Graveyardcarz is restoring a 71 Demon 340

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72dart

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Mark is finally starting a resto on an A-Body seen on last nights show.
 
oh goody.... they can overcharge for an A body now.............
 
I watched that show this morning. Had to record it Tuesday night. The a body will be exciting to watch. I enjoy the show
 
I can put up with the extra stuff. Where else can I see a show with the fantastic mopars, I have learned some useful information as well
 
He has several A bodies in the pipeline. His assembly guy has a 70 340 Swinger
 
Great! The highest cost A body 340 resto anyone can buy! Prob have all the same paint daubs and stamps as every B and E body they do...lol
 
I watched about 2 weeks ago he and his daughter were going over a '67 318 (was 273)Barracuda for disassembly to be restored. He made a statement that the car wouldn't be worth the price of restoration if it wasn't for sentimental value. Sadly true ,but we're all guilty of that. He told his daughter cataloging A- body parts is more important due to the lack of parts and she was to start looking as soon as she had a list. Should be interesting....
 
68cuda408 said:
I watched about 2 weeks ago he and his daughter were going over a '67 318 (was 273)Barracuda for disassembly to be restored. He made a statement that the car wouldn't be worth the price of restoration if it wasn't for sentimental value. Sadly true ,but we're all guilty of that. He told his daughter cataloging A- body parts is more important due to the lack of parts and she was to start looking as soon as she had a list. Should be interesting....
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He's right about that though. It seems that reproduction B and E parts are plentiful, but A body parts (especially interior trim pieces and other odds and ends) sometimes hard to find. I wish there were more quality reproductions of A body parts.
 
I've been through all of the letters, try getting parts for a Mirada cmx, had a 77 v8 4spd aspen....no fun. its odd how marketing works. its rough with one year one model parts. The 64 1/2 barracuda guys known as well as the 66 barracuda guys(did that too), but its strange that a product like the trunk trim for a 68 barracuda isn't available and it's the same across all 3 model lines yet I can now buy complete tail light assemblies and trunk filler panels for a '68 coronet r/t and 500. they are 1 year and 1 trim line specific. with a lot less units sold , and more people are building super bee(stripped) "clones" than the high end ones.
 
Not just a 71 Demon 340,but a Mr Norms one at that!
 
the new season of graveyard cars is pretty good. i don't think anyone in the U.S. is restoring mopars any better than what worman is doing. the cars that he is doing are pretty much "perfect" and i'm guessing very expensive. i can't imagine driving any of those cars on a regular basis on the street given all the nutty drivers with beat up cars.

one of the reasons i enjoy this show is just to look at worman's shop. his building is pretty much the perfect restoration facility. he's got every tool imaginable, a great paint booth, a great parts room and different sections of the garage for different assembly projects. i know he is running a business but if you were just a private car collector can you imagine how much fun it would be working on your cars in a garage like worman has?

the ex-navy guy down in norfolk, va that has the tv show "restoration garage" charges about $80/hr. according to the labor costs he quotes customers on the show. most of the time his total labor costs for the various cars on the show seem very reasonable. does anyone have any idea how much worman is charging for a complete restoration? i would think he has to be somewhere in the $50-$75k range. it wouldn't surprise me if on some of the very rare hemi cars he's getting $100k to do those cars.

i think the recent season is the best so far for Graveyard Carz.
 
jimharvard said:
the new season of graveyard cars is pretty good. i don't think anyone in the U.S. is restoring mopars any better than what worman is doing. the cars that he is doing are pretty much "perfect" and i'm guessing very expensive. i can't imagine driving any of those cars on a regular basis on the street given all the nutty drivers with beat up cars.

one of the reasons i enjoy this show is just to look at worman's shop. his building is pretty much the perfect restoration facility. he's got every tool imaginable, a great paint booth, a great parts room and different sections of the garage for different assembly projects. i know he is running a business but if you were just a private car collector can you imagine how much fun it would be working on your cars in a garage like worman has?

the ex-navy guy down in norfolk, va that has the tv show "restoration garage" charges about $80/hr. according to the labor costs he quotes customers on the show. most of the time his total labor costs for the various cars on the show seem very reasonable. does anyone have any idea how much worman is charging for a complete restoration? i would think he has to be somewhere in the $50-$75k range. it wouldn't surprise me if on some of the very rare hemi cars he's getting $100k to do those cars.

i think the recent season is the best so far for Graveyard Carz.
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There are plenty of people restoring Mopars better than Worman. His cars are far from perfect.

