1972 DODGE DEMON 340, A883, 8 3/4, THE REAL DEAL, NOT RUNNING, NEEDS RESTORATION

Description

Relisting this, in the hopes of getting it gone in September. So i am listing it at 500 LESS than the previous high bid was at the end of the last listing. If you are a serious buyer, with the means to BUY IT NOW, I have also included that option. Once the bidding starts, i do not know if the BUY IT NOW will stay posted, depends on how Ebay does things these days. So, it's your choice, you can BID, or BUY IT NOW, but be prepared to paypal immediately, if you select the BUY IT NOW option. This is your chance to get it on the cheap, the cost will increase every time i have to pay another month's rent. Not to mention, you would be well advised to get it shipped home before the first snowfall. Shipping prices will still be relatively low this time of year, in another month, that will most likely not be the case. So...here she is...again. If you have ANY QUESTIONS, just hit the ASK SELLER A QUESTION button..and i will get back to you as soon as i can. Thanks =)
Serious Inquiries ONLY please...this car is the real deal...not a fake. Here is your chance to get it for a fraction of what they are now started to cross the auction block for...so you can restore it yourself, and save. Please feel free to decodeall you want, and then get back to me. This baby was a RARE color combination...the "root beer" metallic brown, with white vinyl top, white seats you see here, and the white stripe package. So, if you are looking for a REAL DEMON that is about as complete as they come, with correct numbers, feel free to get back to me =)
Be prepared to bring your own truck and trailer, or figure on 500 to 1500 for having it hauled this time of year. Better to get it NOW...before the snows start to fall...this would be a GREAT project to start this winter =) I have to move on, life got in the way one more time, and I have decided I am done spending on storage for this honey.
Be prepared to deposit via paypal, non refundable. Balance due via cashier's check, or cash in person. We can work out the details if you win. Until then, bid like you mean it....and ask any questions you want to know. I want this car gone inside of four weeks if possible, and am willing to get things done. Otherwise...it might have to sit for another month while i handle some out of town stuff. Either way, we can work it out, Just get back to me if you are serious ;)
Thanks for stopping to take a look, and as always....HAPPY EBAYING!!! =)
On Aug-21-18 at 09:38:48 PDT, seller added the following information:

