My 72 Demon Project

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challengergary

challengergary

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Well, bought this car about a year ago with plans for it to be a father/son project with my (then) 14 year old son. Fast forward 1 year - hadn't done anything on the car because I was busy building a customer's 1969 Road Runner and my shop was too small to build more than one car at a time. I decided (with a little help from the city) that I needed to move into a larger place. At the first of the year, I moved into a nice, big 2500 square foot shop. NOW, I had room to work on the Demon!!

Got my son here to help start trashing on the car - after 1 day, he says, "Dad, I really don't want an old car." Oh well, change of plans. I am still going to build her but now, instead of being built as my son's daily driver, I am going to build her however I want.

My plans are now to paint her Hemi Orange and maybe put an orange/black two-tone interior in her. She'll be getting a 340 instead of the 318 I had planned for my son. I've already secured an 8-3/4 rear with 3.23 sure grip. I started on the body work as well.

Here she is in the previous owner's garage.
 

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Here she is after getting the drive train ripped out - I actually traded the seized /6 drive train for an 8-3/4" rear. I have her on a big old body dolly that my brother built. Started to remove all of the rust and have been taking a few minutes here and there to work on the body.

Can't wait until I start to see some color on her!
 

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As you can tell, I have already replaced the nasty old rusted out trunk lid. The only other body panel that needs to be replaced is the passenger side door. It's toast. I also need to install new front floor pans and a new trunk center. I might even look into a new hood since the leading edge of the original one is pretty rusty.
 
This is the other project I am also working on (for a customer). It's a 1970 Challenger that is getting the resto mod treatment with a 6.1 Hemi transplant. I have already installed US Car Tools frame connectors, lower radiator support, torque boxes, and upper fender supports.
 

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Lookin' good Gary!
That car will look great orange.
I know a guy near you that can get you a deal on stripes when it's time!
 
Nice project, I think I got my stripes off of this "guy" you speak of..easy painless transaction and fast shipping..orange is a great color for these cars 👍
 
Yeah, my brother talked me into Hemi Orange. He's not a Mopar guy but he thinks the two best colors for Demons are black and Hemi Orange. He's good friends with the guy that owns the "666" Demon down in Miami.
 
I like the black stripe on the 666 car so much I'm contemplating a blue on blue stripe for our project (my 12 yr old son and I). Granted no where near as involved as yours (it is daily drive able now)....but still it is our car.
 
Got some more welding done on her. Also scored a good passenger side door to replace the totally rusted out one. Thanks to BlewbyU!
 

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Getting kind of full in the shop!

The 69 RR came back for a few days for some upgrades - the owner is kind of tall and wanted me to relocate the seat a little further back. Also, replaced the alternator and finally got the gas gauge reading correctly for him.

Got another Challenger in as well. This one is a '71 that somebody else painted. It's plum crazy with a houndstooth interior. Pretty simple job compared to what I've been into lately since there is no paint & body involved. I've got to rewire the whole car, install the "new" 440 and transmission, and install dash, carpet, headliner, brakes, plumbing etc.
 

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Wow, can't believe it's been this long since I beached her. Was thinking about selling her to scare up some cash and make some room in the shop at the same time. Unburied her and posted a For Sale ad. No serious takers and while I had it out, I realized how little i had left to do on the body.

Soooooooo, I started to work on her again after a nice little 15 month break. I cut the last bit of rust out of the lower passenger side quarter and welded in some new metal. I've got a little welding to do on the hood next. Then it will be time to replace the trunk floor and front floor pans. If all goes well, I should have her ready to paint in a couple of weeks.
 

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too bad...my BIL who taught me just about everything about cars had 2 boys...neither have any interest in old cars..just how big is the stereo.

my neighbout who is a fellow car nut..but not hands on...offered to buy his kid an A body when he turned 16 after seeing what we had been doing. He wanted a Mazda 3...

i just don't get it...
 
I don't get it either. Funny thing is, he actually has very little interest in even getting his license. He'll be 17 in 3 months and still does not have his learners permit. I had my first car before I even had a license...
 
what is your boy's favorite color... if you paint the car that color maybe it would get his attention. plum crazy does look good even if people complain that it's "overdone" i dont believe it. you rarely if ever see old mopars running around now, much less purple ones.

or maybe he likes red? it could be just the orange turned him off?
 
I don't think he has a favorite color as far as cars go. He really could not care less about them. He says he wants his first car to be one that gets really good gas mileage and that is the only feedback he's given me in that direction. His younger brother on the other hand, who is 13, already wants to start planning his first car...
 
There was paper recently published showing the the number of young adults getting their car licenses is dropping...the reason ? ...they do not want to take the time from their cell phones.. What is the biggest addiction young kids have today ? cell phones..
 
A lot of colours look good on this body style. I wouldn't restrict myself to a stock colour for that year though.

My favorite is lemon twist and black stripes. Fabo member justcuz has a 71 like that. Mine is a TB3 with white stripes which is quite popular. Of course the most popular high impact colour is Plum crazy purple. Lime is second and hemi orange is third. Least popular is panther pink.

So it does'nt mater what colour you choose really. It's your car after all.

Peter
 
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