Astonishing Documented 18K Mile Unrestored Survivor! Nicest One Found? 175 Pics!

Description

1968 Plymouth Belvedere 2 Door Sedan

• Unrestored w/18K Documented Miles
• One Family Owned
• Fully Documented Since New
• 100% Original Paint
• 100% Original Interior
• 100% Original Trunk
• 98% Original Underhood
• 5 Original Tires

You are bidding on one of the single nicest, most unrestored/original 1968 Plymouth Belvederes on the PLANET! Wearing 100% of its original paint,brightwork trim, interior, weatherstripping, trunk mat,and retainingALLfive original tires,it isgenuinelydifficult to comprehend just how amazing this ONE FAMILY OWNED, 18K mileBelvedere is without seeing it in person. I will do my best to describe with a thorough write up, and many detailed pictures.

This Belvedere is heavily documented with all original delivery documentationfrom newas well as a hand written one pagejournal of the history back to day one when it was purchased inMonroe Michiganon July 9, 1968 by husband and wife Roland J Kraus & Jeanette Kraus. Factory original, and other neat documentation includes: original owners manual, original warranty manual w/Certicard (note delivery date, orig dealership, and service, likelyan oil changeat 810 miles the day before delivery, possibly a dealer demo?), original jacket/sleeve for manuals, original full payment receipt for payment of the vehicle on July 9, 1968, original Broadcast sheet found under the back seat, two original invoices/bills of sale demonstrating the sales price of $2401.09, (with the only fourfactory options being the 225 CI Engine, Torqueflight automatic transmission, AM radio, and the whitewall tires), Original Michigan title from 1975,numerous registrations/insurance cards/receiptsfrombrand newto when the car was taken off the road in 1974, insurance jacket/sleeve from the local Monroe Michigan State Farminsurance agent, and an original Monroe MichiganZiebart notepad from when the car was Ziebarted when new.

From the history provided with the car, Roland purchased this car brand new--his first brand new car, at that--fromLakeview Chrysler-PlymouthInc in Monroe. Sadly, one year after purchasing the Belvedere, Rolanddied of cancer. Thetitle wastransferred to Jeanette & Joseph (son).It was driven very little after his passing but the journal mentions the son driving it to the hospitalin Ann Arborseveral timesto visit his dad. From 1969-1974 it was "stored wintersin Jeanette's garage andpleasure-driven only."From sometime in 1974 to July 24, 2008, the car was kept in drystorage and the engine was turned over by hand. Notatepictures of the car wrapped up/bagged in the garage, and coming out of storage withthe odometer view at 17,640.On March 29, 2008 Jeanette passed away and the title was transferred to Joseph, the son.On July 25,2008, the son transported the car to his houseand from July 25, 2008 to June 4, 2013 he worked to put it back on the road by replacingthe gas tank, rebuilding the carb,brakes, rebuilding/re-coring the original dated/part numbered radiator, andinstalling anew water pump. Other curious notations: "Dad never finished installing seat covers, unknown when tail pipe and voltage regulator were replaced, factory tires went flat during storage but were re-inflated, radio worked when stored in 1974, inop when brought out, dents in LH quarter done by dad backing in to my 1961 Ford in driveway in 1969."

Today,just shy of50yearsafter its originaldelivery,thisvehicle is inastonishing unrestored, yetextremely solid/mechanically-sound condition. The car starts right up and it is whisper quiet, extremely tight, and runs and drives excellent/like a sewing machine.The exterior body (rockers/torque boxes, floor pans, lower fenders/quarters) and other the areas of mention onMopars of this era are of no concern on this vehicle. Theunibody is devoid of any issues, accidents, rust damage/repairs. The underside iscompletely originalandquite presentable. The body fitment is astonishing, with ZEROevidence of repair EVER.The doors, hood, deck lid all align, fit and close like a brand new car would have back in the day. In fact,the doorsshut,fit,andSOUND exactlylike a nearly new big body Mopar of this era should! The wheel lips around the circumference of the quarter panels are absolutely mint, retaining each and every spot weld around their circumference.

The beautifuloriginalElectric Bluepaint (Code Q) is absolutelyamazing and itpresentsextremely well, withZERO evidence of any paintworkwhatsoever.Thepaint surfacehas a perfect and correcteggshell finish throughout, clearlydemonstrating that ithas not had a spray gun, a polishing wheel, oreven the smallest amountof wet sanding ever completed ANYWHERE on it.The lower LH rear quarter was lightly bumped/creasedin to the son's car in the driveway in 1969as ajournal entry states.We are thankful thatno repair was everattempted tothis area, including a repaint back in the day, which would likely have been sub-par and/or mismatched.We hired a paintless dent removal tech to do his best to get the small creases out of the lower quarter panel. The toughest part for thetechnician was related to thethickness of the metal on an old car like this one. He spent several hours on it and did an amazing job while preserving the original exterior paint. While it's not perfect, and there's a small touched up scratches, it'sDARNgood,and the minor creases that were on it for the last 45 years are nearly missed walking around the car today.The remainder of the paint is in remarkable condition, with barely even a rock chip here and there. Even with a few VERYminor flaws here and there,if there is a nicer 100% original paint B-body out there, I'd personally love to see it. I am an original paint/unrestored freak and this is by far one of the nicest I have ever laid my eyes on, in hundreds of cars I have judged, owned, and sold.

