junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
wow, that makes it all the more impressive!
Worst car brought back to life in FABO history.
- Thread starter skep419
- Start date
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wow, that makes it all the more impressive!
70SwingerGuy
Well-Known Member
About 40 years ago I replaced headers on my 68 Roadrunner, and a friend had just painted his 71 Cougar and put duals on it, so we took my old headers and cut them at the collectors where all four tubes join, reversed it and welded it onto his existed pipe at the back, the effect was four little pipes on each side sticking out the back below the bumper, looked really cool actually
NoCar340
The Original Partstitute
Once again, not an A-body but a pretty good candidate. I found my best friend's first car 25+ years after he sold it. He couldn't not buy it and make the effort, despite it being a 318/column triple-green car.
This is a photo from when he first bought it in 1986:
This is what was left when we found it in 2015:
Most of these leaves are not inside the car, they're under it. The driver's side torsion bar fell out on the trailer ride home. We never found it.
There were no doors on it when we found it, so we installed a pair of clean '69 doors. We were afraid we'd rip the car in half getting it on the trailer and put a lot of faith in the hinges and latches.
How it looks today:
He's still got a way to go, but a lot of time has been spent gathering parts. It has to be as perfect as he can make it (but not 100% correct). Other than the roof and deck filler panel, all the sheetmetal is either 100% rust-free used factory or NOS (a lot of the NOS is 1969 that he'll convert to '68). He's also gathered a staggering amount of NOS parts for the interior, suspension, etc. It's an all-out labor of love.
This is a photo from when he first bought it in 1986:
This is what was left when we found it in 2015:
Most of these leaves are not inside the car, they're under it. The driver's side torsion bar fell out on the trailer ride home. We never found it.
There were no doors on it when we found it, so we installed a pair of clean '69 doors. We were afraid we'd rip the car in half getting it on the trailer and put a lot of faith in the hinges and latches.
How it looks today:
He's still got a way to go, but a lot of time has been spent gathering parts. It has to be as perfect as he can make it (but not 100% correct). Other than the roof and deck filler panel, all the sheetmetal is either 100% rust-free used factory or NOS (a lot of the NOS is 1969 that he'll convert to '68). He's also gathered a staggering amount of NOS parts for the interior, suspension, etc. It's an all-out labor of love.
ThrowNdarts'73
Member
WOW - mad respect. Lots of blood, sweat and tears. Look forward to seeing this one complete. Love a good come back story!
AbodyGerry
New Member
Great thread guys, great reading and pics .........
ThrowNdarts'73
Member
Field find '73 /6 Dart rotting away. Saved her and have been transplanting a Gen III hemi to revive her. Fund project and almost ready to fire her up and finish the interior! Lots of elbow grease as all of you can appreciate.
Yunick13
3 Time FABO NASCAR champ 2023 FABO NHRA champ
Popped extra for others.
NoCar340
The Original Partstitute
To make a long story quite a bit longer, I've never heard a tale that was more "meant to be" automotively speaking:
The owner/restorer of the Charger was visiting his old hometown (here), and wanted to do some yarding during his vacation. Years ago--decades--there was a house on the side of US2 that always had an old Mopar for sale. I suggested we stop there because I saw a "fatback" Mustang shell on the power line bordering that property--not a Mopar, but evidence of old-car life. He argued it was a waste of time, and vacation time at that. I convinced him to stop since the owner was outside. I got out and spoke to the fella, who interrogated me at length about who I was. Turned out he knew my Dad, uncle, and boss, so he let us in. I opened the truck door to tell my friend we were going in, only to hear him on the phone, bitchin' to his wife about me wasting his vacation time.
The first car we passed, just atop the hill and out of view from the road, was a '71 GTX Six Pack/auto project, E5 red/white stripe & interior. Suddenly he was interested. Dude had a bunch of cars, B and E-bodies (not a single A-body), and waaaaaaay at the end of a junker-lined trail off the back of the yard, I saw the car. I just thought it was another green '68 Charger, but up close my friend recognized some very distinctive body damage he'd caused in 1987. A deal was struck for the '69 doors; the guy wanted to give my friend his car back for free but he insisted on giving him $500.
Suitably pumped, we decided to go see an old-timer who was heavily into Mopars. Back in 1989, my friend had sold this fella a rotten 383-powered '71 Charger 500. He'd bought just for the engine--to put in the '68--and sold it to the old-timer when that didn't happen. That fella ended up racing that 383, but told me around '05 that he "blew it up" at the track. We talked for a bit, and asked about the blown-up 383. Yep, the shortblock was sitting 15 feet away. "Blew it up" meant he broke a couple of rockers and slung some pushrods. The bottom end was fine. $150 later and he owned his old 383 block. We know where the hulk of the Charger is and were able to verify the block by VIN. The block checked out good at the machine shop.
So in a matter of about two hours in a single day, not only did he find his first car, he found the 383 he'd planned to install had things gone better.
The pictures were from the next day, when we went to recover the car. The seller had skidded it out of the woods to that spot using a '70s Ford truck hood as a sled.
[Billy Mays voice] But wait--there's more! [/Billy Mays]
The title was missing, so my friend started the process of tracking the title and seeing what needed to be done. We knew three of the owners after he'd sold it and had contact with two, but it had gone through at least five. First call? The State of Michigan. He identified himself, stated why he was calling, and gave the woman the VIN. A few keyboard taps, and she told him the Charger was still titled in his name, despite two of the subsequent owners buying it as a project car. He gave her is card number and address, and she mailed him a new title. It still has the issue date from when he first bought it nearly 40 years ago.
The stars don't align like that very often. Plus, when he's here, time-crunched, and annoyed with my ideas, I remind him what happened the last time I "wasted his time" on vacation.
I also have a very different definition of "too far gone to save" these days, but you've really got to want it.
ThrowNdarts'73
Member
Beers on your friend for life!! Lol
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