Tazet's 69 Dodge Charger.

[BikerGran]

It may have taken over your lives but when it's done I reckon it'll be one of the best in the country!

[tazet]

You're not wrong there Bobbi 

[Manky Monkey]

It's certainly taken over our bank account.
We're still not aiming for a 100% concours condition car -are we? -but should have a good solid base to build on. As long as it's structurally & mechanically sound, we can drive it minus a few bits of trim, or a whole interior, if we have to.

[gsxrsam]

It's certainly taken over our bank account.
We're still not aiming for a 100% concours condition car -are we? -but should have a good solid base to build on. As long as it's structurally & mechanically sound, we can drive it minus a few bits of trim, or a whole interior, if we have to.

you know what will happen.. 

paint nice.. check
chrome good... check
well we might as well make interior etc look as nice... check   

[Manky Monkey]

 
Taz went back to have a chat with John the workshop owner today. We've used up all our available funds & are paying a bit off our bill every couple of weeks, directly from our weekly wages. To date, we still owe them 70 man hours worth, so it's gonna take a little while to catch up.
So they've agreed that John & the team will get the car fully welded, undersealed & on it's wheels, then it'll go into storage in one of their dry barns, until we're ready to continue. Hopefully that won't take long, but it's nice to know John's not chasing us for the cash -few commercial companies would be so accomodating.
Taz's Charger isn't a "numbers matching" car -one that still has matching engine & chassis numbers as it left the factory. They're the most sought after & obviously the most expensive. In John's slightly biased, but very experienced opinion, it is however, one of the strongest, straightest, rust-free examples in the country. If we could continue the rest of the build to the same standard as the bodywork, we'd be looking at a 60 grand car. Worth anything up to 80 thousand quid if it had the original motor.
John's verdict- if it ain't original, why not go the whole hog & bung a Hemi in it!       

[gsxrsam]

gotta agree   

[SteveRedd]

I like his logic...can't hurt 

[NeilG]

Mmmmmmm hemi
Why do people always have to come up with great ideas and why are they always expensive one's


Looking real good guys,you must be chuffed to bits.

[tazet]

Yes very chuffed. The only problem is a Hemi will cost 12,000+ then all the other things that go with it like new axle, and up rated everything else just to be able to support the engine. If I could get overtime money I'd be working round the clock but that's not gonna happen any time soon. At least I can bumble about in the pop when that's done for a few years.

[Manky Monkey]

Oi! I'll drive the Pop, thank you! 
You get the muscle car the size of a battleship -& about the same cost.
Picked up the latest issue of "Classic American" magazine yesterday. One of Taz's Mopar mates is on the cover. Clivey only took his 1970 R/T Charger to John's workshop for a bit of a tidy up.
4 years & 70,000 quid later he's now driving his dream car. We're nowhere near the same league, but if Taz's car makes her grin as much as Clivey does every time we see him, it'll be worth it.
We've now got a pair of 383 cubic inch, (6 1/4 litre), Charger engines -the stripped one that came with the car, plus the one that's been in storage for a couple of years that came out of "Pinball Wizard", the '70s Ford Pop show car. As that was actually the car that first sparked my interest in customs as a school boy, & over 30 years later I'm now building a custom Pop of my own, I think it'd be cool to have the heart of the Wizard in our car.

[SteveRedd]

 that was actually the car that first sparked my interest in customs as a school boy

me too...still got the pic somewhere in the loft

[Manky Monkey]

  I came across the Wizard in the line up of Pops at last year's NSRA Billing rod show -they have so many in their ranks they have their own corner of the showfield, known as the Popular Front. I always preferred it's original yellow/orange colour scheme, but it was still instantly recognisable in the plain yellow. As I was wandering round & round it, muttering, "it's the Wizard, it's the Wizard", the current owner grinned & said "Don't tell me -it was your favourite car, you remember seeing it in the mags when you were a school kid, it was the car that inspired you to get into customs etc, etc".
Happens everywhere he goes.
-And I got to sit at the wheel of the Wizz. 

[SteveRedd]

bugger off 


 

[Manky Monkey]

No more progress on Taz's Dodge yet as we're still paying off the bill, but I've started clearing the barn where it'll eventually live. I've installed my ol' Dad's workbench, so now we've got a decent flat area to put parts together. The old Pinball motor needs checking over by someone more engine literate than we are. Several of Taz's Mopar Muscle Association mates have offered to take a look, but none have turned up so far. One guy wondered if it might be too lumpy for road use, (Pinball Wizard was once drag raced, but I doubt it was with this motor, although it does have a modified sump for extra oil capacity). So we need someone to pull the covers off & tell us what exactly we have here. Once we know what needs doing, we can get on with it while the car's at the restoration shop. Under the blue blanket, behind the yellow motor, is the original engine that came with the car when we bought it. It came in a million pieces & we've no idea if it's all there or in useable condition. Personally I'd rather use the Wiz's lump, partly because it's already built, but mainly because it's got some history. So the other engine will be a useful source of spares -or can eventually be built up into a spare motor.
Taz has decided on dark, metallic gunmetal grey for the bodywork, with black leather interior. You can see the original blue seats in front of my trike. They're 2 different shades of blue & very tatty so we'll have them re-upholstered, probably by our mate Whiff of the Surrrey Street Rodders. The engine block will probably stay black & we'll keep the yellow Holley rocker covers as a homage to it's previous life in the Wizard.   

[baggie]

looks just right there mate