'71 Super Bee project officially underway!

[Feral]

Finally found a body shop that would do rust repair on my '71 Super Bee, they had good references from mopar people and was willing to work around my low level income and I delivered my Super Bee to them last Monday!

It'll probably be very slow going because I don't have the income to throw $500 - $1,000 on a weekly basis, but slow movement and being in a dry environment is countless times better than letting weeds grow up around it!

I also sent them my '72 Rallye to cut any and all usable metal from, that should help cut down on part costs.

 

[Feral]

Today I come bearing pictures!!!

I've included previously uploaded pictures of the car before I bought it from Detmatt1 for progress reference.

These guys are the only guys who'd work with me and my low rate of income, but these guys are classic car guys and they like to help out people like me who can't afford to throw thousands of dollars around like it's candy, and they came with good references from other mopar owners.

Anyway, time for the progress report.

They've torn the front end down to the inner fenders, found alot of rust I missed... ALOT OF RUST!!! But they're confident they can fix the car, but my wallet is scared! lol!

But the torsionbar crossmember turned out to be pretty solid, it was a concern when I bought the car.

They've uncovered a considerable amount of rust up above the driver's side footwell, and around the hinge pillars, and places on the passenger side too.

They've currently tacked in the floor pan, and are currently in the progress of fabricating and forming patch panels for the driver's cab corner area.

 

[Habib]

I have a 71 charger that is rotted in just about all the same spots its sorta nice to c another one as bad as mine

 

[detmatt1]

I'm really happy to see you getting started on this, what a kool project! Did they treat the tops of the frame members that the pan is attached to before welding it in?

 

[Archie340]

Glad you found a good shop to save it. I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

 

[Ron 73]

Looks like a great project there Feral, I wish you luck with it and finding someone you can trust and help you out within your "wallet" is a cool deal.. When it comes down to metal parts if you need any major/ or minor ones like the torsion bar cross-member check out Jeff at 501 restorations.com, enjoy the build!

 

[Dennis H]

Appropriate use of the word "project. Well worth it, beautiful car. High water mark and just about the last hurrah.

 

[Feral]

I have a 71 charger that is rotted in just about all the same spots its sorta nice to c another one as bad as mine

Well, hopefully it won't take too long to replace all the rot.

I'm really happy to see you getting started on this, what a kool project! Did they treat the tops of the frame members that the pan is attached to before welding it in?

It's not fully welded in right now, it's just tacked in place. They're working with the pan, firewall sections, hinge pillar and rocker panel areas. They're fabricating some new panels, and using parts off of my '72, I think they're just keeping it tacked in just incase something happens and they have to take it back out.

But yeah, they cleaned up the areas pretty good. For example, the torsion bar crossmember; what was once thought to be a potential issue turned out to be okay. When they cut the pan out they cleaned up the frame areas, and when they cleaned it up they discovered that the crossmember looked worse than what it was because it had bits of the old floor pan on it.

Looks like a great project there Feral, I wish you luck with it and finding someone you can trust and help you out within your "wallet" is a cool deal.. When it comes down to metal parts if you need any major/ or minor ones like the torsion bar cross-member check out Jeff at 501 restorations.com, enjoy the build!

I hear good things about him.

The body guy who's working on my car is pretty talented and knowledgeable, and if he don't know something he can get in touch with people who do. That's always a plus.

The shop owner is a real classic car kind of guy, he's done work with car shows all over America and had a hand in bringing the Hotrod power tour through West Virginia this year. What he does to help people like me who can't afford to drop 2k-5k on a regular basis for bodywork is that he brings in 2 or 3 cars like mine and alternates between them.

And then he's got a mechanical shop down stairs where he has daily business, so he's not completely out of work or income if say, I have to pause progress for a period of time to save money for parts or labor.

Appropriate use of the word "project. Well worth it, beautiful car. High water mark and just about the last hurrah.

Project is an understatement, it's practically a revival!

 

[super-bee_ski]

Wow,
What a car!
Congrads man, that car will be so nice when it is finished!

That is shuch an "underrated" color.
I love it.
BIG Project though.

