Best Muscle Car for Beginner

In reply to Coldsnap:

$2890 would be a misprint for that IMO

... or a pretty nice deal just by the looks of it

Coldsnap wrote: this car seems like a mess right? http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3586441470.html

That's the car you should buy, for sure.

And 100% guaranteed that Camaro ad is missing a zero.

How come that's the one jav?

another duster

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3599448970.html

Javelin wrote:

Coldsnap wrote: this car seems like a mess right? http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3586441470.html

That's the car you should buy, for sure. And 100% guaranteed that Camaro ad is missing a zero.

WOW that's nice. Ditch the 318 once you've built up something cool, and the body and color is perfect.

will the 318 on the duster pick up speed nice?

I'm having a hard time seeing why thats nice. Probably because I'm just beginning to have an understanding..

Coldsnap wrote: this car seems like a mess right? http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3586441470.html

Nah, just needs some lovin'. A fuel pressure regulator and checking the float level with more than likely fix the running rich issue. If not an Ed carb is easy to tune.

Intake appears to be a Performer RPM. The ports are larger than the 318 ports. Plenty of room to grow with that intake.

On the interior, reproduction dash pads, seat skins, and carpets are all available.

If you go look at it, take a close look at where he's saying there's rust. Bring a screwdriver to poke around. Also look along the frame rails. On the front where the upper control arms mount, and along the inner fenders. In the rear the trunk floor near the quarter panels and under the spare tire. Front floor pans around where your feet sit.

If it's sound in all those areas I'd bring it home.

In reply to Coldsnap:

Straight body, good paint, great color, easy to modify/upgrade, light, can be fast, cool. The straight and rust-free looking body with good paint is soooooo much more valuable than you are giving it credit for. Plus it's already a V8.

Coldsnap wrote: I'm having a hard time seeing why thats nice. Probably because I'm just beginning to have an understanding..

Because Dusters are cool.

True, just seems like it could be a nightmare if I don't know enough to fully check it out and end up with something I can't fixed.

^ Any car can. If I were close to it I'd offer to go take a look at it for you.

That green Duster looks pretty well used up...think "rode hard and put up wet". $2,400? Not a chance. I'd be looking at half that, 2/3 tops.

Jeff

Coldsnap wrote: True, just seems like it could be a nightmare if I don't know enough to fully check it out and end up with something I can't fixed.

There's almost no way to get over your head with a domestic car from that era. Unless you get a rusty shell, or something with a ton of frame damage, nearly ANY problem can be solved with a call to Summit and less money than your typical Euro car cooling system failure.

It's nice because it's an awesome color, appears to be mostly original and rust free, is a neat look, and it's super easy to get parts for.

The green duster is probably the best thing you've put up so far. It's already a V8, and the carb problem can be solved real quick by putting a stock Thermoquad and iron intake back on it. If it's not rusty, that's a pretty good price, and interior parts are available. (Cool color, too.) Bonus is that it has factory A/C.

^ Yea but what idiot would put a carb on a car like that. Makes me think there might be other stupid work on the car. It's 3 hours away though, don't think it's worth driving all that way :(

How are 66 Comets? They considered muscle cars? 2 Door "Engine is a 289 V-8, automatic transmission, power steering, Everything works, horn, lights, wipers, backup lights, turn signals, etc."

I'd be looking really, really hard at that Duster - great color, and if the body is solid then the rest is details. These really are simple cars...

On the Duster, it's not idiotic to put a 4 barrel carburetor on it. The carburetor is a POS and the iron factory manifold wasn't doing any good, either. The 750 can be tuned for the 318, though it is too big. You'd have no problems at all swapping that out for the same carb in a 600cfm version, it would probably run great. The intake manifold is fine. (In fact, I'm about to put the same intake and 600 carburetor on my 360 AMC Javelin).

The Fairlane is a muscle car. Think Ford's version of the Malibu/Chevelle. Trim parts are really hard to come by, but that grainy photo looks decent. Price?

That duster is my favorite looking so far too.. it's 3 hours away, it would be a long 3 hour drive back with that carb..

Guy said $3,000 on the price of the comet. the top is a little beat up

"The top of the car over the years must have had something hit it an make some bents, so bondo was applied and after many years got some cracks in it so I striped it off and applied new professional bondo, it needs to finished out and it will be fine. What I plan to do is put on a new vylnn top."

I'd have to trailer that duster too.. "The dusters not road worthy. You'd have to trailer it.." from owner

My biggest concern with the duster was "dent in left front fender", yet no pictures of that at all....

Personally, I'd be more after the comet, but I am terrified by the illiterate. "Bents and vynll" Oh my.

In reply to Coldsnap:

If you should look at that Duster be damn sure that the carb wasn't spilling raw fuel into the engine. That could explain the rich fuel condition... besides being an oversized/ possibly untuned carb. Check the fuel level in the bowls w/ engine running through the fuel level screws. If it was dumping fuel it could ruin the engine bearings by thinning the oil.

Comet is a hard top it looks like, think he was referring to him planning to put a soft top on it.

The Comet is an ex-vinyl top car, and if it hands dent and bondo, that = major roof rust. I'm going through that crap now with my car. Be prepared to pull all the glass and have new window channels welded in, plus any rust in the floors from leaking. I'd never buy a vinyl top car again!

On the Duster and the carb combo: The Edlebrock Performer carbs are fine and simple to tune once you understand how they work. The 750 is big on paper, but the secondaries have a weighted flapper over them to slow the air rushing in. You can even disconnect the linkage from the secondaries and run just on the primaries in a few seconds.

Most likely the floats are either stuck or set too high. That's easy enough to adjust too. I'd also bet the carb is box stock and hasn't been touched. Fuel pressure could be too high as well, but I'd bet on the floats first.

Do anything to get the car running once the car is home, not in front of the guy. Use the running bad, needing to trailer it home, etc, as negotiating points on the price.

The stock 318 would have had a 2bbl carb. The heat riser passages in the intake tend to clog up with carbon and are a pain to clean out. For all the effort to do that, I'd put a 4bb intake on it too. Plus a 4bbl really wakes a 318 up.

Before taking a trip to go look at it, Yammy is right. Get the guy to send you pictures of the dented fender. If it's just dented it can be fixed. If it's really bent up those fenders aren't too hard to come by. They are all the same from '73-76 on Dusters, Valiants, and Scamps. I think the '72 is the same, but not 100% sure on that one.

Now if the side is caved in, forget it.