From the My Hemmings pages – should he restore Gramma’s 1967 Dodge Coronet?

Over on the My Hemmings pages, reader Alex Suriana asks whether he should restore his 1967 Dodge Coronet convertible, a car that his grandmother bought new. As Alex describes the car, it remains in original condition (apart from the radio) and runs well, but has rust issues. Alex wrote:

I have a 67 Dodge Coronet convertible and I’m trying to determined if it is worth restoring.

It is a one owner car; my grandmother ordered it special and had approx. 1 mile on when she took delivery.

It is completely original except for the radio. My stepfather took out the original am radio and put in a cassette tape. I’m thinking that taking it out and putting the original radio back into it will solve that issue.

It’s been garage kept all of its life; however, there is still rust on the rocker panels and in one of the doors. The inside chrome is a bit corroded; the outside trim is in good shape. It has a few dents, dings and scratches; however it has never been wrecked. The only major thing that happened to it as a tree limb fell on it and broke the windshield and put a dent in the door.

Details
* Year/Make/Model: 1967 Dodge Coronet 440 (not and R/T)
* Convertible
* Top: White, original, no tears needs stitching around the back window. The book needs to be stitched in order to drive it w/ the top down. I’ve been told that’s not so, but I’m not taking it off and don’t want it flapping about in the breeze.
* Interior: Blue vinyl; has one tear, outside bottom of driver side; otherwise, no issues
* Bench Seats
* Automatic on the column
* 318 2 barrel small block; original runs really well but looks a bit rough. I don’t know that it would or would not require rebuilding, other than a radiator and master cylinder replacement, other than sparks and filters and such, everything is as it was when it came off the truck.
* It has the fender tag, blue mopar card, original owner’s manual. I know we have the bill of sale, but I can’t lay my hands on it at the moment.

I’ve been offered 10k for it and have been told it will take about 12k to restore it. I’ve been told the only reason to hang on to it is for sentimental value; otherwise, I should sell it and let the  car buff take it off my hands.

I did notice; however, that there appears to have been only 196 of them made (although that might just be the R/T version).

It’s sitting in my garage doing nothing. I feel like if I start putting money into it, I should finish the job; I’m just not sure the car is worth making that type of financial commitment if it’s just for sentimentality.

Suggestions/Opinions are greatly appreciated

What do you think? Should Alex leave it as is, should he tear it down for a full restoration, or should he just fix the rust and not touch the rest? For more photos of the droptop, check out Alex’s story on My Hemmings.