For the Love for my Father, My 69 GTX Restoration

[69 GTX]

You car is a early 69? Mine is Jan 69

 

[moparnation74]

You car is a early 69? Mine is Jan 69

Earlier than yours 10/68.....not that close to be buddies on the line...

 

[moparnation74]

Working on the front end while waiting on other things to come in.....

Forward light harness. I got the tape from Frank Badlason one is a shiny non adhesive wrap and the other is a sticky cloth/fabric tape.

The harness tag came from ECS and the material he uses to make these is highly durable and long lasting.

 

[moparnation74]

Headlight buckets......Big FYI here do not stick any galvanized part in evaporust it will destroy the finish. My original set was nice and reusable until I soaked it in ER

So I acquired an even nicer set from Tony Malcein he was going to use on his daytona. Roger Gibson cleaned these up and applied the marks. The picture below facing you the left side of the picture is the passenger side so the colors go as follows:

Black(passenger HI/low beam) Blue(passenger HI beam) Orange(Driver HI beam) Blue(Driver HI/low beam)

Before I destroyed mine they had the same markings but lower on the housing vs the middle. I couldn't change it since the new ones were done previously.

It is hard to show via picture but each housing on one edge states R or L and HI/Low or Low beam.....

 

[moparnation74]

Some other things dealt with....Got the upper splash shield bolts in, finally found them, lol...

Comparison of the headlight hardware and the are pretty close minor variations. This is an area where I do not use NOS ones because I have been burned by them before. 40 plus year old plastic doesn't mesh well today. On a previous vehicle I restored I used NOS and installed them. Started with the first headlight bucket and something did not seem right. For some reason I pulled on it and one plastic retainer pulled out. Tested the other ones installed and all but 2 had that issue. Not fun removing these on a nicely painted car....

Hence, this is an area where new is better in my books versus brittle old plastic.....

Last pic shows my caveman way to install them......

 

[Richard Cranium]

 

[MarPar]

Hey Justin, a paint question for ya if you dont mind...should/could I put anything over the Totally Auto light argent?

I painted my grille on the Newport with it, and am thinking it may not hold up to well after a while...

sorry to photo bomb your thread with a C-body thanks brother!

 

[moparnation74]

Hey Justin, a paint question for ya if you dont mind...should/could I put anything over the Totally Auto light argent?

I painted my grille on the Newport with it, and am thinking it may not hold up to well after a while...

View attachment 418541

sorry to photo bomb your thread with a C-body thanks brother!

Mario

Photo bomb whenever you need...Does not bother me at all...Nice job btw I want to see more of that beauty once unmasked....

2 mains killers on those paint is sunlight and water....I painted the 69 charger with TA's paint and after 11 years still looks great. Keep in mind the car has never seen water and limited UV rays. The issue is will a satin clear change the finish and how much additional protection will it add?

I would say NO clear due to softening the sheen and not really providing anymore protection. You can do a test piece to see. A gloss clear would be ideal but that will not work for looks.

 

[moparnation74]

Front headlights...This is an NOS set and all four are dated 10/68. These are very rare to see or find and especially date matched. GE's were originally on the GTX and the 2 original 4001's that came off the car were dated 10/68 the other 2 were replaced at some point in it's life. 4001 is the HI and 4002 is HI/LO. The glass features are different on the HI/LO vs HI. On the fronts you will see wording and a number. The number corresponds to the last digit of the GE pn...

 

[moparnation74]

The prongs have a protective grease on them. Which is the brownish residue on the back area..

 

[moparnation74]

 

[moparnation74]

You may not see another one in this state......This is an NOS trunk seal for a 69 pn 2482852.....The OE world would call this a Unicorn or unobtanium and HIGHLY sought after.....Special thanks to Greg K. aka odics whom is building the real 88 Daytona is where I acquired this seal. I had about a six pack after buying it, lol.....

All originals had PN's and is not reproduced nor ever will....even if they did it will not be correct like everything else....

My original was significantly flattened, cracked and missing pieces

 

[moparnation74]

I would like to point something out in relation to the glass providers. I heard a "Mopar Expert" say on TV recently that the AMD glass used on a cuda had the date code and etching. This is a 100% incorrect statement and embarrassing the lack of product knowledge that person has.

http://www.autometaldirect.com/--p-2966.html

ECS is the ONLY one that offers the "Date Coding" and the correct logo variations etched in the glass(AMD no variations and no date code). I had all the original glass except for the front windshield. Through the years there was scratches, chips, and faint logos/date codes readable. Tom at ECS was great to work with and the etchings can be inside, outside, facing out, facing in, different dates, and different logos. I never really knew this and he provided some teaching in that area. They send you a sheet and you make your choices based off your original glass if you have them. If not than choose as you please. I will tell you my originals were all the same date(which is an anomaly) the etchings were inside facing out, outside facing in, it was crazy the differences in these. The new set I got from ECS are SUPER nice!!!

http://www.ecsautomotive.com/productdesc.php?co=c&id=1

All the glass came in to boxes but after inspecting them they are tucked away in one box....

I will take extensive pics of these when I get to tackle some of them.....The front and rear will be done by an expert here in DFW and they are looking forward to doing it at my house.....The owner Rick has a gentleman named Rob that only does classics and has been doing them for 28yrs, in good hands indeed!

http://www.xtremeautoglasspros.com

 

[moparnation74]

Here are the two original HI GE 4001's to the GTX.....Clearly shows date of 10/68 on both and hence why I searched for awhile to compile a 10/68 set.....

 

[moparnation74]

Tim

I finally found the rear seat emblem and bracket....The emblem was chromed by Paul's Chrome and the bracket is original finish(no replacing needed).....It does not get any painting.....

Did you think I forgot? lol I amaze myself sometimes what I remember......

 

[kiwigtx]

Tim

I finally found the rear seat emblem and bracket....The emblem was chromed by Paul's Chrome and the bracket is original finish(no replacing needed).....It does not get any painting.....

Did you think I forgot? lol I amaze myself sometimes what I remember......
View attachment 418687 View attachment 418689 View attachment 418690

What years were they installed in GTX's Justin?

 

[moparnation74]

What years were they installed in GTX's Justin?

Roger,

Only in 68/69....The only thing you need to do to your car is post more pictures of it.....By far the BEST looking and finely restored 70 GTX's I have seen.............

 

[kiwigtx]

Roger,

Only in 68/69....The only thing you need to do to your car is post more pictures of it.....By far the BEST looking and finely restored 70 GTX's I have seen.............

Cool, thanks....my rear seat has the embossed impression of your medallion, but no medallion.
Pictures....but my car is High Impact....not much love for those around here.

 

[MarPar]

Pictures....but my car is High Impact....not much love for those around here.

By far the BEST looking and finely restored 70 GTX's I have seen.............

indeed!!!

 

[moparnation74]

Cool, thanks....my rear seat has the embossed impression of your medallion, but no medallion.
Pictures....but my car is High Impact....not much love for those around here.

Thats correct in 70 it was embossed....Personally, the embossing add a nice ghost feature in the seat back and looks better than the chrome version. Plus, one less thing to restore, lol.....

Mario,

Since Roger is now gun shy to post pictures of that high impact beauty....I thank you for adding a taste of class to my thread

Those "High Impact" colors are amazing.....