Resurrecting the 1966 Dart Wagon

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This car looks a lot like a wagon I found on the internet years ago. It was a PA car belonging to Paul Pritcher. It was gorgeous. I've been looking for a 66 wagon ever since.

That was this car back in 1995 when it was just finished! Dad drove the wheels off it and its time do redo it! This time, it will not be daily driven...

Charlie
 
Alright, back to the updates. Had to take 3 weeks off to get other things done but I'm back at it and going hard! Trunk area blasted, firewall shaving almost done, shock towers beefed up, quarter panels coming along and getting ready to dump mucho $$$ on paint.

Finished work on the trans crossmember. Here it is before welded:

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Shaped this piece on the sand bag and some shrinking to get the curve on the flange:

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All blasted inside:

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Working on finishing up the engine bay. Deleting holes, adding holes, smoothing out spot welds and edges:

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The problem!

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The solution:

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Had to shorten the replacement panel to get the correct length bumper transition:

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Opened up and time to blast:

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Just a quick teaser:

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Charlie
 
Getting ready to haul a$$ on this project now! I'm so happy I'm done with blasting, stripping and scraping this shell. It is surely the last one I do the dirty work on myself. I have 200 hours in blasting, stripping and scraping this thing. Next time I'll shell out the $1800 to have it blasted and epoxy primed!

So.... this week, I bought epoxy primer and high buff primer. I am using Matrix paint line as I have had good results in the past with it. Yesterday I pulled out an NOS fender splash apron with the correct shade grey primer on it and color matched the new primer to it. I then painted the floors in the car as well as inner fenders. Next is to paint the bottom of the car the same color, inside of the roof and then proceed with blocking and installing new panels in preparation for painting door jambs and engine bay...

Formed a piece for quarter window repair towards the back:
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Seam sealing and epoxying the INSIDE of the quarters!
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Custom trans tunnel and homemade drivers floor can be seen here!
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Primed!
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Next week I should have the quarter repairs done and moving onto the rest!

Charlie
 
WOW!!!!! Awesome work,Keep it up and keep the pics comming.Ireally love the longroofs.....................Jeff
 
Little quick update. Been working on the Cummins the last couple days but shifted gears and got back to work on the damaged quarter panel. Last night i used sheet metal screws to position the replacement piece and hammered out a new lower piece until it was of the right shape, scribed, cut and tacked it onto the other piece. Just have to finish out welding it and make a piece for the end. Looks really good to me! No power hammer or english wheel! Just manual hammering and bending.

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Today I powered through metalwork and only stopped for dinner since I ate breakfast. I started out cleaning up the trunk floor extension and straightening it. Sprayed some weld thru primer on the area to be welded and moved on to prepping the new quarter section. I finished up shaping the end piece that is hidden behind the bumper, welded it, ground the welds and then gave the entire back side a thick coat of epoxy primer. Next, I screwed the panel back in place, rescribed the line to cut, and then proceeded with trimming until fitment was acceptable. After that, I just started tack welding until I had the entire piece secured and the butt joint was flush in all areas. I had to be really careful of heat placement with a piece this big because too much heat would warp the hell out of it. After a few hundred tack welds, I had a consistent bead all the way around and used roloc discs to grind it flush. I am still working on planishing all the welds and bumping out any remaining dents in surrounding areas. I will only need a skim coat of filler in a couple small areas but 75% of the panel weld area is smooth and no filler needed. I am VERY HAPPY with the result!!!

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Charlie
 
Got the quarter in Epoxy primer tonight. Nice 'n' thick! I was going to spray high build right away but I figured I would give this a week to cure, then go over the whole thing with a block and 80 to see where any filler is needed before high build.

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Charlie
 
Been a while but everything is going well for me. Blew the cummins up in my orange truck back in October so that has been under the knife and bleeding my funds dry. Also built another 85 crew cab with a cummins swap. Finished an 89 resto with a fresh drivetrain and made it road worthy for a friend. Then flipped two trucks and did some other stuff. This summer I will be working 4 days a week and will divide any minute I have between my shop and girlfriend/friends.

So, I removed the skin on my power tailgate blasted it and took it to school. I am at Pennsylvania College of Technology for auto restoration and my teacher saw my interest in metalshaping so I have been learning a lot about it. This was my first big project on the English Wheel and the skin is about half way done. Had to make new inner skin corners and a lower lip as well as inner hinge supports. Next on the list is get the doors ready, align, finish some other metalwork, prime and block my life away until it is straight and ready for some kandy red.

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Charlie
 
So new year, new me right? :toothy1:

2015 was filled with working on OTHER peoples vehicles. Fun but.... shop still has space taken up with a 65 coronet 2 dr post and the dart wagons which we just haven't had time to work on. Thing is, you HAVE to dedicate yourself to MAKING TIME!

