Project- Bills Buggy

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You're doing a great job on the car, keep up the good work.
 
Great job you are doing on the buggy!
My vote is to keep the '69 front clip, '67-'69 where always my favorite.
 
You're doing a great job on the car, keep up the good work.

Thank you for the compliments.. They motivate me so much to keep working, even when I cant see the light at the end of the tunnel.. lol


Great job you are doing on the buggy!
My vote is to keep the '69 front clip, '67-'69 where always my favorite.

Thank you for the kind words.. Yeah, it would seem to be the majority vote LOL . .I havent had one vote for the 71 front clip... In my head it still looks cool with the 70-71 clip.. but i may just leave the buggy a complete 69 lol.. I will know for sure by Tuesday..
 
Man you sure are making good progress!, Id love to be as far along on my duster as you are on the dart.

as for the fender......I know how ya feel.....my dusters passenger front fender had been wacked before pretty good and it ruined the center body line......someone previously tried to repair it and didnt do thast great of a job, then I did what I could to straighten the metal out and bring the body line back and smooth it off with filler but it seems like no matter how much I worked on it I still couldnt get it to look "right" and I think the only real fix is to eventually get another fender and stop screwing around with the dang thing lol.

only thing is, it seems like jsut a couple yeaqrs ago I was seeing duster fenders pop up on craigslist all the time for cheap...like around $50.00 , now all of a sudden everyone wants $200.00 for one that has rust or dents/dings and I just cant afford it. So I am going to wait it out and hope I stumble on a good deal one day.

as for the front clip.....I like the 70-71 style personally......and if you could get a REALLY gooddeal on the whole setup I vote for that.....BUT if the cost of the entire front clip is more than what your looking at spending on a fender....I say just get another fender and keep her all original.

good work buddy and keep it up.
 
Man you sure are making good progress!, Id love to be as far along on my duster as you are on the dart.

as for the fender......I know how ya feel.....my dusters passenger front fender had been wacked before pretty good and it ruined the center body line......someone previously tried to repair it and didnt do thast great of a job, then I did what I could to straighten the metal out and bring the body line back and smooth it off with filler but it seems like no matter how much I worked on it I still couldnt get it to look "right" and I think the only real fix is to eventually get another fender and stop screwing around with the dang thing lol.

only thing is, it seems like jsut a couple yeaqrs ago I was seeing duster fenders pop up on craigslist all the time for cheap...like around $50.00 , now all of a sudden everyone wants $200.00 for one that has rust or dents/dings and I just cant afford it. So I am going to wait it out and hope I stumble on a good deal one day.

as for the front clip.....I like the 70-71 style personally......and if you could get a REALLY gooddeal on the whole setup I vote for that.....BUT if the cost of the entire front clip is more than what your looking at spending on a fender....I say just get another fender and keep her all original.

good work buddy and keep it up.

Its so good to hear from ya dude.. I was beginning to worry lol.. Yeah the buggy is coming along, but its still got a ways to go, and it feels like I just work and work and work, and never get anywhere LOL ... For real this fender is just bumming me out.. All I can hope for now is that we get the body lines 'close' to where they were.. Fenders are just way too far out of my financial reach. I have never seen a cheap 69 fender.. Heck I hardly ever see them to begin with, let alone being cheap.. I find them with rust, braces rotted off, dents etc, for $250 and up... I saw a perfect one once. it was like $375.. To me that was approaching E body prices .. but.. I got both the fenders I have for less that $200, but as I said, the passenger fender was whacked good.. Oh well.. I'll keep plugging away on it..

So far your the only one voting for the 70ish front clip.. lol... I hope to decide soon... Honestly though I will probably listen to my wife (and mostly everyone else) and leave her a 69.. lol..

Glad you stopped in.. Check back in again soon!
 
Keep 69 front clip. I have a extra rally hood w/callouts.

You mean the bulged hood? I Have looked at those over the years but was never able to afford one. I decided a long time ago I was gonna stick with the plain jane flat hood. Then I decided to add the dual snorkel scoop. That's the look I'm going with if I keep the front clip a 69.
 
Well... off to do more sanding... Thinking the buggy is gonna remain all 69 lol... Thanks for the input guys..
 
Quick update.. just got back from another night of sanding.. Has anyone else ever hit a point in their project where they feel like they are just running in place? No matter how much you work, it never seems to be getting anywhere, and the list of things to do just gets longer instead of shorter.. causing a sense of frustration?? I am there.. right now... I just feel like all I do is sand.. sand.. and sand.. everytime I think I am getting it nailed down, I chase more issues... ugh... Small rant.. I was just really hoping to get the buggy in paint by the end of the month.. anyone following this thread since the beginning knows I have been setting 'hopefull' deadlines for paint.. only to have that time come and go... truthfully.. the end of the month is two weeks away.. I dont believe there is any way she is gonna be ready for paint by then... so here we go again... lol.. it just seems to never end...

On a positive note.. I have made up my mind.. the buggy will stay a complete 69... It was just the right thing to do.. regardless of how cool I think the 70 front clip looks on a 69, its way deeper than that... My wife told me that we have had this car for almost 8 years now... when she thinks of the buggy, she sees it the way she always has... changing the front clip changes the car too much.. she said it wouldnt feel like the buggy anymore.. My wife is a smart gal... I cant argue with her logic...

Stay tuned folks....
 
Speedracer...
First, GREAT BUILD!

Second, (by way of motivation)...
Let Me chime in on the never ending paint/ body thing.

