Recent Acquisition - What to do with it?

[Dave]

And a reminder of where it started. I thank everyone for their interest in the car. Let me know what you think. That's all for now. Thanks, Dave.

[Mr Cuda]

I did not see that coming!
Way to go. I'm suprised you used an A body as a platform. A junky 71 B 4dr body would have worked well.

[Katfish]

How many AMD panels were involved?

[Dave]

How many AMD panels were involved?

Both quarters and outer wheel houses, everything else I used on the car is used/salvaged OEM.

[RUNCHARGER]

You know, I absolutely love it! I think I would leave it pretty much as is as well. Personally I've built more than one show car and got burnt out on them. I'm not of the gen III Hemi and coil over suspension ilk either. I've been feeling like building another E-body but haven't because of the current costs of a beautiful restoration and the fact it would be nothing new for me to do.
Seeing what you've done is inspiring me and I just might do something like what you have. I think if I find a crossed up Challenger with a title it's going to be game on. and I'd drive the daylights out of the finished car. Of course I would do it differently and that's the fun of it. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

[Dave]

You know, I absolutely love it! I think I would leave it pretty much as is as well. Personally I've built more than one show car and got burnt out on them. I'm not of the gen III Hemi and coil over suspension ilk either. I've been feeling like building another E-body but haven't because of the current costs of a beautiful restoration and the fact it would be nothing new for me to do.
Seeing what you've done is inspiring me and I just might do something like what you have. I think if I find a crossed up Challenger with a title it's going to be game on. and I'd drive the daylights out of the finished car. Of course I would do it differently and that's the fun of it. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

Much appreciated - thank-you. I think a lot of people underestimate how fun and enjoyable it can be to buy or build a 'driver quality' car. They are much cheaper to build and also somewhat cheaper to buy. The sad fact is that nowadays there aren't many inexpensive project cars around and used parts are hard to find and when you can find them, they're usually overpriced, but if you're not in a hurry and keep looking, there are parts available. If you decide to build one I think you'd find they are very enjoyable to own and drive. I have built several over the years. Good luck if you decide to take one on.

[cuda hunter]

BAD ASS !!

Thanks for showing us some pics. 
Do you have any pics during the build, torn apart and going back together. 

I personally prefer the street cars over the restoration cars.  This is where it's at!! 

[HP2]

Very cool. Agree that a driver quality car is loads of fun compared to a high-end resto, but we all have our preference. Should be fun.

About a decade ago when AMD was coming out with all the Challenger replacement metal, I figured I could reproduce the Mopar Kit Car body without suspension or interior components for about $12k using all repop metal. For those that don't know, the Kit Car was basically a chassis with your choice of body panels hung off it, that was the base for oval track builds. Structural support was all in the chassis and body panels were mostly for decoration and could be easily replaced if damaged.

[YellowThumper]

I'm in for updates regardless of direction.
Dart sub would be more period correct. however, at that stage of degradation any suitable platform could be considered.

[dodj]

Of course I would do it differently

I'm thinking it would be a fuel injected hemi....

[Katfish]

For sure, this is screaming for a Gen3 motor.

[RUNCHARGER]

I'm looking for rough Challenger shell and a 4 door B-body. I've got lots of 440 stuff still but I will inject it. These types of projects take on a life of their own when you get into them. My current Lincoln MIG doesn't have much time on it but that will change. I have also thought about a Crown Vic donor but I like T-bars. The A-body donor would be the cheapest though and that might end up being the way to go, tighter for a B-engine though but not impossible. C-body is probably too wide and bigger torsion bars not available (mind you C-body 8 3/4 measures almost identical to E-body). When I get back home in March I'll do a build thread, kind of excited to do something fresh.

[Dave]

BAD ASS !!

Thanks for showing us some pics. 
Do you have any pics during the build, torn apart and going back together. 

I personally prefer the street cars over the restoration cars.  This is where it's at!!

I'll see what I have for pictures. A lot of them are poor quality and don't show much. What I can do, that you may find of interest, is get some pictures of the areas that required significant fabrication like the cowl area, the aprons, the trunk pan and the wheelhouse area. Those areas are sort of where the rubber meets the road or where Frankenstein meets Quasimoto depending on your point of view. 

[Dave]

I'm looking for rough Challenger shell and a 4 door B-body. I've got lots of 440 stuff still but I will inject it. These types of projects take on a life of their own when you get into them. My current Lincoln MIG doesn't have much time on it but that will change. I have also thought about a Crown Vic donor but I like T-bars. The A-body donor would be the cheapest though and that might end up being the way to go, tighter for a B-engine though but not impossible. C-body is probably too wide and bigger torsion bars not available (mind you C-body 8 3/4 measures almost identical to E-body). When I get back home in March I'll do a build thread, kind of excited to do something fresh.

Looking forward to see what you do, with great interest. You may want to consider how the rocker width on your donor car would effect how you build it. I have probably somewhere north of 600 hours on this cuda and if I had to change the rocker width, I think it could have easily added another couple hundred hours to the job because it would change everything. Good luck with your whatever you choose to build. 

[RUNCHARGER]

Yes if that rocker width matches I think that is the way to go then. I think that would be the place to start if you have the same width, then get your front wheels in the right spot. The rest will have to be made to fit.
I'm going to measure a 4 door 71-up B-body to make see if the rocker width is the same too. Either that or a later A-body 4 door are cheap to find.
I've already found a couple of donor shells so it's just a matter of deciding which one ro use and go from there.