Off topic but in the time since this post was updated, I finished these two trucks. Blue one is an 85 crew from OK for my cousin we did a cummins swap and various other improvements on. Orange is mine after a second engine rebuild and my own 3 link coilover suspension design. My new engine made 512hp 1008ft lbs to the rear wheels and I'm planning to do twin turbos on it this spring. SO, while it is sleeping for winter, time to focus on Dart and 2 customer vehicles:

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Engine I built myself and included doing the following: Flycutting pistons, sending them for ceramic coating, sending block and crank out for machining, port/polishing the head, decking and o-ringing the head, building my own custom aluminum runner intake, doing my own injector lines etc etc etc.

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PSSSTTTT that is 65 Gold Interior color :glasses7:

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Everything you see now has happened in the last TWO weeks. I was getting rather pissy seeing a pristene bare metal body starting to flash rust so I figured I better get on the project and get it f"""ing done before something takes priority over it and while I have so much free time being single. I recently rebuilt and installed a 300k BTU clean burn waste oil heater which keeps the shop at 70* and is great to work in when it's 12* outside

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Dad's marking:

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The mess! 360 magnum/A500 big bolt disc brakes!

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Test Fit! Filling any holes not needed on firewall and inner fenders and was very happy to see the trans tunnel I made fits like a glove to the trans!

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Entire old body is disassembled, bagged and tagged and various documentation points done. Started going through the NOS stash and picking the best parts out. Nice to find things I thought I needed and finding them in the inventory! Next is finish my custom trans mount, weld cowl back on and quarter patch and tear it back down for all chassis parts to be powder coated, trans freshened, engine freshened and epoxy on body!
 
this is first time I have seen this thread. I am so inspired seeing such a hard working and TALENTED young man!!!! ( i'm an old man!)... GREAT work!!!!!!

wish I had an Endlish Wheel and knew how to use it!!!!! lessons when time on here!??? Ha , no really! I really don't see how you have the time and energy to get all this high caliber work done and school!!! if you don't inspire people on this site, then nothing will!!!!!!
 
Some of the best darn metal work I have seen Charlie! I fear I have to do the same in several areas on the '65, but lack the skill to get it where yours is setting lol. You're inspiring a bunch of us keep up the great work!
 
Thanks for the kind words guys! I'm in my final semester of Automotive Restoration at Penn College of Technology. The school didn't teach me everything to this point but definitely helped me learn some new techniques and refine all of my methods.

After school, I'm going to work where I interned at (small time vintage auto repair shop) and open my own LLC on the side because I already have a wait list through next year.

This weekend home from school I worked on my customer's 46 dodge cab and got it in Epoxy , did some improvements to my 91 W350 Cummins daily and also had time to squeeze in the two drivers side doors for the wagon. Got them blasted and epoxied. Have some pin holes on the front door and a door frame crack needing addressed. Also wedged the blaster nozzle inside the door and sandblasted all of the inside to treat. Absolutely have to treat both sides of any panel.

The 46 cab in epoxy ready for final body work and a single stage/clear mix. I had fabricated a new roof seam exactly how the factory did it, scratch made new cab mounts, the drivers door jamb was racked 1/2" from a drunk driver side swiping the truck 20 years ago so I had to pull that straight until the door gaps were clean, a barn fell on it and the roof was caved in bad, filled 27 holes on the firewall, did a cab corner, lower cab back and rocker panel then went over it twice with the blaster before epoxy. Got most of the cab straight to the point of just needing a glaze of body filler. Couple spots I want to try to get a little better.

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Roof filler piece I made that covers the roof skin seam:

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Dart doors:
Front blasted,
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Rear blasted and epoxied,

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Next step is prepare passenger rear door for final body work. Blast and paint all hinges, finish hood hinge modifications and shave firewall before blasting body again.

I STILL NEED A RUST/ DENT FREE 65/66 Dart passenger door!!!!! HELPPPPP I'll pay for freight shipping and whatever!!!! Just a bare door shell please!

Charlie
 
This weekend I got the passenger rear door in epoxy. Had to fill old trim holes that were not in the right spot for my 1966 and spent the better half of the day getting a nasty pair of gouges out of the outer skin and then shrinking the metal down to get rid of the oil canning. Today in school I wheeled out an outer wheel house patch for the drivers side rear using a cardboard pattern I made last night. This week I will make a cowl patch and a lower inner quarter patch in school and start welding everything back together this weekend. Made an arrangement with a friend to use his heated/cooled paint booth for the car in a couple weeks. I want to jamb out the doors, engine bay and underside of the car in the new red base clear.

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Inside of the door free of under coating, blasted and epoxied:

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Wheel house patch shaped on english wheel using my cardboard pattern as a guide:

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Charlie
 
I know this is a pretty old thread (4 years now) and the OP was last seen on the forum in July 2016, but wondering if he’s still around, any updates on the wagon.
 
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