had “gen-u-ine rod bolts from Mr Richard Petty”, but there’s no way to prove that. A prototype manifold, direct from the factory? “We’re not worthy!”
Almost all of the car shows I’ve taken a car too or just visited, the owners are not present, they are wandering around checking out the other cars or hanging out somewhere else. The few times I stuck around my car nobody really engaged me in conversation. And I have never talked to another owner about their car, either. Basically, I’ve had better conversations at gas stations than car shows.
He was a big, very good-looking surfer type in his mid-20s. For reasons that never were completely clear, he had “missed out on his teen years” and was making up for lost time. Part of that was nailing anything that would hold still long enough.
Take digital pictures during restoration and you can print the best to show at the Car Shows. People enjoy seeing the restoration process.
One question we heard often is whether the serial number/VIN on the body matched the frame. My dad’s restored Model A had those matching numbers. He got pretty excited about that during restoration. He took the body off, had it media blasted, and painted. Had the frame media blasted and painted too.
Anyhow, matching VIN numbers on the frame and body is worth documenting with a photo of the numbers.
to purchase a Classic Car. He bought a 1971 Plymouth Scamp and we’re waiting for the weather to improve so we can road-trip it home from the US. He plans to take it to Cruise Night and various car shows (Moparfest, that sort of thing) and wants me to be comfortable with it so I can take it out when he’s not around.
Aside from the novelty factor, there’s not much else to ask, if it is stock.
