'67 Coronet R/T Convertible Revival

[Matthew J]

Starting a thread to document my journey bringing a rough '67 Coronet R/T convertible back from the dead.

The good: It is an original 440 auto R/T convertible with VIN, fender tag, build sheet, and clean title. Originally bright red with a white top and white bucket/console interior. Fairly complete except for drivetrain. Dash looks pretty good. Most of the convertible specific metal is intact or easily repairable. Majority of convertible specific trim is intact and nice. Nice windshield trim. Cowl, firewall, door jambs, and outer rockers are straight, solid, and intact (my core to build off of.)

The bad: Rust. Lots of it. Floors are all shot. Passenger inner rocker is swiss cheese. Torsion bar crossmember and rear frame rails are both rusted. The rear crossmember behind the bumper is almost completely disintegrated. 1/4s are rusty. Inner and outer wheelhouses are rusty. Door skins and fenders are not as bad, but still need work.

I've got my work cut out for me on this one.

Where it started:


Where it is at:



Every chunk of seam sealer, flaky paint, and bondo removed reveals more rot.
Here is the right rear leaf spring mount getting ready to poke thru the trunk floor.


I think a mouse was living in the passenger rocker panel. That's where I found all of the stuffing from my seats.


Car was obviously hit in the right rear at some point in it's life. Tail panel was hammered back flat(ish) and slathered up with bondo. The quarter panel looks straight(ish), but the contour is all wrong / recessed body line is way too deep.

 

[YY1]

for 66 and 67, donor 4 door sheet metal is your friend.

 

[Matthew J]

 

[Matthew J]

"Mostly" rust-free trunk lid turned out to have some pretty heavy surface scale once the two halves were separated.

 

[Matthew J]

Finally, some good news. The rocker panels are perfectly level left to right. At least within the precision I can measure. No body twist to deal with!

 

[Matthew J]

Finished repairing the front of the LH outer rocker panel. It was paper thin under the hinge pillar, and completely gone at the leading edge and underneath where the fender bolts up. I fabbed up 3 patches. Would have been easier to make one big one in hindsight.

 

[Matthew J]

Made a little patch for the LH windshield frame. PITA matching 3 surfaces coming together. Didn't bother grinding down all the weld on the inside. Will be impossible to see once I weld the outer panel back on. I figure a little extra strength can't hurt.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Good luck with your project, going to take perseverance to rescue that. An R/T is worth it. Glad I didn't have to go through that.

 

[Matthew J]

Got my new 1/4 skins from Joe Phillips Restorations. They look really nice! Great guy to work with too.

!

 

[Runcharger]

Nice project. A small amount of rust or a medium amount of rust doesn't matter it all needs to be addressed.

 

[Dave6T4]

I am glad to see you are rescuing a '67 R/T convertible. There were relatively few of them produced. It sure looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you. The work already completed looks great. I have a '67 R/T hardtop that came from N.C., and was almost rust free. I know I don't have the fabrication skills that you do to get as deep into a project that you must. Congratulations for bringing this car back to life.

 

[Matthew J]

Any time I start feeling disappointed in how my welds look, I check out these beauties from the factory and instantly feel better.

 

[Matthew J]

New hinge pillar and side panel from AMD ready to weld.

The side panel from AMD is slightly different than my rusty original... I'm guessing because my car is a convertible. It still fits nicely, but I had to cut about an inch and a half off the bottom. The bottom window is bigger in the repo leaving less room to weld. Not a big deal.

Here the panels are tacked/clamped into place so I can mount the door and ensure it will fit right.