Again, congratulations, a very nice car!


(Biased? nope, not me...I love ALL Coronets and Superbees...tee-hee-hee)

 

[plumgtx]

Nice car feral looks my 71 gtx I have started resto on. Definately cars worth saving. Good luck on it and keep us posted. I am in va so not too far. About an hr from 77north.

 

[Feral]

Wow,
What a car!
Congrads man, that car will be so nice when it is finished!

That is shuch an "underrated" color.
I love it.
BIG Project though.

Again, congratulations, a very nice car!


(Biased? nope, not me...I love ALL Coronets and Superbees...tee-hee-hee)

Thanks, and believe me, I'm very excited that the project is finally rolling. Can't wait to get her out of the body shop and start tackling the mechanicals myself.

I'm probably going to stick with the black and silver paint scheme, the car was original gold; but I'm not sure I like gold too much on this car.

Nice car feral looks my 71 gtx I have started resto on. Definately cars worth saving. Good luck on it and keep us posted. I am in va so not too far. About an hr from 77north.

Absolutely worth saving, I've seen only 3 3rd gen Chargers in my local area; I own two of them.

 

[Ron 73]

I think the black and silver color on these is killer myself, Look thru the thread here http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?5982-Time-for-a-show-lets-see-the-71-74-s and im sure you'll find that combo in here, You have to go with what you like to be happy with the ride and im not trying to influence you in anyway, you may find another that trips your trigger in the link! Enjoy some beautiful rides though...

 

[Feral]

I think the black and silver color on these is killer myself, Look thru the thread here http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?5982-Time-for-a-show-lets-see-the-71-74-s and im sure you'll find that combo in here, You have to go with what you like to be happy with the ride and im not trying to influence you in anyway, you may find another that trips your trigger in the link! Enjoy some beautiful rides though...

I decided before I even bought the car that I was going with Black and Silver, I'm going to have my stripes painted on.

 

[sleepar]

Luckily I don't have much rust but surface and I plan to pressure wash inside the frame and underbody voids really well where I couldn't reach and in the rockers and really blast it good... then let it all dry for 3-4 days then with a garden sprayer soak the voids with rust converter... with a plastic sheet around the car I want to recover the drippings and the filter them and wait another 3-4 days and give it another flush to catch what I can't reach so far I had one hole in the whole car the size of a half dollar and I cut a 12"x 18" piece out of it to catch most of the rust but it hides everywhere... and I could do nothing and wait till the car rots out to do something but I hate busting rust and the older I get I don't like it any better....

 

[Feral]

Luckily I don't have much rust but surface and I plan to pressure wash inside the frame and underbody voids really well where I couldn't reach and in the rockers and really blast it good... then let it all dry for 3-4 days then with a garden sprayer soak the voids with rust converter... with a plastic sheet around the car I want to recover the drippings and the filter them and wait another 3-4 days and give it another flush to catch what I can't reach so far I had one hole in the whole car the size of a half dollar and I cut a 12"x 18" piece out of it to catch most of the rust but it hides everywhere... and I could do nothing and wait till the car rots out to do something but I hate busting rust and the older I get I don't like it any better....

If I had the money I would have had the car completely blasted first, but this way will work fine. We're aware of most of the rust areas, and the areas around what has rotted away are still nice and solid; like someone had done some rust removal on the car at one point. Despite having a huge gaping hole in the floor pan, the metal it's self and the braces underneath were still solid enough to support my fat butt...

I will have the car blasted at some point before painting because I want to seal up the undercarriage real good because I live in the rust belt.

 

[CDN72SE]

Any updates on this one?

 

[Feral]

Any updates on this one?

Unfortunately it's on hold for the time being.

 

[hemihead]

Funny , I had a 73 Charger parts car I cut up that had rot in almost the same identical areas . I'm just a little north of Pittsburgh . Must be the climate curse .

 

[Feral]

They don't call it the rust belt for nothing, but the car was a Detroit car; which made it worse.

But I'm due a decent amount on my tax return, I'll probably end up buying a couple parts for the car.