Been lurking about a year, with some random posts here and there.
Picked up this car a little over a year ago from a friend who had owned it since the 90s and daily drove it throughout high school/college, but had stopped running for him and sat for at least the last 10-12 years. Prior to that it was originally purchased/owned by a little old lady out of South San Francisco.
73, originally rallye red, 225 automatic, space duster, bikini vinyl (rust)...that's about it....Oh and a tired single stage Viper Red Earl Scheib paint job. Nothing special, but a relatively rare find, even for California, where these will still rot in to the ground if left unattended. It does have some rust here and there, small bubbles in the paint, and some repaired crash damage so not worth restoring given it's a run-of-the-mill duster, but a great foundation for a fun street/strip car.
I was able to get it running as soon as I brought it home, but some collapsed front brake lines were incentive enough for me to start teardown. I've fully built a couple cars so far in my lifetime (datsuns), and I always strive to maintain a period correct look, but upgrading with "modern" mechanicals along the way. This build will be no different. I'm about half way through it now, just waiting on some $$$ for the motor/trans. I stripped it down to the body, repaired some rust along the way, installed an entirely new/rebuilt front subframe and a shortened 8.8 out of an explorer. Suspension upgrades include rear mono-leaf, caltracs knock off, double adj QA1 front and rear, tubular upper control arms, rebuilt LCA, QA1 tension rods, and some other stuff I forgot. I picked up a used 360/727, but after teardown they seem to be junk. They will make good cores.
Anyways here's the pics. I suppose I'll start a build thread?
As I got it:
Many hours later:
Picked up this car a little over a year ago from a friend who had owned it since the 90s and daily drove it throughout high school/college, but had stopped running for him and sat for at least the last 10-12 years. Prior to that it was originally purchased/owned by a little old lady out of South San Francisco.
73, originally rallye red, 225 automatic, space duster, bikini vinyl (rust)...that's about it....Oh and a tired single stage Viper Red Earl Scheib paint job. Nothing special, but a relatively rare find, even for California, where these will still rot in to the ground if left unattended. It does have some rust here and there, small bubbles in the paint, and some repaired crash damage so not worth restoring given it's a run-of-the-mill duster, but a great foundation for a fun street/strip car.
I was able to get it running as soon as I brought it home, but some collapsed front brake lines were incentive enough for me to start teardown. I've fully built a couple cars so far in my lifetime (datsuns), and I always strive to maintain a period correct look, but upgrading with "modern" mechanicals along the way. This build will be no different. I'm about half way through it now, just waiting on some $$$ for the motor/trans. I stripped it down to the body, repaired some rust along the way, installed an entirely new/rebuilt front subframe and a shortened 8.8 out of an explorer. Suspension upgrades include rear mono-leaf, caltracs knock off, double adj QA1 front and rear, tubular upper control arms, rebuilt LCA, QA1 tension rods, and some other stuff I forgot. I picked up a used 360/727, but after teardown they seem to be junk. They will make good cores.
Anyways here's the pics. I suppose I'll start a build thread?
As I got it:
Many hours later:
Last edited:
