William Rubano posted these pictures of a ’65 Plymouth Belvedere II hardtop coupe sitting in front of a body shop. It has a bad case of cancer, but given where it’s sitting, one might well assume it’s going to be resuscitated. Or have they given up on it?
Somewhat surprisingly, the ’65 Belvedere has never made it to the pages of CC before. It’s a familiar face to me, as my dad almost bought a Belvedere wagon instead of the ’65 Coronet that he ended up with. He took me along to look at both of them; I remember the Belvedere wagon was land-locked in the middle of a bunch of other new ’65 Plymouths in a storage garage/warehouse. We never got it out or drove it. I suspect my dad got the Dodge because they had one in stock with the right features. The Belvedere did have a more interesting face than the dull Coronet’s.
This Belvedere coupe was obviously treated to some modifications back in the day; looks like a hood scoop. These cars were popular with the hot Mopar set, although preferably with the B or RB block and not the poly 318, which didn’t give nearly as much scope for easy performance upgrades.Who knows what this air intake once fed.
That looks like an aftermarket floor shifter for an automatic, if I’m not mistaken. The Belvedere II had bench seats and column shifters; the Satellite version got the buckets and console.
I’m hardly an expert on body repair, but of course anything can be fixed for a price. But this looks pretty serious. Terminal or curable?
Wowzer! That is a rusty car. If it were a 4 door or if it were a 65 Galaxie 500 I would say it is absolutely dead or a parts donor. But these seem to be favorites of the Mopar Hemi-And-Aftermarket-Wheels crowd, so who knows. A car like this would send southerners and westerners running but for those of us who hail from the upper midwest, we look, rub our chins, and say “Maybe . . . “
What’s wrong with a ‘65 Galaxie 500?
Nothing, but they are not worth much.
Look at the bright side- you can have a convertible, no Sawzall needed.
I’m assuming that it’s a unit body so not just a matter of replacing the fender? That being the case, I’d say it’s a parts car.
Can’t really make out the condition of the rocker panels–that would be a good indicator of how deep the rust goes and the condition of the frame and floors. Oddly, the rust seems to be concentrated in one area–the front fenders and the doors look pretty straight and rust free. If the horrific rust is more or less confined to that one spot (odd pattern and extremely severe for “top down” rust–so definitely peculiar), then maybe, somehow, someone might try to revive this one…but…
I’d still say this is probably a parts car, with a reasonable amount of good parts. Plus I think Plymouth built a pretty good number of 2-door hardtops for ’65, so it’s not really an especially rare body style that someone would work extra hard to save.
With rust belt cars it’s what you can’t see that’s bad. That hole can definitely be fixed without much fuss, but probably not the numerous other holes that this hole helped incubate over the years.
Absolutely restorable, IF it came with a hemi.
Outside of that, I’d consider it a parts car.
It couldn’t have, since the only hemi ’65 Belvedere’s were 101 specially-built light-body Super Stock 2 door sedans.
Junque
Parts car. A restored Belvedere II 2dr hardtop might be worth around $22K. For someone like us to do it this is the proverbial money pit. Don’t think even a body shop could break even.
Upstate NY uses boatloads of NaCl on the roads–it accelerated the demise of my 82 Toyota SR-5 longbed by 1998 after two years. However this one is somewhere downstate. I haven’t seen BigOldChryslers on CC in quite a while; I’d like to hear what he has to say about this patient since he posted about his own rusty rebuilds on his Mopar. The fact that it’s still wallowing in snow is not a positive prognostic sign.
Yup. But it’s more likely truck and/or trainloads, some originating from a massive salt mine near Mt. Morris, NY, south of Rochester. I don’t know if it’s still active but google The Retsof Mine Collapse.
It was astonishing, really, how quickly salt could destroy cars. Before the manufacturers added barriers around the wheels, cars back in the day would be rusting out in just a year or two after the salt/slush got packed up inside the fenders and stayed there for weeks at a time. That damage in the photo makes me think that rust hole started from the bottom side of that fender.
631 Area code is New York State, so this is pretty typical salt belt rust.
I would think this is a good glass and trim donor to one of those desert wrecking yard cars where all the windows have been broken.
Or it has a lot of sentimental value to someone with very deep pockets, but I doubt that.
631 is Suffolk County, Long Island.
When I lived in nearby Westchester, back in the 70’s, there wasn’t a huge rust problem Downstate…BECAUSE…
People had a tendency to just hunker down when the roads got slick.
I remember buying a ’56 Chevy from Queens in 1981 and being surprised because the floors – while getting a little thin – were still there.
North of Putman County, however…all bets were off.
Looking at the rest of the car, it seems like it could be resuscitated. I still say with a little effort, you could easily find a better body.
So part this one out.
+1 on the parts car angle
I’d guess terminal, if that’s what visible (when it comes to rust I always assume what can’t be seen is twice what’s in the open). Yeah, it could be fixed – if it was a Cord. Or a Packard higher up than a Clipper. Here, it’s probably not possible, because the cost would never be recouped. And to those of us of the age that find that car fascinating, realistically, we’re talking about another ten or twenty years of collecting left.
