Second Quarter 2006 Volume 2, Issue 2 1 7 8 9 C o u n t y R o u t e 5 0 ( 6 0 7 ) 3 2 4 - 8 3 2 5 A r k p o r t , N e w Y o r k 1 4 8 0 7 W W W . R J C A R S . C O M G REETIN G S FRO M TH E PRESID EN T O F RJ C A RS IN C . Welcome back to Rev It Up! We’ll THERE!! Bonsanti’s 1966 Dodge Hemi Coro- soon be seeing many of you for Our office is looking great with all net 500. Look for pictures of this seasonal car shows and gatherings. the license plates that we’ve collected car soon or you might just see this We’ve listed some of these events so and started hanging on the walls. one in person at the Carlisle All you can be sure to get them on your Thanks to all of you who have do- Chrysler Nationals. Come see us in INSIDE THIS ISSUE: calendar. nated to our Row N, spaces 89-92, July 7-9th. We’re look- collection! Wow! I’m very excited about our What’s it 2 ing forward Keep them “Swingin’” article below. Matthew Worth? to seeing old coming! and I will be very busy with this in friends and I’ve been wait- depth father/son resto over the next License Plate 2 meeting up ing for a very couple of years. Special thanks are Up Date with new long time to in order to Mark and Samatha people this Fuel– It Doesn’t 3 have a new Briggs for agreeing to sell Matthew need to be…... year as well! office in my the car and helping to make his Our annual shop and it teenage dream come true. The hills Up Coming 4 Open House turned out of South Dansville will echo once Events Event (August 5th) is a great time to even better than I had imagined. again with the sound of an orange come out and meet the RJ CARS Look for more improvements to the 340 Dodge Dart! Sorry neighbors! staff members and look at some of RJ CARS facility soon. We’ve got a Look for “Mad Matt” to replace our recent projects first hand. We lot of plans unfolding for the upcom- “DangeRuss” behind the wheel. I have lots of food, fun and music for ing year! We are currently wrapping see a race to the drivers seat in our all ages. BRING OUT THOSE up a rotisserie restoration of Mike future! Have a great summer! CLASSIC CARS!! SEE YOU Russell A N D W E W ERE SW IN G IN ’! April 3rd was the official day of engine, transmission, and front this 340 completion on one of the 1970 suspension. We also removed the powered Dodge Dart Swinger projects RJ seats and replaced the carpet in this mean SubLime green Dart. We repainted green ma- and detailed the engine bay and chine– all under hood components. The fin- in a 3 month turn around time! Ted has given RJ CARS, Inc. the privilege of working on several cars in his collection, including a 1966 Engine bay before Restoration Plymouth Belvedere II, 426 CARS, Inc. had under way. Hemi, and 1970 Dodge Chal- Our good client, Ted La- lenger T/A, with matching France, signed on with us to do numbers 340 Six Pack and a partial restoration to his 70 Engine bay after Restoration matching number 4 Speed Swinger was one of Russ’s per- Dart Swinger. RJ CARS re- ishing touch was installing the Transmission. sonal favorites because he also moved and freshened up the characteristic rear black stripe to However, the 1970 Dart had a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger. 1 Page 2 Rev It Up Thanks for the great response to our License Plate Collection! We now have the following States: Alaska Alabama Arizona California Florida Hawaii Idaho Illinois Iowa Kansas Kentucky Michigan Minnesota Nebraska New Mexico Nevada New York N. Carolina S. Dakota Texas Vermont Washington Wisconsin Wyoming RJ CARS, INC. “Plated” Wall Others: Quebec Thanks to our readers we have a lot more to put up on the wall! Also note: Cheryl’s Triumph TR3A Show Board (previous issue) – lookin’ good! Some Muscle You Might Not Have Known What’s it Worth? About! By: Cindy Gemmill Just when I thought I was getting used to the amount of time Among muscle cars there always were a few that were a and money the restoration client is willing to invest in their little more rare than others. According to the Muscle Car project, along comes a situation that just blows me away! Club web site, 8 out of the top ten rarest are Mopars. Here’s how they ranked: In January we were contacted by a gentleman who lives in New Jersey. He and his father had this 1970 Barracuda Con- 1. 