Tazet's 69 Dodge Charger.

[tazet]

Latest update. I spoke to the mechanic who owns the ramps that the Charger is on and he is selling them so we have agreed on a price, (discounted to me as I've known him for 10 years), and agreed a payment plan for them as we just can't afford the full price at the mo. It's a huge relief as we were worried he would sell them just when we needed them. Well he has sold them. TO US  

[tbone]

Thats a heck of an investment!

[tazet]

We got it for a fair bit less than the £700 asking price and yes, it's well worth it. I'm sure when we've finished with them we can sell them on and get back what we paid for them, (O.K, paying).

[tbone]

are they staying in the (barn) workshop, or do you have to move them?

[Manky Monkey]

Staying put.
Eventually the area of the estate where the barn is will be torn down for development as rental office space, so for the forseeable future we've got free use of a barn with power & a vehicle lift. Imagine what that'd cost if we had to pay rent for it. A much appreciated perk of Taz's job. Hopefully the Charger will be up & running long before the building comes down.

[tbone]

 thats brilliant a dam good result but I`m still shedless, so i`m EXTREMELY jelous and am going to sit in the corner n sulk

[Manky Monkey]

We can probably find you a corner of the barn to sulk in. 
Not bragging -honest. We know just how lucky we are -I've spent the last 30 years struggling to build stuff in various lock-ups & borrowed garages. The barn's not exactly palatial, but it's a huge step up & we'll make the most of it.
-oh & Taz says sulking has to include a pathetically quivering bottom lip to be truly effective. 

[tbone]

you have to grab every oppertunity that comes along, and i know some back street garages that looked worse than a barn after it had burnt down  .


-oh & Taz says sulking has to include a pathetically quivering bottom lip to be truly effective. 
would that be from watching your various efforts Mr M? 

[tazet]

 

[Manky Monkey]

I'm hurt. 

[tazet]

 

[Manky Monkey]

We've been in touch with a company in the States that sells repro body panels for Mopars. Not many U.S companies will ship outside their country -they seem to think the World ends at their shore. Gave 'em a shopping list of the bits we need -a pair of front wings -O.K, "fenders" if you must. Pair of inner wi..."fenders". Pair of wheel arches..."fender wells". Pair of rear win..."quarters". Driver & passenger floor pans. Boot..."trunk" floor. Pair of sills..."rocker panels" & front valance...err, "valance".
They came back with a total price today -six THOUSAND dollars. ARGH! That's almost as much as we paid for the damn car. 2000 of it was the shipping costs. Even they admitted they were shocked when they added it all up.
So now we're taking another look at what can be patched up & re-used from the original panels. I've been chatting to forum member XL-erate, our man in California, & he's found us the address of a Stateside company who make fibreglass panels. We can buy a one piece front -wings, bonnet & grille, for 1000 dollars. That'd save us buying half the steel panels on our list. We could build a tubular frame work off the Charger chassis/bulkhead to support it & bond a lightweight frame to the underside of the fibreglass to make it rigid. 
I've never seen a Charger with a one piece flip front, so might be cool. It'd have to be hinged for easy access -no good having it as a lift off section like a race car, held with Dzeutz fasteners. You wouldn't be able to access the engine bay without someone to help you lift it off -a bugger if you want to top up the radiator or something in the filling station. Chargers have a lot of overhang at the front -the wings & grille extend about a foot beyond the chassis, so it'd hit the tarmac before it opened very far unless we can find hinges that lift it up as well as forward. Or we could mount it on the original Charger hinges & have it opening like a normal bonnet. I need to contact the company & see if they ship to Britain, then work out if it'd be any cheaper. I think shipping costs are worked out on size, not weight.
We expected to pay a couple of grand for body panels & hope to cover the bulk of that by selliing Taz's BMW. Most of the rest of the car we've already got -it's just in kit form that needs cleaning up & bolting back together.
And so the long journey to bankruptcy & insanity begins.

[VALLEYSBOY]

volvo 343 bonnet hinges u want then

[Manky Monkey]

Aha! That's useful info. Cheers Gareth. 

[Manky Monkey]

Been told by 3 or 4 different people now that if we import parts we'll get hit by VAT & customs charges when they reach Britain, on top of the purchase price. The UPS delivery guy will ask for payment at our door & if we haven't got the money he'll take it back to the depot & we'll get charged storage.
Suddenly just patching all the original panels is starting to look a lot more viable.