Mattwood440
Active Member
I am finishing disassembly soon and will be approaching the 2nd step in my first restoration: dropping it off at a body shop. I have the skills, time, and most of the tools to do everything myself, except the body.
Vehicle: all numbers matching 72 Duster 340, fender tag, no broadcast sheet, TX9 black, auto, ridiculously loaded originally. It has been caked with an amateur primer coat and undercoat and was left outside for years. Rotted bottoms of rear 1/4s and both areas between trunk hinges/rear window are the worst looking. Possibly the bottom corners of the front windshield need work, maybe. Floors look decent.
Goal: all oe looking inside and out, but with modern paint/tires, not concours, very good/fine quality. I hope it would be worth $40k+ depending on the market, of course, when finished. I am more than willing to spend the necessary $ to fully restore it, and fully expect to dish out more than it's worth lol. This car is for me. Having said that, I'm not going to spend 6 figures. Again, I'm doing 99% of the mechanical work myself, unless I decide to have a component farmed out.
I have 2 body shops options before me and I'm struggling with the choice. I can take it to a place that does high dollar restorations, where it will be blasted down to bare metal, fixed, then painted. Or I can take it to a local guy who does just body work on muscle cars and custom hot rods, out of his own shop and spray booth, where it will be mechanically stripped, fixed, painted.
I was dead set on blasting down to bare metal but after doing research I'm not so sure. I realize that the original prep work ma Mopar did at the factory does make a good base to build upon, and mechanical stripping was how body shops did it for decades. Obviously, the local guy would be cheaper by the hour. Neither place specializes in Mopars, but both have done expensive looking Mopars within the past year.
Experienced people's opinions needed!
Vehicle: all numbers matching 72 Duster 340, fender tag, no broadcast sheet, TX9 black, auto, ridiculously loaded originally. It has been caked with an amateur primer coat and undercoat and was left outside for years. Rotted bottoms of rear 1/4s and both areas between trunk hinges/rear window are the worst looking. Possibly the bottom corners of the front windshield need work, maybe. Floors look decent.
Goal: all oe looking inside and out, but with modern paint/tires, not concours, very good/fine quality. I hope it would be worth $40k+ depending on the market, of course, when finished. I am more than willing to spend the necessary $ to fully restore it, and fully expect to dish out more than it's worth lol. This car is for me. Having said that, I'm not going to spend 6 figures. Again, I'm doing 99% of the mechanical work myself, unless I decide to have a component farmed out.
I have 2 body shops options before me and I'm struggling with the choice. I can take it to a place that does high dollar restorations, where it will be blasted down to bare metal, fixed, then painted. Or I can take it to a local guy who does just body work on muscle cars and custom hot rods, out of his own shop and spray booth, where it will be mechanically stripped, fixed, painted.
I was dead set on blasting down to bare metal but after doing research I'm not so sure. I realize that the original prep work ma Mopar did at the factory does make a good base to build upon, and mechanical stripping was how body shops did it for decades. Obviously, the local guy would be cheaper by the hour. Neither place specializes in Mopars, but both have done expensive looking Mopars within the past year.
Experienced people's opinions needed!
