Lifetime Family friend has acquired a 71 Big Block 4spd Cuda. The owner will be following this thread and he may add the backstory and his association with it. But my part is to take a mostly stripped car and put it into color. The car is pretty solid, has had some patches installed in the firewall, the driver front & rear floors, partial lower rear quarters, and a poorly made patch in the trunk floor. The body looks pretty straight as it has been in and out of prior paint jobs at least twice. I am going to make sure it is done right and actually finished this time.

The first pic is the condition it was in 07 and it was disassembled February 2011 by the previous owner, The next are how I received it. there is no Fender Tag nor Build Sheet so IMO it is an open slate for building the way he would have ordered it, had he had the opportunity.

From investigation the car was factory B3, The familiar look was in a medium blue (close but not B5) the color has not yet been determined but leaning towards as it came from Ma Mopar. Thoughts?

Layers of body shop dust were throughout the car, I gave it a "Castrol Superclean" and detergent scrubbing bath and a serious pressure wash. Started removing small parts to start the body work and paint prep.

looks to be off to a great start !

After the wash down, it lost some of the previous paint job in the passenger door Jamb

Interesting project. I think B3 with a white or blue interior would be cool, and not common.

if a moderator sees this thread, i meant to post it under projects and survivor. not restoration. sorry can it please be moved thanks henry

Nice!

Seems like alot of the best deals out there have always been on abandoned projects as it once was.
You guys will get it done for sure!

in another thread I posted a question about these seams, There are no repairs or patches in this area, the seams are beautiful factory untouched from underneath, as of now i am guessing someone filled them to be smooth for one of the paint jobs and then for the subsequent paint job they cut the groove to look correct. They did not do a great job I will be removing any filler in this area and clean it up.

inside the trunk was a total mess, under layers of body shop dust were multiple paint jobs (probably rattle can) and hefty layer of undercoating on everything and under it all was a horrible patch and slopped on fiberglass cloth and resin over a small section. All in all the trunk floor is in great condition, just a couple of area that will get patches and most is quite solid with some pitting that I will decide later how to fill or hide.

cont

The exhaust tip hangars were welded on and buried under fiberglass.

All these are pics of a couple days working with paint stripper and every wire wheel, or stripping tool there is.

I will go over everything again before I seal it up with wash primer (etching primer) and K36.

The interior floors will get a light wire brush to remove the loose stuff, Then raptor liner for some sound deadening and give it a uniform look.

When it comes to the color, B3 or EB3 was not offered in 1971. They changed it to GB2 or B2 Glacial Blue Metallic

Yes Thanks my habit is to refer the light metallic blue as B3. The color code is B2 Glacial Blue. However I have had both (B2 B3) mixed at different times mixed by different shops and different lines of paint and they are effectively the same color. Color Chip books can look a little different due to lighting, and I have paint color discussions over several MoPar colors that through the years the color stayed the same but the code and name changed. And we are dealing with Base Clear instead of single stage paints so there adds some differences in color tones.

I had made hundreds of these Car-icatures in every color that was available. and my Fury was painted in B2,B3 or DD1 for 66 Light Blue Poly

The loss of paint from the pressure wash had me concerned so I went panel by panel to test paint adhesion. Lucky for me all the outer body panels are solid, no de-lam or weakness of adhesion anywhere, the same cannot be said in regards to door jambs, doors and engine compartment. Preliminarily started scraping away. its going to be a tedious process but necessary for a good finish. I don't plan on chem stripping, I only want to scrape and sand down to the original paint. before I etch prime the panels. you can see the driver door had been replace as it is Ivy green OG color.

About 2 days of work just scraping away paint

removed the rear axle and spring as an assembly, put the car on my casters, I had to weld the blind nut into its place for the right front bumper bolt, lucky it was still in the frame channel. The Owner will be coming by to remove front suspension to clear my way for sanding and priming. Lots of hours ahead but its well on its way.

If you owned this what Shade of Blue Which would you choose? B2, B5, B7, Winchester Gray Or what other color?