For those who want to know...posted below is a letter i wrote to one bidder who inquired, rather than telling the story over and over, this pretty much covers what you might want to know about this Demon. If you have any other questions, please feel free to use the ASK SELLER A QUESTION button on the listing =)
The car has been in this same Manatee County since the early 1980's that I know of, I have known at least three of the former owners.
I'm the fifth title holder that i know of. The third guy to own it pulled the engine around 1989-1990...he swapped in a camshaft from Mopar Performance, valve springs, some other minor stuff. What i can't confirm, is if he swapped the short block or not.
The block is September 7 ( or 17, Forgot already ) 1971, but the numbers pad on the oil pan rail are too smoothed off to read. I cleaned it and hit it with a sharpe...but still could not read it. Looks like someone got too happy with a rolac pad when they cleaned the block of the blue paint...and then painted it orange.
I have been trying to get in touch with the guy...to see if he used a '71 short block? or if that is the
block that was in the car to begin with. It could very well be the original block, but i can't 100% confirm the vin stamp on the rail pad.
The heads and exhaust manifolds are the originals....the intake is a 1968 340 piece from a Cuda or a Dart i believe. I looked up the numbers on the intake...and i remember him saying as much way back when. I will be trying to get in touch with him to see if i can find out about the block. He was a real A-body fanatic back then, so, he might have used the same block over, or maybe he found a '71 block with forged crank instead.
Another guy that knew of the car recently passed away...so...i am running out of people i can ask about it. Either way...it's an EARLY '72 build date car...so..it probably had a forged crank either way. Plus, the engine could very well have been cast in '71...and not installed until '72...as they used to "season" the blocks. When i was a kid, living in Dearborn, right next to Detroit, we used to see the blocks all sitting outside the factories just rusting in the snow...they did that for at least one season usually.
Regardless...the engine is ERA CORRECT for the car...it is not a post '72 engine...and the car itself was built April? of 1972, if i am recalling the vin sticker on the door correctly.
The A883 is the original....you can see the VIN stamp that i pictured...the rear end is the 489 case...and if i recall the decoding i did correctly? it's a 3.23 suregrip. This is a power brake, power steering, no a/c car, with the factory electronic ignition. The first year for that option, and one of the only models to get that ignition that early was the Demon.
The LOWER AIR CLEANER is included...but it has since been restored in BLACK...instead of orange...i was going to do a red/black '67 color scheme for another car...but it never got used. The original lid is long gone....and i can't seem to find another one anywhere in the garage.
The original carb is long gone, it had an aftermarket Carter on it when i got it. I've since located a slightly later version from a POLICE INTERCEPTOR Manaco, basically the same style Thermoquad...but the numbers on it say it could be up to a '76? Police car basically. Came off of a 360 engine one of my bud's got out of a police car many moons ago. This carb is included with this Demon,along with a bunch of stuff i was not able to put in the listing. I have parts strewn across the floor. Some brand new decals, as well as a brand new pie tin. Also have brand new SHOP MANUAL, and some other literature, paint chip card, and of course i have the ORIGINAL BROADCAST SHEET, with the SPECIAL HANDLING CAR printed on the bottom. If you want more pictures, make sure to let me know where to send them.
I think the clutch plate is rusted to the flywheel...but i can't remember for sure....i know we pulled the driveshaft for a reason, plus it was just easier to move the car around that way...it has been on dollies for at least seven years now...high and dry in storage. I'm including the original drive shaft, along with a second A-body drive shaft that came from what was a 3-speed TWISTER car with a 340 if i recall...it was a '72 or '73...but i can't remember now.
This Demon is the last of many A-body to pass thru my life...and i want all the remaining parts to go with it. I just need to clear out my storage once and for all. It's costing me $235 a month, and was only
something like $125? when first got the place over a decade ago. The picture you see of the car in storage, is how it looks NOW, that place was wall to wall shelves full of parts, less than a year ago. So...now it's the Demon's turn to find a new home =)
The engine is not STUCK.....not RUNNING either...it has been PICKLED for years...aka...it last ran over ten years ago...and has been filled with 30w ever since...it has at least 12 to 13 quarts of oil in it....to preserve it. It will need to be drained, have all the spark plugs removed, and carefully hand turned before ever having it spun over with a starter to dry it out. Personally..i would not even spin it
over....i NEVER try to just "start it up"....that stuff is for TV shows. I would just take it all apart again and restore the engine myself. That is what i do mostly, engine restorations, and have been doing for the better part of the last thirty years. Spinning it over is risking damage to the crankshaft, or possibly scoring the cylinder walls...No matter how well it has been preserved. The voice of experience =)
You can NEVER SEE what might be lurking inside the engine. Not worth the risk to me, just to avoid doing what should be done in the first place. But, to each his own. I doubt there is RUST inside the engine...but...it was sitting under a tree for 10? years before I got it...so...hard to say without taking it apart. Supposedly he was starting it up now and then...but that was 10+ years ago now.
The car has not seen the road since probably 1999? The guy that did the engine owned it from '89 to '99,,and then the next guy basically parked it in his back yard and just let it rot half covered, and half under a tree most of a decade...before i go it. So...of the last 20 years...it say outside for ten, and hassince then been INSIDE high and dry for the last ten years.
I've had to move it twice because of other life issues (read as female) and it has been sitting where you see it now for seven years straight. The rally wheels are long gone too, they were rusted into the ground with flat tires when i found it...too pitted to even seal a tire to the beads unfortunately.
So now it has some CLEAN steel rims, and white wall tires from my small bolt pattern Valiant that i recently sold a while back. The deck lid is also from a 1970 Valiant Fast back....the only year they made them SMOOTH...aka "spineless"...it's a VERY CLEAN deck lid that has been instorage for at least twenty five years. The original deck lid was nothing but rust...i had to scrap it...was just dropping rust all inside the trunk every time i opened or closed it. The original deck was just basically a rusted waste of metal unfortunately.
All the glass appears to be original as well..all the side glass has the original ppg/mopar markings...but i can't find them on the windshield or rear glass...can't remember if they had them before '73 or not?
The hood is original, but like i might have said in the listing, the leading edge is rusted badly...so...really depends on how much work someone wants to do. The fenders are pretty solid...might need a quarter or half dollar sized patch in the one of them. The doors are good...just need to be stripped and prepped properly. The Quarters of course need to be totally replaced...and the rear sections of the rockers rebuilt when the quarters are changed out. The front ends of the rockers need some work too...but they are not too bad either. The frame is all solid as far as one can see...the frame, floors, torque boxes, all seem good to go...just scaling and typical surface rust. Hence a proper rotisserie restoration would be in order for this car to get back to what it should be. This car will potentially fetch 50k across the auction block if done correctly. They have been steadily creeping up to that bench mark, I've seen some get higher bids, but they were GSS cars of course. Also...that crazy looking RESTO MOD DEMONIC finally sold for something like 142k? can't remember how much it actually sold for...but i saw some crazy bidding going on for it...you can find it on the MEEEcomes website if you look for it =)
The sad par, the third owner let this Demon sit half way under a lean-to type shed,,,and half way under a tree...so...the rear quarters suffered,..but they were full of bondo anyway...i have the receipts for the engine parts, and from the paint shop that did the GREEN back in 1990?
The car was the BLUE before that...i forget the paint code right now...but it has been painted THREE times in it's life. The original Metallic BROWN....aka "root beer"...then the Metallic BLUE....again...i forget the code..but it was a Mopar color that year. Then when the guy that did the engine got it...he had it painted Lime Green...but removed the vinyl top and stripes.
So...it needs a complete restoration to put it back right. The seats and interior are basically as it was...accept for the Lime Green. He paid to have all the jambs and trunk and engine bay painted to match....but they even noted on the receipt that it was going to be "repaired with fiberglass & bondo"..and he paid $1500 for THAT PAINT JOB BACK THEN!....ugh. Oh well....it is...what it is. At least the car is all there basically.
The VIN number is on the radiator support, the dash plaque, the door sticker, the transmission, and the trunk drip rail. This car is an ORIGINAL DEMON.....the only thing i could not completely match the vin to...is the engine block...the numbers are too smoothed off to be sure...it LOOKS like they are partially right...but i can not be 100% sure. Either way....the car is era correct...and the '71 blocks allhad the forged cranks...and 340 all had the forged rods...it's 1971 340...with 1972 "J" heads and exhaust manifolds...with a 1968 Intake.
Even the radiator looks to be the original BRASS unit...I've had them in the past...it's a typical heavy duty A-body V8 radiator.
The Kelsey Hayes brakes are all there, and i have ONE N.O.S. reman'd caliper that I am including...as well as two N.O.S. caliper brackets. Along with all the other parts pictured....valve covers from what ever.....interior panels....sail panels....rock deflectors for the wheel wells....and the originals are intact as well. Quarter glass....just see the pictures. Thanks again for your interest. I have literally over 100 different pictures i can show you of all the areas of the car. etc.
Thanks,
D.