LMFAO, I purchased My '67 Fish in '76. 2 yrs later the paint was finally done...
Original color was some Bronze offshoot of, well, Bronze! (lol).
After that in succession 2) purple (aaack) 3) red 4) silver 5) yellow

Yep, 5 different colors. of course with all the associated 'bondo barney'
hack repairs - " inbetwixd"

Motivation... 35 yrs later... As The Good Lord Lives , the ricers, farfugnugn
volks, ill duce (sp), or britania wankers have yet to produce the surgically
clean & functionally beautiful lines of any Mopar.
Thx for letting me rant, just my humble $.02

mech1---

p.s. yes I am at it again, 3'rd 80% semi - resto ...hahahaha.

p.s.s. wish the hell Ya'LL were closer, I'd come over & kick Your butt
(on a motivational context of course) ... I jest , I jest, ( insert smile icon here)
 
Thank you sir. I needed that lol. I'll take all the motivation i can. Thanks also for the compliment. It is much appreciated.
 
Howdy gang.. Just thought I'd update the buggy project thread a little.. Things have been crazy and I havent been able to work on the car as much as I would like.. But I am still continuing to make progress. I am down to the last couple areas of finish body work.. The biggest pain in the *** being that passenger side fender... You know at this point I believe I would actually kill to find a decent passenger fender.. seriously... all out bloodshed for one LMAO .. They seem to be hard as hell to find, and all kinds of expensive and out of my price range if I do.. So.. we have been spending redonkulous amounts of time on the one that I have.. I will remind everyone it was hit.. and hit hard.. What we thought originally wouldnt be 'too terribly bad' to fix, has been a nightmare.. we have been chasing body lines (putting body lines back in altogether in the better part of the fender) sanding, working... etc.. just trying to get it close..

There comes a point when you just have to decide when enough is enough.. I have come to that point. What you see in the pictures is what its gonna be... Its not perfect.. (in my opinion it isnt close lol) I can find no less than 5 things wrong with it in the first 10 seconds.. LOL .. but if you go back to the first page of this thread.. to the origins of the buggy.. my goal was to build a cool looking cruiser.. a car to have fun in.. ride around and just enjoy myself.. an all out show car or trailer queen the buggy was just never meant to be.. I didnt start with best Dart to do that with, and I dont have the budget or means to pull that off...

With that being said, I decided to quit chasing this fender night after night, and leave it the way it is... as I said, I do intend to eventually locate myself a nice passenger fender.. in the meantime this one will do the trick.. Hope you guys approve of how it turned out.. I have to block it yet.. just shot the pics after I sprayed some primer on.. there is some more finish sanding that needs done yet, that I just wasnt able to see until after I got the primer on..

Let me know what you all think...
 

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I wanted to give credit where credit is due.. My buddy Bruce (refer back to page one for the project bills buggy team members lol) is the real magic man to making that fender look as good as it does.. His nephew Davie got the ground work done.. trying to get the fender to resemble what it was supposed to, and Bruce did the rest.. Between Bruce, Davie, and Bob, they have been teaching me the skills and techniques of body work.. a skill that I never believed I could do.. I have to admit I pretty much hate it.. but at the end of the day I know I will that much more pride in the buggy knowing the education I have gotten because of her, and the skills that I have learned and developed over the years since this project started.. I thank my friends very much for all they have done for me.. and I thank my FABO family for all the support, kind words, and those who have helped me with parts.. I am forever grateful...
 
Well.. The weather is beautiful today, and I was hoping to move the buggy outside and clean the garage good again.. But as usual other things pop up and kill off another day lol. Oh well.
 
WOW How did I miss this thread. Speed you have come a long way with your buggy.
 
Good work and i'm glad you are staying with the '69 look.
IMHO, don't over think it about the fender, just do the best you can and go with it!
It's great that you are sticking with it through thick and thin.
Cudos to you.
 
After doing just a little body work, finding out what all is involved, I know now why getting a price for a paint job is so high! lol
 
WOW How did I miss this thread. Speed you have come a long way with your buggy.

Thanks Cliff.. I am glad you found your way to my build thread.. It has been a long road to this point for sure.. Stay tuned for the rest lol

Good work and i'm glad you are staying with the '69 look.
IMHO, don't over think it about the fender, just do the best you can and go with it!
It's great that you are sticking with it through thick and thin.
Cudos to you.

Thanks for the kind words, yea I am pretty happy I decided to stay with the 69 look.. it was the right choice in the end. And I have over thought that fender plenty to this point and I am just gonna leave it as is.. If people want to point out any of the things that are wrong with my fender, I will either ignore them, ask them where their car is.. Or ask if they feel like buying me a cherry fender LOL .. And I will always stick with this project, thick or thin.. I have been through alot with the buggy..

After doing just a little body work, finding out what all is involved, I know now why getting a price for a paint job is so high! lol

AMEN to that! LOL ...
 
Speed I will be keeping up. You really have brought your car back.
 
Speed I will be keeping up. You really have brought your car back.

Thanks Cliff.. I have sure been trying thats for sure... The buggy has had many surprises along the way that I hadnt anticipated LOL .. at this point the trunk lid, drivers door and quarter, and the roof are the only pieces of outer sheet metal that were on the buggy when I got her LMAO ..
 
Hey Speed, Great job on the car looks like you are going through as much if not more work than I did. The car is looking great keep it up it will all be worth it in the end. I can't wait to see it painted.

Are you going with the vinyl top also? Glad to see B5 and Black color combo I haven't seen it on many cars.
 
I can find no less than 5 things wrong with it in the first 10 seconds.

Let me know what you all think...

Speed,
The problem is you need to know when it's as good as it gets. You can find the problems because you have been staring at every square inch of it for a long time. Ask someone who's not familiar with the car if they see anything wrong. If the whole package is right the small flaws disappear.
 
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