hey Scotty community im looking at an 77 town country with 1 million miles the guy is asking 3 grand what do you think i took a look under the car and half of the frame is rotten but do you guys think its a good deal as a weekend toy ?
half of the frame is rotten
Run away.
I think it's a joke. A good one.
Assuming you're serious that's not a viable vehicle at this point, it's scrap metal.
That was a bad year for Chrysler's. The engines from the factory had no power and were gas hogs. If you turned on the AC the RPM dropped by 600. If the frame is rotted out it is probably unsafe to drive. The car is 45 years old. You could do a lot better for 3K.
Structural rust= endlessly expensive repair costs. You would need to do a body off restoration, assuming the frame could even tolerate the stuff on top being taken off. Usually when vehicles are half rotted, the frame isn't the only thing holding it together anymore. The actual body parts and cabin are carrying loads they weren't intended to carry. You see that a lot in the morons who drive around rusted out trucks that are so compromised, the bed and cab are folded against each other.
Find another classic car. $3,000 in that condition is armed robbery. I bought my '79 Catalina sedan for $750, put a $400 set of white wall tires and did a near-total brake job for $300 last year. It has minor rust and some paint problems, but nothing is structural.
Welcome to the forum.
Sounds like an interesting curiosity. The ultimate "survivor car". But I don't know you will get much here to make your decision; it's not like it's a Camry throwing a trouble code. You're basically talking about a pile of scrap iron that is past its useful life.
I'm sure you know that if you really want a "goin' to town car" and not just a lawn ornament you are looking at a massive amount of labor. Vintage cars like that are valued based on collector interest, so you will have to do your homework. My guess is that collector interest is minimal, in which case there is nothing to be gained by buying and fixing it. If that's true, then you probably shouldn't offer more than salvage value (maybe a grand).
But maybe I'm wrong. Classic wagons are popular with the hipsters.
You might look over the archives of the Vice Grip Garage Youtube channel and website. Derek mighta done a Mopar or 2 from that vintage. A guy might at least see what he was gettin into. Or not, I don't know.
https://www.vicegripgarage.com
