Back to the Fold....

[mopardog]

after a brief hiatus. In my last post.....I openly pondered getting rid of "the Bird". I put everything up and stopped thinking about it and quit obsessing over it. I did some deep MOPAR soul searching and determined that I am happier with "the Bird" in my life than without it. So, I brought the car back to the house out of storage and stuck the fenders back on to see how my work on the radiator support lined up. turns out, it was spot on (no pun intended). Last weekend, I remounted the hood all___by____myself which was not an easy task, but it's back on and lined back up. I took the hood louvers off to protect them. I will have the trunk lid straight and pretty this weekend (been working on it since I have to look at it everyday now). After that, the lower quarter patch which already have the prep work started on it as well. I have pretty much adopted an A.D.D. approach to working on it (sorry, don't mean to offend anyone). I will work on something for awhile until it starts getting frustrating, I stop and move on to another part of the car. So far, my strategy seems to be working.

I have also FINALLY got the paint and wheel configuration figured out.......it will piss off some purists but I don't care, it's my car, my money, and my blood, sweat, and tears going into car, so she's being done my way. If anyone would like to invest money in her.... then I will do it their way. lol That being said, here is my vision:

F-7 Dark Green Metallic (original color), with a candy coat on top like maybe yellow (to give it a modern pop). Black Chrome Powdercoat bumpers, and all shiny trim. Tank tracks, Strobe reflective Black hood louvers wrapped reflective Black ,no engine call outs....for now. Go wing. Oh, I know it's not Correct or the Mopar thing to do....but the engine bay will be black, underside of hood green (to highlight the green engine with black accents). The whole Green\Black Theme will run throughout the car. I will post pics as progress picks back up. It does feel good to be back..... until then..

 

[Aarons Air]

after a brief hiatus. In my last post.....I openly pondered getting rid of "the Bird". I put everything up and stopped thinking about it and quit obsessing over it. I did some deep MOPAR soul searching and determined that I am happier with "the Bird" in my life than without it. So, I brought the car back to the house out of storage and stuck the fenders back on to see how my work on the radiator support lined up. turns out, it was spot on (no pun intended). Last weekend, I remounted the hood all___by____myself which was not an easy task, but it's back on and lined back up. I took the hood louvers off to protect them. I will have the trunk lid straight and pretty this weekend (been working on it since I have to look at it everyday now). After that, the lower quarter patch which already have the prep work started on it as well. I have pretty much adopted an A.D.D. approach to working on it (sorry, don't mean to offend anyone). I will work on something for awhile until it starts getting frustrating, I stop and move on to another part of the car. So far, my strategy seems to be working.

I have also FINALLY got the paint and wheel configuration figured out.......it will piss off some purists but I don't care, it's my car, my money, and my blood, sweat, and tears going into car, so she's being done my way. If anyone would like to invest money in her.... then I will do it their way. lol That being said, here is my vision:

F-7 Dark Green Metallic (original color), with a candy coat on top like maybe yellow (to give it a modern pop). Black Chrome Powdercoat bumpers, and all shiny trim. Tank tracks, Strobe reflective Black hood louvers wrapped reflective Black ,no engine call outs....for now. Go wing. Oh, I know it's not Correct or the Mopar thing to do....but the engine bay will be black, underside of hood green (to highlight the green engine with black accents). The whole Green\Black Theme will run throughout the car. I will post pics as progress picks back up. It does feel good to be back..... until then..

I could not agree more with you about the money, blood, sweat, tears, and who owns it ! My sentiments exactly.
Lol, Mopar seems to (own) green. They have sone beautiful shades of it ! What you have in mind sounds really cool !!
Check out my dads ol " green machine ".

 

[Basket case]

doing your car to make you happy.....you may be on to something.....

 

[mopardog]

I could not agree more with you about the money, blood, sweat, tears, and who owns it ! My sentiments exactly.
Lol, Mopar seems to (own) green. They have sone beautiful shades of it ! What you have in mind sounds really cool !!
Check out my dads ol " green machine ".

View attachment 499722

Thanks! It feels great to have a direction at last! Love the pic of the Green Machine!

 

[mopardog]

doing your car to make you happy.....you may be on to something.....

I know, right ? Lol!