Have you personally seen any of the cars he's restored?

Have you seen other Mopars restored by?: Rodger Gibson, Show and Go Restoration, Restortions by Julius, Finer Details, Kohr's Customs, Resto Rick, Steve Been.

And numerous other less advertised restorers doing as high level work as the ones I listed.

Worman's cars look like a Chevy person restored a mopar. They are pretty looking.

The owner of the Q5 Hemi RR conv is not happy. It's sort of sad seeing the careless and uneducated mistakes in that car.
 
autoxcuda said:
There are plenty of people restoring Mopars better than Worman. His cars are far from perfect.

Have you personally seen any of the cars he's restored?

Have you seen other Mopars restored by?: Rodger Gibson, Show and Go Restoration, Restortions by Julius, Finer Details, Kohr's Customs, Resto Rick, Steve Been.

And numerous other less advertised restorers doing as high level work as the ones I listed.

Worman's cars look like a Chevy person restored a mopar. They are pretty looking.

The owner of the Q5 Hemi RR conv is not happy. It's sort of sad seeing the careless and uneducated mistakes in that car.
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autoxcuda... wow... i didn't know my comment about mark worman car's looking nice was such a controversial thing to say! OK... i don't have any "dog in the fight" over mark worman. i don't know that guy, i've never met the guy, i've never been to his shop AND i've NEVER seen any of the cars featured on his TV show up close. however, from "viewing" the progress of the cars in the various shows, it "appeared" to me that the restoration work was done very well. there are lots of times in the TV show where the cameraman is under the cars showing the final assembly of all the component parts. the parts always "look" pretty nice. and there are lots of shots in the varioius assembly areas that show the same detailed work. finally, when the cars are completed, they look very nice.

but there is one other thing that gives me "confidence" that worman is restoring these cars to "some" level of competence - he is still in business and the TV show is now in the sixth (i believe) season. if worman was a complete "hack" and did as poor of a job on these cars as you suggest, i'm sure the resulting numerous lawsuits would have put him out of business by now - at least the TV show would have been cancelled.

i live in Pittsburgh, Pa. i've never heard of any of the shops you've mentioned above. i do have 4 barracudas and have considered having one of them professionally done. i would be interested in knowing where the shops are that you mentioned. i might want to contact them for an estimate. maybe you live in an area of the country where there are a lot of competent resto-shops. there are a number of very good "body shops" around Pittsburgh, but no shops specializing in "restoring old mopars" that i have ever heard of.

as to the "Q5 Hemi Road Runner" what "careless and uneducated mistakes" were made on that car? if you know, please share. Worman certainly seems to have a lot of knowledge about old mopar muscle cars. and i know tony diagostini (Tony's mopar parts) knows a lot about mopars. it would seem strange if there were a number of "juvenile" mistakes made on any of the cars worman works on.
 
jimharvard said:
autoxcuda... wow... i didn't know my comment about mark worman car's looking nice was such a controversial thing to say! OK... i don't have any "dog in the fight" over mark worman. i don't know that guy, i've never met the guy, i've never been to his shop AND i've NEVER seen any of the cars featured on his TV show up close. however, from "viewing" the progress of the cars in the various shows, it "appeared" to me that the restoration work was done very well. there are lots of times in the TV show where the cameraman is under the cars showing the final assembly of all the component parts. the parts always "look" pretty nice. and there are lots of shots in the varioius assembly areas that show the same detailed work. finally, when the cars are completed, they look very nice.

