They Said It Can't Be Done...Or Don't Even Try
So I started with a 69 Dart GT that had terrible roof rust problems. It was also ate up all the way around the vinyl top trim and the filler panel was all but gone. The front cowl was not in the best shape either. It looked like this when we took the vinyl top off.
Plenty of people said run from this thing as fast as I could. After getting over my disappointment and sadness, I decided F**K it, let's do something radical. First we thought we would work from this point.
Then I managed to come by this excellent roof section thanks to a FABO members input. Thanks Martin! We trimmed and cut it down to the point you see here.
Then we took my car down to this point. We broke the car all the way down to the seams. We removed the entire upper section where the roof supports mount to the rear inner fenders. Then we took the front posts apart at the lower post seams and separated the cowl top from the underdash by drilling out and grinding out every spot weld.
And now here we are. All we have left is to weld the roof section into place. This will include the inner fender supports, the frame supports behind the rear seat, and the front cowl section. Then we can get on with the new body panels.
This was clearly not the easiest way to solve this riddle, but damn it is awfully satisfying to pull off such an unusual task. If I hadn't seen it and participated in it, I wouldn't have believed it could be done. The best part about it was I didn't just stand by and watch my body guy do this himself. I got in there and ground, cut, and shaped this as well. Tonight I feel like I finally turned a big corner on this project.
So I started with a 69 Dart GT that had terrible roof rust problems. It was also ate up all the way around the vinyl top trim and the filler panel was all but gone. The front cowl was not in the best shape either. It looked like this when we took the vinyl top off.
Plenty of people said run from this thing as fast as I could. After getting over my disappointment and sadness, I decided F**K it, let's do something radical. First we thought we would work from this point.
Then I managed to come by this excellent roof section thanks to a FABO members input. Thanks Martin! We trimmed and cut it down to the point you see here.
Then we took my car down to this point. We broke the car all the way down to the seams. We removed the entire upper section where the roof supports mount to the rear inner fenders. Then we took the front posts apart at the lower post seams and separated the cowl top from the underdash by drilling out and grinding out every spot weld.
And now here we are. All we have left is to weld the roof section into place. This will include the inner fender supports, the frame supports behind the rear seat, and the front cowl section. Then we can get on with the new body panels.
This was clearly not the easiest way to solve this riddle, but damn it is awfully satisfying to pull off such an unusual task. If I hadn't seen it and participated in it, I wouldn't have believed it could be done. The best part about it was I didn't just stand by and watch my body guy do this himself. I got in there and ground, cut, and shaped this as well. Tonight I feel like I finally turned a big corner on this project.
