Hi There

[Eldervampire]

Hey All,

My name is Mike and after 13 years of marriage my wife put her foot down and told me my next project car would be my last one.

So for a year now I have been searching for the right car to fit my youthful lust, that now resides in a 41 year old body.
I almost pulled the trigger on an 82 Eldorado, but my driving style doesn't do well with a front wheel drive platform. While searching for an 80's model coupe that I liked. I found a 80 Mirada, and since I have never seen one before, I looked it up. Which led me to the discovery of the other J bodies, this forum and the O.I.C. I have decided to do a restomod on an Imperial. But I'll need other parts from the other members of the family as well. Mirada fender louvers, the Cordoba console and buckets. Maybe a Tuff wheel.


Anyway, that's why I'm here and how I found you all.


Mike

 

[bremereric]

Welcome aboard. What you need is on this forum.

 

[My imp]

Welcome, wise choice!

 

[Eldervampire]

Thanks guys. I sure hope I can locate a car on here. I'm looking down the barrel of a 2 year project and a wife who has weathered 6 builds in 13 years. So this has to start cheap and be expensive at the finish. What do you think an Imp that qualifies as a running basket case with good floors would cost?

 

[Jack Meoff]

Welcome aboard....
Not sure around there but there's two decent one's around me both selling for under $2000.

 

[Mr.Lopar]

welcome aboard
where are you located? might help finding one a bit easier

 

[Eldervampire]

LOL, sorry. I'm located in the far N/W corner of Kentucky. One hour from Cairo Illinois, and 20 minutes from Union City Tennessee.

 

[jasperjacko]

welcome to the show. If you want to save all the work, the guy who runs the mopar style web site is selling his Imperial and it's already done. He goes by BK. check it out.

 

[Eldervampire]

Thanks Jasper, but for me that's half the fun of it. Not to bore you guys with history, but my Dad bought me my first car, a 1979 Turbo Mustang.
He towed it home and told me that I can have it when I get it running. He wouldn't pick up a wrench, but gave me all the advice I needed to do it. Since then, I've owned 1 brand new car, and hated that every 10th car on the road looked like it. I've gotten unusual cars that all needed plenty of work. I get to know her, and love her. My last project was a 1984 Pontiac Grand Prix, stock 305 with plenty of rust. I knew every bolt screw and splotch of grease like I know my wife's lips. It's the way I am, but, I always start cheap. The GP cost me $700, and after I was done, I had $5,000 in the car and sold it for $7K. This is going to be the last car I build, so it's got to be done by me to be for me. I hope I didn't offend you, but this is going to be a labor of love.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Sounds like my kinda plan....
I'll be tuning into this channel for sure.
Looking forward to seeing it come together.
Good luck on your quest to find that Imp. :icon_mrgreen:

 

[jasperjacko]

I agree, building is half the fun.

 

[72Dodge]

I realize you don't even have a car yet, but here's a Cordoba console for what seems to me like a good price, and if I'm reading right, it sounds like he's willing to ship:

http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/4274459628.html

 

[My imp]

Thanks Jasper, but for me that's half the fun of it. Not to bore you guys with history, but my Dad bought me my first car, a 1979 Turbo Mustang.
He towed it home and told me that I can have it when I get it running. He wouldn't pick up a wrench, but gave me all the advice I needed to do it. Since then, I've owned 1 brand new car, and hated that every 10th car on the road looked like it. I've gotten unusual cars that all needed plenty of work. I get to know her, and love her. My last project was a 1984 Pontiac Grand Prix, stock 305 with plenty of rust. I knew every bolt screw and splotch of grease like I know my wife's lips. It's the way I am, but, I always start cheap. The GP cost me $700, and after I was done, I had $5,000 in the car and sold it for $7K. This is going to be the last car I build, so it's got to be done by me to be for me. I hope I didn't offend you, but this is going to be a labor of love.

Sounds good. But if you're doing an Imp, you better be doing it because you like the car. Because these aren't exactly a good return on investment kinda car. You should really like the car. Very similar to your GP in looks, size, etc.. But you'll notice that the Prix never had the options, ride, or performance the Imp has. Very few of the Imp's I've seen have been that rusty. As far as price goes, you can get a rough one for a couple hundred, price obviously goes up with condition. 83Imp has one for sale that needs precious little for a damn fair price. I'd be driving that one myself if I could talk the wife into it. Do yourself a favor & start with as good a car as you can find. This isn't a GM where 5 billion have been made & you can find new or used parts at any garage sale. There's plenty of do-re-mi to be spent customizing it to your specifications w/o trying to hunt down 1/4's & sub frame rails. Spend a few hours perusing the forum on the cars, components, mod.'s, & ideas before you dive in head first. We're a friendly bunch here & will help in any way we can. The deals are out there, take a little time looking. Just on this forum alone you can probably find just about anything you need to build a complete car. Good luck.

 

[Eldervampire]

Sounds good. But if you're doing an Imp, you better be doing it because you like the car. Because these aren't exactly a good return on investment kinda car. You should really like the car. Very similar to your GP in looks, size, etc.. But you'll notice that the Prix never had the options, ride, or performance the Imp has. Very few of the Imp's I've seen have been that rusty. As far as price goes, you can get a rough one for a couple hundred, price obviously goes up with condition. 83Imp has one for sale that needs precious little for a damn fair price. I'd be driving that one myself if I could talk the wife into it. Do yourself a favor & start with as good a car as you can find. This isn't a GM where 5 billion have been made & you can find new or used parts at any garage sale. There's plenty of do-re-mi to be spent customizing it to your specifications w/o trying to hunt down 1/4's & sub frame rails. Spend a few hours perusing the forum on the cars, components, mod.'s, & ideas before you dive in head first. We're a friendly bunch here & will help in any way we can. The deals are out there, take a little time looking. Just on this forum alone you can probably find just about anything you need to build a complete car. Good luck.

I hear ya. Here's the deal, when my friends and I got the muscle car bug in our twenties, they bought 69 firebirds, 72 Z-28s, one even had a Judge. I bought a 70 Barracuda making me the only Mopar in the group. When we got into the tuners, they had Hondas & Toyotas, one had a bitchin VW Rabbit. I got a Fiero. G-Bodies, I went with a GP instead of the MC or Regal. See a pattern?


My first thought was to grab an early 80's Eldorado and drop the body on a Jimmy 4X4 frame with a Northstar engine. I detailed how I discovered the J-bodies and the IMP above, but what I didn't say was how much I admire the car. Initially, I thought "Hey, it's like a Caddy but RWD", I was wrong. It's so much more than that. It fits my need to have a unique car brand, it looks like the comfort level dogs the Eldorado and it has a RWD platform that would allow me to pretty much let my wallet dictate how fast I want to go. This will be my last car, as well as my last project until the wife and I retire and build a 50s or 60s cruiser to take road trips in. That is one of the best things about my marriage, she likes to take long drives, and love to drive. So the investment for me is just in satisfying my desires.

 

[Mr.Lopar]

I realize you don't even have a car yet, but here's a Cordoba console for what seems to me like a good price, and if I'm reading right, it sounds like he's willing to ship:

http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/4274459628.html

that's a great price

 

[My imp]

You'll fit right in here! We dance to a different drum around here to begin with! Welcome, welcome indeed!