but there is one other thing that gives me "confidence" that worman is restoring these cars to "some" level of competence - he is still in business and the TV show is now in the sixth (i believe) season. if worman was a complete "hack" and did as poor of a job on these cars as you suggest, i'm sure the resulting numerous lawsuits would have put him out of business by now - at least the TV show would have been cancelled.

i live in Pittsburgh, Pa. i've never heard of any of the shops you've mentioned above. i do have 4 barracudas and have considered having one of them professionally done. i would be interested in knowing where the shops are that you mentioned. i might want to contact them for an estimate. maybe you live in an area of the country where there are a lot of competent resto-shops. there are a number of very good "body shops" around Pittsburgh, but no shops specializing in "restoring old mopars" that i have ever heard of.

as to the "Q5 Hemi Road Runner" what "careless and uneducated mistakes" were made on that car? if you know, please share. Worman certainly seems to have a lot of knowledge about old mopar muscle cars. and i know tony diagostini (Tony's mopar parts) knows a lot about mopars. it would seem strange if there were a number of "juvenile" mistakes made on any of the cars worman works on.
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And totally understood.

The mistakes are not juvenile. He is not a total hack. Not a even a partial hack. But you made the statement Worman appeared to be the best in the country. There's are a BIG gap between juvenile mistakes and #1 in the U.S. for concours level resto.

The mistakes are upper level concours type mistakes. But some are sort of basic for those restoring Hemi cars. The steering pulley did not line up. Hemi cars have a thicker crank balancer so many of the pulleys are special to them. So the pulley was not pressed on all the way to make up for the difference. That can lead to mechanical failure and it's just a uneducated short cut.

It also had the wrong brand tires. Wrong master cyl. I'm not going to bash this owners car. IT IS VERY NICE. But the owner expected more.

Tony D is not there restoring those cars day to day. Pretty hard to train someone to be #1 in a profession over emails and phone calls.

Careful with "experts". Experts who rebuild top level concourse wiper motors or concours hood latches or concours gauges often are not top level at restoring a whole car. Parts experts are parts experts. It takes more than one specialty to do a whole car to a top level. It's a lot of utilizing and executing the right and appropriate specialized resources.

I think you need to go to a Carlisle or Nationals in your area and look at the cars that show being judged for top flite categories. Honestly more of those will be B and E bodies. Not to say there are not A-bodies restored to that level, but just fewer and harder to seek out. Get out and talk with the owners face to face. And do back research too. Many owners will claim to have had a car restored at a shop, only to actually find out they did part of the work or just minor things.

Kohr's Kustoms and Totally Auto (forgot to mention) are in PA.


PLEASE remember this is T.V.... Does the show state it is a 100% Documentary?

I live in LA. I know people who work on reality TV shows. Things are not what they appear....Storage Wars. Fake. A friend was asked to be an expert consultant on that show for a Nascar pit crew air gun. The air gun was HIS. They paid him to use the PROP in the storage locker AND to speak on the show. AND HE GOT HIS AIR GUN BACK.
 
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autoxcuda said:
I know people who work on reality TV shows. Things are not what they appear.... Fake.
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Noooo! It can't be!

Woman is an asshat, and reminds me of former bosses who thought they were the best. Anything he does is better than what I would do, I'll give him that. Some of the shops that are "high end" make mistakes or take shortcuts too. Have a friend that pulled his car out of Muscle Car Restorations because of the shoddy work they were doing. Too many bad/shaddy shops on all levels. Like you said, do your homework before you give them money or your car. I'm glad I don't have anything I'd ever want restored to the level of an OE gold, I get to enjoy cars without worry.

And I'll still watch the show, the dumbass drama level has gone down over the years and I like seeing Mopars get worked on, regardless of their significance.
 
Are you referring to Dan Short at FantomWorks in Norfolk? I believe he charges $75/hr for labor. I stopped in to his shop about 6 years ago when I first moved to Virginia Beach. He was very friendly and showed me around his shop.
 
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