That's too bad. I guess you could try dying them. I've got some scraps left over. I could send a piece to you if you want to try it.

One note on windshield installation. I had mine done by Safelite, mainly because they had one in stock. Paid way too much for it.
I had already bought the butyl tape to install it from Year One. It was standard 3M tape. The installer told me that the company has a policy of not using butyl. They claimed that it weakened the unibody's strength. I pointed out that that may be true for new unibodies but this car was designed to use butyl and the body was not engineered to require the additional strength of a solid bond. He was relunctant but finally caved in when I told him to just leave the windshield and I would put it in myself.
There was no way the trim would fit without the tape, no way it would look stock, and possibly would leak. He put urethane all around it for more seal, so far no leaks.

My 73 didn't use the butyl tape. What ever it was, it was applied very heavy and oozed out onto the A-pillars and rear window interior trim. I may use the tape to reinstall the glass but that wasn't what I found on my car.

Mine got vandalized in 1979. The replacement was put in with a black goop that was the consistancy of tar until it set up. The resulting install was sunk into the body too deep and the windshield wipers would not park, hanging up on the stainless steel trim on the bottom. The thickness of the butyl brings it up much closer to where it should be. I have not put the wiper arms yet so I will soon find out if it parks.

For all you scheduled production date fans and I know there are a bunch out there. The fender tag has a scheduled production date of B28 which would be November 28 (1972). The MMDDHH on the door sticker is 112409 making it built at 9AM on November 24, four days earlier than the scheduled date. I guess it was a premmie.
Craig

OMG, that was the day after Thanksgiving in 1972.

Wow, you learn new stuff all the time. I've been involved with Mopars for 25 years, and never knew that this was the production date and time on the door sticker. My '74 'Cuda had a scheduled production date of November 19th, I always figured this is all I would know. Come to find out it was built at 2 PM on December 6th. Thanks for the info!

Back in town. Had to drop everything to go to South Dakota on a forest fire. Was supposed to be a two week deployment but it was shorter than expected. Lots of work in the next few weeks to prepare for Hot Times, Cool Cars show. It is a firefighter produced show to benefit Childrens Hospital of Denver. If you are in the area, stop by.

Did not get enough finished to enter Hot Times Kool Cars but did drive it there. Got a pretty good reaction from friends. Very encouraging.
Added the dash emblem that Dayclona (thank you again!) gave me the back to after I could not find one. His was from a Challenger.
Discovered another leak. The passenger side transmission line leaks under pressure. Retightened it. Will have to drive it some more to see if that fixed it. I hate flare tubing connections. My faucets in my house all tend to leak at the wall connection.
The stripes will go on after the holiday. More pictures soon.
Craig

Small update, the car turned 39 Thanksgiving week. It is now in its 40th year!

I have been putting off the stripes for a while now.. I was hoping to get some help putting them on but this time of year is so busy for everyone. So alone I went into territory I have never been in before. Using a recent article on how to put on stripes on a Dodge dart in Mopar Muscle magazine (http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/body/mopp_1103_easy_accents_dart_factory_stripes/index.html), I came up with a game plan. I ordered up Phoenix Graphics Slide-On gel and the ultraviolet protection stuff they sell.



Like painting, preparation is everything. The already clean car was degreased with dish soap. That was followed up with a cotton cloth and isopropyl alcohol.





Magnets I bought from the hobby section of local store were used to hold the decals on the car. Using pictures I took from the original stripes on the car with measurements from their placement in relationship to the top edge of fenders, mirrors, etc. I arranged them in their general location and then fine tuned their placement.

They were pretty cracked and crazed.



Most critical placement would be around the door handle. I got this close then made the distance from the mirror the same as the old stripes



Roughed in the front and rear fenders to match.



Then I taped the stripe exactly where I wanted it. Put a hinge tape in the middle and two others on either side.



Medium shot of door with tape and magnets



After carefully cutting the tape with a straight edge and an Xacto knife with the blade on the decal backing and not the paint then pulled the half back. Covered the car with Slide on and removed the decal backing. Unhinging the stripe back onto the door and matching up the tapes exactly I squeegeed out the gel out from under the decal.



I had dreaded this job for a while but after doing it, it went very smoothly. The stripes have not looked this good for the entire time I have owned the car. They were already checking when I purchased it. They only went down hill after that.



Finished product Drivers side:

I still have to put the wheel moldings on and the chrome pieces on the rocker panels. While it will never be totally done, it will at least be complete.
Will post when that is done.
Thanks for reading.
Craig

That looks great! Good job on the stripe install. I like the magnets trick, I'll remember that one! Great work.

Great job!!!! Youve done a beautiful job. I was thinking looked so nice without stripes but they look great on.

Your Cuda looks great! Nice job. Denfireguy and Rylispro, were either of your cars around 29 Palms in the mid 80's?

Nice job!!! I as well have been procrastinating the Stripe Installations on my 73. How warm was it when you installed them? Is it better to do it when it warm out?

Congrats she's looking good.