My new plates showed up over the weekend. I found two sets of 72-74 Iowa plates at my grandparents estate sale. I thought one might be the original set to the car but that wasn't the case. I found the correct numbers on the original title though. I had some repro tags made with the same numbers the car originally had.

There are a few differences but overall I like it. The color should really pop against the body color.

Iowa allows you to run a year of manufacture plate as long as you keep the state issued tags in the car somewhere. I e-mailed the Iowa DOT about this because I couldn't find anything in writing. They sent me the Iowa code section that says this is legal. I printed it off and will keep it in the car just incase I need it.


Original 72-74 Iowa plate on top...

Beautiful car!
Scott

Took the car out for a little drive tonight. I've got some issues to work through but that's to be expected. It's nice to look at peoples faces when you drive by. I got quite a few looks and thumbs up.

If I can get a few things sorted out, I'm going to try and make a cruise this Saturday.

Glad to see you're getting some wheel time Darren.


BTW, did you ever get a poster for your garage that shows the 73 brochure car thats identical to yours? Your walls looked a little bare..

That would be cool. The walls definately need something. Accually I really need a thrid garage stall. That would let me park everything inside and have a space for some automotive wall art.

Very nice and the white stripe tires look just right.

Car looks fabulous Darren Great team effort! Enjoy it!

I pulled the seats out last night. They went to the upholstery shop today. I heard a few people talking about the crushed velvet seat covers last weekend so I thought it was time to have them recovered.

The rear end was making some noise so I pulled the center section out tonight. A friend is going to go through it for me. I'm going to pull the rear e-brake cables off tomorrow and compare them to the originals. I'm pretty sure they are why the intermediate cable seems too short. We will see.

The seats are back in. They feel a lot more firm now. They weren't very comfortable before. Looking at the back of the old seat covers, they are stamped 6-72 and 7-72. The outer vinyl was original...the inserts were just replaced with crushed velvet in the late 70's.





The rear end center section is back in after getting all new bearings. I ordered a longer e-brake intermediate cable so hopefully I can get that hooked up in a day or two.

Interior is looking great Darren! I can't wait until my car is at that stage.
Scott

Nice seats

Finally got the e-brake hooked up last night. What a nightmare! I ended up using Fine Lines front and rear cables, Inline Tubes intermediate cable and the original S-hook. At least that job is done.

The only thing I have left to do is undercoat the wheel wells.

I posted some pictures in the general section awhile back but never got them put in here.

Back in June I think, my friend Paul and I went for a drive and took some pictures at a state park near where I live. The day was perfect for taking pictures and I think we got some cool shots. I really like how the old style plates look on the car.

Quote:

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This picture was taken outside my grandmothers house when the car was new. When the car is done, I'd like to take another picture of it in the exact same spot...just 40 years later.

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That quote was from the first post on this thread. I finally got to take that picture a few weeks ago. The new owners of the house had a vehicle in the way so I couldn't get the angle just right but it still looks pretty cool.

1973


2013


Here are a couple other pictures I took that day as well.

Very nice!

A lot of restos look great but there's the odd one that takes you back to a Mopar dealer in 1970 or 1974, this is one of those cars. Well done indeed.

Sheldon

Looks really good.

I decided to bring this thread back from the dead. The last time the Challenger saw the light of day was in October 2013. For the last year and a half it's been under a car cover in a heated shop. After getting it running in the fall of 2012, life got in the way of fixing some bugs and enjoying it. I needed a break, so it was parked. Now it's time to fix the bugs and make it a reliable car. For some reason, storage was not kind to the car. The engine compartment looks awful and some suspension parts have a light coating of surface rust on them. It will need a lot of work. I'll post pictures of the problem areas in the coming weeks.

Here it is with the cover off after sleeping for and year and a half.


It's dusty but the paint still looks good.


I've had the resto battery sitting in the corner of my garage this entire time with a $10 Harbor Freight "tender" on it. I didn't know if it would still be usable or not. After setting the battery in place the engine cranked over strong. Those "tenders" must do their job. After a couple squirts of gas down the carb, the engine fired right off. While the engine was warming up I installed the battery hold down hardware. After the car was off the jack stands, I spent the next 1/2 hour/45 minutes maneuvering the car out of the shop. I had to squeeze it between the shop door and my cousin's camper. I don't think I had 2" clearance per side. Eventually, I got it out without scratching anything. I don't want to do that again though.

Rain showers were supposed to develop in the afternoon so I wanted to get home before the weather got bad. All was good until I got about a 1/2 hour from home when the rain hit. On the bright side, I got a chance to test out the wipers. Also, no water found its way into the interior or into the trunk so that's good. The car is very dirty now though. It will need its first hand washing very shortly. So, while it needs a lot of work, it's safely at home in the garage...with some company.

Take her on a roadtrip before you clean her up.