Here is my midlife crisis car, a gift from my wife for my 30th B-day. Granted, I turn 30 today, but my wife says I don't get to buy a red Corvette when I turn 40, I have to build my crisis car myself. This is what she bought me, explaining that it will take 10 years to finish, so I'd better get started now. It is a no frills 383/auto, and as such, I can do whatever I want to it rather than worry about #'s matching anything like on my '67. Here's the pics from the craigslist ad.

Here's some more detailed pics once I got her home.




Sitting with my '67








Mexican registration stickers from the '70's

Excavation has begun. Hood is trash, as is the RF fender. I removed them for better access to the engine and to begin assesment of the frame.

The engine cranks and tries to fire, but more exhaust was coming out the valve cover than the pipes, so I've got a burnt piston or something equally bad. No bother, I just won't mess with it anymore and move on to the body for now. I've unbolted the K-frame and loosened the control arms, I just need to ditch the t-bars and trans crossmember and the K-frame assembly will get pulled. Hopefully tonight I'll get to do so.

A rough life in the Mexican desert has led to massive amounts of silt in the frame and body work, holding moisture and causing rot. The car had a vinyl top that failed and caused rust all around the roof, so it will need replacement. Lower quarters, rear decklid, rear filler, sail panels, package tray, trunk floor, all shot. Ironically, the floors are perfect.

I'm just moving my way back and excavating before I cut metal and blast, patch and replace.



Here's the current status:



Rust in the lower A-pillar



Rust by the bumper mount

Good luck on the journey... Follow along with Jakes tactics of just cutting away at it one piece at a time, steel is pretty easy to cut, weld and grind.. Just takes a buttload of determination to tackle projects like yours. Ill be checking in, get after it!!

Done for the night. It took over an hour to get the T-bar bolts backed out. My I-R 600 ft.lb. impact wouldn't touch them after about the first 5 turns. The nut had just enough tension off it at that point to allow it to absorb the impact and render it useless. I had to go after it with a 3' handle on the breaker bar. K-frame is unbolted, I just need to cut the exhaust off by the trans, pull the steering column back, disconnect the shift linkage, and drop the driveshaft then it's free to lift the body up and off. Maybe tomorrow.

I also just started on a 68. We can maybe help each other along.

Give her hell Dan! Should be loads of fun!

Now that's a project!
Guess you can't look a gift Charger in the mouth though!

Any thoughts on drive train, colors, options?
It's fun to see how people's ideas change over the course of the project.

Hope this isn't going to keep you from the MATS this year.

I'm thinking red with a black top, stripe and interior. 470" lowdeck stroker, one of those 5 speed OD's from Passon, make a healthy cruiser out of it. I'd love to be able to drive it to Montana and back.

I' will take a '68 Charger over a vette anyday

Good luck with it, I can see it has some serious potential. Im 28 btw...

The world is a great place when your wife buys you a '68 Charger

Yup, I couldn't ask for a better wife!

Today's progress: K-member assembly out. What a pain!

What's up with the hood?

Cool project ! Reminds me of the 68 I purchased in the early 90's. Wish I would't have ever parted it out.

Today I sliced the roof skin off to see what was underneath. All I can say is WOW. Stupid vinyl top was murder on the roof. I can patch a lot of it, but I'll need some actual parts to splice in for the bad areas.

I had already counted on a new roof skin, drip rails and rear frame bow. It's the sides that I need to start working on. Once I get the dash out, I'm going to sandblast the whole body. I'll picture frame the quarters that will be getting replaced so I can blast behind them but not lose all the structural integrity until I'm ready to replace the panels.

Holy Crap!!! I hope the previous owner Paid you to take it away. That is one major project. Kudos to you for taking it on.

I'm almost done with my 68 Charger and I have a ton of parts, Trim, grill, tail lights, 68 dated 440, Nice pearl white interior. Let me know if you need anything or just advice.

In Phoenix which isn't to far away.

Whew! and people wonder why I don't like the vinyl tops!

But my car is in about the same condition, so keep on truckin with it

Due to the extensive rust in the roof area, I've located a complete roof assembly (skin and all) that I could either install as a unit or use for parts, and a few parts cars that I can simply get the individual panels that I need to reconstruct the roof area. It's a bit beyond the hand fabricated patch method in a few areas. I'll need to get the actual factory panels. The area above the rear passenger windows is nearly gone.

On a side note, what are these numbers stamped in the flange where the 1/4 meets the roof?