after sitting idle for a few years now, it's time to move the Cuda back to the front burner. previously I replaced the truck floor and rebuilt the rear suspension/axle...then a series of moves, and the big block Dakota project put it on hold.

pushed it out, empties all the boxes out of it, put the parts up on the shelf, and washed it down. it had a nice layer of dirt/dust/bird poop from sitting the last 4 years, including an 8 month stint in my parent's horse barn.

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5..

Lots of nasty stuff like this to get fixed. window channels, quarter panels, floor pans, etc.

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7 -- evidence of the dash originally being painted blue.

I have no paperwork to prove without a doubt that this was a St Louis Blues Cuda. all I have is the white paint under the orange paint, which is under the red paint. in the window channels I can see blue paint, as well as under the chrome around the door opening chrome around the roof. bits and pieces of the interior indicate originally being blue as well.

so I have the physical evidence of what was a white body, and blue roof, and my VIN # is 6 numbers off from another 383 2bbl Gran Coupe that the guy has documentation to prove the V02 option, along with paperwork from the title comapny in St Louis that took care of the cars. He said he also verified that my VIN# went through the same title company.

maybe not good enough for GG or BJ, but good enough for me!

Floor pans. not bad, but they do need work.

Now I just gotta figure out WHERE TO START!!!

I have the full OEM style quarter panels from Goodmark. hopefully I can drill out spot welds and put these on without too much trouble...although I've heard they aren't as great as everyone originally said they were...

but really, I think that's the worst part of the car is the quarters. patch up the window channels, some spots in the lower rocker panels, patch in some of the cowl so that it doesn't leak anymore, maybe touch up the previous floor patch jobs, and call it good.

this won't be a perfect full on restoration, just clean up the rust, get a good paint job on the car, do the suspension and drive train, and get it back on the road.

I'm looking forward to following your progress. The Blues Cudas are a really neat piece of history and they are pretty fascinating. Not to mention, nice to look at.

Joe

I'm into it now!!

I'm pleasantly surprised by what I've found.

under the quarter, there's some rot around the wheel well, as expected, but not as much as I was worried about. looks like so far, all the damage is JUST to the quarter panel.

now, I just gotta take my time and clean up the edges, get all the spot welds off, and figure out how to spot weld those "hard to reach" areas.

more

rusty, but solid. surface rust mostly, so far.

the worst part will be the wheel well area once I get the rest of the spot welds and sheet metal cleaned up off of it.

more. again.

(that's odd, I tried just "more" and it said "post already exists" since I made a post an hour or so ago that said "more" )

OH yea, and "just because" some of the evidence indicating more of the "blues cuda" paint scheme left under the orange and red re-paints this car has had.

she's 42 years old boys!!

that's 12 years older than me.

Looks like you have a lot of welding in your future. It's due a trip to the media blaster. This would show you what needs attention. The mechanical will be easy once you get the body straight. You need Gary to make you a smiley throwing money at the car.

yes. lots of welding. especially as I re-do mistakes as I'm learning along the way.

like here: cut out a soft spot on the inner rocker panel that was under the quarter. thought the end was solid enough to weld to when I cut through it and saw good shiny metal. once I started welding on it though, it started blowing through and proved to be too soft.

And I"d love to rip the car apart to a bare chassis, dip it or blast it, and start from "the ground up" but with my career, and my wife's career...we're not sure we'll be at any one spot long enough for me to do this.

I lack the funds, time, and skill to knock this thing out in a year like the pros do. so it's going to have to stay as a rolling chassis while I work on one area at a time.


here's the patch after welding and grinding.

just messing with the replacement pieces. fit isn't TOO terrible....but it's not perfect either. I'll definitely have to work this some when it comes time to put it in.