They Said It Can't Be Done...Or Don't Even Try

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1969VADart

1969VADart

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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.
 
Wow most people would have scrapped it! Way over my head thats for damn sure. I have to say you have determination. Looks good so far. Look forward to watching the progress.
 
Nice job congrats! I don't do body work so no way I could aford to have a good body shop do that! How many hours do you have in it so far?
 
Holy cow!!!

That's definitely the "whole lotta work" route! Looks like you pulled it off, nice work! :thumbup:

My GK6 '71 GT has a roof that looks a lot like the one you started with. But the rest of the car is good, so I'm just replacing the roof skin via the spot welds. I managed to pull just the skin off of a donor car.
 
Nice work man!! As my buddy and I would joke at the collision shop " ya chunked it in there" Alot cleaner job putting the whole chunk in.
 
You know ... there are guy's that will see this and feel like a shmuck because they were afraid to tackle some minor patch panel (comparatively) posts like these give inspiration to the rest of us ... Good on ya . Thanks , Rich
 
They Said It Can't Be Done...Or Don't Even Try
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don't know who said it can't be done because thats just stupid. just about anything can be done. i think most probably said and and are right about it. that you'll have more time and money into it then its worth.

but hey its your time and money so who cares what others think or thought. its cool you are saving one..
 
That's impressive........
Most people would have given up, but here you are saving yet another one.
Cudos to you!
 
****Curtsey****to you sir. Glad you found a top and glad you saved this car.

Its never a bad thing to save another 69 dart, the world is a better place with more of them around. :)

Inspiring to say the least.
 
How many beers did that take to accomplish?! Kudos man. Just incredible.
 
You know back in my younger,better health days I would not have been able to accomplish that. You did an outstanding job.
 
lot of work/time and money spent on a project that's not a super rare collector car. the title should have said, 'don't bother" hope you plan t keep that car forever or stand to lose a fortune if you sell it.
 
Hemaniac said:
lot of work/time and money spent on a project that's not a super rare collector car. the title should have said, 'don't bother" hope you plan t keep that car forever or stand to lose a fortune if you sell it.
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You know, for a lot of us these cars aren't about making money.

Seems like the owner of the car is capable of doing the work, probably knew he wouldn't ever see the time he's invested pay out in monetary fashion, and did the work because it meant "saving" the car. Or maybe just for the satisfaction of doing it. That used to be enough...
 
72bluNblu said:
You know, for a lot of us these cars aren't about making money.

Seems like the owner of the car is capable of doing the work, probably knew he wouldn't ever see the time he's invested pay out in monetary fashion, and did the work because it meant "saving" the car. Or maybe just for the satisfaction of doing it. That used to be enough...
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Agreed. An absolutely incredible amount of work to do what you did. But, to be able to show your friends what you actually DID instead of BUYING, thats where the pride kicks in.
Congrats!
 
I appreciate the sentiments. And I get that the money I will have invested in this thing will far surpass the value of it when I am done, but I passed that point long ago with all the new stuff I bought anyway. This car is not meant to be flipped or sold. I want my son to be able to take his date to prom in this car someday (or something like that). And actually I have saved a fair amount of body shop money because my body man was more than happy to have us get in on this with him. There is a lot of satisfaction that comes from doing something as ridiculous as this (and that is certainly what this is). The majority of the sentiment was ditch this body and find a better one, but that is not always as easily said as done. Needless to say, I am happy with what we pulled off. And I am in no way a body man. But I have learned a lot along the way between working on the big stuff on this car (body and engine) and the little stuff (interior, dash, etc.).
 
There is satisfaction to be had in doing the work. I did a complete front half replacement (frame, front crossmember, inner fenders etc). In my case the cost was minimal, mainly time. Then my wife made it known she would really rather have a Dart than a Duster so I completed the structure, preserved it with epoxy primer, and mothballed it. No regrets. It was fun and I learned a lot about A bodies.

Yours is bigger yet. You have areas with multiple folded layers of sheet metal that are structural to deal with but as was said, almost anything can be done.

There are parts of these projects that are downright difficult, monotonous, and a pain in the brain, but then it just feels that much better to get it done.
 
My hat is off to you! Thank you for saving that 69, with the level of effort you are willing to undertake to accomplish your vision I know it will be a sweet ride! And I look forward to seeing the build unfold and finished.
AlV
 
It looks good...but I'm one of the guys who recommended he not go this far with this car. Here's why...and PLEASE, I don't mean to be a downer or piss on anybody's parade. I'll just pass this on to anybody who might be considering this sort of reconstruction.
These cars are spot welded together at the factory. The design of the panel and their support is predicated on that sort of welding. When you cut a car apart like this and weld it back together with anything but spots or TIG, the welded seams are much harder than the metal surrounding them. When changing a quarter, or a floor pan, it's not a big deal. But, the roof structure is an active part of this cars chassis. If you've ever cut the roof off a hardtop and tried to lift the car, you'd see just how much rigidity the roof adds. As this car rides over bumps, and goes through cornering and stopping motions, the soft original metal will want to move slightly as it was intended...the hard seams will not. It's just a short time before those areas become work hardened and begin to crack. In the event of a serious accident, the metal will tear like tissue paper along the seams. There's a lot to this!
I would say that adding a pair of GOOD frame connectors and a pair of Torque Boxes as would be found in a convertible would be a seriously good investment for this particular car.
Again, just my 2 cents. Not taking anything away from your efforts or accomplishment. Just wanting to make sure your investment stays looking good and is safe.
 
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