The 2nd part of my journey with trying to stay alive long enough to see my GTX to the end (starts May 2019).
I've had to start another Garage since this site artificially limits the size of the content in a given garage.
Dammit...
About this Mopar:
New Garage started, much to my chagrin....
Follow along if you like while my rapidly declining carcass tries to finish the resurrection of a 1968 GTX from farmers'
field somewhere near Radford, VA before I kick the bucket for the final time!
(Cats have 9 lives; Ed's have at least 5, as it turns out. Learned that the hard way.)
UPDATE 7/5/19:
Well, we're back in business. The GTX has come full circle yet again.
Spent a few sweaty afternoons and evenings on her this week, cleaning up body shop messes best I could.
Underhood and overspray/tape boo boos were especially infuriating. Did what I could.
She made her freshly repaired public debut for the local Cruise-In tonight and got many compliments.
Another chapter can now come to a close...
Sasha the wonder dog!
UPDATE 8/5/19:
Beat to heck original 4 qt oil pan off, repro 440Source 6 qt "hemi" oil pan on!
Time for a test drive:
Clean piece of cardboard now under the car in the garage and so far, no drips.
I reckon that'll do.
UPDATE 8/8/19:
I took the GTX as my work ride today on a 45 minute drive each way to visit with a customer.
She did just fine and I'm starting to relax and trust her more and more:
Even got a little silly with her for a moment....
Follow along if you like while my rapidly declining carcass tries to finish the resurrection of a 1968 GTX from farmers'
field somewhere near Radford, VA before I kick the bucket for the final time!
(Cats have 9 lives; Ed's have at least 5, as it turns out. Learned that the hard way.)
UPDATE PART 2 5/13/19:
Now for the BAD part... :-(
About a week ago, I was putting her back in the garage after a local errand run. I have to make a late sort of sharp left turn into her stall in my garage and I've done so dozens of times just fine.
That day, however, I apparently cut things a little too tight...
I didn't even know anything had happened until I got out and walked around the car and saw the passenger side.
What met me was a white smear of plastic-y rubber off the garage door opening seal, applied down the quarter panel of the GTX - accompanied by a DENT!
Sonuva...my heart just dropped.
I'd just spent 7+ years of medical, physical, financial hell bringing this car back from the grave - and I'M the one to hurt her? DAMMITSOMUCH!!!!
I get done beating myself up over it and set to work on her, desperately trying to make it better. I manage to get all the white crap off her with Meguires and the paint isn't even scratched underneath.
Staring at the dent, I notice there's no sharp crease, so I do what any dumbass non-bodywork guy would do, namely, fetch the wife's hairdryer and have at it.
A few hours later, the dent has actually pulled out about halfway, amazingly - but the last of it won't budge...
Heartbroken, I take it over to my friend the 50+ year body shop owner and Mopar lover. He tells me paintless dent repair is the way to go.
I've now contacted Hagerty, who is sending out an adjuster. I've also sent pics to two PDR (paintless dent repair) shops in the region after speaking with them (and getting references, of course).
I'll get this fixed, too. Lots of self-beating up to do, too...
UPDATE 5/24/19:
Took the GTX to the first local Cruise-In of the year. Thankfully, the videographer of this video shot her from the drivers' side (dent not visible):
That's me leaning on the front of her, talking to a friend. Wife is bored and has sat down.
UPDATE 6/28/19:
Well, some weeks later she's finally back home safe and sound.
Wound up, she needed a little more attention than just the self-inflicted dent!
On both rockers under the rear of the door openings, rust had stirred up and holes were present, covered only by the previous owners' quick fiberglass patches.
That got cleaned out of there and new metal patches installed.
The roof "lead" seam on drivers' side was a mess and they wound up melting out all the original lead on BOTH sides, then fabricating metal to repair those areas as well.
Finally, although Hagerty had only approved a "blending of the roof and both quarters, the body shop wound up basically repainting the entire car from behind the doors as well as the roof!
Color matching proved exact - even though I had the original Sherwin-Williams codes for the car and she'd never been outside garages much, they usually don't use that brand.
Well - I suspect they tried to color match with their own stuff, then found someone local who DID have S-W and blended up exact match once their attempt failed.
No matter - the net result is, she looks a TON better. Very happy!
Now for the BAD part... :-(
About a week ago, I was putting her back in the garage after a local errand run. I have to make a late sort of sharp left turn into her stall in my garage and I've done so dozens of times just fine.
That day, however, I apparently cut things a little too tight...
I didn't even know anything had happened until I got out and walked around the car and saw the passenger side.
What met me was a white smear of plastic-y rubber off the garage door opening seal, applied down the quarter panel of the GTX - accompanied by a DENT!
Sonuva...my heart just dropped.
I'd just spent 7+ years of medical, physical, financial hell bringing this car back from the grave - and I'M the one to hurt her? DAMMITSOMUCH!!!!
I get done beating myself up over it and set to work on her, desperately trying to make it better. I manage to get all the white crap off her with Meguires and the paint isn't even scratched underneath.
Staring at the dent, I notice there's no sharp crease, so I do what any dumbass non-bodywork guy would do, namely, fetch the wife's hairdryer and have at it.
A few hours later, the dent has actually pulled out about halfway, amazingly - but the last of it won't budge...
Heartbroken, I take it over to my friend the 50+ year body shop owner and Mopar lover. He tells me paintless dent repair is the way to go.
I've now contacted Hagerty, who is sending out an adjuster. I've also sent pics to two PDR (paintless dent repair) shops in the region after speaking with them (and getting references, of course).
I'll get this fixed, too. Lots of self-beating up to do, too...
UPDATE 5/24/19:
Took the GTX to the first local Cruise-In of the year. Thankfully, the videographer of this video shot her from the drivers' side (dent not visible):
That's me leaning on the front of her, talking to a friend. Wife is bored and has sat down.
UPDATE 6/28/19:
Well, some weeks later she's finally back home safe and sound.
Wound up, she needed a little more attention than just the self-inflicted dent!
On both rockers under the rear of the door openings, rust had stirred up and holes were present, covered only by the previous owners' quick fiberglass patches.
That got cleaned out of there and new metal patches installed.
The roof "lead" seam on drivers' side was a mess and they wound up melting out all the original lead on BOTH sides, then fabricating metal to repair those areas as well.
Finally, although Hagerty had only approved a "blending of the roof and both quarters, the body shop wound up basically repainting the entire car from behind the doors as well as the roof!
Color matching proved exact - even though I had the original Sherwin-Williams codes for the car and she'd never been outside garages much, they usually don't use that brand.
Well - I suspect they tried to color match with their own stuff, then found someone local who DID have S-W and blended up exact match once their attempt failed.
No matter - the net result is, she looks a TON better. Very happy!
UPDATE 7/5/19:
Well, we're back in business. The GTX has come full circle yet again.
Spent a few sweaty afternoons and evenings on her this week, cleaning up body shop messes best I could.
Underhood and overspray/tape boo boos were especially infuriating. Did what I could.
She made her freshly repaired public debut for the local Cruise-In tonight and got many compliments.
Another chapter can now come to a close...
UPDATE 8/5/19:
Beat to heck original 4 qt oil pan off, repro 440Source 6 qt "hemi" oil pan on!
Time for a test drive:
Clean piece of cardboard now under the car in the garage and so far, no drips.
I reckon that'll do.
UPDATE 8/8/19:
I took the GTX as my work ride today on a 45 minute drive each way to visit with a customer.
She did just fine and I'm starting to relax and trust her more and more:
Even got a little silly with her for a moment....