Damn! I always found that model one of the most attractive of the mid-60’s.
Agreed. After the goofy ’62-’63 downsized cars, from 1964 on, the Belvedere/Satellite (Fury in 1964) hardtops were all well executed. When compared to the smaller, much more square 1965 intermediates from Chevrolet and Ford, the larger Belvedere comes off much better looking. It’s a shame the feature car is too far gone for restoration.
Having pursued a variation of this theme (sung in Italian to the tune of Alfa Romeo) I can speak with some confidence that this car will never be saved. For a lot less than the cost of restoration, you can buy the best existing example out there…and be driving it next week, rather than waiting three of four years. As everyone above has already pointed out visible rust is just the tip of the iceberg in most cases. Then let’s assume that you go mad, spend all the money and DO get it back to pristine condition….it’ll still be worth a lot less than an example that didn’t have to be stitched back together like Frankenstein’s monster.
Let it go man, it’s gone
Game over man!
It is not “terminal” or “curable”, but “cubeable” as in “off to the crusher”.
Definitely for parts. That hole has been leaking for probably at least 40 years, so much more rust is guaranteed.
Leaking/improperly mounted trunk battery?
It breaks my heart to see any car, regardless of condition melted down after surviving all those years but that is about all this old girl is good for.
If it was a couple years newer someone might make a budget GTX or Roadrunner clone and even a year older when it was still a Fury there might be hope. But in 65&66 everyone was and is interested in the full size Fury so all it is is a rusted out Belvedere and thats all it ever will be.
There’s more interest in Belvederes/Satellites than Furys, even before the GTX and Road Runner. Because of hot rodders, a Belvedere hardtop is worth several thousand dollars more than a same-year Fury, and a Belvedere two door sedan has a bigger edge over a Fury sedan.
I wonder what caused that rust hole, don’t see any evidence of a vinyl top.
If the body shop owner wanted to take it on as after hours hobby maybe. Some of those guys can work magic. Welding rod and sweat equity.
A mistress starts off sounding like a good idea. Reality usually crushes that fantasy quick.
That interior suggests that this might already be a parts car that has donated some pieces.
There’s more interest in Belvederes/Satellites than Furys, even before the GTX and Road Runner. Because of hot rodders, a Belvedere hardtop is worth several thousand dollars more than a same-year Fury, and a Belvedere two door sedan has a bigger edge over a Fury sedan.
Nope. Take any good parts off and crush the rest.
Just let it rot away. Pouring good money in it to restore is a fool`s errand.
That looks dead to me. If the upper body has gone that badly, the underside/structural bits are probably non existent.
I’d say it has a decent chance of living on. This car was definitely “restored” at some point and I’m thinking that poor body and paint prep, or a non-vented trunk mount battery that has caused the extreme localized rust. The interior doesn’t show like the car has been sitting out side for a long time with the big hole in the side. No mold on the seats and panels and no rust on the inside of the door.
So chances are if a quarter panel can be located at a reasonable price along with a hood it wouldn’t be too expensive to get back in good if not 99-point condition.
It may of course have sentimental value which means cost isn’t really the concern.
Agreed…If a guy had his heart set on a 65 Belvedere II it “could’ be fixed. One would need to do a complete disassembly. Mount the body on a rotisserie, and start grinding, and cutting.
Performing your own work, assuming you have the tools, and the expertise. By the time you got her in reasonably good shape your costs would be significant.
However, you would have the car you wanted , and have pretty serious bragging rights.
Only time I can recall seeing rust like that was a car parked under a tree, and the branch hung on the car, trapping moisture. Otherwise, that’s a weird spot for rust. If it’s a ‘sentimental value’ car, with an owner with deep pockets, its a body shop owners retirement fund (or their kids’ college fund).
I’ve seen an equally epic repair done on a thoroughly rotten and thoroughly bodge 69 Charger, but those are worth a lot of money with the right engine and modifications. I don’t think a Belvedere has the BJ auction numbers to make the labor investment pay off. The only exception would probably be a factory hemi which would command big money for rarity, although it would require the correct engine.
Just let it RIP-rot in peace. The automotive version of terminal cancer. Putting money into this is a fool`s errand.
It has plenty of sedimental value…..
My paternal grandfather’s last car was a ’65 Belvedere II, but not a 2dr HT. It was a four door sedan in metallic turquoise, typical for the era. Also typical was the 318 poly and Torqueflite, He was proud that it was basically the ’64 Fury at a lower price.
He finally broke down and got a V-8. Because he bought one of the first Ford V-8’s in 1932, he swore that all V-8’s burned too much oil. That was finally disproven by all the V-8’s his sons drove. He did keep his word that he never bought another Ford product for the rest of his life.
Looks like a very good parts car to me .
-Nate
Would love to see this car restored. Or even a few tasteful res to odes like better brakes steering and a late model 5.7 hemi. To me ‘64 represents the year the big 3 all got it right.