Rocker's 1973 Duster "Clara"
Well it has been too long since I posted, so let's catch up shall we.
To make a long story short...I fell into the "complete resto" trap. The car was already this far along, I figured I would go ahead and get it painted/got talked into it. I stripped the car the rest of the way down, and had a pretty sweet deal setup for paint. Yeah that fell through...as did the next two. This was about August of last year, and after the third time I walked away from it for about three months. Here are a few pictures from the teardown.
My daughter helping with the teardown.
Goofball.
The cardboard headliner still in great shape.
So apparently they forgot they sprayed the adhesive on the roof, but forgot to install the padding. This is what the roof of my car looked like when I pulled the headliner. There was NO surface rust whatsoever! The steel was as clean as the day it was fabricated. I couldnt believe it.
Look what I found tucked in the bottom of the rear seat back! This was VERY important to me, as I even have the bill of sale from the day the car was purchased.
Dash removed.
I also pulled all internal wiring, gas tank, tail lights, everything in the trunk, etc. Last I tackled the door internals and glass, a bit intimidating, but once I really looked at it, it was not hard at all. I went through some of the door hardware, and started restoring a few (of many) pieces.
Around October I found a great local place that was more than happy to take the project on. They took a look at the car, and confirmed it is as straight as the pictures show. They said they could get things started in January, so I patiently sat on the car again.
Well Mid December my SUV (my dd) decides to spring a radiator leak, that ultimately did $3000 worth of damage, and thats with me doing some of the repair work myself. The SAME week my wifes PT Loser decides to crap out also. Not only did this eat up my bodywork money, but I ended up selling the Rally rims/tires from the Duster to help pay for everything.
This is how poor Clara has been sitting for sometime now... Just with a dust covered tarp sitting over her. I am pretty disapointed to be honest.
Body shop appointment cancelled, garage was locked up, and again I walked away for four and half more months.:disgust:
Well it has been too long since I posted, so let's catch up shall we.
To make a long story short...I fell into the "complete resto" trap. The car was already this far along, I figured I would go ahead and get it painted/got talked into it. I stripped the car the rest of the way down, and had a pretty sweet deal setup for paint. Yeah that fell through...as did the next two. This was about August of last year, and after the third time I walked away from it for about three months. Here are a few pictures from the teardown.
My daughter helping with the teardown.
Goofball.
The cardboard headliner still in great shape.
So apparently they forgot they sprayed the adhesive on the roof, but forgot to install the padding. This is what the roof of my car looked like when I pulled the headliner. There was NO surface rust whatsoever! The steel was as clean as the day it was fabricated. I couldnt believe it.
Look what I found tucked in the bottom of the rear seat back! This was VERY important to me, as I even have the bill of sale from the day the car was purchased.
Dash removed.
I also pulled all internal wiring, gas tank, tail lights, everything in the trunk, etc. Last I tackled the door internals and glass, a bit intimidating, but once I really looked at it, it was not hard at all. I went through some of the door hardware, and started restoring a few (of many) pieces.
Around October I found a great local place that was more than happy to take the project on. They took a look at the car, and confirmed it is as straight as the pictures show. They said they could get things started in January, so I patiently sat on the car again.
Well Mid December my SUV (my dd) decides to spring a radiator leak, that ultimately did $3000 worth of damage, and thats with me doing some of the repair work myself. The SAME week my wifes PT Loser decides to crap out also. Not only did this eat up my bodywork money, but I ended up selling the Rally rims/tires from the Duster to help pay for everything.
This is how poor Clara has been sitting for sometime now... Just with a dust covered tarp sitting over her. I am pretty disapointed to be honest.
Body shop appointment cancelled, garage was locked up, and again I walked away for four and half more months.:disgust:
