Finally got my dream survivor 69 Polara, query about keeping survivor or doing mods

[TheInstigator]

A buddy of mine scored me a 1969 Polara four-door, 383, cream-with-tan-vinyl, with a mind-boggling but provable original 19,000 miles. Right. 19,000. It's about 95 percent Survivor Car.

Two questions for the collected brain trust of our forum:

ONE: Should I leave it in full Survivor Status, and just drive it and preserve it? Or should I do what I wanted to do when I first set out to buy a Polara, which was to put in a manual five-speed, drop the rear axle ratio and put on some Trick Flow heads and cam?

TWO: If any of you agreed with the proposed changes, what is your experience swapping in a Tremec TKX 5-speed, and dropping the back axle to a 3.55?

Love my C-body brothers, one damn opinion or the other. I welcome it all.

 

[413]

WOW what beautiful car. A 19,000 mile clean survivor should be left alone. It made it 56 years so let's help in go longer.

Just find a different car to cut up. Amd all,of,these mods are to make more,power and go,faster so why use a 383? Any mods and upgrades you do to a 440 will have more power than a 383.

Now before ANYBODY tellls me to mind my own business, this man asked a good question and this is my answer,

 

[SPF Required]

I am usually of the mindset of “it’s your car, do what you want”…. But not in the case of that beautiful car of yours.

The older I get the more I feel that we are not just driving cool old cars, but also preserving history. I would argue you have an amazing piece of history that is worth preserving.

But…. It is you car, do what YOU want.

Please post as many pics as you want. I’d love to see the engine.

 

[mobileparts]

You scored a beautiful original / survivor vehicle --- and that really needs to be left in pure / unmolested status....

Find something north of a parts car to make your modifications , etc., etc....

I think you should have your head examined if you make all kinds of changes to a beautiful car like that..... You asked , I answered.......
Your car , Your choice, as mentioned above , but sometimes it pays to leave well enough alone....

 

[marty mopar]

Leave it stock and modify some other not so pristine example.

 

[cbarge]

Purists here on this forum will cringe at the thought of butchering a rolling history book of a low mile survivor.

Me? I am a purist to a certain degree but also respect do whatever you want to your own car.

But just keep this in mind;
Just retain all original parts so the next guy can put it back to stock if they so desires.
I had done mods but of the " bolt on" variety that are reversible and not permanent.
Once you cut the floors and trans hump there is no turning back.

You praised the car's reliability in its stock form.
Once you start making modifications and a mish mash of different parts mixed together can lead to incompatibility and compromises reliability.
Do your homework to ensure all mods will work together.
I experienced first hand the flat tappet camshaft failure debacle and it is still rampant unless you spend $$ on roller cams.

Not to mention any project can and will empty your bank account and the value of an original car is greatly reduced.

Most 69 Polara's I had seen were ether 2dr hardtops or 4dr sedans.
Not many 69 Polara 4dr hardtops were sold and even fewer survive today.

Swapping in a manual trans will require the fuselage specific clutch pedal setup. Very hard to find and expensive.
Also different pedals for power brakes and manual brakes.
Since less than 5% of all 69/ 70 Fuseys were 3 on da tree, good luck on that.

You have good project ideas that I recommend be applied to a project C body.
A 2dr needing work will only increase in value as you progress.
Not to mention the cool factor.
Congrats on getting the Polara and enjoy it stock or modified.
Do whatever makes you happy.

 

[67_300_Convertible]

Piece of history right there. Beautiful as is.

 

[polara71]

Nice Polara. My preference is original when they've proven to still be all original.
BUT first you have to be a good steward of the car and eliminate all possibilities of things going wrong. That is not a good start.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Nice Polara. My preference is original when they've proven to still be all original.
BUT first you have to be a good steward of the car and eliminate all possibilities of things going wrong. That is not a good start. View attachment 706454

agree. He should be using the built in gas cap holder. The cap is the perfect size to wedge between the license plate door springs to hold it open to allow un obstructed access to the fill tube. Don’t ruin the already fragile paint by setting the cap on top of the trunk.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Nice car by the way. I am for originality. I like to keep it like the engineers designed it.

 

[Big_John]

Alright, my C-Body brothers:

After having spent most of my life owning some flavor of C-Body -- there have been a bunch -- and now coming off a sad half a decade without one -- I just a-went-and-did-it-oh-so-once again. No, this makes NO sense at all. Of ALL the cars in the world, why, why, should this semi-obscure 56-year-old C-barge be THE one to make me spend my paper route/babysitting money on? I don't know.

