original owner 73 • The Dodge Challenger Message Board

by **burdar** » 25 Mar 2009 17:11

Well, I'm new to this site and just thought I would start this topic. I'm in the middle of restoring my dad's 73 Challenger Rallye. He is the origonal owner.

It has the A57 Rallye pacage even though it has a 318/904. Dad bought the car with gas miliage in mind.

These are the only two photos of the car from the 70's that I have found so far.

by **Moparman1972** » 25 Mar 2009 18:05

Neat stuff! Are you restoring it back to stock? Same paint code?

What does it look like at the moment?

-Dylan

by **burdar** » 25 Mar 2009 19:07

Moparman1972 wrote:Neat stuff! Are you restoring it back to stock? Same paint code?

What does it look like at the moment?

-Dylan

It's going back to "almost" stock. I have another 73 318 that I had rebuilt a while ago. That engine is going in the car since it is all together. I have the origonal engine but it won't be going back in right away. I'll still use the 2-barrel carb but am going to install dual exhaust with the factory chrome tips.

by **burdar** » 25 Mar 2009 19:13

The car sat in my dad's garage from the mid 80's until the mid 90's when I was in High School. We got the car running again, did some brake and exhaust work and I drove the car about 3000 miles before it was taken apart. The car now has 96,000 miles on it.

These two pictures are what it looked like in the mid 90's. It had been re painted a couple times and some different stripes had been applied. The long Iowa winters had taken a large tole on the car at this point.

by **dave-r** » 25 Mar 2009 19:30

Is that the "Gunmetal Grey" color?

by **Eddie** » 25 Mar 2009 20:03

Welcome, reminds me of this one thats all original and still for sale. Wish I had the cash! http://challenger.mpoli.fi/forum/viewto ... +car+worth It's also 318 2v auto console. The interior is perfect, the body is very bad and filled with mud.

by **burdar** » 25 Mar 2009 21:16

dave-r wrote:Is that the "Gunmetal Grey" color?

Yes...It's JA5 "dark silver metallic"

by **burdar** » 25 Mar 2009 22:38

In late 95 the car went to the body shop for the first time. I didn't research the shop at all and paid for my mistake.

They were supposed to install new quarters, trunk extensions and fix the rear framerails. It was supposed to be a 3 month job but they had the car for over a year and a half.

Pieces of steel were welded over the framerails and chunks of sheet metal were tacked in place in the trunk and bondoed over. The quarters were installed horribly and the rusted rocker panels weren't fixed before they went on. They even bondoed the quarter to rear valence seam. Everything that shop did would have to be replaced.

Here's a few pics of the "great" work they did.

by **drewcrane** » 25 Mar 2009 23:43

wow that is something that makes me wonder what were they thinking?
it can be fixed
, i think its cool that you still have the car,
in hemmings muscle machines they do a whole mag dedicated to you guys,
there are not to many people that are the origonal owners
, cudos to you for keeping it so long, and good luck with resto :thumbsup:

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 2:50

After we got the car back we took it completely apart. That is how it sat until late 2007.

At that point I was getting tired of the car just sitting around. I found a guy that sand blasts and took the car to him. He blasted everything that couldn't warp. He left the roof, doors alone. This is what it looked like when I got it home.

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 3:18

Now the search for a restoration shop really began.

I did my homework this time and talked to a few people who had cars done. I found a guy in Iowa who had his own buisness. We met and he showed me his operation. He came over to my place and looked at the car. He said that he was interested and said that once he was done with the 70 Challenger R/T he was finishing up, he would be able to start on mine.(look how I keep saying it's mine...it's still technically dad's but I have taken over the project) The 70 R/T was supposed to be done in late July or August of 08.

I e-mailed him in July and asked how the 70 was coming along and he wrote back with shocking news. He said that he had been offered the restoration manager possition at a newer restoration shop in Ohio. He said that he took the job and was taking the 70 Challenger out to Ohio to finish.

I knew that the shop he now worked for had a tent at the Mopar Nationals. Sinse I go to the NATS every year I waited to talk to him in person. On Friday morning as soon as I got to the track I went over the tent. He saw me right away and said he was sorry about the who situation and that he still really wanted to do the bodywork on the car. Well...to keep a long story...well...long, but shorter, I ended up agreeing to have him do the work. I had seen the quality he insisted upon and knew that the car would be in the right hands.

The car is now at Best of Show Automotive in Ohio.

www.bestofshowautomotive.com

by **Jimiboy** » 26 Mar 2009 7:43

I could almost cry for you, to that horrible bodywork! I will not believe my eyes! :s008:

I can see why you feel better to leave the body to this shop instead. (Looks cool with that red longditude stripe on that black Chally, don't think i have seen that before(?) I wish you the best & good luck with this car, i agree with Drew, so cool that the car still is in the same family. I hope you keep it. :thumbsup:

by **Moparman1972** » 26 Mar 2009 12:57

Well at least you have a real professional working on it now. I can't imagine how frustrating it must have been to have gotten the car back in that kind of shape.

