rarichard
Well-Known Member
Finally getting around to posting a relatively decent documentation of my 74 swinger resto. Quick background is I'm 35, lifelong car and bike guy, former pro licensed motorcycle racer, just getting into the classic car game myself.
Started out being a ford fan, had a few fun vehicles. just sold this rare Capri last year after 13 years of ownership.
After getting my first real job out of college (teacher) I picked up a new cougar. I plan on keeping this forever. has 30k miles, only 500 per year from now on. definite tuner car.
Couple of years later picked up this F150: everything is always modified slightly to make it mine.
My father a few years ago picked up a 68 GTO and finally got his classic car and I became a mopar fan.
this is my street bike, 2001 bought in 2001 with 500 miles on it, TL1000R, also a keeper for life. tribute bike now to my racing days.
from back in the day; 1999 GSXR 600 superbike
I now have this Ram as the daily driver and kid hauler. intake, exhaust, tuned, pretty quick. pretty bold. that's why I like mopars, you can get away with blue wheels.
So I happened to be driving down a random street in Fitchburg, Ma. where I live and saw this thing and stopped. Had a $2,000 sign on it. Got it for $1,700.
My first view. the color caught my attention. I smiled when I saw the dodge badge on the front fender. didn't know anything about A bodies when I saw this but though for that price, I can take my kids to a car show now and not have to park in the lot, and can get to park next to my dad and uncle and not look like an *** bringing in a 2010 truck.
The good, car started up from cold like a champ, sounded great for a straight six thanks to a full new exhaust from the header flange back, must be decent muffler, sounds good. Has 15' RALLYE wheels. original interior in ok shape. had a current inspection sticker for Ma.
the bad: v6 badge since removed, missing driver rear quarter window, now fixed, leak in front passenger footwell from windshield moulding and bigger leak in passenger side trunk area from rear window molding and under the vinyl. new 5 star cover that's waterproof is the solution for now. has a drip from the transmission pan, but haven't been under to tighten up pan yet, just have it dripping into pan now, not too worried, since it's not pouring out.
has some rust bubbling in paint, and driver rear fender has rusted through a bit, but shouldn't require a patch panel, will do it the cheap way I'm sure.
the front carpet was trashed, so it was removed and started the process of taking the interior and doing a nice job with it. I took pictures of most of the process but always though after a few hours of work sometimes that I forgot to take more, but you'll get a good idea of what I've done so far. I like how easy it all is, very minimal problems so far.
The first thing I did to the car was remove the bumper pads and blacked out the front grill, washed her and took a pic of the car the next day after buying.
this is the interior after removing the seats and shabby carpet. I was contemplating just throwing a new carpet on top of this but just knew that was being lazy.
So I decided to begin pulling up the tar paper and underlayment.
dad came bye to help remove the floor material;
After scraping all the surface rust and finding a small hole on each rear seat foot well, and a small one in the passenger foot well, I used a fiberglass kit to repair them. I then sprayed the floors rust areas with rust converter.
I then layed down dynamat sound deadener along the floor and took my time to do it well. used a 30 sq. foot kit.
you can see the green interior at this point in the process.
I then began the process of masking everything off and dying the seats, headliner, and all panels in black.
In this picture you can see the front dash being prepped for paint, I have a new dash cap that's going on top of the cracked original pad. you can also see the front bench seat which was once green, that got sent out for re upholstery and had springs fixed and new foam padding, the rear seat I dyed myself. my upholstery guy and I both use SEM products, and used Landau black. everything is looking great so far.
I discovered a leaking heater core and also replaced that:
before:
after:
I will update tomorrow with new pics of where interior is now. about 80 percent done.
I also resprayed the trunk with spatter paint.
I'll add some more tomorrow but feel free to comment. SO far I'm into the car for the following:
car 1700
front bench rebuild and upholstery 700
year one carpet and dash cap 375
dye 100
new dash vent covers 50
chrome trim rings 40
heater core 40
new window cranks 25
rear quarter glass 40
dynamat 100
new passenger tail light 100
new kick panels 40
other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting 100
either way I'm well under 4,000 at this point and the interior should be excellent when I'm done, I'll then focus on cleaning and getting the mechanicals done right, but economically, and have a big surprise for the paint work and exterior. what do you guys think so far?
