origonal owner 73 Rallye

burdar · Jul 10, 2009

This is my first post on this site and just thought I'd share some restoration pics of my dad's Challenger. The car is basically mine although it is still in his name. All of the restoration work that is being reformed is comming out of my pocket. I have farmed out the body and paint but will be restoring the components my self as well as the final assembly.

The car was purchased new by my father in late 72. He ordered it from Thein Motors in Clarence, Iowa. He used it as his main work car and put over 30,000 miles on it in the first year.

The car is a 1973 Challenger with the A57 Rallye package. Dad bought the car with fuel miliage in mind so he opted for the 318 instead of the 340. The car is painted JA5 (dark silver metalic) and has a black vynal top with black interior.

Here is a picture of the car when it was new. This picture was taken outside my grandparents house and once the car is completed...I'd like to take another picture of it in the same spot...just 37 years later.

4871097-challenger73002%5B1%5D[1] (2).jpg

burdar · Jul 10, 2009

The second picture was taken in 1975 just before my parents wedding. This is my uncle, washing the car. My dad told me that my uncle "decorated" the car for the wedding but I don't think a picture of that exists. This is the only other picture from the 70's that I have found so far.

burdar · Jul 10, 2009

We still have the owners manual and found some paperwork under the rear seat. The broadcast sheet is unforunatly NOT the one for this car. The sheet I found is for a 340 4-speed Cuda. The quality controle cards DO appear to be from the Challenger though.

burdar · Jul 11, 2009

In the mid 90's ,while I was in High School, we got the car on the road again. The exhaust as replaced and the brakes were gone through. The back end was sagging badly so extra leaves were added in the rear to get the hight up a few inches. The carb was rebuilt and new white letter tires were installed. I put about 3000 miles on the car before it went to the bodyshop for the first time in 95. The car now shows 96,000 miles.

burntorange70 · Jul 12, 2009

Welcome to FEBO. That is a nice car with a some cool history behind it. Good luck on the build.

burdar · Jul 12, 2009

Long Iowa winters had taken there tole on the body. It was easy to see that the quarters were junk as well as the front fenders. The car had been repainted at least once in its lifetime and it looked as if there was a good deal of bondo in the trunk lid as well. It didn't sit flush with the quarters.

In 95 I went around to a few bodyshops to get some estimates on body work. The few shops I went to basically just laughed at me and said they weren't interested. I found a shop that was willing to put quarters on the car and fix some rust in the trunk. It was only after the car was at the shop that I found out they did really bad work. What was supposed to be a 3 month job turned out to be 2 years. When I got the car back, I understood what everyone was talking about.

There was bondo everywhere. A lot of the rust was just bondoed over and it was up to a half inch in places. The quarters were hung very poorly and the rust in the rocker area wasn't addressed before hand. I wasn't even told that there was rust in that area. The used rear valance I had purchased for the car had some minor damage that would need fixing. The valance was just tack welded to the quarters and the seam was bondoed over. Big steel plates were slapped onto the sides of the frame instead of being fixed and large sheet metal patches were placed on the trunk floor and tacked in place. Everything that the shop did would have to be replaced. Here's some pics of there work.

burdar · Jul 12, 2009

I started taking the car appart in 1998. The engine/trans was pulled first and set aside. With them out of the way you could really see the extent of the rust on the inner fenders.

I'd like to say that I labled and bagged all of the nut/bolts and screws so I know exactly where they all go but I didn't. Putting this thing back together is going to be a challenge.

Here are a couple pics of the engine and what the engine compartment looked like.

burdar · Jul 12, 2009

The front fenders came off next. There wasn't a whole lot left of them. They were being held together with filler. The car had to have looked pretty bad when it went in for a repaint in the late 70's because a lot of filler was used at that time.

I was pretty dissapointed in what I saw once the fenders were off. The rockers were in horrible shape. I have been going to the Mopar Nats every year since 95 and finally found a pair of complete rockers in 06 so I bought them.

burdar · Jul 16, 2009

The car sat(completly dissasembled) until Dec 2000 when my parents sold their house and moved. The Challenger was then stored in a storage unit for 2 years until my dad had the chance to build another garage at my parents new home.

By the end of 2007, nothing on the body had been touched. I had been working on the engine/trans/rear end for years.(on and off) I seemed to get the urge to work on the car for a month or two following the Mopar Nationals but that quickly faided after realizing the amount of work the car would really need. Well, by the end of 2007 I was getting really tired of the body just sitting. I checked around and got a price on getting the car bead blasted. I also got a price of getting it sand blasted. I decided to go with sand because it was over $600 cheaper than having it bead blasted. Also, I didn't know if I would even have a car left once I got it back.

In October 2007, the car went to the blasters. I was pretty happy when it returned. There were no surprises. Don't get me wrong...the car needed a lot of work but all the parts that I thought were still good...were still good.

