Md11hud
Member
I've been into Mopars for some time as my Grandfather was a Chrysler/Plymouth dealer in Olympia, WA, and my dad still owns his 1952 Chrysler Saratoga with 331 Hemi power that he got as his High School graduation gift. He drove it off the railroad car brand new and his first stop was the body shop to have it nosed and decked. I got to drive the 52 when I was in High School. I have passed on the Mopar bug and now my wife has a 1940 Plymouth truck on a Dakota chassis, my daughter has a 1972 Plymouth Scamp that my son and I built for her to drive in High School, and my son has two Aspens, a 1971 Dart Swinger and 1968 Chrysler Newport 2 door. My daily driver is a 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T in B-5 blue (one of 2000) and last week I picked up my first B Body, a 1968 Charger.
There is an interesting story to go along with the Charger. My son, who works two jobs as a mechanic and body man, was with his body man boss at the auto recycling yard, of course in the Mopar section. They were approached by a guy asking some Mopar specific questions, and after he figured out they knew what they were talking about, he mentioned that he had a 1968 Charger in his garage that he might be interested in selling.
After a couple of months of talking it up, my Son convinced me to check out the car. What we found was a three owner, ex California car that had never been wrecked, not been hacked up, and never been restored. It was also always garaged, but had not been touched since 1990 when the seller had taken most of the interior out and placed in inside storage. He assured us he had all the trim, and that it was in good shape. The original 383 was gone, but he had installed a replacement 383 and Headman headers and aftermarket mufflers.
I agreed to a price, and next week we brought out the car trailer and towed her home (to many thumbs up on the road). A good wash job got most of the 23 years of dust off and we started the job of inventory and making a list of things that had to happen to get her back on the road. The floors and trunk are nice, the quarters are going to need some work and the fenders are a bit bunged up, but it is nothing my son can not handle. Our plan is to get her driving first and then tackle one area at a time so she is never off the road for long.
I first had to reinstall the gauges, which were in very nice shape. The only bad thing on the interior is the radio panel was hacked up for a modern radio. The rest is in very nice condition. I had to replace half the instrument lights, and resolder the circuit breaker pin connections, but all the gauges work now. And the car only had 9000 miles on her...(or 109? or 209?) I then had to take out the electric fuel pump and replace with stock manual pump as his wiring was messing with the ability of the key to engage the starter relay. Also the neutral safety switch is kaput. With that figured out, she willingly turned over. Adding a rebuilt carburetor and fuel line to a jerry can caused the engine to fire! Once we got all the vacuum ports capped or routed properly, she actually ran fairly well.
Today, I took her for her first spin in 23 years. The 727 tranny worked well, but we were limited to up and down the driveway as our next job is refurbishing the brakes (Thankfully the E brake worked just fine). We picked up rotors and spindles from an M body and after machining them and installing new calipers and a new disc master, we will be on the road to stopping on a dime.
There is an interesting story to go along with the Charger. My son, who works two jobs as a mechanic and body man, was with his body man boss at the auto recycling yard, of course in the Mopar section. They were approached by a guy asking some Mopar specific questions, and after he figured out they knew what they were talking about, he mentioned that he had a 1968 Charger in his garage that he might be interested in selling.
After a couple of months of talking it up, my Son convinced me to check out the car. What we found was a three owner, ex California car that had never been wrecked, not been hacked up, and never been restored. It was also always garaged, but had not been touched since 1990 when the seller had taken most of the interior out and placed in inside storage. He assured us he had all the trim, and that it was in good shape. The original 383 was gone, but he had installed a replacement 383 and Headman headers and aftermarket mufflers.
I agreed to a price, and next week we brought out the car trailer and towed her home (to many thumbs up on the road). A good wash job got most of the 23 years of dust off and we started the job of inventory and making a list of things that had to happen to get her back on the road. The floors and trunk are nice, the quarters are going to need some work and the fenders are a bit bunged up, but it is nothing my son can not handle. Our plan is to get her driving first and then tackle one area at a time so she is never off the road for long.
I first had to reinstall the gauges, which were in very nice shape. The only bad thing on the interior is the radio panel was hacked up for a modern radio. The rest is in very nice condition. I had to replace half the instrument lights, and resolder the circuit breaker pin connections, but all the gauges work now. And the car only had 9000 miles on her...(or 109? or 209?) I then had to take out the electric fuel pump and replace with stock manual pump as his wiring was messing with the ability of the key to engage the starter relay. Also the neutral safety switch is kaput. With that figured out, she willingly turned over. Adding a rebuilt carburetor and fuel line to a jerry can caused the engine to fire! Once we got all the vacuum ports capped or routed properly, she actually ran fairly well.
Today, I took her for her first spin in 23 years. The 727 tranny worked well, but we were limited to up and down the driveway as our next job is refurbishing the brakes (Thankfully the E brake worked just fine). We picked up rotors and spindles from an M body and after machining them and installing new calipers and a new disc master, we will be on the road to stopping on a dime.
s_dancing2: 
