Dad's First Car - '74 Road Runner

[Basket case]

"The old Road Runner is now a reason for us to spend some quality time together working on a project while he has his health." TOTALY worth the wait.

 

[donmodro]

"The old Road Runner is now a reason for us to spend some quality time together working on a project while he has his health." TOTALY worth the wait.

Agreed. And finally in a place in life where we can do it right. He's already talking about future projects like a mildly built engine.

 

[LB0442]

I still have my first car, a 74 Road Runner I bought in summer 1980 in Billings MT. Currently it is apart and in the parts gathering stage. That picture was taken just a few days after I bought it. I think that is the only one I have of it.

 

[donmodro]

I still have my first car, a 74 Road Runner I bought in summer 1980 in Billings MT. Currently it is apart and in the parts gathering stage. That picture was taken just a few days after I bought it. I think that is the only one I have of it.

View attachment 1868448

Love those old pictures like that! My dad got his in '78 and it was already a mess when he got it. My dad and grandfather did some rust repair and bodywork, and then a friend painted it for them.

 

[donmodro]

I've been recording video while we have been putting the car back together again, and just posted the first one last night. Going to try to keep these pretty bite size. Figured it'd be a nice father's day surprise for my dad to see this go up this weekend.

 

[Basket case]

my first Mopar, '73 340 4 speed.

 

[RussT Plymouths]

This is a great update to your project, I've enjoyed reading through it and look forward to more. It's fortunate you were able to retain the repairs from your grandfather, three generations on one project is pretty cool.

 

[donmodro]

my first Mopar, '73 340 4 speed.

View attachment 1868685

Looks like it is the same color as ours was when it left the factory!

 

[donmodro]

This is a great update to your project, I've enjoyed reading through it and look forward to more. It's fortunate you were able to retain the repairs from your grandfather, three generations on one project is pretty cool.

I'm glad we were able to do that as well. We have better tools than my dad and grandfather had, but it felt wrong to pull the repairs out of the car so we left them in as a part of its history.

 

[donmodro]

Good news! It didn't take me 12 years to make my next update. I made another trip out to PA in September and my dad and I picked up where we left off in June. Before my trip out my dad sealed the car and primed it with some high build to get it ready for block sanding.

We also pulled the engine so that we could wrap up work in the engine compartment.

And pulled the fenders to get it ready for paint.

Most of the time spent in PA on this trip was block sanding and fussing over panel gaps. The passenger side was pretty good with just a little bit of hammer and dolly work on the back edge of the door.

The driver's side required a little more work though...

 

[donmodro]

The quarter skin was installed with the door off, and while most of it was spot on, we had a problem with the fit on the lower half of the door. In this area, the quarter skin was skin was standing proud of the door by a little over 1/8".

To resolve this, I made some adjustments, and out came the cutting wheel again. Inside the door frame, just inside of where the skin folds over, I made a cut along the edge of the quarter skin.

I also made a second cut perpendicular to the vertical slice, which then allowed me to tack the skin back together in the correct location.

Afterwards I stitched the quarter skin back together then cleaned up the welds.

Afterwards, some minor fill work using a thin glazing putty, followed by block sanding. Lots, and lots of block sanding.

Then guide coats, and more block sanding.

And more block sanding.

Considering we cut this entire side of the car off and replaced it, I'm pretty happy with the end result considering that both my dad and I are not experts at any of this!

 

[donmodro]

So how about some color? This car is originally G8 Dark Sherwood, but my dad wanted to go a different direction with it. I love the original green, but my dad had a 1997 Dakota in Dodge's Brilliant Blue and loved it, so we opted to give a nod to that truck and borrow its color for the Road Runner. We went with a base/clear setup, and started with the engine compartment and door jambs. First the color coats:

Then the clear:

To say that I was excited to see color going down would be an understatement!

 

[donmodro]

The next day we got to work on the rest of the body. First color coats down:

Followed by 2 coats of clear:

The finish isn't perfect, but we are really happy with it. We will definitely need to cut and polish the car, but we are over the moon with how well it came out considering what we started with.

This trip was incredibly packed with activity, but before leaving PA my dad and I reinstalled the engine so that he could work on wiring things up. We have a lot of work left to do on the car, but it is starting to come together.

I'll be doing an extended weekend trip to PA on Dec 11, and the plan is to help my dad get the fenders and hood mounted back on the car again, as well as bringing components like the interior and glass back to the shop where the car is. I have a longer trip planned for the end of Feb where we will tackle more of the reassembly.

The plan is to get the car running and driving for the spring, and transition to a rolling restoration. "Don't get it right, just get it running" from here on out so that my dad can start driving and enjoying the car between projects.

 

[Photon440]

I'm pretty happy with the end result considering that both my dad and I are not experts at any of this!

I'd say that you are an expert by now. Learned by trial and the desire to get it right.

 

[Basket case]

Be proud! Fantastic job!