The gorgeous blue interior is incompletely unrestored, nearlyperfectcondition. The dash, dash pad,plastic chrome trim,gauges, speedo,steering wheel, seat upholstery, headliner, visors, seat belts (dated 1967 tags on them!) door panels, AND EVERYTHING ELSE detail-wise is simply amazing and in like-new condition. The glove box looks as though it was never opened, and hasan OK stamp inside it along with the original ownersmanuals/doc/CertiCard, etc.The only complaint I can make on the entire interior is a few smallminor cracks in the rubber floor mat of the car (no carpet!)on the upperrocker/sill of the area to enter the backseat of the car on the passenger side and a small spot at the sill on the left hand side too. This isn't due to usage, it's just due to the mat being brittle after all these years and was likely done when the previous owner got in the back seat to pop the rear cushion and get the broadcast sheet out. The underside of the dash assy is just remarkable and looks as though it came off the assembly line last week--CHECK OUT THE PICS! The bare metal parts have never even discolored let alone rusted. Allweatherstrips are justin incredibly nicethroughout the car, part numbered, and still soft and pliable on all surfaces,showing just how nicely this car was stored all these years! On the trunk weatherstrip, the most amazing details still exist with respect to the yellow weatherstrip adhesive that was used to install these. Brushed on, and sloppy being the norm, not only was thisthe normally sloppy job,butthere's actually an area in the center of the lower weatherstrip where the yellow adhesive spilled out over and on to the paint of the taillight panel and was never removed from the factory!

The trunk is one of the single most amazing parts of this car. Retaining the original trunk mat, which is still pliable and has the original ink-part-numbered/dated stampings, the trunk is just beyond belief from a detail-standpoint. While many restorers think they know how toproperly detail a trunk in a given B-body, someone wouldtruly enjoy documentingup close all thecrazy details under the trunk mat and inside of the wheel wells and quarter panels on this Plymouth! The coolest detail of all in my opinion is the factory yellow sticky grease globsthatare still soft that dripped out of both of the trunk spring/hinge areas prior to the trunk mat being installed. The sprayed on quarter panel sound deadener, large quantity of pumped-in caulking in the corners, yellow trunk weatherstrip drips, wiring, original spare, original jack/hardware still wearing it's original plating/finishes/tags, underside of the decklid, jacking instruction decal and sooooo many other details are just ridiculous!!!

The original chrome and brightworktrim throughoutis all in astonishingcondition, including the anodized aluminum pieces used on the grille and headlight surrounds, all pot metal pieces, dog dish caps, original paint on all five wheels,etc are all just like they were newly installed a week ago!!! Same goes for the stainless steel trim around the windows, drip rail trim, etc which clearly has never been removed or touched. Thetaillight/marker lensesin all lights are as crystal clear as new, and all the door/windshield and back glass are asnice asthe day they were made! Same goes for the glass throughout which is scratch-free and like new!

The engine compartment is unrestored, and it retains99% of all the original/proper components, and all original plating/colors/finishes are in still inplace. The engine block, valve cover, all bracketry, and air cleaner are all wearing their original paint. Only light cleaning has been performed on the engine, and engine compartment. Additionally, removalof the original Ziebart undercoating which wasadded to the sides and lower portion of the engine compartment when the car was new. As much as most of us hate Ziebart and what they do to cars in more recent times what they did to this car likely preserved much of it to be as amazing of a car as it is today. The type of thickwax-based material that they used to use back in the late 60s/early 70'sdoesnot appear to be petroleum-based and therefore it removes relatively easy,and does not leave behind the dark staining and discolorationthat the newer petroleum-based products do to the paint and finishes. With a great deal of time (over 25 hours recently spent!), a heat gun and some mineral spirits we have gently removed the great majority of the undercoating on the wheel wells, shock towers, frame rails etc, exposing the astonishing original paint in the engine compartment!I have pictures of what it looked like before and it's simply amazing to see the before and after. The fact that the great majority of the surface under the hood has been coveredfor the last 50 years with this material helped preserve the paint, original plating and details like nothing else could have. The paint is very thin on the underside, as evidence underneath when I removed the undercoat off the rockers and floorpans. Original markings, factory runs/drips in the paint, perfectly preservedwiring harnesses, decals, trim tag/stampings have been revealed under this thick substance. While I am sure the next owner may continue to remove the coating in areas I was not able to spend moretime on, the great majority of the hard work is done and you have a nearly mint, unrestored50 year old engine compartment on this car!