Haven't posted much but have been checking the forums almost daily. will plan on hosting a meet in central Massachusetts next season so it can be organized properly. I have a great location!
Started out being a ford fan, had a few fun vehicles. just sold this rare Capri last year after 13 years of ownership.
After getting my first real job out of college (teacher) I picked up a new cougar. I plan on keeping this forever. has 30k miles, only 500 per year from now on. definite tuner car.
Couple of years later picked up this F150: everything is always modified slightly to make it mine.
My father a few years ago picked up a 68 GTO and finally got his classic car and I became a mopar fan.
this is my street bike, 2001 bought in 2001 with 500 miles on it, TL1000R, also a keeper for life. tribute bike now to my racing days.
from back in the day; 1999 GSXR 600 superbike
I now have this Ram as the daily driver and kid hauler. intake, exhaust, tuned, pretty quick. pretty bold. that's why I like mopars, you can get away with blue wheels.
So I happened to be driving down a random street in Fitchburg, Ma. where I live and saw this thing and stopped. Had a $2,000 sign on it. Got it for $1,700.
My first view. the color caught my attention. I smiled when I saw the dodge badge on the front fender. didn't know anything about A bodies when I saw this but though for that price, I can take my kids to a car show now and not have to park in the lot, and can get to park next to my dad and uncle and not look like an *** bringing in a 2010 truck.
The good, car started up from cold like a champ, sounded great for a straight six thanks to a full new exhaust from the header flange back, must be decent muffler, sounds good. Has 15' RALLYE wheels. original interior in ok shape. had a current inspection sticker for Ma.
the bad: v6 badge since removed, missing driver rear quarter window, now fixed, leak in front passenger footwell from windshield moulding and bigger leak in passenger side trunk area from rear window molding and under the vinyl. new 5 star cover that's waterproof is the solution for now. has a drip from the transmission pan, but haven't been under to tighten up pan yet, just have it dripping into pan now, not too worried, since it's not pouring out.
has some rust bubbling in paint, and driver rear fender has rusted through a bit, but shouldn't require a patch panel, will do it the cheap way I'm sure.
the front carpet was trashed, so it was removed and started the process of taking the interior and doing a nice job with it. I took pictures of most of the process but always though after a few hours of work sometimes that I forgot to take more, but you'll get a good idea of what I've done so far. I like how easy it all is, very minimal problems so far.
The first thing I did to the car was remove the bumper pads and blacked out the front grill, washed her and took a pic of the car the next day after buying.
this is the interior after removing the seats and shabby carpet. I was contemplating just throwing a new carpet on top of this but just knew that was being lazy.
So I decided to begin pulling up the tar paper and underlayment.
dad came bye to help remove the floor material;
After scraping all the surface rust and finding a small hole on each rear seat foot well, and a small one in the passenger foot well, I used a fiberglass kit to repair them. I then sprayed the floors rust areas with rust converter.
I then layed down dynamat sound deadener along the floor and took my time to do it well. used a 30 sq. foot kit.
you can see the green interior at this point in the process.
I then began the process of masking everything off and dying the seats, headliner, and all panels in black.
In this picture you can see the front dash being prepped for paint, I have a new dash cap that's going on top of the cracked original pad. you can also see the front bench seat which was once green, that got sent out for re upholstery and had springs fixed and new foam padding, the rear seat I dyed myself. my upholstery guy and I both use SEM products, and used Landau black. everything is looking great so far.
I discovered a leaking heater core and also replaced that:
before:
after:
I will update tomorrow with new pics of where interior is now. about 80 percent done.
I also resprayed the trunk with spatter paint.
I'll add some more tomorrow but feel free to comment. SO far I'm into the car for the following:
car 1700
front bench rebuild and upholstery 700
year one carpet and dash cap 375
dye 100
new dash vent covers 50
chrome trim rings 40
heater core 40
new window cranks 25
rear quarter glass 40
dynamat 100
new passenger tail light 100
new kick panels 40
other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting 100
either way I'm well under 4,000 at this point and the interior should be excellent when I'm done, I'll then focus on cleaning and getting the mechanicals done right, but economically, and have a big surprise for the paint work and exterior. what do you guys think so far?
Haven't posted much but have been checking the forums almost daily. will plan on hosting a meet in central Massachusetts next season so it can be organized properly. I have a great location!
