Swinger 1969

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LH23H2R said:
jarkka - Thanks much for the close-up of the export codes :thumleft: . I had a feeling that one of them was for the KpH speedo ; the other one must be for the sticker or riveted " Made In USA by Chrysler Corp for Export" tag .

It seems interesting that someone in another country would order a regular ( e.g. , non-performance ) model vs a GTS or a Swinger 340 .
Perhaps that's more common than I'm aware of , as all the articles seem to be for the high performance models ( Hemi'Cuda , Hemi Charger , 440 Six Pack Challenger , etc. , etc. ) .

As a side note : A friend's step father is native to Lebanon . Back in c.Spring 1970 , he ordered a 1970 Challenger R/T 340 . I can't remember where he ordered it through ; however , when the war(s) started in Lebanon , he had to get his family out ...
... and had to leave his Challenger behind :sad11:.


Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about that Challengers case...

Well, it was quite common to order with minimal equipment cars like mine here to Finland. Or at least the combinations were uncommon. For example big motor but no power steering or power brakes. Or vice versa. And the taxes, U.S. cars have always had some extra compared to European or Japanese cars. That may explain why we have such a small number of Hemi or Gts like cars.

Ok, here is some pictures from that km/h speedometer.
 

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WHOA ! That's cool !! Probably not too many of those Kp/H speedos around !

Thank you much for taking the time to take some pics and post them :-)
 
Hi,
I finally found a sheet metal professional who is going
to replace all the wornout pieces, full quarter panels, rocker panels, floor totally and also in the trunk.
Meanwhile i have made some cleaning with the firewall and roof. Inside out.
Here is some pictures.
 

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At least for me, now is a quite big job done by Hersti Autoshop.
http://www.herstiautoshop.com/koti.htm
New body panels were installed as planned and all "self made unnecessary" holes were welded closed.
Here is some pictures:
Quarter panels replaced (both sides), trunk floor, door jambs replaced (both sides), floor panel, outer rocker panels replaced (both sides), front subframe (part of it) replaced (both sides), firewall extra holes welded closed.
Maybe you will notice also rear wheel space increase!-} Rear quarter panel wheel opening were modified to accept larger diameter wheel and tires. The front part of rear wheel opening were moved about 4 inches toward front of car.
Next project will be 12-point roll cage.
 

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Can you post some more pictures of the expanded quarter from the side so I can see what it looks like with the rest of the car, I'm considering doing that with my car.
 
Ok, i'll do that. I'm sorry it will take about 2 weeks because we are on a holiday at Åland islands and my car is about 300 miles away now:-}
 
Here is some pictures from both sides of rear wheel opening.
 

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Slowly going forward...still cleaning all the sheetmetal "down under" the car.
I'm going from back of the car to the front area. I'm trying to find every bit of sheet metal that has old painting or rust. After cleaning i'll paint it with CRC's Galva-Brite. It's an aluminum-zinc priming coat.
Bottom of the cat looks very clean after painting! Although progressing slowly but it is something touchable!
Here is some pictures.
All the black coated sheet metal is AMD (Auto Metal Direct) replacement panels! Trunk and cabin floors, trunk extensions and subframe connectors are visible. Direct Connection leaf spring relocation kit has been in the car since end of the 80's.
Before painting and after:
 

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Finally i'll reach the last "cleaning" area, the front end. By cleaning I mean that if there is old metal sheet that has rust or old painting etc, I will clean it with metal brushes (with power drill) to the bare metal. (And I'll paint it to protect it from rusting again)
I started from outside of the car, roof, window openings. Then I went inside the car to the driver and passenger area, floor, roof and walls. Last half of year I have been under the car cleaning the floor from down under.
Yes it would be easy if that sheet metal would be straight all the way.
But all that straight metal sheet is new, AMD quarter panels, passenger floor, rear floor etc.
What was left, had full of corners and small pocket areas. It takes time...
The front suspension has been removed so that it is somehow easier to reach all places in the front end.
So, here is some pictures:
Passenger side is cleaned, drivers side still waiting its turn. On the last pictures you will see some blackish or bluish coating, it is rust converter in case there was left some rust spots somewhere.
You can also see new welded half front frame rails on both sides of car.
 

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Wow do those new panels look good on the car!
Can't wait to see more updates.
You are doing a great job, keep up the good work!
 
Finally all this cleaning from rust (old panels) is now done. I went through every inch inside and outside of the car. It has also a protective layer of zinc-aluminun painting.
Here is some pictures from front end that was done ready this week.
 

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Still something to clean up. seems to be everlasting thing;-}

Some photos, outside and inside car door shells.
Here you are:
 

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Because of large wheel tubes and I wanted to use original read deck lid I needed make some support system.
Rear deck lid weighs about 43 lbs (20kg). The original support system was out of question.
I decided to use one or two gas spring to support the rear deck lid.
(Gas spring is 16.5 inches long, 6.3 inch strike and has 450N )
Here is some pictures. (At the moment I need only one spring on RH side of car.)
 

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