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New member, old car project

Stockcar axeman

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Feb 8, 2022
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Location
Wa state
Hello everyone,

I am new to this site as I have come here to get up to date info on the Mopar world that will help me with the restoration of my 73 Dodge Challenger. This is my first car that I picked up in 1984 and have been dragging it around with me since. I worked on this car all the time and read everything I could to learn more about Mopars as I was obbsesed with Mopars from about age 16-20. My avatar is the only pic I have of the car from back then so I'm glad I have that at least. The car had a 318 2 brl when I got it but I blew that up and put in a 340 with a nice 727. It hasn't been driven since 1991 and has been totally apart since 2004 when I started to restore it. That attempt was sidelined by the motor in my daily driver going south as well as a couple of other attempts (Late model stock car racing and our kids quarter midgets) to get it done but now everything seems to be lining up to get it completed. The car only has 61,xxx miles on it and is very solid. It has some surface rust but it is structurally sound so it's a good, solid foundation to build on. The car is going into Ron Piercy's race shop on March 25th for a roll bar, sub frame connectors, torque boxes, mini tubs and a few other braces to beef things up. After that it will go to the sandblasters where my 15 yr old son will be doing some of the blasting and then it goes to the paint/body shop for all the beauty work. I will assemble the car and motor with my son as he is just coming into the car age so we'll see how deep he gets into the Mopar world. I've been wanting to get to this point for over 30 years but life comes up and things don't always go as planned but now IS the time to get it done and since I am doing this with my son it only makes sense now as to why it took so long to get here. I have some NOS and repro parts that I have acquired over the years as well as many ordered parts that are starting to show up so that along with chassis and body/paint work all lined up gives me hope that this will be the time to get it done. The car will have an all new drive train with a big inch Hemi and a 727. After watching my car sit for all these years I wondered if I would get excited when I started getting going on it and I can say that without a doubt I am obsessed with my car more than ever before. I can't wait to see it, start it and drive/race it but there is a lot of work to do before we get there but I am going to enjoy the ride all along the way. A couple of the pics below have my boy sitting in the car when he was around 8. He's now 15 yrs old and 6'1" and when I look at those pics I just wonder "where did the time go"?
I look forward to conversing and possibly meeting some of you Mopar folks along the way and I feel very fortunate to have a website like this to converse about something as important to us as our Mopars.

Cary

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Mr Cuda

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Joined
Jan 26, 2022
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Location
North of Seattle
Another Washington state'er!
Glad you joined. Just joined myself, to keep the enthusiasm alive after years of waiting to do my cars.
Time is now, the years fly by.
 

Stockcar axeman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2022
Messages
129
Reaction score
35
Location
Wa state
Another Washington state'er!
Glad you joined. Just joined myself, to keep the enthusiasm alive after years of waiting to do my cars.
Time is now, the years fly by.
Thanks for the greeting. Something about the older you get the faster it goes...both time and the car. If you're ever at Pac Raceways hit me up as I'm about 10 minutes from the track. Always good to meet a fellow Mopar enthusiast.
 

WDO72

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Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
196
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Welcome from Northern California! Fun photos. Best of luck with your project.
 

moparlee

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Jul 25, 2011
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Location
Mid Michigan
Welcome to the site from Michigan!
Sounds like a fun project and keep us posted on your progress.
 

Rapidfire

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Joined
Aug 7, 2019
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Location
Culbertson Nebraska
Welcome to FEBO! Nice project you have there! Great to see another E body getting restored. Nice to have you here with us! 😀
 

70chall440

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Dec 11, 2010
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Location
Western Washington
Welcome fellow Washingtonian (I am down by Olympia). You definitely have a project on your hands but if you take it one step at a time it will get done. There is a lot of knowledge here and surprisingly a lot of people from WA so if you need help I am sure you can get it.
 

Stockcar axeman

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Joined
Feb 8, 2022
Messages
129
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Location
Wa state
Welcome !
Be careful blasting it , you don't want t warp the panels so go easy .
It's being done by a pro shop with years of experience so I should be good. My son works there part time and is learning the ropes so he'll be doing the solid areas while the owner will be handling the panels. Thanks.
 

fasjac

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Dec 27, 2019
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Location
Arkansas
Welcome to the site from Arkansas! Sounds like a cool project. Lots of knowledgeable guys here to help. And, yea , the clock doesn’t stop for any of us.
Glad you joined in.
 

Bug Guy

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Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
103
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Location
California
Welcome from Central California!! I got some Trim parts, Window and some 1/4 glass parts, If you need them? Ray
 
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