Jimiboy, I agree with you, that horizontal stripe looks GOOD on that challenger. I wish I could see the rear quarter to see how they ended the stripe.

by **fal308** » 26 Mar 2009 13:28

They made that color combo (black w/ red stripe) in 1:18 scale but with a red interior. I think I have it and it looks hot :thumbsup:

Look down towards the bottom http://www.scale18.com/cgi-bin/page/sea ... challenger #50656

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 14:04

Moparman1972 wrote:Jimiboy, I agree with you, that horizontal stripe looks GOOD on that challenger. I wish I could see the rear quarter to see how they ended the stripe.

That was a factory stripe. I have heard that not many black cars came with that stripe color. You can get a really good look at it at Best of Shows website. Go to the current inventory section. They have a lot of pictures of it.

www.bestofshowautomotive.com

by **Moparman1972** » 26 Mar 2009 16:01

I have never seen that stripe before.

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 16:54

Work on the car started in January and they have been sending me updates by e-nail. My dad and I made a trip out to Ohio a few weeks ago to check on the progress.

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 17:22

I had been searching for complete rocker panels for years. I finally found a pair at the NATS about four years ago and bought them. They installed the entire rocker on the drivers side and just the front section on the passengers side.

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 17:32

The back half of the car needed just as much work as the front. The rear quarters were replaced with the new "FULL" quarters from Goodmark. The skins that were installed by the other shop are junk.

The rear frame sections in the back were replaced as well. I bought new frame sections from The Paddok. They are about 27" long and once the old rails are cut out...these new ones slide inside the origonal a few inches. The seams are all metal finished so you can't tell a repair was ever done. The rear filler panel (the part that the rear bumper bolts to) was also replaced.

I was happy to find out that they were able to save the origonal trunk floor. They used an old set of 2 piece floor pans and just cut out some small sections they needed to fix.

by **drewcrane** » 26 Mar 2009 18:27

wow that will be a new car, the work ,the insanity :s008:

thats alot of work,man i dont know what else to say :s020:

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 19:21

drewcrane wrote:wow that will be a new car, the work ,the insanity thats alot of work,man i dont know what else to say

The car looks a lot beter right now. A lot has gotten done since those pictures were taken. Here are a couple more. I have to get back to work so I'll post some more tonight.

by **Jimiboy** » 26 Mar 2009 19:22

burdar wrote:
Moparman1972 wrote:Jimiboy, I agree with you, that horizontal stripe looks GOOD on that challenger. I wish I could see the rear quarter to see how they ended the stripe.

That was a factory stripe. I have heard that not many black cars came with that stripe color. You can get a really good look at it at Best of Shows website. Go to the current inventory section. They have a lot of pictures of it.

www.bestofshowautomotive.com

Wow!

Insane how good this black one looks!

The work on your car seems to be in right hands this time, that is for sure

Look forward to the follow up on this one...

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 21:11

Wow! Insane how good this black one looks!

I knew that my dark silver would turn out great after seeing how perfect that black paint job was.

He told me he does every paint job the same way. He puts as much time and effort into the final product if he is doing a black car or a white car. That was good to hear.

by **burdar** » 26 Mar 2009 23:07

All the major rust repair was finished by the middle of February. The car was then sound enough to be put on the roticerie.

by **botari123** » 27 Mar 2009 0:48

dont be scared the right guy
makes it look like new quick
heres mine done in my garage by self

by **burdar** » 27 Mar 2009 0:54

You can't imagine the money I would be saving if I could do my own bodywork. A lot of people have said for me to just buy a welder and learn the work as I go. That might work for some people but not for me. I used to be a mechanic, so all the mechanical aspects of the restoration are cake but the bodywork really is over my head. With the bad experiences I've had with this car I just wanted to find someone that knew what they were doing so it would only have to be done once.

by **drewcrane** » 27 Mar 2009 1:24

im just the oppisite i like body work , its the mechanicals that always stumble me, body work is alot of work done by hand,it is an art,but so mechanics,its all what you feel comfortable with :s023:

by **patrick** » 27 Mar 2009 7:27

burdar, your car is looking good! :thumbsup:

botari123, yours is coming along good, too!

by **Jimiboy** » 27 Mar 2009 12:26

patrick wrote: botari123, yours is coming along good, too!

Yes! keep on that good work botari123, awesome! :thumbsup:

by **burdar** » 27 Mar 2009 13:53

Last Saturday they started spraying some color on the car. They shot inside the trunk, the engine compartment and the entire underneith. Now the car will be taken off the roticerie and assembled. That is when the bodywork will start. They still have to put lower door skins on and fit the fenders.