Birth of the Blue Missile
In 2000 we moved to Austin and because of distance windsurfing took a back seat to music and church. A few years later I joined the local mopar club and went to most of the central texas car shows. I don’t know what kind of ratio exists in yalls neck of the woods, but here mopars are a very rare breed. Chebbys and rice burners are the invasive species. At one of the meetings an owner of a Texas muscle car shop showed up and introduced himself and his shop. I ended up selling him my 727 and some other items off the original car. In passing I mentioned I would EVENTUALLY be looking for a replacement 73 duster.
About six months later out of the blue the Lord spoke up and said call Jeff he has your car. OK you have read enough of my life to know I have a relationship with the Lord but I am still human. I brushed off the suggestion for about a week and then called him. He was surprised to hear from me and I told him what had happened. He said as a matter of fact I just picked up a 73 Duster out of San Antonio with you in mind! I drove out to his shop and took a look at the duster and knew at once it was just what I had been looking for. At that time there was no money in the budget to get the car but a month or so later someone who owed me a fair amount of money paid me back more than enough to get the car. It was the end of 2006 when I purchased the current project Duster.
It is a ’73 six cylinder gold Duster I picked it up for $2500. I thought the price was a little high but there are only a couple of quarter sized rust spots on the trailing rear edges of the rear quarter panels and a little rust to deal with on the front floor boards. There was no rust in any of the gutters or window channels. There are a few minor dents and the two front fenders need to be reworked or replaced. There were a few interior parts that disintegrated when I stripped out the interior, but over all it is a very solid car. I recently got a chance to crawl under the car to inspect for rust and to my delight there was virtually no rust and there was also no undercoating forward of the back of the rear floor pan. What it looks like is that there was a massive oil leak and the entire underside is coated with oil, and has been for some time. Here are the start of project pics.
The final pic is of the shaved and smoothed rear bumper, it has since been painted with black primer.
Andrew
PART NINTEEN
In 2000 we moved to Austin and because of distance windsurfing took a back seat to music and church. A few years later I joined the local mopar club and went to most of the central texas car shows. I don’t know what kind of ratio exists in yalls neck of the woods, but here mopars are a very rare breed. Chebbys and rice burners are the invasive species. At one of the meetings an owner of a Texas muscle car shop showed up and introduced himself and his shop. I ended up selling him my 727 and some other items off the original car. In passing I mentioned I would EVENTUALLY be looking for a replacement 73 duster.
About six months later out of the blue the Lord spoke up and said call Jeff he has your car. OK you have read enough of my life to know I have a relationship with the Lord but I am still human. I brushed off the suggestion for about a week and then called him. He was surprised to hear from me and I told him what had happened. He said as a matter of fact I just picked up a 73 Duster out of San Antonio with you in mind! I drove out to his shop and took a look at the duster and knew at once it was just what I had been looking for. At that time there was no money in the budget to get the car but a month or so later someone who owed me a fair amount of money paid me back more than enough to get the car. It was the end of 2006 when I purchased the current project Duster.
It is a ’73 six cylinder gold Duster I picked it up for $2500. I thought the price was a little high but there are only a couple of quarter sized rust spots on the trailing rear edges of the rear quarter panels and a little rust to deal with on the front floor boards. There was no rust in any of the gutters or window channels. There are a few minor dents and the two front fenders need to be reworked or replaced. There were a few interior parts that disintegrated when I stripped out the interior, but over all it is a very solid car. I recently got a chance to crawl under the car to inspect for rust and to my delight there was virtually no rust and there was also no undercoating forward of the back of the rear floor pan. What it looks like is that there was a massive oil leak and the entire underside is coated with oil, and has been for some time. Here are the start of project pics.
The final pic is of the shaved and smoothed rear bumper, it has since been painted with black primer.
Andrew