The original VINtagisin placeon theleft side of thedash, the original body trimtag is in place under the hood, and the correct stamping matching the body tag is on the drivers side of the core support. Car has a clear, lien-free Ohio title which will be transferred in the next owners name. The underneath is astonishing, solid, and devoid of any issues. Notate the spots on the floorpans where I cleaned off some of the undercoating, revealing amazing original paint and details, along with the leaded seam at the rocker, original phosphate (?) coating on the leaf springs, original paint on the shocks, etc! If someone wants to spend more time cleaning and detailing, the car just keeps getting better and better for every hour I have spent on it! NO SPRAY PAINT HAS EVER BEEN USED UNDER THIS VEHICLE. Everywhere you see black underneath is Ziebart coating. Everywhere you remove it, you find amazing untouched original details/paint!!!!

This car is listed under the Road Runner category as no Belvedere category exists. Do not ask me why! While I realize that the six cylinder enginewill not appeal to all Mopar collectors, I also realize that sadly (maybe this is the purist in me) someone may buy it for the purpose of making one hell of a restomod, or dropping a big inch original Hemi or late model Hemi in. The fact that it was a six cylinder car, and the early passing of the original owneroneyear in to it's life, and PROPER storage allowed thisBelvedere to fly under the radar, not get abused, and be as simply amazing as it is today. We all know that this car would not have survived in the condition it is 50 years later had it been born a V8 or had the original family not treated it so well. Let's face it, if you like killer,stock appearing cars, this car could easily, and affordably receive a donor Hemi (or otherwise) drivetrain, and you would not need to a stitch of exhausting, time-consuming rusty sheetmetal replacement, exterior paint, or interior work on it, likely saving $30-$50K in the course of a killer restoration. If the car doesn't stay as it is--which arguably would be somewhat a shame after all the years it's been this way--I can envision in with an original Hemi dropped in it with exactly the same paint, interior, wheels, trunk, etc. Unrestored bone stock appearing, original paint, original interior, and a big block orHemi. My only hope and honest request given the condition of the paint is that the end user NOT paint the car. While I realize I cannot control what the end buyerdoes, I am trulythatastonished with the condition of the car overall and thepaint/interior/engine/trunk in particular and hope that the next buyer will feel the same way.

While I appreciate the fact thatmany collectors may havean"expert opinion(s)" on whatthis car--or any given car--is worth,how crazy the price is, and the like,I will respectfully ask that you keep your opinions to yourself. Genuinely super nice, HIGH QUALITY, UNRESTOREDEXAMPLES ofmost any true collector carcan command many multiples morethan thesupposedly currentfigures in a "collector car price guide," which is typicallybased on arestored example. The premium and worth of a truly unrestored vehicle is often quite difficult to calculate or determine.I have sold enough quality restored and unrestoredcarsto know this for afact. Low ball/ridiculous offers willbe immediatelyrejected. Express actual, serious interest, or don't bid/make an offer please.

If you are looking for anexceptionally wellpreservedexampleof Moparhistory,this isan excellent opportunity for a collectible car that you can drive, enjoy, show or just add to your collection. This car would do extremely well in any quality show anywhere in the country, especially in a survivor/unrestored class! If you have a killer carcollection, and happen to specifically deal in high-quality survivor grade/unrestored cars, I can guarantee that this car will fit right in to a high quality collection of unrestored vehicles, regardless of make or model. As we all know, they aren't building these cars any more, and examples this nice are becoming nearly impossible to find these days.

I have been a licensed collector car dealer in Ohio for over 20 years, and I do my very best to describe my cars fairly and accurately and offer a great number of detailed views so you can bid with great confidence. I have sold several hundred collector cars throughout the years, including over 30 vehiclesthrough Mecum sales in 2016,and likely another 15 or so oneBayin 2016.If you have any questions or concerns, youare welcome to send me a message and I will be happy to call you.

Non-negotiable terms: You are welcome to come inspect the car before the end of the auction, or have aservice of your choice do this for you. Thisneeds to be done before the end of the auction if inspections are a concern to you.A $500.00Paypal deposit is due within24 hours of acceptance of an offer. The balance is due by wire transfer within5 days of the close of the auction if it is being shipped. Ifyou are picking thevehicle up, after the initial deposit, cash is due at pick up. Nochecks of any kind will be accepted.This vehicle is sold as is, where is, with no warranty expressed or implied. It is for sale locally and may be sold at any time during the auction. If you have less than 50positivefeedbacks, contact me BEFORE bidding. This vehicleis located in Galena Ohio,near Columbus Ohio. Shipping can be arranged anywhere in the US, or evenoverseas. Thanks for looking and email with any questions.