69 Cuda resto

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afbill

FABO World Ambassador
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
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Location
Monroe, OH
I'm new to this forum so I'm not really sure where to start. 2 years agos my dad and I got a 69 Cuda to restore. Long story why we went with the 69 'Cuda so I won't go there yet. The car had been garaged (barned) for about 20 years and wasn't very hateful. We got it road worthy last summer (summer of 2010) and rebuilt the engine this past spring. Got it running like a scalded dog. Yesterday I ran it into a concrete wall....uuuugghhh. Well, 2 steps forward 5 steps back. It was a project car when we got it and now it's just a bigger project.

Like I said, I'm new to For A Bodies Only but so far I've found great support for my project.
 
Sorry to hear bout yer luck, but the silver lining in the cloud is FABO! Better luck the 2nd time round.
 
Wait till you see the price of grilles for 69's. Your going to need to get a 2nd morgage...
 
Sorry about the accident...... I live just a few miles North of you in Middletown..

I'm working on my 68 Cuda

Donnie :burnout:
 

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I guess a little back story is due. When I was a kid (early 70s) my dad had a 69 'Cuda that was the family car and on the weekends we'd race it at Kil-Kare drag strip just north east of Dayton, Ohio. I grew up sitting in the engine compartment habding hin wrenches and holding the flashlight (always a favorite past time of the sons of gear heads...lol).He got rid of it in the early 80s. A few years back we started to get theitch for a loud fast muscle car and found this gem in Mass. The body wasn't too hateful so we decided to get it road worthy and get her running. We rebuilt the engine and tranny this past summer and, like I said, I managed to drive it into a wall a few days ago. Not that wrecking a car is ever a good thing but it was somewhat a blessing. The metal didn't bend..it broke. We were gonna have to replace all of it anyway. Also, we can resto the engine compartment the way it should be.
 

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So far the pain killers I'm on keep me from truly realizing the extent of the injuries. Just kidding. I'm fine. I hit my face on the steering wheel and basicly just gave myself a bad bloody nose. I know it looks like I was doing about 100 mph but I wasn't. After looking closely at the car we realized that the metal was so corroded it just disintigrated on impact.
 
WOW glad your not hurt. Good luck with the repairs.
 
4 Speed. Can't seem to find any good pics yet. The ones I had were lost on a crashed hard drive. i'll keep looking, sorry. Also, I could use some advice and/or resources for installing a new front clip. Thanks
 
Sorry about the car but at least you survived. Good luck with the resto. I will subscribe.
 
not 15k for the car. thanks for subscribing. I will be sure to keep this thread up to date. We'll (my dad and I) be tearing down soon. We're doing the work in his garage so when it's cold (we both live just north of Cincinnati, Oh.) not much will be done. In the mean time we're gonna brush up on our welding skills. This will not be a concourse resto and it was never our plan. There is history for us with the 69 cuda and that's why we got it. I do hope to learn a lot from FABO and possibly add some insight myself.
 
I think you want to drill out the spot welds where the inner fenders mount to the firewall then drill out the spot welds on the front frame rails all the back to the trans cross member and remove all that as one piece. Then get a front clip off a Dart, Duster, Valiant and weld it back on like 4404spd did. Hopefull from the firewall back there is no damage.
 
thanks. That's the plan. This incident has made my dad and I realize that we need to slow down and get the car 'right', not just 'on the road'.
 
went through a wet intersection, stomped on the gas and the rear end broke loose. Before I realized what happened the tires got traction on the dry pavement and I just happened to be pointing directly at the bridge retaining wall. It could of been worse, I could've been pointing at on coming traffic when the tires caught.
 
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