Page One 5/28/04!
After a lot of searching, I bought this '68 charger from a guy in Oklahoma City off of ebay(I live in Wichita KS). The following are pics of the tow home as well as the car sitting in my garage later that day.
Nothing special here...318 that doesn't run (and obviously not an RT). The thing turns over & gets spark & gas, but won't fire (even with starter fluid). I was told it sat for 10 years, so I'd likely rebuild the motor anyway even if it did start. Who knows, maybe I'll find a good deal on a 383. Plenty of time to worry about that.
Found rust in the typical areas...I think it's fixable, though. Frame is in good shape and everything still seems to be there (trim, interior(though shot), etc). Quarter panels don't look bad in the pics, but the right side is basically sculpted out of bondo and the left, while not as bad, has several large holes filled with liberal amounts of mud.
I also found the original, but barely readable, build sheet
Since I have neither the time, money nor patience for a full restoration, my plan is to replace the quarters, floorpans, trunk pans, window channels and sail panels with new metal. Also planning to strip the underside the best I can, cover with por-15 and repaint. The rest of the body will require a lot of pounding, filling and block sanding.
Cut-out the damaged left quarter...not as rusty as I would've expected.
Trunk pan is rusted out
And trunk pan is hence cut out. I've got the replacement sheetmetal leaning against a wall in the garage (with the replacement quarters)
Rear window is removed. Glass popped right out since the channel was completely rusted. Will likely buy a replacement to weld in rather than try to fabricate it.
Pulled-out the rear-end to clean it up. Not planning on rebuilding it, but will strip, repaint and replace brake cylinders, pads and lines. (this is actually complete but I haven't taken pics yet)
Here's the interior (after removing the back & drivers seat and much of the carpet)
More pics to follow!
In the meantime, here are pictures of my last project a couple years ago. I bought a wrecked (rollover) '98 cobra mustang. It fortunately didn't need any framework so I was able to do 100% of the work in my very own garage...new roof skin & fenders, plus tons of bodywork on the hood, bumper cover and (barely saveable) doors. I also managed to paint it myself in the garage without complaints from neighbors or the EPA. (Need to find before pics since this was my most challenging project I've done...until the Charger gets underway, that is)
Before:
After:
And before the cobra, I rebuilt (front-end wreck) a '98 mustang GT which my wife drove (before I sold it last winter). It wasn't nearly as quick as the cobra, but you can't beat that chrome yellow paint! The s-10 in the background was my first rebuilder project...fun, but not nearly as inspiring as the stangs were...especially since my wife wrecked it two more times. Gotta admit those S-10s can take a beating & keep going!
What the hey...and here's a friend's jet-ski I painted for him last summer...
Now on to the charger (if I can get some more pics ready)...
