Today, a crew of friends helped in getting stuff re-arranged so I can work on my 1969 GTX this Winter. The object of this project will be to make the car roadworthy again: full brake service (master cylinder, calipers, wheel cylinders, hoses, etc..), new fuel tank/sender unit and steel line, carb rebuild, new engine bay wiring harness, battery cables, removal/replacement of the deep sump oil pan, all fresh fluids and get it to run. From there (all going well) it will be some new tires, maybe a new carpet for the interior, a good cleaning throughout and then some elbow grease to make the paint/chrome shine as well as it can. Updates will be made as progress is made- hopefully at least once a month.
The car: a 1969 GTX, black/black, 4 speed, Super Track Pac, Air Grabber car. Numbers matching engine and transmission with fender tag, assembled in the Lynch Road plant on 12/26/1968. Very solid car overall: the lower rear quarters and quarter extensions were repaired in the early 1980’s and it was quality work for it’s time. Rust was cut out and metal welded in- not packed full of steel wool and finished in Bondo. The car was then resprayed in the current paint job. For 30 year old body and paint work- it’s not too bad.
The story (very long story, short): I first saw this car in the Spring of 1985, when I was 15. It cruised into town and parked at the Citgo station, a place that Mopars were always welcome. In the late Summer of 1986, the car was for sale but far out of reach financially for me. By that Fall, the car was no longer seen in the area. Fast-forward 23 years: I get a phone call, that a friend-of-a-friend has a friend who has a 1969 GTX for sale (word of mouth/not publicly advertised). Without any real expectations of what the car could be, I went to see what it was. When I arrived, before even exiting the car, I knew it was the very same GTX I’d last seen in 1986, still wearing the same tires and air freshener on the rear view mirror from back then. After 9 months of being screwed-around by the seller (a story in itself..), I was able to secure the car in March 2010. It was last titled in the Fall of 1986, but has been through 3 other owners since then, all of them apparently doing nothing with the car.
The car will run with a splash of fuel down the carb. It sounds good and makes great oil pressure, but beyond that is all unknown. The fuel system reeks of stale fuel and the master cylinder is frozen (pedal doesn’t budge), but all else looks decent. With that, we’ll see how this project goes.
Pulling it out of storage:
