My 70 Gran Coupe finally finished!!!

[youngcuda]

I thought I should show all you E Body folks the end of the long journey with my 70 Gran Coupe.  I purchased this ride in 1978 and it was on "ok" condition and I drove it as my daily driver for 3 years.  I put it in storage then and had it in 4 different garages over the many years.  Life and work got in the way and time-and-money was always in the way.  Decided it was restoration time in 2017 and stripped it down to a rolling shell and brought it to Cory at Olgivie Collision & Auto Body here in MN....he has an insurance shop but does Mopars and knows them well.  He did the body work and paint and after 17 months I picked up my car and began the reassembly.  Of course, every part had to be evaluated as to condition, restore?, replace?, you know the drill.  First and only restoration for me and I learned as I went along.  I just finished this month, after 43 years!!  What a journey.  Original 70 Gran Coupe, 383 Big Block, Pistol Grip 4-speed....341 produced with that combination for 1970.  Original Tor-Red and all options original, except the High Performance bubble hood (unfortunately a 71 hood).  I have the fender tag and the build sheet, however when I reupholstered the bucket seats, I also found a build sheet for a different 70 Gran Coupe in the drivers seat, which I understand happened on the line sometimes.  It may be that the seat was replaced before I bought the car as there was some driver's side accident damage found by the body shop.  It's available to a potential owner of that Gran Coupe if they can prove actual ownership, however I don't anticipate that a connection could be made or that the car even exists anymore.  Hey, I'm driving my Barracuda....thumb's up.

[youngcuda]

I forgot the pic of the other build sheet.  Here it is.

[SgtSuperbird]

Beautiful job! And it's nice of you to offer up the build sheet.

[anlauto]

Beautiful car You must be so excited to be back on the road !

Unfortunate the body shop didn't catch the "Plymouth" emblem holes in time to fill them, otherwise nobody would know it was a 71+ hood  .....next time...

[DeathProofCuda]

Congrats and way to stick with it for the long haul. 

One question, as a Plymouth, shouldn't your 383 have a "Super Commando" instead of "Magnum" pie tin?

[JS29]

   I Have one of those my self, EF8 Ive green black vinyl top. 

[youngcuda]

I had a 70 hood that I junkyarded many years ago and it was slightly bent.  My body guy said he had a better hood that he would give me a deal on rather than the expense of straightening the hood I provided.  I did not know at the time he had a 71.  I also have a standard issue Gran Coupe flat hood that I junkyarded, if I ever sell the car it will go with it if they want it.  It would be a hassle to sell it on ebay and deal with the packaging and shipping.

[youngcuda]

I really wasn't sure on that issue.  If that is the correct tin, I can easily order the correct one and may do that.  Thanks for your info and accolades.

[youngcuda]

I checked out your website: looks like you have worked your magic on some awesome Mopars.  I didn't see a Gran Coupe but I know they are not as desirable to restore to stock.  I have seen several for sale that were cloned to Cuda's, AAR's, 440's, etc. 

[DeathProofCuda]

I really wasn't sure on that issue.  If that is the correct tin, I can easily order the correct one and may do that.  Thanks for your info and accolades.

Certainly not trying to nit-pick, the car looks great.  Was just curious.  Since you've owned the car since 78, I was wondering if maybe it had a Magnum tin on it back in the day?

[youngcuda]

DeathProofCuda: It didn't have a pie tin on it when I bought it, but it did have the twin snorkle air filter assembly.  I believe the engine code 63 off the build sheet is the 335HP, but I had no resource to know the engine name in the Gran Coupe was Super Commando rather than Magnum.  Maybe someone on the forum can confirm this, not that I don't believe you are correct.

[anlauto]

DeathProofCuda: It didn't have a pie tin on it when I bought it, but it did have the twin snorkle air filter assembly.  I believe the engine code 63 off the build sheet is the 335HP, but I had no resource to know the engine name in the Gran Coupe was Super Commando rather than Magnum.  Maybe someone on the forum can confirm this, not that I don't believe you are correct.

Pretty simple.."Magnum" is a Dodge thing only, and Super Commando was Plymouth's version.

[benguin]

@youngcuda I've found 2 broadcast sheets in my car, and unfortunately neither one is mine.  I was pretty excited to find the second one in the passenger seat back, and thought I finally had one for my actual build- nope.

What is your sequence number in your VIN?  I can check against the two BP23's I've got.
   Ben

[youngcuda]

To benguin: The sheet I posted a pic of is the second one I found in my Gran Coupe in the drivers seat back and it does not match my car.  You can see the build sequence # is 1018586.  I have my correct build sheet that I found in the passenger seat back.  My build sequence # is 1018643.  The VON prefix for each is A15, which indicates that they were both scheduled to be built on the same day....October 15th, 1969, which leads me to believe that it was a mistake on the production line to stuff that other build sheet into my car.

[JS29]

@youngcuda         The way it was told to me is, the cars with an N code and ordered with D21 four speed transmission received the 335 HP 383, and the engine was orange. Automatic transmission equipped cars received the 330 HP 383 that was blue.