1970 Plymouth GTX, 440 c.i. 4 speed in excellent condition, all original except for a nice refresh paint job a few years back. Just a nice original, stock factory car. He's asking 25k. Any thoughts ? Given the performance of the market vs the appreciation of muscle cars, I'm thinking of buying it for the investment value, putting it away and only driving it enough to keep it limber.

It might be a good deal, depends on the options, color, etc. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. The market kind of went soft on high dollar prices for muscle cars, except for the really rare ones, but it would be a fun way to spend some $$. Check barrett jackson, but keep in mind, those cars are usually teh exception rather than the norm. Hemmings Motor News is a good barometer of prices.

I had a 1971 Challenger R/T S/E 440 six pack car back in the day; silly fun, burnouts a block long, etc. I shudder to think what it might be worth now, if I had hermetically sealed it and preserved a rare car like that.

The GTX, which is really just a Charger with Plymouth badges swapped in, had pretty low production numbers, I've checked and the car seems to be considered "rare". The color is called "Burnt Orange" and looks just like this one:

http://www.motorheadtrader.com/index.php?a=2&b=5745

except the interior is black. At this point I've just walked around the car and I haven't approached the owner. I know I have to pay attention to matching numbers and have the car checked out by a mechanic (if anyone knows of a good shop in the Houston area that knows these cars, let me know).

I wasn't aware their has been a price decline in the muscle car market. Do you think the price appreciation on these cars has been a "bubble"? I know no one can predict what the car would be worth in ten years, but my hope is that I would buy at 25k and sell in that time frame for 50. Pipe dream?

A numbers matching car with a quality, factory color repaint, otherwise stock still holds a lot of potential. The GTX's were pretty low number cars. Muscle car prices have leveled off, but it's economic more than anything else. There are still baby boomers who want to buy their childhood dream cars and as soon as things turn around again and they are more comfortable spending their disposable income the market will rebound.

Is it a 4 barrel or Six Pack car?

Given how crazy muscle car prices got at their peak, I don't think $50K is out of the question in 10 years (assuming the car checks out). It will only get more scarce.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

There is somewhat of a bubble effect on all collector cars, that peaks when the people who either owned or wanted to own one, get to their peak earning years. Then, as those folks slide off the far end of the age chart, prices will go down some, except that the really nice rare cars will tend to stay strong and appreciate, just not at that boom rate. MOPARS, esp good colored big block ones, will most likely always be high dollar. matching numbers car, with good repair to the body or no rust is a very good deal. Very few mopars have made it this far without body repair, check and see how well it was done, and if teh paint color is exactly what it was when sold. Easy things to check, and there is a guy, something Glovier who has a datanbae that you can run the numbers through and he can tell you exactly how many were made like your car. High optioned cars are usually worth more money. 6 pack? EVERYTHING for this car is available, mostly, from places like Year One. Lots of these cars were really run out and changed hands like bicycles back in their day. I bought my 71 in 78 and I was the 5th owner...chances increase that people changed things the more owners you have. Some of the priceless factory stuff I saw discarded or given away would make you sick. Back then, though, it was just stock stuff...

I haven't looked under the hood. It has the factory scoop that has "440" embossed on the scoop, where you can see the "440" on the air door in front of you as you sit in the drivers seat. You press a button on the dash, and it swings open, IIRC. I don't know if this indicates the carb configuration, but I'll know for sure after I talk to the guy this evening. It looks like in 1970 you could order the six pack as an option, and it came stock with a 4 bbl.

I have noticed something that bothers me about the car. It has a bench seat, and does not have the center console-4 speed pistol grip stick setup. It has a Hurst pistol grip stick coming off the floor. I would have expected this car to have come stock with bucket seats and a center console shifter. Does anyone know of a website where one can find info like that? I think it points to the car being a "clone".

Yeah, I remember those days. My dad was a big Pontiac fan, he would go down to the junk yard and doing his shopping. Forged cranks, six packs, all that stuff laid around his garage next to the cat's litter box - and he was pulling them out of things like 50's station wagons and swapping them into his 65 GTO for chump change. Days gone, but not forgotten.

Well, I'll be... came with bench seats stock.

http://books.google.com/books?id=SUfwxG5O-uAC&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=plymouth+gtx+bench+seats&source=bl&ots=5A8knkfuet&sig=VuHGa7kmSpgt8F6h8jb4AAqwEhg&hl=en&ei=suy1TOCBL4aBlAebiansBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=plymouth%20gtx%20bench%20seats&f=false

1969 Chevelle SS 396es & Olds 442s came with bench seats too.

The 1964 Pontiac GTO had bucket seats, with no console, just that stick protruding out of the floor, although some nice chrome trim around it. The lateral support of the '64 GTO's bucket seats was no-existent. 1965 and 1966 was where they started bolstering the seating surfaces.

This was brand new territory a radical small group of engineers at each of the firms was cutting through. We have John Z. DeLorean to thank for the Pontiac GTO.

The mentality of the era was these were regular cars, with massive power, and the options list grew behind the basic aspect of raw ass power - from family cars.

The bench seat would not nix the car for me. But I would prefer buckets/console.

The trouble is that many are still not budging off the pre-depression pricing. So many of theses specialty cars just sit - with an obstinate owner. Quite similar to some homes where the sellers have not woke up to the new reality of lower prices.

If I really wanted the car, I would offer $20K. It would have to be da#n near pefect with A/C too. No way in Houston I'd be without A/C.


A lifelong friend of mine's Dad was on the phone at their home with the car salesman at the Chevrolet dealer ordering a new Camaro in 1967. My friend interupted his Dad during the ordering process, and told his dad to tell the salesman to include the SS option. That was one fast 350 Camaro! Other guys I knew used that strategy to get their parents to up order into the muscle car engine option versions. No such luck around our house. dad wasn't into overpowered V8s - just standard family cars.

In reading up on these cars, it floored me to see that a Hemi was a "$546 add on" !

you cant even get a "grocery organizer/divider" for that price anymore!

lol

It could be even more interesting if it's a low-option model. "X Option"-Delete models are often more scarce.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Took another look thru the windows, there are no dash vents, so I am assuming it did not come with air, or that it has some sort of aftermarket air.

The car is in the kind of condition one would expect from being a garage-kept toy owned by someone who does not get into hot rodding, it's just a nice old stocker. As I look at pics on the net and at the car, it looks to me like it has not seen any modifications at all. The car needs to be detailed, it looks like it's biggest problem is garage grime you'd see on a car not driven much.

Only 7,000 of them were made that year. The Chargers sold like hot cakes, the Challenger was selling like hot cakes, and apparently this model was on the market to give grandpa a shot at having a muscle car, its really just an understated Charger for the more conservative type, like myself, for example. Very few of them sold compared to those other two models. One other interesting item, the car won a major NASCAR title that year running the 440 6 pack.

Translate to today's dollars - would be perhaps a $3K option.