 

[mopardog]

Some current pics.....i hope

View attachment 499735

 

[Aarons Air]

Some current pics.....i hope

View attachment 499734 View attachment 499735 View attachment 499740

Gawd ! That car has attitude written all over it ! Cool car !

 

[Bb70charger500]

We need more pictures! I'm falling in love with 71-72 road runners all my years of chargers I think if there is a next it will be a r.r. they look mean !

 

[Sahara]

I love your post. My wife and I are building our 'Bee to impress us, not strangers. We're not putting a boatload of money, as well as years of time into impress others.

 

[MFP]

Your motor your ride your choice ....
....if you put the key into the ignition , kick it in the guts and DON' T have that stupid grin plastered all over your face ... Then what was the point of all YOUR hard work ?
More pics please

 

[mopardog]

I am pretty excited right now. I got some new motivation the other day. I took my car to a couple of shops just to see what I am looking at if car were to be "professionally done". I am not wanting Barrett-Jackson resto.... I am looking more along the lines of new OEM pretty but not perfect. One shop who now I think I am going to farm out my heavy sheetmetal work to, quoted me $7500 for just paint and body, nothing else done. Not bad. Another
"shop" who, granted they do show quality work, surprisingly seeing as how he is doing it out of a garage, trying to get a name for himself. He wouldn't even listen to how I wanted MY car to look and what I wanted done. quoted me $55k!!! I apologized for wasting his time. he then said, "well, (rather snotty about it too) I will do just the paint and body for $20K to which I replied.....she's not numbers match and even if she was and I could afford it, I wouldn't drop that kind of cash on it. SOOOOOO, guess I will keep working on her myself. I also have found not just one but TWO parts cars locally! One is the exact copy of the bird. waiting to hear back!!!!!!

 

[MFP]

Thanks for the new pictures mate , I'm always interested in progress and other people's ideas .
. " Every day's a school day " ... I reckon your man who quoted $7500 for body body and paint sounds quite fair ... The other bloke who quoted $ 20k to $55k needs new or more meds . I'm a working bloke so I always weigh up my time Vs my days off Vs how much longer it will take me to do something , usually it works out better ( for me) to pay someone else to do the work .... In 7 days they will achieve what it would take me 7 weeks to do because I take one day off a week, I set a budget then ask to pay as I go so if there's an unforeseen cost I can budget or compromise , the people doing the work also have a regular stream of cash and I have found they are usually a bit more motivated to progress the work , finally , I always pre agree some visits to see the job progressing so any minor changes I want I can factor in as I go .it's not an ideal way of doing things but remember .... I am paying . Just my thoughts mate .

 

[Bruzilla]

I am pretty excited right now. I got some new motivation the other day. I took my car to a couple of shops just to see what I am looking at if car were to be "professionally done". I am not wanting Barrett-Jackson resto.... I am looking more along the lines of new OEM pretty but not perfect. One shop who now I think I am going to farm out my heavy sheetmetal work to, quoted me $7500 for just paint and body, nothing else done. Not bad. Another
"shop" who, granted they do show quality work, surprisingly seeing as how he is doing it out of a garage, trying to get a name for himself. He wouldn't even listen to how I wanted MY car to look and what I wanted done. quoted me $55k!!! I apologized for wasting his time. he then said, "well, (rather snotty about it too) I will do just the paint and body for $20K to which I replied.....she's not numbers match and even if she was and I could afford it, I wouldn't drop that kind of cash on it. SOOOOOO, guess I will keep working on her myself. I also have found not just one but TWO parts cars locally! One is the exact copy of the bird. waiting to hear back!!!!!!

Man... I remember fighting this battle. My goal was for my car to look like it would have looked if I owned it when I got my license in 1976. It wouldn't be perfect, so I told the shops I don't need every ding filled in. NO WAY! I guess I could see their point. They are used to customers having all sorts of objections to any job that isn't perfect, and not getting things perfect was not in their business model.

My solution, and the one I still recommend, is look on Craigslist for someone who's doing paint and body work from home. These are usually P&B shop guys who want to make extra $$$, so you get the same talent you get at the shop but at a much lower cost.

 

[MFP]

Good call bruzilla .... Totally agree mate .. there's a guy I use who's a Mercedes man .. my Chrysler 300c has a Merc V6 diesel pump as standard ... Hes my go to guy