1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
What's up everybody. I've always kind of been a lurker on here, but I finally have a car myself to talk about. I sold my 4 daytona's when I moved to Georgia about 2 years ago. Ever since I moved I've been keeping my eye out for a new turbo dodge. Today was my lucky day. My wife and I left to go shopping this morning. We went down the road about 2 miles and I noticed a wrecker in somebody's driveway loading up some junk cars. The car the guy was hooking to the back looked like alot like an old charger so I quickly told my wife to turn the car around and go back. She thought I was joking at first but soon enough we were heading back lol. We pulled in the driveway and I got out. Sure enough, the wrecker guy was loading up a Black/Silver 1986 Shelby Charger. He said he was taking it to the junkyard because the guy that owned it had got some complaints from the county about too much junk sitting in his yard. I asked if he would sell it to me and he said $350 and it's mine. I had a quick conversation with the wife and we agreed it would be my early birthday present. I went back and asked the guy if he would take $300. He said he needed $350, so I said tow it to my house and I'll give you $350. 20 minutes later the car was in my garage. The wrecker guy was really cool and happy to see me buy it. He thought the car was in way too good of shape to be scrapped, he was right too. Not a spec of rust anywhere. Floorboards are perfect. Interior is in almost mint condition. No rips in the seats, everything there. No dents, ground effects not cracked, engine and transmission there, rear louvers, sunroof with original leather sunroof bag in the hatch. All 4 aluminum rims with center caps. This car is in really really good shape, just needs to be cleaned up. Downsides: no key, but my neighbor is a locksmith so it shouldn't be an issue. No title, but I have a bill of sale which according to the wrecker driver is all I need in Georgia because the car is so old. According to the wrecker guy the owner bought it ten years ago and "the headgasket started going bad so he just parked it and was gonna fix it up." Sorry for the long post but I'm really stoked about this.
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...ikus17/car.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...kus17/car4.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...us17/car11.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...kus17/car9.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...kus17/car2.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...kus17/car6.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...kus17/car3.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...kus17/car1.jpg
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
SWEET!! Nice find. I love stories like that. Would have been a real shame to see it rott away in some j-yard.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Nice find! Looks like you got some good help too:)
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
It will be a great project. My 2 year old was all excited and grabbed a screwdriver and said "daddy let's fix it." I wanted to make this a project log so I could keep track of the progress and also show everybody. It will be a slow project though because money is kinda tight, i'm lucky taxes just came back and I could buy it lol. Tomorrow or sometime over the next week I will talk to the neighbor about possibly making a key for it. I also need to figure out the title situation before I drop too much money into it. Probably next weekend I will clean it up and maybe try to get it running. I will keep the pictures and updates coming though!!
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
wow man you are definitely my hero today! Not only did you have a great find, but your wife helped you out too! That is an AWESOME starting point for an L body since most of the time you either fight rust or can't find interior parts. My first car was a twin to that one only difference being it was an 85. Glad to see this one NOT end up where it obviously doesn't belong for another 20 years or so it sounds like! I wouldn't get too worried about the title, sounds like Georgia is pretty flexible. Also worst case sometimes someone with a dealers license can help you with the title. Being as you got it so cheap and its solid it would be worth the trouble IF necessary.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Great save, wish I could get that lucky.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Makes me cry when I read stories like this. I can never find those deals! I thought I was doing good when I spent $1,000 for my non-running Turismo... (it did run when I got it, before I knew better)
Good luck with the car, and make the most of it for me. :D
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Great find! Right place at the right time, the T-M gods were watching out for you :thumb:
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
think how many slip past, straight to the crusher.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Update: Went to Wal-mart this morning and bought a cheap 12V emergency tire inflator to air up the tires, I don't have an air compressor right now:( Aired up the tires and pushed it outside. The wife and little boy helped me wash it up and scrub all the mold off. My wife is all excited and can't believe we got such a good deal on it. Got the neighbor over and he made a key for me, I now owe him one lol. Hooked up some jumper cables and the thing actually turned over so it's not locked up! That's a good start. It is over full with oil and the coolant appears to be empty... I'm hoping the previous owner drained it before storage but I doubt it. There were 4 1 gallon coolant jugs in the hatch, all filled with water. The fuel gauage was reading below empty, but it probably doesn't work. I went out and got 3 gallons of gas for it. I will probably try to start it after I eat my late lunch, but i'm not gonna get my hopes up. I will post some pictures of it all cleaned up tonight.
I was definatly in the right place at the right time. I've always dreamed of being able to save a car like this and have an awesome story to tell. My dream has come true now.
The interior has some flaws, the center console lid is trashed, the heater control assy fell apart when I was checking out the switches, and the sunvisors/headliner are kinda funky. Are the sunvisors supposed be just plain black plastic? Mine are just plastic with no covering. Also, this may sound dumb, but does the center console open up? I've never so much as ridden in an L-body before let alone own one lol.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Nice find! good luck with it!
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Good news! 3 gallons of new gas and some jumper cables later, I drove the car back into the garage under it's own power! It runs! I didn't run it too long because there is no coolant in it and a gas line broke and was spraying gas everywhere. This is all too good to be true, hopefully I can get a title for it. That will be the next step. Here are some pictures of it cleaned up a little, pictures aren't that great, but the car looks way better with all the mold off lol.
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...17/Car11-1.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...17/Car12-1.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...17/Car13-1.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...17/Car14-1.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...17/Car15-1.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...17/Car16-1.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...us17/Car17.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/a...s17/Car1-1.jpg
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Nice save! Good deals like this are hard to find nowadays.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Congrats! You are right, it sure cleaned up nice...exciting project for sure :thumb:
Also, you mentioned the crankcase is overfulll...be careful with running the engine, there may be coolant in the oil!
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Wow that looks SUPER CLEAN!
Great SAVE!
Sounds like my Laser I found.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
Lucky find - good luck with your project. Looks like you got a pretty sweet deal.
Re: 1986 Shelby Charger Saved from the JY!
awesome save! If you need any parts give me a shout, I have a few parts cars. And no, the visors are supposed to me the same color as the headliner.