Project - /6 Beater

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challengergary

challengergary

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Okay - As some of you may know I have been looking for an A-Body beater for about a month or so. Basically, my Ram Charger's tranny went out, I decided not to put the money into fxing it right now. I started to look for a Duster, Demon, or Dart Sport that I could use as a daily driver. Well, I found it yesterday. A fellow Cowtown Mopar club member emailed me about one that a local Dodge Dealer got wind of. I called the owner, looked at it and bought it yesterday. I has a /6 and the best part is 100% rust free body! The seats and carpet are trashed but the door panels are good. The previous owner even re-wired the entire car using a Painless Wiring kit. Everything electrical works. The A/C is missing the compressor and lines.

It's actually a factory painted roof car with the mid body side stripes. The previous owner had gotten into a fender bender and the insurance company straightened it out for the and even rechromed the front bumper. So my body work will be really minimal. Plans are to do the paint and body fairly quickly since I can do that myself. Not sure on the color. I was leaning towards keeping it green so that I do not have to change the interior too drastically. However,my wife and daughter said they wanted it yellow.

Then I will either recover the seats or get them done by a local shop.


Decisions, decisions...

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70/71 ?
Gary: That's the same side stripe on the brown duster i've been telling you about. The color is just a shade lighter than the Brown of the paint. Also the tail panel. I have a lot of green interior stuff if you need help with that thing. Where you located? I see now. Texas. Shipping may be an issue. Rust Free !! nice find.
 
Small Block said:
70/71 ?
Gary: That's the same side stripe on the brown duster i've been telling you about. The color is just a shade lighter than the Brown of the paint. Also the tail panel. I have a lot of green interior stuff if you need help with that thing. Where you located? I see now. Texas. Shipping may be an issue. Rust Free !! nice find.
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Small Block - It's a 1971. I plan on making a template from the stripes. Can you email me a pic of the ones for the fenders? The door panels are all pretty good believe it or not. All I really need seats, carpet and a package tray.
 
Cool car, I love those plain wheel covers, most people hate them, maybe that's why I like em!:toothy10:
 
You can probably find them on ebay, or I am sure someone has 2 here they would sell!
 
I think I might have some, let me take a look. (if you don't win)

Cool car!
 
reminds me of my duster cept mine was worse i had five roll around trash cans full of junk and a 3 foot long rats nest under the rear seat
 
Well I found 2 I might have more I don't know. Do you want them? They are a little dirty I could clean them and take better shots in a bit. I also have 4 that came off a '72 duster. What do you need?

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It is a nice find. The A/C seems to be missing the condensor out front, too. The dash and door panels look great. Very surprised to see a local car that old with the dash pad intact. Interesting electronic ignition module under the hood.

I have made a few package trays out by laminating two layers of carboard and covering with carpet that matches the interior. I suppose you could just as well prime and paint them. I tried covering one with vinyl but the TX sun burned the life out of it in less than three years. The good things about cardboard is that it does not resonate like fiberboard and you can trim it with a knife.
 
72 Demon - Thanks. It is a nice find :)

Yes, The a/c is missing the condensor and the compressor. Hopefully, by summer time I should be able to afford getting the a/c working . If not, I guess I'll just sweat to death... The dash actually has a cap on it - it's toast underneath. The door panels photograph well but are also not that great. The bottoms are all delaminated and falling apart. The ignition module you see under the hood is part of the Painless Wiring system the PO installed. He rewired the entire car using one of thier kits. Came out pretty good but I gotta do something about that blue loom cover :puke:

I've also made my own package trays before using melamine (sp?) from Home Depot. I make a template with cardboard. Cut the fiberboard with a jig saw. Paint it black, and pop in some 6*9's. Looks pretty much factory that way. I am debating doing some homemade door panels like tobysold for the interior to help save a buck or two and give the car some more personal touches.

Update - Bodywork is 95% done. May try to paint the hood and roof today if time & weather permits. Was actually hoping to fully paint it today but ended up taking yesterday off from working on the car (work was closed) to celebrate my eldest son's 11th birthday...
 
res1vw21 said:
Well I found 2 I might have more I don't know. Do you want them? They are a little dirty I could clean them and take better shots in a bit. I also have 4 that came off a '72 duster. What do you need?
Click to expand...

Thanks but I actually won the auction that 66340SEDAN pointed out on ebay. I should have four matching wheel covers by the end of next week :cheers:
 
Cool Project! I hope to find me a Duster/Demon/Dart Sport for my next project, after I finish the Charger.

Good luck on your Project,
Jason
 
Okay - - She's almost ready for paint!!! I spent today finishing up a few little dings in the tail panel and deck lid. Sanded down the roof, fixed a wave in it, and primed the rest of the car. I was actually hoping to lay down some color this weekend but between my son's birthday yesterday and the cold front moving through tonight, looks like that is on hold until we get another warm spell. It was about 80 degrees here today an dthe high tomorrow is only supposed to be 45.

Oh well, I guess I will just HAVE TO watch the Dolphins playoff game tomorrow. Darn! :lol:
 
challengergary said:
The door panels photograph well but are also not that great. The bottoms are all delaminated and falling apart.

I've also made my own package trays before using melamine (sp?) from Home Depot. I make a template with cardboard. Cut the fiberboard with a jig saw. Paint it black, and pop in some 6*9's. Looks pretty much factory that way.

I am debating doing some homemade door panels like tobysold for the interior to help save a buck or two and give the car some more personal touches.

Update - Bodywork is 95% done. May try to paint the hood and roof today if time & weather permits. Was actually hoping to fully paint it today but ended up taking yesterday off from working on the car (work was closed) to celebrate my eldest son's 11th birthday...
Click to expand...

My door panels are the same way (see thread Resurrected Junk). I picked up on TobySoldBlue's stuff too. I'm thinking I might try to make new ones and go to power windows at the same time.

The melamine is the closest thing I've seen to what the factory used. At the time I built the package tray, I didn't have the ability to transport a sheet or even a ½ sheet of it. I laminated cardboard and covered with carpet. Put in a pair of 6 x 9s & a defroster yesterday.

Yesterday was beautiful here. After I heard about the coming overnight weather change, I went back out and finished the installation of the amp and rear speakers. Things started getting too chilly for a T-shirt around 9 PM.
:glasses5:
 
Oh, well. Should have gone to the shop today instead of watching the Dolphins game :( Granted, it is a little chilly compared to yesterday, I can't believe the 40 degree temperature swings around here. Not sure if I'll ever get used to that.
 
Okay, I've got 95% of the body work done and may try and get some color on her tomorrow before the next cold front moves through. Otherwise, it'll be wating another week or so...

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looking good!, what color did you decide to paint it?, and are you painting it in your garage or what?.
 
She's going to be painted "Competition Yellow" with Black (metallic) Painted roof and blacked out hood. I am basically making it like a factory Twister paint scheme but using more modern colors. Hopefully it'll look pretty good. If not, oh well, I tried...

I actually have a shop where I do all of my body work and other car stuff. It's not the greatest environment but it's a heckuva lot better than trying to do it at home.
 
I managed to get it painted yesterday before the 40 degree temperature drop :cheers: There are few runs that I wil have to buff out but overall I am pretty pleased. Probably could have spent another day or so on the body getting it ven starighter but it is just beater afterall....

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