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69 Charger R/T abandoned and left for dead

Liberty MW

Well-Known Member
Local time
12:54 PM
Joined
Dec 2, 2020
Messages
294
Reaction score
208
Location
Portland
This car is a bit of a local legend in my area of Oregon. The story is that the original owners son wrecked it driving too fast and hit a tree hard on the left rear. The car was towed home and left in the woods on the edge of the family farm. Over the years, the engine and rear end found it's way into other cars. A friend of mine tracked it down and drug it from the woods about 10yrs ago and stored it in a chicken barn. I would inquire from time to time because something about what it was and the story was exciting. a few weeks ago, a storm blew the roof off the barn and damaged the structure so the barn has to be demolished. I got the call to come get it for what I saw as the value of a set of cheap tires. So here it is. No plans at the moment other than yard art. It will need everything from the door jambs back, core support, inner fenders, front frame rails, doors and front sheetmetal. probably just shy of a rebody. but that doesnt retain the cars soul, no matter how posessed or traumatic it may be. I did get the deck lid which was removed and stored on the wall in the 70s. It has all its paperwork and numbers. I was able to get in touch with the original owner and he says he has the original sales paperwork so that will add to the story. What I do know is it is a real Hamtramack 1969 R/T 440 4bbl B5 blue with black top, stripe and interior. 727 auto, buckets. The original owner says it is an SE and the holes in the sail panel support that also. More pics will come when I figure out where we are going. My inital thoughts are a resto mod build since the drivetrain is gone. This build would determine what is too far gone! If you are somewhere around Portland, Or. and you have parts of this car or parts that I can use, which are many at the moment, I would like to hear from you.
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Ive seen worse go through the restoration process. Nice to see it as well. Congrats
 
Without seeing anything good except for numbers a man would have to be a glutton for punishment to take of that project. It would be maybe a bit different if the car was all there. Post some more pictures of it.
 
Without seeing anything good except for numbers a man would have to be a glutton for punishment to take of that project. It would be maybe a bit different if the car was all there. Post some more pictures of it.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not everyone's skills are equal. More pics will be posted if and when there's progress. Enjoy
 
I've rescued worse. It's a joy to save something like this. There weren't many 69 R/T SE's. B5 original is really cool too. With all that paperwork, it's definitely worth saving. Don't want to do it? Put it up for sale.

Take a look at Chris Birdsong on YouTube.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not everyone's skills are equal. More pics will be posted if and when there's progress. Enjoy
Keep us up on the restoration process. I finished mine last summer. B5 Blue with the black vinyl top.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not everyone's skills are equal. More pics will be posted if and when there's progress. Enjoy
Beer holder.......beauty is in the eye of the beer holder :D You mentioned 'rebody' but that means different things to different people. To me that means taking the numbers/tags etc and put them on a different but good body. Also it's not legal in most if not all states and for sure people's skill levels are different but there are several here that are more than capable of fixing that car based on the pics you posted.
 
I think this lense is still good and would make an excellent starting point for a full resto

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A couple of door dings and some scratches. Buff it out!
 
Nice find. Definitely worth restoring imo especially if you can do alot of the work yourself. Start a build thread i want to see more!
:popcorn2:
 
Nice find. Definitely worth restoring imo especially if you can do alot of the work yourself. Start a build thread i want to see more!
:popcorn2:
I want to see the rest of it. I think we are only seeing the good side.
 
So my first thought was a great big cringe thinking about the work. Then again I remembered what my GTO looked like when I drug it home and realized I had no room to talk, lol. Best of luck to ya!



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An example of a car that probably should have been left in peace/too far gone (unless your name
is Chris Birdsong); it could retain the local legend status as a display along the highway.
Man, she's eat up, half not there and bent...and it's about the most expensive of the Mopars of the era
to get parts for to boot.
Birdsong is a member here; I'd be seeking his counsel on this one for sure.
 
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