1970 TA 4spd Restoration

[Jalaska907]

Hey there everyone!  I introduced myself and added a few photos a while ago.  I've never done a build or restoration thread before, so I really don't know where to start.  First, I'd like to start out telling you about me, which will lead into the story and history as I know it of the car.

Like said before, my name is Justin Baldwin.  I'm an Alaska resident that was born and raised, and still live, on the Kenai Peninsula.  I've always been into cars and trucks, and that probably came from my dad being a heavy equipment mechanic.  I graduated high school in 2004, and went right to trade school.  I attended WyoTech, and graduated in 2005 in the course of Diesel Technology, Chassis Fabrication, and High Performance engine.  I've always liked older cars and trucks, and have owned quite a few, mostly GM.  I'm not a diehard anything guy, as I appreciate the work, skill, and preservation of most forms of fossil fuel powered stuff.  As for current projects I currently have a 1986 Chevy c10 short bed, 1968 Pontiac GTO, 1953 GMC 5 window COE, 1941 Chevy truck, and one of my favorites, and rarest builds is my 70 TA 4spd car.  I give details on it here in a bit.  My dates could be off a little in the next part, but here is the story and history as I know it about the TA.

   It all started back in 80s sometime, before i was born, or shortly after, there was a gentleman that went to a car lot in Anchorage Alaska.  It was there he bought a 70 Challenger, 440 six pack, gator top, in orange.  There are a few more details that make this car rare, but I don't know/remember them.  When he bought his car, he tore through town with his best friend at the time.  Eventually from hot rodding around, the engine blew.  Him and his friend pulled the engine, and through it in the back of the wood shed. They installed an engine from Sears if I remember correctly.  As years went on, the car became in desperate need of restoration.  As both gentlemen were now into their careers, he decided to pull it into the shop and tear it down.  His friend was also a car nut, and had been restoring cars as a hobby, and was doing most of the work on the car.  As we all have seen it, life got in the way during the restoration, and it stopped. The car now was a complete basket case, and showed little value as it sat. 
After the car sat for years in the guy's shop, unfinished, his buddy from high school who had helped start the restoration, decided to buy this 440-6 car in pieces.  That's where the TA comes in.  His buddy, who was an avid mopar restorer, and who started the restoration, made his friend an offer.  The offer was to trade him a fully restored 72 Chevy short bed, and a challenger TA car. 

As far as history on the TA goes, I know it was a Hamtramck built car, at the end of the production run of the TA.  Scheduled build date was April, 12, 1970 if I remember correctly.  It was sold new in California, so it came with the N95 option.  It's a non rallye, non A/C, manual steering, 4spd.  When purchased by the friend, it was purchased from the second owner in California.  The car was bought in California in 2000 and shipped up the frigid north.  After the trade, the gentleman drove the TA everywhere, summer, winter, ice, snow, etc.  To make it worse, it was parked outside the whole time.  To the point it just wouldn't run anymore.  So there it sat, on a gravel driveway.  He was my neighbor, so I got to drive by this every day.  The car quit running in about 2007, and sat since.  Late in 2013, October about, the car was still sitting there, uncovered and deteriorating away.  I was working on my house at the time, and another man drove up asking me about the owner of the car, I told him that I hadn't seen him for some time, but I would let him know that he was trying to find the owner of the TA.  I know the guy who was searching for the owner; he owned a couple bars in town and some oil field service company in Texas.  I knew that if they were to connect, the car would be just a memory.   I spent the next couple days looking for the owner, and located him a few days later.  He didn't want to sell, but I decided to make him an offer.  I led into it, telling him that I was surprised it hadn't been vandalized or stolen, (he didn't live at the house anymore) and that the weather was taking a beating on it.  My offer was that I would store it for free in my garage, under lock and key.  Since I'd known him since was about 10 years old, he agreed to the deal.  I knew once it was in my garage, it wasn't going to move.  I went and got the trailer, loaded it up, and hauled it home.  A few days later, I drew up a liability release form, and in the last sentence, I added that in exchange for free storage, I had first option to buy.  After reading the agreement, he decided it was best to sell, and we made a deal on the car.  A couple days later, I had a TA 4spd car, numbers matching, complete, with a build sheet.  What a day!!  I was really excited, but the wife...she's over it now, but it wasn't happiest she had been.

I know it's long winded, but it's a story that came with a great car.  I hope you all enjoy the story, ask questions, and point things out to me.  I have a ton of pictures, and Ill post them when I can. 

[Jalaska907]

These pictures are how I bought the car.  I havent even washed it yet, i did get the engine to run a little, enough to pull it into the shop.
Ill post more pics of the outside and underside before I did anything to it

[Jalaska907]

More Exterior Pictures

[Jalaska907]

More to come tomorrow

[fc7cuda]

 FC7 TA  

[Katfish]

Looks much better than I expected, from reading your story, you did well.
Going to be a fun project, enjoyed the details you provided.

[750-h2]

Great story with a great car!!!   

[TelisSE440]

Really nice combination! Like 1:1 Hotwheel car  Please keep us updated!

[xx88man]

That's a great story....thanks for sharing it with us. I love your car!   

[RUNCHARGER]

What a great car.

[Jalaska907]

Looks much better than I expected, from reading your story, you did well.
Going to be a fun project, enjoyed the details you provided.

It could have been way worse than it was, I have pictures through the whole process that will show what got replaced.  I think its only saving grace was that it was parked on the only gravel spot at the house.

[Jalaska907]

Rear Underside pictures

You will notice that there is a few things that have been powder coated and re installed already.  What I did was, prior to stripping the car completely down, I was trying to get it ready to just drive as is.  I ended up re building the engine, trans, rear suspension, brakes, but then due to weather, wasn't able to drive it.  By the time weather was good enough to drive it, ( late fall) it was time to strip the car for body and paint work.  I have pictures prior to touching anything also, and ill post them as I can.

[Jalaska907]

Ill keeping posting pics, having a hard time uploading, Ill try again later

[RUNCHARGER]

Pretty nice car. At first I thought the car was almost too good to restore but I now think you are doing the right thing. You caught it at a good time and when you are done you'll be able to enjoy it for as long as you want without worry.

[Jalaska907]

Pretty nice car. At first I thought the car was almost too good to restore but I now think you are doing the right thing. You caught it at a good time and when you are done you'll be able to enjoy it for as long as you want without worry.

There was a surprising amount of people that felt the same way.  My thought was, yes, I could fix it up enough to drive it, get some smiles out of it, and let the rust further the problems, or stop, take some time, clean and replace what corrosion there is, and enjoy it for a lot longer.  Also, with anything, the longer you wait, the rustier it gets, and the more expensive it gets to repair.  Because I chose to restore it now, I only had to replace the trunk floor, package tray, rear under seat pan, and deck filler panel.  I also had to fix holes in the windshield frame, which caused surface rust on every component under the dash.