But then, again, you are all on this forum, so, in fairness, you probably don't know, either.

A dear hilarious buddy of mine scored me the ad. Most of my most hilarious buddies are pretty much f&#kups, but not this guy. Nope. Totally squared away. He found me a 1969 Polara four-door, 383, cream-with-tan-vinyl, with a mind-boggling but provable original 19,000 miles. Right. 19,000. The guy I bought from was a career Navy SeaBee (second owner; before him, it had sat for fifty years), with, incredibly but true, an MOS of "Vehicle Maintenance." You can't make this up. To say he did it up right before I got it doesn't cover it. I won't list the long standard list of what any of us would have done for a hibernating car. Suffice to say, he did it. And I'll admit maybe better than I would have.

Except for those required wear items, it's a true Survivor Car, with immaculate original interior, 90+ percent sheetmetal down to the beltline, and 80 percent below that. He'd put custom widened black steelies on it, with a big fat 235/275 setup, just perfect. It's a damn wonder I didn't just swoon over upon a-lookin'. On the day I bought it, I drove it a long five hours home, with that ancient 383 at full song. Not the slightest issue. I called him when I got there and he laughed, telling me he already knew the safe arrival.

God Love the SeaBees.

SO, given all that:

Two questions for the collected brain trust of our forum:

ONE: Should I leave it in full Survivor Status, and just drive it and preserve it? Or should I do what I wanted to do when I first set out to buy a Polara, which was to put in a manual five-speed, drop the rear axle ratio and put on some Trick Flow heads and cam?

TWO: If any of you agreed with the proposed changes, what is your experience swapping in a Tremec TKX 5-speed, and dropping the back axle to a 3.55?

Some of you will want to kick me in the shins for even suggesting the mods. Some of you will come out and help me do it.

Love my C-body brothers, one damn opinion or the other. I welcome it all.

--Insty

View attachment 706448

View attachment 706449

View attachment 706450

View attachment 706451

IMHO, I'd leave the car as it is. It's a true low mileage survivor that is running and doesn't need much except to go have fun driving it.

Regarding your plan of mods, this isn't the car to do it with. Adding the 5 speed is some major surgery to the floor pan and quite frankly, the low compression 2 bbl 383 engine won't like those mods unless you bump the compression etc. If you really wanted to do that, I'd suggest finding a 440 instead. Whatever you do like that, it's gonna be a project that is going to be frustrating and expensive.

Keep it the way it is and go have some fun with it. Cars and coffee at the local Dairy Queen stuff. There are going to be more guys drooling over the car in stock form if that means anything to you. What you have is a reliable, twist the key and go car that isn't going to be fussy about gas, overheat in traffic etc. Just go have fun with it and look for a project car if that's what you want to do.

It is your car to do with what you want, but it's really, really nice the way it is.

 

[SPF Required]

I was thinking through the original post again this morning thinking to myself “why even contemplate these kinds of mods on such a fine example of a true survivor?”…. Then I took a look at the member’s name.

@TheInstigator - curious now if your post is legit or if you are just trying to instigate a debate?

 

[Daly]

As a more door I'd lean towards leaving it stock. Or at the very most, I'd do period correct upgrades. I'd stay away from modern touches. Maybe just a few under the hood tweaks.

 

[CBODY67]

Nice score!

As always, your car, your money, your dreams.

As to "changes", YOU have to first get honest with yourself and determine WHY it is you lusted after such a C-body in the first place! The styling of the '69 Dodge body? Other things? Or a new blank canvas???

BUT to lay the groundwork for later happenings, DO ensure that all of the rubber fuel lines and brake lines have been changed from what came with the car! Three areas of rubber fuel lines (at the tank, at the stub-frame junction, at the fuel pump and fuel filter). Those keep the engine running and the car stopping in the future. The brake lines might look good, but can delaminate internally, causing "sticking" wheel cylinders and such. Then check the condition of the metal brake lines, even replacing them if they even look suspect. Several vendors can help here. The issue is "internal rust" as brake fluid absorbs moisture, which gets inside and causes issues. After the rubber lines are replaced, a full flush/bleed can be in order.

Also change ALL of the vital fluids, just to be sure. Brakes, motor, transmission, rear axle, and wheel bearings.

