Quote: I have noticed that there is a reoccurring theme that is taking place with one particular person on this thread. It is not how “correct” the car is but how perfectly we have come to duplicating the original characteristics. I am confident that we have accomplished that objective with about 95-96% accuracy. My analogy of “signing your own name the exact same way twice” is a good example of just how hard it is to duplicate anything exactly. This is even more evident when you try to recreate someone else’s spray paint patterns while having to manipulate the exact amount of paint that is coming out of the gun. There are others who have posted pictures of their work and received instant praise for the appearance and what was accomplished. Rightfully so! With my car (and this person) pictures that we post are followed by a demand for pictorial proof so credibility can be established. Double standards certainly seem to be the norm for some but keep in mind that everything we have done to this Challenger has been thought thru completely. I can assure that certain “individual” that we did not simply overlook the correct spray pattern of the entire trunk area. The car is correct for what it represents. It is hard enough to do an OE level restoration on a vehicle. Compound that difficulty with having to match about 10,000 original characteristics as closely as possible! Even if it the car does not walk it’s own footprint with 100% exacting detail, it is still WELL within the range of being a factory appearing vehicle. Having to prove every little aspect to someone who is just hoping for some kind of mistake or hiccup was not the intent of this thread. Please correct me if I am wrong Mr. Blues Cuda.....Scott.
Incredible job on this one. Regarding the exact details and spray patterns, it is unlikely two cars ever came from the factory exactly the same in regards to paint, undercoating, overspray, spray patterns etc. As a design Engineer in the Automotive world today I can tell you that details, inspections marks, patterns etc. change on a daily and monthly basis and from operator to operator. If we have a specific defect or quality issue we are tracking we may add an inspection mark to the product, but that mark may only last a month, if someone restores the car 30 years from now which will be correct? Of course both will be, but which will be accepted, probably the one discovered first. There is also a huge difference from first to second shift in terms of technique, quality at times, defect rates, inspection marks etc. most of this can be contributed to experienced operators are on first while less experienced and new hires are on second and third, also first has the full management, technical and Engineering staff in the plant while the off-shifts have a skeletal staff. With todays technology, vision system inspections and PLC controlled and Robotic process we still have variations, when our Mopars were built we had much more human influence on the process which opens the door for differences in detail.
The best way to determine correct features on a particular model is to study several original and survivor cars and find a common theme and not take one nice car and determine that every 71 Cuda (for example) was built exactly like this, regardless of who was on the line, what month or suppliers were involved. If we start down the road that every Cuda has this detail, every Challenger that and every 69 Road Runner must be like this, then we will turn into the Bloomington Corvette crowd and have cookie cutter restorations rather than exact restorations of the actual car being restored. On cars that are so far gone that the original details are lost, then it is time to study several originals, take note of the details, create a common theme and pattern by averaging the details of the study group and build your car accordingly with the research and photos to back it up.
The car in this picture is an excellent representation of the cars on the lot when new, keep up the great work.