Here are a few pics of when the car came back from blasting. In one pic you can see how bad the quarter panels were installed by the first shop the car was taken to. You can also see the rust holes in the rocker that were just filled with bondo.

burdar · Jul 16, 2009

The center part of the trunk floor was in great shape. It was too bad that the first shop had to butcher the sides. I was sure that the entire trunk floor would then have to be replaced. That didn't turn out to be the case though.

burdar · Jul 16, 2009

Here are a few more pics of the rust damage.

burdar · Jul 16, 2009

After it was blasted I started really looking hard for someone who could do the body. The blaster said that the car could only sit for a year before needing to be sealed so I really needed to find someone.

I had gotten a few estimates over the years and they were all right around the same price so I kind of knew what to expect. The problem was that I wasn't comfortable with the work I saw from those other people. I only wanted to have this done once...so I wanted it done right.

Some people on-line told me about a shop that was located about an hour from me. I called the owner and made an apt. to come see the shop. When I got there, he had a 70 R/T in the shop that he was working on. I looked over his book of completed cars and really liked what I saw. I looked over the other cars in the shop and saw one that was painted the same color as my car. I think that was the moment that I knew he was the right guy for the job. Even better, once the 70 was done he would be able to get mine in. The 70 was supposed to be done in July/August of 08. I e-mailed him in early July and asked how the car was comming along. He e-mailed back and said that there were some changes going on with his business.

He had been doing a lot of paint work for Best of Show Automotive out of Ohio. They would ship him a car that needed paint...once it was done, they would sent him a new car and take back the freshly painted one. They had been after him to join there company for a while and he finally decided to take the job as their new restoration manager.

I talked to him at the 08 Mopar Nationals for quite awhile and he said that he was still interesed in restoring the car for me. I was a little worried about the car being so far away but realized that if I wanted it done right, that I needed to let them do it.

Here is a few pictures of the 70 R/T that was being worked on at the old shop here in Iowa. This car was taken to Ohio and was finished there. These pics aren't very good since they were taken inside a tent, but you still can see what great work they did on it.

burdar · Jul 16, 2009

A week before the car was to leave for Ohio, my best friend and I took a Saturday afternoon and removed as much of the seam sealer from the car as we could. We also installed the hood, fenders and trunk lid.

On October 14th 2008, the car left for Best of Show Automotive in Ohio.

toolmanmike · Jul 16, 2009

Great project! from a fellow Iowa Mopar guy. The black Challenger belongs to a good friend of mine and made it to Mopar Collectors Guide for September. Tim at Best of Show did a flawless job don't you think? I'm sure your 73 will be as nice. I had a 73' back in the day. It was powder blue with a black vinyl top and black strobe stripes. I've never seen that combination since. My old car is supposed to still be around Waterloo and I now know where it is. I'll check it out some Saturday with camera in hand. Best of luck! toolmanmike

burdar · Jul 23, 2009

Well, the work really started at the begining of the year. They they started with the inner fenders. You can see the bracing that was installed when the old inners were cut out. The also fixed the radiator support and the firewall area. The two inner fender braces were also replaced due to rot.

burdar · Jul 23, 2009

The rockers were next. I found a pair of complete rockers at the Mopar Nats a few years back. They used the entire drivers side rocker that I supplied but only needed the front section of the passengers side. That was the part of the car that gave me the most worries. It didn't seem to be a problem for them. I guess it pays to take the car to people who really know what they are doing.

burdar · Jul 23, 2009

After the rockers were done, the back half of the car was started. The quarter skins that had been previously installed were cut off and full quarters were installed.

While the quarters were being fitted, the trunk floor got some attention. Instead of replacing the entire floor, the sides were replaced using and old 2-piece trunk pan. The center of the trunk is origonal with the spot welds on the fuel tank braces. The new sections were spliced in ontop of the framerails were the rear shackles mount.

burdar · Jul 23, 2009

New framerail sections were installed in the rear that I purchased from The Paddock. The seam between the old and new frame was metal finished and you can't even tell there was a repair done. A new filler panel(the part that the rear bumper bolts to) was also installed.

Here you can see the new frame rail sections in place. The torsion bar x-member needed work too. It was pretty rusted at the ends where it met the rockers. A new drivers side front floorpan was also installed due to some pitting.

At this point the car was able to be put on the roticerie. It was then taken to the media blasters and the underside was cleaned up for paint. You can see in the last picture that the seam sealer has been applied.

burdar · Jul 28, 2009

I drove out to Ohio in March to see the progress. I took the bumpers with me too. They wanted to make sure the bumpers fit the new quarters incase I decide to put the 70-72 style brakets on the car. I also took the back glass out there to double check the fitment since the full quarters had been installed.

When I was out there I ok'd a test sample of the body color. A few weeks later, the engine compartment, trunk and entire underneith side were painted. It's really starting to look good. Here are some pics.