Hello from France !

[Olivier]

Hello
Thanks for your nice welcome
Here are some pics of my past and present Mopars

 

[coronet68mx]

Bienvenue desde mexique !!! that suck what happen to you, but... what the hell were you thinking driving a 50 year old car in the rain, glad you are OK.

 

[JDmac72chrgr]

Welcome from the southern part of New Jersey. 1971 huh, NICE SCORE OLIVER!! Get her fixed and enjoy it.

 

[Thrashingcows]

Welcome from the frozen North of Canada!

I have lusted over those Euro 300/Magnums cars!

Sorry to hear that your car got a few unplanned wrinkles, how old are your tires? I flipped an old 66 Ford Falcon because it had old hard as rock tires, hit the brakes and hydroplaned and ended up on the roof in a farmers field, I never run tires now older then 7 years on cars, and 10 years on trucks (if they are E-rated 10 ply).

 

[Olivier]

what the hell were you thinking driving a 50 year old car in the rain

Well, that's the king of question you start to ask yourself after that ...
It was the first car meeting after many months, I couldn't stand it anymore so I decided to go ... My bad

how old are your tires?

I don't know, but not recent
Plus they are Cooper Cobra, not the best under the train I know and hard as wood ...

 

[Olivier]

Hello,
Some news out there, good and bad
Good is that the car will be fixed.
The insurance won't cover all the expenses (near $19k ...) but I can't let her go
Bad is that I'm desperately looking for a left front fender
The right one and the hood can be saved, but the left one is dead
I've already contacted many car salvages but with no results so far ...

Anybody has an idea, or better, the part available ?
It's been my only concern since two months and I can't see the end right now ...
Thanks for helping

 

[Builderguy]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-1972-...585370?hash=item1a7adf031a:g:unYAAOSwGUBaGJxM

 

[Olivier]

Thanks
I saw this one, but it's fiberglass and located in Canada
Plus I haven't heard many good reviews from this seller so I'm a bit cold to do business with him

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

Welcome from North Florida.
Lets see some pictures !

 

[Olivier]

Hello there,

It's been a while I didn't post here ...
It's been a year now that I had this accident and the car is still being rebuilt
Of course, there has been pauses during the process for several reasons

Anyway, I have now all the parts needed, the harder to get being the fender as there are no reproduction parts so far as you know.

By now, all the front end of the chassis has been rebuilt with new radiator core support, new left front frame rail (by the way, I can confirm for sure that 71-74 E-body front frame rails are fully usable to replace B body ones), new inner fender

The engine bay is about to be sprayed soon and the engine will be put back in it and then the "rest" will follow

Talking about the"rest" ...

One of the reasons why it's taking so long is that since the car was going to have a new front end, I decided to engage the restoration of the rest of the body
Indeed, it would have ended with a brand new front coupled with a very average back end ... An ugly duckling
So the coachbuilder began to check every bit of the shell, and the more he looked for issues, the more he found ...

But pictures talk better than words so just look below
Beware : some of these pictures could hurt the most sensible persons ...

EDIT : I re-uploaded bigger pics

 

[Olivier]

 

[Olivier]

 

[Olivier]

Here we are ...
Some other issues coming from the bottom of the rear window, but a piece of cake compared to the roof ...
Though the coachbuilder doesn't seem too much discouraged so I hope to post nicer pics next time

 

[440 4 speed]

Here we are ...
Some other issues coming from the bottom of the rear window, but a piece of cake compared to the roof ...
Though the coachbuilder doesn't seem too much discouraged so I hope to post nicer next time

Glad it is coming along. Going to look good.

 

[4speed68rt]

Welcome from New Mexico. I didnt know Mopars were popular in France!! Salud!!

 

[multimopes]

Belated welcome aboard from NJ. It WAS very nice but I am glad to see that progress on the repairs is moving along!

 

[GetX'd]

Greetings Oliver from across the Pond and America to the shores of the Pacific Ocean and Southern California. I would speak in French but I only remember one sentence from the only class I ever failed throughout my 18 year education. So I’ll spare you that. But I am part French and that is why my father wanted me to take the class and learn the language - even he didn’t speak.

So good to see you’re a proud classic Mopar owner - great to hear. BTW as our Mexican brother above says “What are you thinking driving our classics in the rain?” A drop of rain had never hit my 68 GTX in nearly 47 years - after my first year then I could afford to store it. Not kidding about me - but kidding about you - as many others will tell you on this site - the cars are made to drive - just don’t hit anything - Oops we’ll I guess you did that too. We may have to repatriate your car back to the US for proper care…..Lol Good luck with the restoration - and also BTW - I’ve never met a restorer that couldn’t find “more to fix” as you see that’s how they feed their families……

 

[Tang1964]

I’m reading post from the toilet in Cali!!

 

[DeltaV]

Welcome from Georgia, USA

 

[Olivier]

Thanks for your messages

I've never met a restorer that couldn’t find “more to fix” as you see that’s how they feed their families……

I fully trust the coachbuilder for this
He's a passionate of old wheels and what he fixes needs to be fixed anyway, so no extra cost there
About driving under the rain, I know it wasn't the best idea but again, it had been a long time since I drove it and I never wanted to buy a flower pot, they're meant to be driven
But I assure I've learned the lesson here, from now on, no more water on it except for cleaning operations