New 1970 Charger member from Canada, thanks for the add!

[Coelacanth]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a long-time member over at 1970chargerregistry.com but that forum is starting to look like a ghost town, so I joined here. It sucks when fresh forum topics see little activity, and it seems like all the members already finished their Chargers and aren't logging in anymore.

My back-story: I bought my 1970 Charger 500 when I was 18, back in 1986 from a father selling it for his son, though his son wasn't around. I didn't get the whole story but there might've been some family issues. Anyway, he was asking $2400 (Canadian) and I offered $2200, and it was mine. Puke green body, matching green vinyl top and white interior. Some rust, but strong 383 Magnum drivetrain. Not many options but all the performance-related items were there as fitting for a 383 HD; 489 rear end with Sure-Grip, HD exhaust manifolds, front disk brakes, console and Rallye dash, etc. Years later, the body was redone in an emerald green color, I was too trusting and ignorant and it was a bondo slap-and-dash job. The engine was rebuilt (fortunately it was done by a reputable shop), electronic ignition, Edelbrock 750 carb & Performer manifold, purple shaft cam, mild 0.030-over rebuild. It has about 33,000 miles on it since the rebuild. The car has been parked for over 20 years and with the fully rusted-out trunk and rusty front floor-pans, I lost motivation to work on it. I did detail the engine bay and restored or replaced everything there, however. The interior was removed and I disassembled pretty much everything on the exterior.

Fast forward to this past Christmas and it was time to get this car treated PROPERLY when I was introduced to a body man who was old-school and able to do sheetmetal fabrication and beautiful body work, and seeing the valuation on 2nd-gen Chargers skyrocketing, and shocked to see my car appraised at $33.5K even in its current condition, I took the plunge, took out a loan and the car was trailered off to the body man's acreage where he has an amazing shop. The body work is almost finished now and it will be ready for paint soon. I'm excited!

Anyway, that's it about me, I have often scoured the topics on this forum, there's tons of important and excellent advice, much of it already benefitted me. Time to join the group and participate.

P.S. My daily driver is a 2005 Dodge Magnum RT AWD and I also own a 1986 Buick Grand National; second owner (my father bought it new).

 

[Kern Dog]

Welcome to the site. You'll find a HUGE difference in traffic here compared to that other site. People are helpful. The moderators are much more reasonable and fair here too.
I was a member of the registry there but the site owner chose to lock me out of the forum. I tried to stoke the fires there with content about my 2 Chargers I have. I had several threads going and was enjoying the interaction with the few members that were active there.
Don does not place any importance on the forum there. His only concern is the registry itself. He does a great job with documenting the options and production numbers for the site but he cut his nose off to spite his face.
Your car....
Good to see you were able to hold onto it. The dang vinyl tops always seemed to result in trunk pan rust. If not for that, the dang cheap weatherstripping they used in the trunk wasn't good at keeping water out either! It was as if they barely tried to protect these cars.
What color are you going with?

 

[Coelacanth]

Welcome to the site. You'll find a HUGE difference in traffic here compared to that other site. People are helpful. The moderators are much more reasonable and fair here too.
I was a member of the registry there but the site owner chose to lock me out of the forum. I tried to stoke the fires there with content about my 2 Chargers I have. I had several threads going and was enjoying the interaction with the few members that were active there.
Don does not place any importance on the forum there. His only concern is the registry itself. He does a great job with documenting the options and production numbers for the site but he cut his nose off to spite his face.
Your car....
Good to see you were able to hold onto it. The dang vinyl tops always seemed to result in trunk pan rust. If not for that, the dang cheap weatherstripping they used in the trunk wasn't good at keeping water out either! It was as if they barely tried to protect these cars.
What color are you going with?

Yeah, I have gone through lots of your topics, Kern Dog. I don't get into the political side of things but I always appreciate and remember forum members who contributed valuable information. I think a decade or two ago when I was much more active on that forum, it was pretty lively, it was a nice community feel, and members were all working on their cars and sharing advice. It's a far cry from that now, and I think their recent move to only allow registered members to even view the forums will kill off that site. The majority of people who'd want to view 1970 Charger info are probably just internet surfers, not guys who actually own the car, and those people aren't going to register on a forum just to see the forums.

