MN6WS6
Active Member
Official newbie thread here! Just joined a couple of days ago, so figured I better break the ice. I guess I can make a long story long, so here goes.
In 1964, my grandmother bought a brand new 1964 Dodge Polara 500 2 door hardtop, and my dad (who was 24 at the time) went with her to pick it out. This ended up being the last car she ever bought. Literally a church on Sunday and grocery store car, she only put 70,000 miles on it in 25 years. It stayed in a carport since it was new. She had a lot of mini-strokes which affected her mobility and her mind, so sometime in 1989 we had to go take the car from her. My dad only drove the car one other time after that, and that was to our church. The car was parked on the carport and was never fired up again. My grandmother passed away in 1994.
In 2012, my mother's parents had reached the point where they were going to have to have full-time assistance, so my mom and dad had an addition built on to the house to move them up to Mobile to live with them. The addition ended up being the carport, so after much un-burying (ala Graveyard Carz) I was able to free the car and get it loaded up to come to my garage. It has sat in there, until last weekend.
I am currently stripping the car down to prepare it to be sandblasted and painted, and the goal (probably unreachable, but we'll see) is to have it ready for my dad's birthday in March of 2016. Because of it's life on carports and being in the south, it has very little rust at all. so far I've found a pinhole below the left taillight and on the right rear corner where the back glass meets the chrome trim, both super easy fixes. My grandmother had wrecked the car sometime in the late 60's while my dad was serving three back-to-back tours in Vietnam. He was under the impression it was next to nothing and only banged up the headlight ring and the right front corner where the medallion goes. While tearing the car down, I found it was MUCH more significant than that, and my grandmother, who was very tight with money, had the cheapest repair done as possible.
Which is one of the reasons I'm here. Dad always thought that it only knocked off the medallion holder on the right front fender, and she put it in the back of the car. Turns out, she had located another one, but it was a LEFT fender part, not a right. So we have two lefts and no right. If anybody happens to know where I can find one, I'd much appreciate it!
Unfortunately, even though this car is all matching, the original engine had a rats nest under it for the better part of 20 years. That gigantic nest covered the entire top of the engine, trapping moisture against it, and has rusted out the intake manifold, valve covers, and the engine is seized. It's probably for the best though, as dad and I are fuel injected junkies now so I'm putting a 318 or 360 EFI engine and trans out of a 94-00 Dodge truck, Dakota, Durango, or Ram Van when I can locate one. Don't worry, the original engine and trans will never go anywhere, and the car will never be sold as long as I walk this earth, so maybe the next owner can be a rich guy and get it all back together.
One final note, my dad has NO IDEA I'm doing this. As a matter of fact, none of my friends or family know this is going on at all, and other than paint, I am doing all this work myself to keep it top secret. Well, that and the whole I'm on a super-tight budget thing. Dad is 75 years old so an internet-guru he is not, but folks around here seem to let things slip off the tongue easily, which is why I've limited this story to just two forums.
If anybody has one of those medallion holders for the right front fender, PM me please! I will be starting a restoration thread as well in the next couple of days to document where I started and whether I meet my goal. I'll also share my dad's full story there.
In 1964, my grandmother bought a brand new 1964 Dodge Polara 500 2 door hardtop, and my dad (who was 24 at the time) went with her to pick it out. This ended up being the last car she ever bought. Literally a church on Sunday and grocery store car, she only put 70,000 miles on it in 25 years. It stayed in a carport since it was new. She had a lot of mini-strokes which affected her mobility and her mind, so sometime in 1989 we had to go take the car from her. My dad only drove the car one other time after that, and that was to our church. The car was parked on the carport and was never fired up again. My grandmother passed away in 1994.
In 2012, my mother's parents had reached the point where they were going to have to have full-time assistance, so my mom and dad had an addition built on to the house to move them up to Mobile to live with them. The addition ended up being the carport, so after much un-burying (ala Graveyard Carz) I was able to free the car and get it loaded up to come to my garage. It has sat in there, until last weekend.
I am currently stripping the car down to prepare it to be sandblasted and painted, and the goal (probably unreachable, but we'll see) is to have it ready for my dad's birthday in March of 2016. Because of it's life on carports and being in the south, it has very little rust at all. so far I've found a pinhole below the left taillight and on the right rear corner where the back glass meets the chrome trim, both super easy fixes. My grandmother had wrecked the car sometime in the late 60's while my dad was serving three back-to-back tours in Vietnam. He was under the impression it was next to nothing and only banged up the headlight ring and the right front corner where the medallion goes. While tearing the car down, I found it was MUCH more significant than that, and my grandmother, who was very tight with money, had the cheapest repair done as possible.
Which is one of the reasons I'm here. Dad always thought that it only knocked off the medallion holder on the right front fender, and she put it in the back of the car. Turns out, she had located another one, but it was a LEFT fender part, not a right. So we have two lefts and no right. If anybody happens to know where I can find one, I'd much appreciate it!
Unfortunately, even though this car is all matching, the original engine had a rats nest under it for the better part of 20 years. That gigantic nest covered the entire top of the engine, trapping moisture against it, and has rusted out the intake manifold, valve covers, and the engine is seized. It's probably for the best though, as dad and I are fuel injected junkies now so I'm putting a 318 or 360 EFI engine and trans out of a 94-00 Dodge truck, Dakota, Durango, or Ram Van when I can locate one. Don't worry, the original engine and trans will never go anywhere, and the car will never be sold as long as I walk this earth, so maybe the next owner can be a rich guy and get it all back together.
One final note, my dad has NO IDEA I'm doing this. As a matter of fact, none of my friends or family know this is going on at all, and other than paint, I am doing all this work myself to keep it top secret. Well, that and the whole I'm on a super-tight budget thing. Dad is 75 years old so an internet-guru he is not, but folks around here seem to let things slip off the tongue easily, which is why I've limited this story to just two forums.
If anybody has one of those medallion holders for the right front fender, PM me please! I will be starting a restoration thread as well in the next couple of days to document where I started and whether I meet my goal. I'll also share my dad's full story there.
aboard!
