E-Bodies.org Cuda Challenger Forum

Wow!  What luck!  2 AAR inheritance cars in a month!  Those are bucket list mopars there and deserve to get reintroduced to the world. My hats off to you there and welcome!


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 :welcome: from Utah.  Can't be said enough to take pictures of the same thing from several different angles as when you're trying to put something back together the one angle you need to see you won't have a picture of.  Also, bag and tag all parts, no matter how small and where they go.  Don't believe that you will remember where it goes, in most cases several years later.  Good luck and keep us posted and don't be afraid to ask questions as the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

Welcome, I am much like you, new to the world of AAR and inherited as well. I will be following your build and hope you do the same in mine......  Its a great forum and all of the members have been wonderful...... I have learned so much already.....

I am not going to get into a full restoration, keeping it true to how uncle had it (all ready a restro mod version n the late 1990s), drove it and his vision for it...... stop by my thread..

https://forum.e-bodies.org/your-restoration-project-roseville-moparts/10/inherited-family-owned-1970-aar-limelight-build/15895/msg214676#new

 :bigthumb: :wave:

Thanks Sir!

Wow.  Laying in bed and I thought I'd check to see if anyone replied to my post.  Can't believe all the support this place has. 

I'll definitely get back to some of you guys but wanted to say thanks for all of the advice.  Believe me, I read every word. 

I'll take some more pictures and set up a progress thread when things get under way.  I'm still in the process of planning out my garage space (4 dump runs already, goodbye old possessions) and getting the necessary shop tools.

I'll probably send out some PMs to a couple of you guys within the week.  Shoutout to the other new guy!

Thanks everyone! :cheers:

Way too go the more people building these car ,the more mopars saved the better .  :cheers:

Welcome to the site! A very cool car to 'try your hand' at restoration. Looking forward to seeing it come back to life.
Beware, these cars have a way of destroying your budget plans.
:drinkingbud:

What a great car to learn to restore on :)

AAR Cuda's are one of my all time favorite hot rods.

You're in good hands with this forum, some real experts here who aren't afraid to share their craft.

Welcome, bro! Sick AAR!

Welcome to the site from Ontario,  :canada:. In addition to "arranging" for you to have your hands on what you by now know is an expensive and valuable car, maybe it's time the old man also shows you how to remove those rusty bolts? You're about to embark on a life changing endeavour and maybe the old boy would enjoy helping you do it. You'll learn many things- both automotive and personal if he does. Good luck!  :wave:

Welcome from metro Detroit and a great car to start with! Even better it was your dads car and in the family so long. I agree with Anlauto. Take a little time and think about what you want the car to be. For me the first thing would be to get it running and evaluate how well it runs. That will mean cleaning up the fuel system, cooling  and brakes. Then you can decide where you want to take the car. Silver is cool and it would look good or drive it like it is. If it were me and I chose to paint the car, I would paint it the factory color EK2 Vitamin C orange and it looks great on that car.
Keep us posted and take a lot of pics!

Still working on restoring my A66 Challenger vert myself. Suggestion; take pictures of an area before you disassemble. Get dollar store storage bags and bag and label everything

I have a feeling that your definition of rusty is different than most of the people on this forum.  I'm going to give you some sound advice, gained from fooling around with these cars since 1996; if the car can be made safe to drive the way it sits, then do that.  You have a very valuable car and you will most likely hurt it's value trying to "make it look good." 

You don't have enough knowledge to restore this car in your garage, and that is not a knock on you.  Many parts on these cars are NOT reproduced or are different from what the car came with originally.  Document, photograph and save EVERYTHING that comes off the car - nearly everything has a date code. The engine block, heads, steering box and other pieces are unique to AARs and T/As.  You won't find replacements at Autozone and you need to have only very trusted, competent people around this car.

Again, if you can change a few wear items and get the car safe enough to pass state inspection and go for an ice cream, that is about as far as I would take it until you can get extremely familiar with what makes that particular car special and how to protect its value.  You should only be driving it on dry, sunny days anyway - it's not going to get any worse.

Good luck with the car, you are one lucky SOB. Lol

Oh, and take the hood off if you are trying to get the engine to fire up after sitting for so many years.  It's fiberglass and WILL burn. I'm sure someone here can recommend a good company to restore the original carbs.

I'll add my two cents. I missed this post the first time around. As others have said, what an amazing car. This is one of my dream cars. As others have also said, you have to figure out what you want to do and have a plan. DO you want to "Restore" the car and what does that mean for you. going off the deep end could cost @20k or more if you go crazy. Depending on the state of the car and how much work you do, $5-$10K may be all it needs.

This book is for a Charger, but is a good resource for tips and having a sense of what to do. Obvious the details will be different but it is a great book on the restoration process
https://www.amazon.com/Project-Charger-Step-Step-Restoration/dp/193199322X

I would start with a good assessment.
1 what is missing? physically missing or swapped out (your 6 pack for example)
2 What obviously needs to be replaced? Body panels, exhaust, seats covers, engine parts, tires, etc
3 what is the state of the paint? Does it appear to need paint?
4 What is the state of the body? This can drastically change your resto plans. And it isn't always obvious that there is rust. Check around the front windshield and rear. Check the trunk. Check near the tires and doors. Check around the battery tray.
5 What is the shape of the trim. Is it rusty and bubbly and/or pitted?
6 Windows?

If it was me, I would try to leave the car as is the best I could. I would only replace what needs to be replaced. Others might want to do a complete restore that would include stripping the car down to bare metal and going from there. That is expensive and IMO ruins the originality of the car because it is no longer original. But sometimes they need that depending on the body and paint. If the paint and body are in good shape you will have a much easier job. Also really look at the rust. Is it surface or is it eating through? Are the rusted items pitted or can it be easily sanded off? All these play a major role in how much work it's going to be.

One last resource is this dude I just found on youtube. He goes around buying old cars and has a few days to get them running. He is funny (dry humor). What is cool is you can get a sense of what you might beable to do without major work. It would be great if you could get the car fired up and maybe even driving with little effort. Checkout some of his videos. They are a little long but you will probably learn a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/user/jaymz03ss

Also, Youtube is your friend. I am close to finishing my restoration. Sounds like my motor might be ready to pick up this week. I abused youtube for most of my restorations. Obviously this site was a tremendous help. These guys are great and love to help.

Good luck and keep us up to date

Sweet car, AARs are really neat IMO.