As for the colors, I absolutely hate that puke olive green color, which is why I had it done in that emerald green color in the tow-away pics. But for decades now, my vision for my Charger is quite different. I may offend the purists with my choices! The black vinyl roof was redone a few decades ago and it'll stay black. The body will be Jet Green Metallic, a Porsche Cayenne color, and the bumblebee stripe will be Verde Selvans, a Lamborghini Huracan Evo color. I don't have any affinity for those car brands, I just had colors in my mind that I wanted, and spent hours searching the internet for pics of cars painted in the colors I was envisioning, and when I had to find paint codes for my body man, those were the closest colors I found that were in his Sikkens paint catalog. It's gonna look incredible and different, the opposite of the usual bright green with black 'bee stripe you see all the time, or dark green with white 'bee stripe. Nothing like original, but it still HAD to be green, I love green...just not that puke green. Hopefully I'll have some "after" paint photos in the next month or two!

 

[Kern Dog]

"Next month or two"....
Ha ha..,I hope for your sake, it works out that way. So often, our projects take a BACK seat when we take them to shops for this stuff. The term Paint Shop Jail sure has been used a lot.
Not meaning to piss on your hopes and plans!
The color...Some purists may dismiss it but others don't mind. It is YOUR car so do what you want.
Keep on keeping on!
Cheers

 

[Coelacanth]

The car has come a long way since Christmas, it's nice to feel like your car is in good hands. New trunk pan, full front floor pans are done. One side trunk-to-floor extension was bad so Mark fabricated a new piece. A new torsion bar crossmember had to be welded in. New rear valance and corners are done. Right rear lower quarter is done, and this is where we saw the really bad body work done previously. I don't think they had the corners so they just slapped on some body filler and the fenders were nowhere near the correct angle to match up with the valance corners. I think I bought the very last available right rear lower quarter panel from Layson's, I could NOT find a driver side one anywhere, and can't afford to buy the entire left rear quarter. Mark fabricated repair sections for the driver side using the new passenger side section as a template. Rusty front quarters are done. A new front windshield is going in. The windshield and rear window channels were surprisingly good, nothing major to fix there, but the mounting clips were mostly rusting out and letting the trim pop up.

Some pics of his progress thus far, and fabrication skills working on the left rear quarter. It finally blends properly with the new valance and valance corners for the first time!

 

[440 4 speed]

You Albertan’s have everything it seems! Glad to see more members arriving. Are you a member of either Northern Mopar’s or EMC?

 

[Coelacanth]

You Albertan’s have everything it seems! Glad to see more members arriving. Are you a member of either Northern Mopar’s or EMC?

No, neither. I haven't driven the car in 25 or so years. I've been to the Red Deer Mopar Meet every few years, I guess that's the Central Alberta Mopar Association, but not a member of it.

 

[Budnicks]

Welcome to FBBO from NorCal Sierras

good luck with the 70 Charger project & 'paint jail'

 

[Photon440]

Hi there, from the next Province. Welcome, and thanks for the pictures! You get extra points because you said your rear end was Sure-Grip, not "posi".

 

[polywideblock]

G'day from Australia

 

[Mopar Hunter]

 

[davek]

Welcome to the site,I think we have something in common.

 

[Dave6T4]

Welcome to FBBO from Ontario. It looks like you are making good progress on your Charger project. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[ckessel]

Welcome from the central coast of Cal. Great story on your ride.

 

[65Bel]

Thanks for joining the group and best wishes on getting your Charger back on the road soon . . .

 

[fine69]

Not enough chargers in Canada. Nice to see yours. Welcome!

 

[chargervert]

Welcome to the site! Cool 70 Charger project! 70 Chargers are my personal favorite Mopar. My parents bought a triple green 70 Charger R/T SE brand new when I was six years old. I have a few of them myself. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[RemCharger]

Welcome! Nice project! If you're ever contemplating a serious engine, " I know a guy" up there.

 

[Jerry Hall]

Welcome from Alabama, terrific progress on your Charger. Finding competent people is becoming the hardest part of making a project road worthy again. Looks like luck is with you in that respect.

 

[HD539]

Welcome from Washington State.