Classic carDodge ChargerMuscle carOld CarPlymouth

Can’t Resist Rescuing Two Abandoned Mopars In Need.

Rescuing an old muscle car is a noble activity, and it’s surprising how many of these vintage rides are unfortunately rotting in fields, old barns, and disused lock-ups. It’s heart-wrenching. No-one wants to see these cool pieces of American history just withering away. Many of these cars are way too valuable and far too cool to be just left to fade into the earth.

A small outfit based in North Carolina are doing their bit to save them. They call themselves ‘The Poor Guys’. Their motto is ‘Let em Rip, not Rot.’ Armed with flat-bed trucks, low-loaders, and winches they haul out old vehicles and give them a new lease of life. And here you can see them saving a couple of real classics – a 1973 Dodge Charger and 1972 Plymouth Satellite.

Saving The Two Barn Find Classics

In this video, which they describe as a ‘quick snatch video,’ we see them busy rescuing the two abandoned muscle cars, located in what appears to be the remains of an old barn. The owner has sold the land and just wants to get rid of the cars.

The red Plymouth is resting inside a small section of the ram-shackle derelict barn. When the guys go in for a closer look they discover that it’s just a shell. The car has pretty much been fully stripped, in their words ‘roasted.’ All of its glass is missing, and even the steering wheel is gone.

Gray primer paint covers large sections of the Satellite’s body-work, a tail tale sign that someone has attempted to restore the car some time in the past and given up. The rest of the red/orange paintwork is badly suffering from neglect, and its unpainted hood has a large hole in it where the scoop housing once sat.

The ’73 Charger is unmistakable with its distinctive split-chrome grill, is sitting out in the open-air. Its orange paintwork is now a bunch of different shades, and rust appears to be creeping through every panel. All of its glass is intact and much of the car’s interior looks salvageable. The Charger’s trunk is open, and inside is what looks like the original engine block and transmission.

Round One: Rescuing The ’73 Charger

To what sounds like a cheap soundtrack from an Italian spaghetti western, the guys start preparing the Charger for transport. The first job is to put some air in its tires. Then attach a winch to its sub-frame and slowly haul it onto a low-loader. It’s fairly heavy work.

Back at home, one of the guys looks it over: “Shame it got roasted.” Looking inside, he adds, “The coolest thing about this Charger is the Tach. I love vintage Tachs, and this one’s a good one,” he says as he examines the chrome tachometer, which is dangling loose above the center console. “I’m not going to part it, I’ll sell it whole,” he mentions as he rifles through the center console for pennies. “I won’t be working on this car, the rear end started shifting when we were moving it, the frame’s not too good.”

Inside the car, the Charger’s sad-looking cloth seats are completely thread-bare. Keen to see what’s beneath the rear seat he attempts to lift it and wrenches his back in the process. When he finally gets the seat to raise, he stumbles on half of the car’s build document, stuck to the underside of the seat. The tattered document looks like it’s been a good source of food for a family of mice. And there are other tell-tale signs too of a rodent infestation, which requires the services of a leaf blower to blast out all of the debris.

Round Two: Rescuing The ’72 Plymouth

“If you got a winch you can do anything,” he remarks as he winds the Plymouth’s rusty engine block and transmission box onto a trailer. Once on, it’s the turn of the car. He positions the low-loader in front of the classic muscle car, which is missing a front-end, and hauls it on to the flatbed. And much like they did with the Charger, he carefully guides it up the ramps, having to manually adjust the alignment of the wheels, to get it into position. Then he straps it into place ready for the journey home.

Here’s What Happened To The Two Cars

They close the video with “Keep saving ’em, don’t crush ’em…We’ll keep on rescuing ‘em, if you guys keep on liking this kinda stuff. This is just a quick snatch video, you guys can do this too, make sure that you get a winch,” is the advice.

We were keen to find out what happened to the cars featured in the video. So, we did a bit of digging around, and we found a Facebook post that the guys put up, advertising both of them. The 72 Plymouth as ‘a project’ for $3,000, and the Charger as ‘a roller parts car’ also $3,000. $6,000, not bad for a few hours work and a bit of gas.

A slogan on their profile says: ‘If the bones are good, and you can convince the dreamer who owns the car to part with it, you can bring it back to life. All it takes is money, a bit of skill, and oh yes, more money!’ Very true.

However, in this case, it should probably read “If the bones are good we’ll rescue it” and end there. Because they haven’t spent any money on a restoration of either of these cars, or used any of their skills (apart from using a winch), or brought them back to life. But on the plus side, they have dug them out, which is a fine start, and by all accounts a very lucrative one too

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