Building a B body from scratch with new parts? Possible?

[68GTXNH]

ok, so i had this crazy dream last night. i did a quick search but got nothing, ive seen the video online of the amd guys and some other shop, cant remember, starting to build a wing car clone on their jig, (only did floors and frame rails in that vid i saw, cant find more progress vids on it though) but in a story i read from that same build they do have a donor car sitting near by (not sure if they used parts or just for measurements?)


weve all seen the dynacorn mustang shells, camaros, chevy trucks all that, and weve all seen some of the incredible builds on here where they replace sooooo much of the sheet metal theres not much left of the original car. especially the builds where everything from the rear seat/trunk divider back to the bumper is brand new because it was hit or rotted to nothingness.


so has anyone ever put one of everything into their AMD shopping cart to build say, a 69 charger, or a roadrunner superbee, whatever your pleasure is? if you took every replacement part made would you have enough to finish at least the body? if not, what parts would you have to cut out of a donor to finish it. obviously a donor would be the easy way to finish everything else, trim dash consoles, drivetrain etc. but even still, how far could you get with strictly aftermarket repro parts?


there are ways of getting the info to build a great jig to line everything up. start at the bottom and just start clamping, cleco's or zip screws and spot welding your way up.


and at least here in NH, you can register a custom scratch built car, just get it inspected and the state can assign you a vin, so you could still register it here no problem and enjoy your one of a kind, brand new classic b body. Just a neat thought at least

 

[plymouthman72]

Are you sure this wasn't a nightmare???

Seriously though, that would be one massive undertaking but would be one heck of an amazing build! Some here have come close to it with the rust they had. Much respect to those guys!

 

[flypaper]

It would be a cluster and a mess
If you used what is available today lol
They can't even make 2 parts like a wheelhouse even fit together.

 

[the mississippi madman]

They make the internal skeleton for the challenger so you might be able to build one of those from entirely new parts

 

[plymouthman72]

That would be interesting to build a challenger from completely new parts my guess is that it would be close to 60-70k to do everything yourself. From seats, dash, electrical, not one reused part.

 

[the mississippi madman]

That would be interesting to build a challenger from completely new parts my guess is that it would be close to 60-70k to do everything yourself. From seats, dash, electrical, not one reused part.

10k just for the chassis

 

[68GTXNH]

Are you sure this wasn't a nightmare???

Seriously though, that would be one massive undertaking but would be one heck of an amazing build! Some here have come close to it with the rust they had. Much respect to those guys!

haha i know right, probably a nightmare. the main problem and hurdle is, AMD is really good, but there is still some fitting that needs to be done for every piece. youd really need NOS sheetmetal pieces for garunteed fit to make it feasible.

its totally not feasible and yes would be a cluster f*ck and a mess, but im curious say theoretically, no sitting required, all aftermarket parts were perfect NOS reproductions. american made steel. how much would be left, it seems they do make most of the replacement pieces, but all that skeleton underneath, im curious what unseen skeleton parts would need a donor car to get those parts.

using a challenger skelton would make things easy to build that challenger but imagine even building the skeleton too. thatd be such an amazing feat. im sure theres some old timer metal working artist with a boatload of money and free time whod try it. i know for a fact thats exactly what happened. when dynacorn first introduced their 67 mustang fastback complete body, the story read something like (of course im paraphrasing) "do you know the we never realized we made every part needed to fix any possible rust your mustang might have, weve quietly supplied patch panels stamped right here in America from old ford dies for years for all of the different mustang enthusiast part suppliers. one craftsman in "XYZ" realized that and gave it a shot. he bought every piece we made from the various suppliers, and built one for himself. after he found out where were the stampers, He came to us, saying you know, it wouldve been alot easy if you guys just welded all your pieces together youve already got em all", so so we finally did and in doing so, we were able to improved the fitments and quality of every piece we made, because we learned exactly what had to change to make em fit together correctly"

 

[68GTXNH]

for shits and giggles i emailed AMD:
Hi, heres a crazy question, maybe youve got it before, but you guys are car people so im sure youll like it or even have thought about it yourselves. i just had a crazy dream last night and i thought id go to the horses mouth. since you guys came about, rebuilding cars, especially old mopars has been a breeze. my first car was a 67 mustang 17 years ago. when i needed a torque box, one company made them and they were $180 dollars and and junk. i couldve shaped a piece of homedepot sheetmetal faster then fitment that thing needed. now that sheetmetal stamping is a huge part of the after market, i can get that same part from 10 suppliers for $30. mopars were impossible because those parts just didnt exsist the. you guys came along and changed the game. the old rust buckets we have here in new england suddenly have a chance at life again. my dream i mentioned was about building a mopar from scratch with entirely new amd panels. just any mopar you specialize in, say for example, just a roadrunner or charger or something. buying one of every part number you make, and welding them all together on a jig table to factory dimensions. if i were to do that, how much car would i have? is there anything missing that i would have to cut out of a donor car? and how much would it cost. or have you guys tried it yourselves? id love you hear your input on this or even get pictures if you attempted it. Take it easy,
Tom

well see if they get back to me

 

[Darthomas]

I like that dream a lot.

 

[polywideblock]

well it won't be a 3rd gen they make squat for them

 

[68GTXNH]

I like that dream a lot.

itd be cool right? on all the car shows they never deal with rust, imaging an entirely clean slate? nice clean metal, brand new bolts clean spot welds. build one like the factory did.

 

[rich hourigan]

i had a dream recently also, i was dreaming that AMD started making full quarters and large patch panels for my 67 GTX, all the X owners in the world were happy people and AMD made lots and lots of money and we all lived happily ever after

 

[Superb Bee]

That would be a lot of work, I did a kit car about 10 years ago, tube chassis shelby cobra, ground up no donor car, I will NEVER do it again, I am still itchy. besides the glass work that a b body wouldnt need, it got expensive fast, almost $30K for the kit (I had the best of everything, indy rear with inboard discs, wilwood brakes, billet everything, motor plates (no motor mounts)), then $26K for motor and tranny (675hp fuel injected stroked dart block afr headed son of a bitch to get running right, the fi back then was so touchy the header length was ******* everything up, tubes werent equal or anything close to resembling tuned, 6 speed of course).

Project ended around $75K and 2 years, car was amazing when it was done, but not as fun as it looked. Sold it a while later about broke even, had to take the motor and tranny out and replace with a simple 350hp/350ci/turbo 350, sold the driveline all separate...

BUT anyway, I know guys that have done what you are talking about in a round about way, friend of mine works with 50s chevys, he buy bodys and makes the cars, buys them $1400 sbc 5.7l crate engines, 200r4 trannys, uses ford explorer rear ends, and makes complete cars, years ago they fetched $50K+ and cost him $25K ish before his labor, but I havent seen any rolling out lately..

 

[GetX'd]

You're right it would be cool - if it weren't just a dream......