Hideogumperjr
Well-Known Member
Hi all, I took my 63 Dart convertible into a local restro shop here in Woodinville Wa and had a look over and got a estimate for $12-15k. Pretty steep for my retired pocket book at the time. He said I could get the hood and fenders repainted to match the rest of the car for $1500-2000 but this doesnt address my other issues.
The car has apparently been whacked in the front and the front of the hood repainted to cover. When I did the disc conversion I found one bent strut on the driver side and after rebuilding all steering components I find that the drivers wheel did a small bit of rubbing on the fender so a liberal bit of reshaping the fender with a rubber mallet allowed me to drive the car without rubbing. I had put 195/70/14s Perilli tires on it on 14" Rallye wheels I had powder coated through Les Schwab.
I want to do a good job on body work and painting and it looks like I will be doing the bulk of it myself with hopefully some good graceful angels in the mopar world here in the area but again mostly my own bad elbows will take the brunt of the work.
I have some rust in the front of the doors and the passenger side rear quarter panel at the very front and bottom where crap and dust accumulate and water and then rust. I was told $2k+ to address this but it seems like I could try welding in the new pieces or even clean the rust up and fiberglass it after rust prevention, not the best I know but a thought I have.
The body is really pretty clean with only 4 or 5 dents in it seems I could massage out some of the from the trunk lid from the inside and then use body putty over the outside of them.
ONe major thing is the hood and trunk dont align along the fenders, the hood as a 1/8" up by the cowl that spreads out to 1/4" or so at the headlights. Doors close pretty well also but the window seals and all need replacement.
The car is white with blue interior and I was considering changing to a metalic blue body color but was told it would be up to $2000 more to do that.
Any suggestions on accomplishing this without have to go so costly? I have done body work and paint on a Karmann Ghia I restored but this was back in the late 70s and I would really appreciate suggestions and links on how to address this restore. I dont mind learning and doing lots of labor and thank all who has some constructive comments.
I can post pictures of dents and doors and hood alignment also so please do hesitate to suggest.
Cheers to all and happy summer here is Seattle for the next few days!
John
The car has apparently been whacked in the front and the front of the hood repainted to cover. When I did the disc conversion I found one bent strut on the driver side and after rebuilding all steering components I find that the drivers wheel did a small bit of rubbing on the fender so a liberal bit of reshaping the fender with a rubber mallet allowed me to drive the car without rubbing. I had put 195/70/14s Perilli tires on it on 14" Rallye wheels I had powder coated through Les Schwab.
I want to do a good job on body work and painting and it looks like I will be doing the bulk of it myself with hopefully some good graceful angels in the mopar world here in the area but again mostly my own bad elbows will take the brunt of the work.
I have some rust in the front of the doors and the passenger side rear quarter panel at the very front and bottom where crap and dust accumulate and water and then rust. I was told $2k+ to address this but it seems like I could try welding in the new pieces or even clean the rust up and fiberglass it after rust prevention, not the best I know but a thought I have.
The body is really pretty clean with only 4 or 5 dents in it seems I could massage out some of the from the trunk lid from the inside and then use body putty over the outside of them.
ONe major thing is the hood and trunk dont align along the fenders, the hood as a 1/8" up by the cowl that spreads out to 1/4" or so at the headlights. Doors close pretty well also but the window seals and all need replacement.
The car is white with blue interior and I was considering changing to a metalic blue body color but was told it would be up to $2000 more to do that.
Any suggestions on accomplishing this without have to go so costly? I have done body work and paint on a Karmann Ghia I restored but this was back in the late 70s and I would really appreciate suggestions and links on how to address this restore. I dont mind learning and doing lots of labor and thank all who has some constructive comments.
I can post pictures of dents and doors and hood alignment also so please do hesitate to suggest.
Cheers to all and happy summer here is Seattle for the next few days!
John
