Darwin
Evolutionary Member
66 Cuda /6
The resto is well under way. For those of you who didn't catch my intro in the welcome wagon a few weeks back heres a little background. My name is Bob, the car is dubbed Darwin by my 15 year old son Nick for his theory of evolution, chebby eats ferd, Barracuda eats Chebby.
I've owned this car for about 5 yrs. Not my first A body, I've owned several over the years, my first car was a 65 Dart Wagon 273 Auto, wish I still had it. Had a couple Darts, A Volare and a couple Dakotas since. Still have a 97 Dakota that my 19 yr old son Ryan fell in love with (I think its his girlfreind) treats it like a baby. Now that hes gone to school I get to drive it again. Anyway, Nick and I (and Ryan) started on this project in June this year. Was supposed to be a "simple" cosmetic restoration. We were just going to lift the engine, clean up the bay and replace any neccessary mechanicals and put it back in. Next on the list was a disc brake swap, want a safe ride as this is going to be Nick's first car, got a complete 73 dart set up from a guy in Arkansas, nice stuff. We blasted rebushed and painted those parts and they're ready for installation. Nick found a 7 1/4 LBP rear end to go with the disc setup on the front so that should be an easy swap. I've got a set of Magnum 500's that I had on the Volare so we got those blasted and painted.
Orderded new window rubber so when its ready for paint we can pop the glass and we'll be good to go. Now to the interior, heres where "simple" left my vocabulary. The seats, door panels and trim are in excellent condition, just needs carpet. Simple, we'll just pop the seats out, replace carpet and move on. Oh contrare. Finally got the got front seats out and only managed to break one bolt, the other seven got cut off with the die grinder. After removing the sill plates, kick panels and such, started pulling the carpet and Nick says to me "dad, the floor seems a little squishy". After further review, it seems a little gone. Pulled out the rear seat and found one of many mouse nests, I think this thing was the rodent hotel, they had stuff everywhere, glove box, kick panels, headliner, rusted out frame rails, everywhere. So as it goes, the "simple" resto is now a shell. All in one months time, then on July 5th Nick broke his leg and that put the project on hold, without the son its not a father son project. Well he's finally off the crutches, still in a boot, but able to work on the car again. This is getting a bit wordy so I'll let the pictures tell the story from here. I'll keep you posted on the progress and any input from the great FABO family would be greatly appreciated.
The resto is well under way. For those of you who didn't catch my intro in the welcome wagon a few weeks back heres a little background. My name is Bob, the car is dubbed Darwin by my 15 year old son Nick for his theory of evolution, chebby eats ferd, Barracuda eats Chebby.
I've owned this car for about 5 yrs. Not my first A body, I've owned several over the years, my first car was a 65 Dart Wagon 273 Auto, wish I still had it. Had a couple Darts, A Volare and a couple Dakotas since. Still have a 97 Dakota that my 19 yr old son Ryan fell in love with (I think its his girlfreind) treats it like a baby. Now that hes gone to school I get to drive it again. Anyway, Nick and I (and Ryan) started on this project in June this year. Was supposed to be a "simple" cosmetic restoration. We were just going to lift the engine, clean up the bay and replace any neccessary mechanicals and put it back in. Next on the list was a disc brake swap, want a safe ride as this is going to be Nick's first car, got a complete 73 dart set up from a guy in Arkansas, nice stuff. We blasted rebushed and painted those parts and they're ready for installation. Nick found a 7 1/4 LBP rear end to go with the disc setup on the front so that should be an easy swap. I've got a set of Magnum 500's that I had on the Volare so we got those blasted and painted.
Orderded new window rubber so when its ready for paint we can pop the glass and we'll be good to go. Now to the interior, heres where "simple" left my vocabulary. The seats, door panels and trim are in excellent condition, just needs carpet. Simple, we'll just pop the seats out, replace carpet and move on. Oh contrare. Finally got the got front seats out and only managed to break one bolt, the other seven got cut off with the die grinder. After removing the sill plates, kick panels and such, started pulling the carpet and Nick says to me "dad, the floor seems a little squishy". After further review, it seems a little gone. Pulled out the rear seat and found one of many mouse nests, I think this thing was the rodent hotel, they had stuff everywhere, glove box, kick panels, headliner, rusted out frame rails, everywhere. So as it goes, the "simple" resto is now a shell. All in one months time, then on July 5th Nick broke his leg and that put the project on hold, without the son its not a father son project. Well he's finally off the crutches, still in a boot, but able to work on the car again. This is getting a bit wordy so I'll let the pictures tell the story from here. I'll keep you posted on the progress and any input from the great FABO family would be greatly appreciated.
