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1969 Dodge Charger Restoration

John69Charger

Well-Known Member
Local time
8:15 PM
Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
87
Reaction score
35
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
So me and my grandfather picked up this 69 charger about a year ago which is an absolute dream car for us, and it has basically been sitting in my garage since then until we accumulated enough new parts to get a start on it. (IT NEEDS A LOT!) We have tackled many other smaller projects but nothing to this magnitude.
So i have been doing a lot of research over the last year and more often than not i would end up on this website(as guest) which has an enormous amount of documentation of restorations and information about these b-body cars. This website and its members is truly an incredible tool and bank of knowledge/advice, and i would be more than grateful to receive any opinions and advice from you and will try and document/photograph as many pictures as i can to help out anyone else!

About the car, its originally a B5 blue 318 car. Grinding through some of the paint, it was painted black and then more recently painted orange for a general lee look I'm guessing. The car has not been on the road for a very very long time.
Im assuming the car has been parked on grass somewhere's for a lengthy period, because the underneath and rails of this car are in an extreme state! Here are a few photos of what we're looking at!
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First things first, had to build up a jig to mount the car on to make life a little easier. also i need to retain the use of my shop so i need to be able to move the car over into its little nook.
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The gaps on this car are actually pretty good other than here (but fenders are mounted on the car)
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front grill assebly/ valance removed.
Wondering does any one else have these fibreglass fenders? Do they have a benefit over steel? i would much rather work on and have steel replacement fenders, i can't understand a significant weight saving with these ones.
 
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I could not jack the car up on the rear rails and the shackles fell apart, i figured the best way was to put this square tubing under the rockers to disperse the weight(going to be replaced anyways
 
Welcome from MI. Looks like a big project. So what are you and grandpa planning to do to the car?
 
Great looking car to start with. Thanks for joining up here at FBBO, and good luck with your project. Remember to take your time and do it right the first time. Don't be afraid to ask questions here at any time.....plenty of site knowledge and I'm sure the guys are more than willing to help. :thumbsup:
 
Welcome from MI. Looks like a big project. So what are you and grandpa planning to do to the car?
Thanks for the welcome! we are planning on doing a bit of a rest-mod to this one, it is very far from being original, so we may as well do to it what we want most. upgrade the suspension/steering/ brakes. hopefully go with a late model hemi set up. But first priority is to restore the structure and dig into it as far as we need to go
 
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Great looking car to start with. Thanks for joining up here at FBBO, and good luck with your project. Remember to take your time and do it right the first time. Don't be afraid to ask questions here at any time.....plenty of site knowledge and I'm sure the guys are more than willing to help. :thumbsup:
I appreciate that very much, thank you
 
Looks like you have a lot of structural work but after watching others on this sight it can be done. I'm looking forward to watching your progress. Great grandfather, grandson project!
 
Looks like you have a lot of structural work but after watching others on this sight it can be done. I'm looking forward to watching your progress. Great grandfather, grandson project!
Yes its definitely going to need plenty of structural repair and panel replacement. it will be a great project and we enjoy the work. Im confident with the metal/structure work and he is more knowledgeable about the engine/drivetrain aspect, so we should make a good team. Thanks for watching and I'm sure we will have updates very soon!
 
Welcome you too got a lot of work ahead of yourselves but will be worth it when finished
 
Welcome from nh. Great project. Ill have to disagree about best year, im partial to 68 with the round lights, but 69s are awesome too. Ya structurally shes very rough. But amd has every part you need brand new. Some would say get a donor car for those parts but everything you find cheap enough to be a donor, and have those parts that are good, isnt a car bad enough to cut up. I vote for always use new metal and save a car, instead of cutting up another one that could also be saved. You def look like you know what youre doing though. Simply tacking in some 1in in the door opening says you know something. But that whole step further to build a frame. Great idea and def the way to do it, especially with the structural work. Keep it square and flat and tack in supports when you need to cut out something important and youll end up with a sweet ride in the end. I think most of us here love b5 cars. Rare color. And a plain jane 318 car, hell ya make it yours. A modern hemi sounds great. Keep us updated.
 
Welcome from nh. Great project. Ill have to disagree about best year, im partial to 68 with the round lights, but 69s are awesome too. Ya structurally shes very rough. But amd has every part you need brand new. Some would say get a donor car for those parts but everything you find cheap enough to be a donor, and have those parts that are good, isnt a car bad enough to cut up. I vote for always use new metal and save a car, instead of cutting up another one that could also be saved. You def look like you know what youre doing though. Simply tacking in some 1in in the door opening says you know something. But that whole step further to build a frame. Great idea and def the way to do it, especially with the structural work. Keep it square and flat and tack in supports when you need to cut out something important and youll end up with a sweet ride in the end. I think most of us here love b5 cars. Rare color. And a plain jane 318 car, hell ya make it yours. A modern hemi sounds great. Keep us updated.
Thanks for the welcome, i also love the round tail lights and open mouth grill of the 68's. the first one we looked at a few years ago before this one was a 68 but the owner wanted such a high price and it needed everything, so we passed an eventually found this one. sometimes the hardest part is finding parts, but yes AMD pretty well makes every panel you need for these chargers, we've already ordered an extensive list like all rails/quarters/floors/rockers/valances/tail panel, and a lot more. Makes these cars so much easier to restore when you have easy access to replacement panels. we have put in a few more braces inside the car since those pictures to ensure no twisting, and I'm sure there will be a lot more bracing to come as we start to cut and drill.
thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!
 
Wow, very ambitious project. That would scare the crap out of me. Looking forward to see the progress. Good luck.
 
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