After years of watching me mess with the cars, my oldest son (Blayne, Age 9) has decided that he too wants to participate in this crazy hobby and has finally convinced me to let him build the 73 Satellite Sebring Plus that was near fate years ago...
It all started around 1996 when my oldest sister bought her first car, the subject of this thread, a 73 Satellite Sebring Plus. She drove the car for many years until about 2003 when the transmission finally gave out. As life was changing, she decided she was done with the Satellite and pursued a new vehicle. This also came at the same time as I had discovered the 72 Duster I was building had substantial frame damage, taking the wind right out of my sails on the build. As fate would have it, the dealer offered her peanuts for the car and an agreement between us was made for the Satellite. Whatever I sold the Duster for, I would give her as payment for the Satellite. She was happy, I was happy, and so began my addiction to these less favored B body's.
I installed the 383 that was originally destined for the Duster in the Satellite shortly after getting the car. Soon a 440 with a tunnel ram, a 727 with manual valve body, 3500 stall converter and an original 1971 Dana 60 with 4.88 gears resided in the car and many enjoyable miles were racked up. With a stout drivetrain in place I decided it was time to paint the car. This is where things went south. When the time came to remove the vinyl top from the car, I found that the roof was coming with it. The amount of rust hidden under the vinyl top which had been replaced prior to my sister purchasing the car was disheartening to say the least. I began searching for a replacement roof for the Satellite when I was contacted by "65 Belv Jim" indicating that he had a gutted 73 Roadrunner that needed floors but had a clean donor roof on it. After inspecting the Roadrunner I decided rather than cut the roof off of a Roadrunner for a Satellite, it'd be better to cut a floor pan from the Satellite to use in the Roadrunner. A deal was struck and the Roadrunner came home with me. (See my other 73 Roadruner build in progress thread... or lack thereof)...
As operation floor pan removal was under way, I also purchased a 73 Roadrunner GTX project out of Alabama that I stumbled across on EBay that I just couldn't pass up. With two Roadrunner projects sitting in the yard the Satellite was gutted and had it's parts divided between the two other cars. The Dana, floor pan, lower core support and more destined for the Roadrunner. The engine, transmission, interior and other sheet metal to the GTX.
As the years went by, be it laziness or possibly luck depending how you look at it, I never finished cutting up the Satellite. Although the floor pan was gone, as was the lower core support, cowl patch panels, partial inner fender well near the battery tray, etc., I held onto the gutted shell, with the intentions of cutting it up for use on the GTX as patch panels. That day never came. An amazing wife and 4 wonderful kids later, I've managed to pick up enough parts donors over the years instead to feed not only both the Roadrunner's needs but also stored up enough extra parts that now seem to be destined for... Blayne's Satellite!
So there it is, the story of the Satellite that was passed from family member to family member, narrowly escaping being cut into pieces so that one day it could be the foundation for a young boys dream and the stepping stone into this crazy hobby we all choose to participate in for some odd reason. That being said, I'll update the thread as we move along, slowly but surely putting his first car together. Enjoy!
-Trent
