1962 Dodge Other

Polara 500 convertible

361

This is one of those rare barn finds. 1962 Dodge Polara 500 Convertible. This car has been stored in a dry location, inside a non-heated barn, in British Columbia, Canada for the last 15 years. The original 361 V8 was rebuilt in late 90's and installed, but never run since. The dual exhaust system was redone at that time, but its present condition is unknown. The three speed automatic transmission was good when stored. The brakes were redone to Dodge "Interceptor" specs according to the owner. The car is straight and true, and shows that it was never in an accident. There are no repairs to the insides of the fenders at the front or the back. The trunk floor is solid. The main floor area seems solid. The quarter panels, and rocker panels all seem to be good metal. You will see a business card sized magnet in the photos showing that it sticks to the quarters, etc. The only place the might have some bondo was under the passenger side door sill. The magnet stuck, but with less force along this area. There is a new radiator, with new transmission cooler. The power top motor was rebuilt. The windows are wind up type. The windshield has no cracks or stone chips, but does appear aged. The side windows are all good. The power top shows one weld on the frame, and the fabric top is not usable. The seats are complete, but will need recovering. In the photos they may appear OK, but they have small rips and stains. Door panels etc are there, but will need to be done to match the seats. The steering wheel needs to be replaced. The dash is completely out of the car, but all of the wiring is still in the car. All of the small bits and fasteners, bushings, nuts, etc are all stored in plastic bags according to use, etc. There may be one of the "500" numbers missing from the passenger side door, but this may show up in the stuff yet. This car was stored outside one winter in the mid-1990's by the previous owner. During his absence, the snow load upon it crushed the top down and allowed the interior of the car to become wet and exposed to the elements. The seats survived, but carpets, etc, were shot. This is likely when the steering wheel went bad, as the plastic rim is weathered. The history of the 1962 Dodge Polara 500 is interesting. Dodge decided that it should downsize from it's full sized cars that year, and so produced the Polara which was about 15 inches shorter than their previous year's offerings. The buying public seemed to disagree, and sales were lower than expected. Equipped with one of the available V8 engines, the Polara 500's were soon eating up the local drag strips and winning their share of stop light drags. With lower than expected sales of the Polara 500, it means that far fewer exist today, making these cars, especially the Polara 500 convertible, highly desirable collector cars. I believe that only a total of about 2,500 convertible Polara 500's were sold in 1962. This car is being offered at a reserve price of US $7,500. The Buy-it-Now price is set at US $10,500. A successful bidder or buyer will have to pay a non-refundable down-payment of US $2,000 via PayPal upon successful bid or Buy-it-Now option. The car is sold AS IS, WHERE IS. There are no liens or encumbrances against this vehicle. The buyer will have to arrange pick up or shipment, and the remainder of the full purchase price will have to be paid, in equivalent Canadian dollars, in cash, at the time of pick up. This car has been described as fully and as honestly as possible. There are no warranties for this car or any of its parts. If you have questions about this car, please email. HAPPY BIDDING!On 02-May-14 at 17:33:13 EDT, seller added the following information: May 2nd. I was asked a question about the dash. Yes, it exists, and it is in very good condition. I just failed to get a good photo of it. I may go out to where the barn is located and shoot, but I did just download a photo at the end of the series. This shows the front passenger side of the car. The dash is just partly in view on the left in this photo. If you look at the first "barn find" photo on my listing, you will also be able to see this dash on the floor by the front right fender.On 03-May-14 at 20:37:08 EDT, seller added the following information: It is now May 3rd, just 48 hours into a ten day auction. I am impressed that there have been almost exactly 1,000 hits on this listing for the 1962 Dodge Polara 500 Convertible in these first 48 hours. I guess many of you realize what a very rare and valuable car this really is, even in its present "barn find" condition. Out of those 1,000 hits, there are also just over 50 watchers. I don't think you viewers can see that but I can as the listing person. I don't count one of those watchers, because it is my sister, and she doesn't count, at least not as far as buying an old Dodge is concerned. But so far all of this activity has translated into just one bid of $5,000.. (My thanks to "natvson" for that bid.) But that bid is still well below the reserve price that you will see in the body of my listing at $7,500. I am not sure why eBay suggests that a person set the opening bid below the reserve price, but it seems that is their advice. I guess it is to get people into the bidding mode when it hits the reserve price or something. I have also received a few questions about shipping this car to the USA. There are no issues on the Canadian side of the border with taxes, duties, or such, but it is up to the buyer to determine if there are any such fees upon the vehicle entering the USA. I have no way to know that up here in Canada. There have also been questions as to whether or not I would consider a lower priced offer to buy the car. My answer has been, not right now, no, I will let the auction proceed. I can part out the car here in Canada and get at least my reserve price in selling parts. But I don't want to do that, as I feel this car has a lot of potential to be really valuable as a restored piece of American automotive history. To break it up would be a shame. So if you are waiting to see what happens in the bidding, and for someone else to make the next move, I encourage you to step up make a bid up at the reserve price soon. Right now, if you are waiting, it is like you are willing to maybe save $2,400, and perhaps lose the opportunity to own a car that will be worth maybe $40,000 or $50,000 later. That does not strike me as good economics. If you have questions please email whenever you like. I am being highly entertained by this listing, so I check it frequently throughout the day, and I will answer all questions promptly. Happy bidding all! DavidOn 04-May-14 at 17:43:50 EDT, seller added the following information: Hi everyone. Yesterday I was asked a question about the "fender tag". Sorry I forgot to shoot a photo of it earlier. It contains a lot of information about the car's original specifications. So I went out the 50 miles to where the barn is and shot a photo of the fender tag, which you will now see as the last photo in the series. If the photo is not clear enough, the information it contains is as follows: The numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 are across the top. The letters A through Z are across the next line. The next line has the following numbers: 22 5 8 The next two lines are as follows: SO NUMBER BDY TRM PNT 0402 1076 545 855 PP8U That will mean something to some of you. Happy bidding! David