As you do all of these things, as time permits, learn about the car! How it operates. How it's put together. Generally get to know it and its character. Yep, "Character". What accel pedal position it likes to start quickly, for example. What throttle inputs it likes to get things done, too. How the brakes feel, too. Treat it like a new, to be long-term friend, you've just met. Learn to live with it, in the learning process, too.

It might be "trendy" to do the manual transmission change, BUT is the car really desirable to do such to it? As mentioned, several rare parts can be needed "to do it right". But possibly some pedal arrangements might be found in the street rod realm of things? Plus using a hydraulic clutch in the process, too. LITTLE of this will be "plug 'n play", I suspect, some skills will be needed to do it as it should be without looking cobbled together.

We have a friend in one of the car clubs I'm in that seems to get mentally wooded when he sees a normal vehicle with three pedals. That's fine, except that he lives out of the metro area, "in the country", so every time he drives into the metro area, in a manual transmission low-production car he owns, all we hear about is "the worsening traffic". So rather than creeping along, he's constantly using the clutch, which can be a real pain, understandably. THIS can be a consideration! What might initially be "I can deal with that" becomes quite the opposite when you DO deal with it, for an hour or so at a time. Look at the worst case scenario rather than through rose-colored glasses. It can bre MUCH better to shift-kit the TF and even add a 10.75" '68 Road Runner style factory torque converter into the mix. That is the easiest way to increase "the pep" off-idle and not hurt things cruising. To me, a much better alternative than cutting the car for any manual transmission!

I would do an incognito upgrade of an electronic ignition system. For many reasons. An electronic voltage regulator, too, if it isn't already there.

It CAN be possible to maintain the "time capsule" effect of the low-mileage survivor vehicle while doing some incognito upgrades to the vehicle, too. BUT once you get out the saw, all of that goes away very quickly, decreasing the ultimate value in the process, while also making it harder to sell in the future unless you find a kindred spirit that will pay extra money for what you have done. AND that buyer will also probably need to be a "cash buyer", too.

Although on the surface, the car appears to be a "low mileage used car", everything on the car is still 50+ year old. That means the interior fabrics/vinyls are more fragile than when new. Dry rot in progress? Door weatherstrip rubbers, too. So, to me, everybody that gets into the car should be respectful of this aspect of things! If not, that pristine interior can be well otherwise pretty quickly!

The gas cap wedge action works very well, too! Keeping the cap by the filler neck can result in it not getting lost, for one reason or another. As I learned years ago on the '66 Newport and also on my '70 Monaco Brougham 4dr hardtop.

Here's a recommendation . . . drive the car for a full year as it is (except for the maintenance items I mentioned earlier). Get to know it. Appreciate it for what it is and should be. By that time, you'll know more about it! THEN . . . consider "other things" you might want to do with it. Dreams can change, by observation. Be a good steward of the car so it can live a longer life.

Your car, your dreams, your money.

Just some thoughts and observations,
CBODY67

 

[Big_John]

Here's a recommendation . . . drive the car for a full year as it is (except for the maintenance items I mentioned earlier). Get to know it. Appreciate it for what it is and should be. By that time, you'll know more about it! THEN . . . consider "other things" you might want to do with it. Dreams can change, by observation. Be a good steward of the car so it can live a longer life.

^This^ That is some great advice right there.

 

[ayilar]

@TheInstigator -- congrats on scoring this car. Could you please post the fender tag and build sheet, as well as pics of the engine and the trunk interior?

 

[GOLDMYN]

leave it "as is"

 

[413]

Quick thoughts:

We are stewards of history, and this one needs to be preserved. The owners before you did a great job of that, don't spoil it now.

"Modify and save all the parts so someone else can put it back." Well with the butchering of the floor and carpet, and all the other mods this car will NEVER be stock again after that.

This 383-2bbl full size car will never replace your 4 speed road runner in performance and handling Find another car that's had changes already and is not so pure. And use a 440 or bigger engine.

I love to hotrod a 4 door car. I have done it, great fun! People just cannot take being out performed by a 4 door.

So you plan is good, you just don't have the right car to do this yet.

 

[DCMC]

Anybody seeing the car in person will be amazed and more interested than a altered car.

 

[TheInstigator]

Thanks to everyone for their candid opinions. Looks like a clear consensus to leave it as it is. And I also agree with the excellent advice that, at a minimum, drive it for a year before doing anything. At this point, I really don't think I will do any mods. Also thanks for the various tech observations.

Now we wait for spring!