1967 Dodge Coronet R/T, Convertible, 426 Hemi vertible they were considering having restored. Contacting RJ 2. 1970 Dodge Coronet R/T, Convertible, 426 Hemi Cars, Inc. he gave us the information on the car and also sent 3. 1969 Chevrolet Corvette ZL-1 427, 2D Coupe, 427 V8 pictures. As they say “a picture is worth a thousand words”, 4. 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, Convertible, 426 Hemi the car needed an extensive restoration (it was very rusty!). 5. 1970 Dodge Super Bee, 2D Pillared Coupe, 426 Hemi However, this car was a Cuda Convertible and the color com- 6. 1966 Dodge Coronet 400, Convertible, 426 Hemi bination made it very rare– Alpine White exterior, all red inte- 7. 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda Hemi, Convertible, 426 Hemi rior with a black top. 8. 1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, Convertible, 400 RA IV As you might expect, the cost of an “extensive” restoration is 9. 1968 Dodge Coronet, Convertible, 426 Hemi somewhat daunting. Not giving up hope for giving this car a 10.1970 Dodge Challenger R/T, Convertible, 426 Hemi new life, this father/ son team listed their car on EBay. Well, I Out of the top 43 muscle cars, 32 of them are Mopars. think you know where this story is going….The buyer of this Now that’s what I call muscle! And according to one 1970 Barracuda Convertible paid $39,000 for a car that would Muscle Expert, the value of these cars increase about 10% have needed an extensive restoration! Oh, but the return on the each year– a lot better than most other types of invest- investment! If the restoration is done correctly this car could ments! be worth hundreds of thousands more than the amount of the Hemi convertibles are well represented on the list, for rea- original investment. sons you might not have thought of; Convertibles repre- According to the seller, the buyer of the car is converting it sented everything that the “typical” muscle car buyer did into a 1971 Hemi Cuda Clone and restoring the original drive not want, a higher price, more weight and generally lower train (318) and ultimately plans on re-selling it as a Hemi top speed. Add the convertible option cost with the extra Clone. The seller also wanted to let us know that he took the cost of a Hemi engine and you quickly understand why proceeds from “this non-running rust bucket” and bought a Hemi Convertibles are the most rare muscle car. very good condition, well maintained 1986 Ferrari Mondial By adding unusual combinations of color (interior and convertible. He says “He now has a four seat convertible to exterior), transmissions, radios and other options of the take the family out in, without the time and cost of a lengthy day your car could move up or down the above list. But in restoration of the Barracuda”, although he does wonder at general, it sure would be nice to have some sort of Hemi times “what I let get away with that one.” Convertible in the garage! 2 Volume 2, Issue 2 Page 3 …. SW IN G IN ’ ( C O N TIN U ED ) The 20 year anniver- ance upgrades to the brakes and We hope you all join us in sary of Russ’s first drive line components of the car, watching the journey of this car trip to the Nationals and keep the interior stock with and this special father-son pro- in 1988. an upgrade to include a factory ject come to life, again! Russ fondly remem- style tach. And even bers “being up for though he has the original days” preparing for bench seat for the car, he and driving to the will keep the same bucket Nationals. He also seats Dad sat in. remembers the With the purchase of a “bare-bones” budget parts car from John Jami- he had to work with! He even son, Matt has received “DangeRuss” in 1989 slept in the car for lack of help again from Rick Pfaff funds for a hotel room! for other parts. The same car Russ’s son, Mat- Though decisions are still thew, just purchased as his first being made about the muscle car! details of the car, Matt With the help of Larry Jackson, has decided to keep the Russ restored his 70 Dart color combination his As you can see from Swinger 340 to include bucket Dad had. The original the photos, Matt just seats supplied by Rick Pfaff. GoMango orange with a grins from ear to ear whenever he has a The current 2 year rotisserie black vinyl top.