Intro

[Regulator3]

Hi All -- Glad to be part of the forum. I registered a couple months ago and have been just looking and reading since then, but I've been back and forth traveling hard overseas for work a lot lately. I figured it was time to introduce myself.

I have a '69 R/T 440 that I bought from my dad with a spun rod when I was 16 -- black with white interior, white tail stripe, and white vinyl top. He bought it new when he got back from Vietnam with a leg cast up to his thigh, and it's been with us ever since. He imported it to Germany when he was stationed there in the mid 70's (he appealed his medical discharge and stayed in the Army), and I remember it on the Autobahn in Germany. He brought it back of course, and after I bought it from him and drove it through high school, I went myself into the Army -- the trans finally went out and I was a broke Ranger, so I've stored it since approx 1990 (I bought it at 16 in 1984) -- mostly indoors.

Last August, I started the restoration without him knowing. I had lost my old title from when I was a kid, but had his original title when he bought it from the dealer (I also have the original owners manual, but not the build sheet -- it just wasn't there when we took it apart). I've titled it jointly in both mine and my Dad's name (without him knowing since we have the same name), and I'm planning on suprising the hell out of him. I'm $40k into it, and he doesn't know a thing -- I plan to schedule a weekend for my family to come visit him, and drive separate from my wife, then have her get him out front of his house while I pull up in the driveway in the exact way it was when he first bought it. My wife is in on this, and has asked him for all his old photo albums -- there is only one with the Charger in it, with me at about 3 years old holding a puppy in front of it -- I wish he'd taken more pictures of it back then.

One cool thing is that when we were doing dis-assembly, we found an old dog tag inside the driver door that he somehow lost -- that will be the new keychain. Body is nearly done ( the front end was great, but the rear needed complete new metal for some reason). I should be ready for paint within the month. Everything else is already done and waiting, except that I need to find a good complete grille, center console, head rests, and a couple pieces of trim.

I've got a good friend with a 70 AAR cuda that is a fanatic and his car is winning all kinds of awards -- he is helping he with the re-build. He's documenting the photo restoration of it along with the other Mopars that he's restoring. I'm lucky to have a friend like that.

My old man is the superhero you never hear about (in my opinion at least), and never ever does anything for himself -- So I'm going to drive it down there and leave it for him to enjoy. I'm only in the US about 1/2 a year, so I know we can share it. The way I see it, it's the least I can do for him and all he did to make me the man I am today. Maybe once every couple months he talks about helping me restore it, so I can't wait to see him flip when it shows up just like the day he bought it.

Anyway, glad to be part of the forum, and I love hearing the expertise of the members here about all things Mopar -- thanks.

-Don

[VegasCharger]

Great story and welcome aboard!!!!! I'm sure you plan on filming it when it happens. Would be great if you could put it on YouTube and share it with us. Can't wait to see/hear about the moment.



Bryan

[Bob T]

Welcome, what a first post!
Great story about your history with the car, your Dad will be floored when he sees it. As V.C. suggested, get it filmed, it'll only happen once.
This forum is a goldmine of info on all things Charger, it helped me a lot with problems and tips for mine.
Looking forward to some pics when you can.


Bob in NZ

[charger Downunder]

Welcome a great car and a great dad and a great son by the sound of things.

[fy469rtse]

Welcome , great story, nice to hear somes guys are close to there fathers and think so much of them , but you will quickly learn we love photos , please post heaps , what a great color combination,
You can buy most of those parts these days , console shells are reproduced, look up pg classic for all the tops and bits for console , that's of info on here , use the search engine part very useful and post photos 

[polywideblock]

welcome to the site       what a great father /son   reversal( son fixing up car for dad)  I'm sure he'll be floored   

[XH29N0G]

Welcome.  What a nice thing to do, and a great story.  I look forward to hearing more.

[kab69440]

Wow!   I hope the emotion of seeing you and the car come visit together doesn't kill him!

[cdr]

WOW !!!!!   great thing you are doing,,thank you for your serving our country & tell your dad the same.

charlie

[charge69]

Welcome here and it is a great thing you are doing by fixing up that Charger. I hope you film the "moment" and share it here as well as pictures along the restoration process.  There are many very knowledgeable people (not me) here and any questions along the way you might have can, surely, be answered here.

Is the original 440 savable and have you already rebuilt it? How about the tranny? Keeping the original drivetrain can be very important and almost always makes the car worth more in the long run.

[Ghoste]

Glad to have a new member and a big hello!

[tan top]

 hello & welcome  , looking forward to seeing pictures & stuff 

[dyslexic teddybear]

Awesome story. Welcome

[Mopar Nut]

Welcome aboard!

Any pictures?

[Plum Crazy 68]

Great Story Don!   

[nvrbdn]

how cool. welcome. we love pic's.

[Brightyellow69rtse]

very cool story man!

[Dino]

Now that's an intro!   

That's a pretty touching post and I love what you're doing for your dad.  Forget the money, that's what it's for.  We'll help where we can.

[JB400]

Welcome to the forum   Sounds like your dad is really going to be in for one big surprise.  Hope your next gen get to enjoy the car as well.

Don't be afraid to post pics of your progress.

[TUFCAT]

That's a very cool story - which is exactly why we love these old cars. You're a great son and this might create one of the proudest moments your Dad and you ever shared!~

[Regulator3]

Thanks all. I just can't wait for it to get finished. I was hoping for earlier in the year, but I'm learning that these things take time.

Charge 69 -- Everything is original with the 440, trans, and drivetrain. I want to keep it as close to the day my dad bought it as I can. Nearly all the body on the rear of the car needed replacing, but other than that and the interior (and some trim, etc), it's all there. Except for the grille and console that I need to buy, everything is finished and waiting on re-assembly once paint is done. I have everything sitting in the garage waiting.

I'll try and post photos as I get them off of my emails -- here's the one of the car in the background when I was about 4 years old attached. Is there a difference between attaching a photo and getting it into the text box?

Please disregard -- I figured out the photo thing.

[projectanimal]

Welcome aboard!!! 
Awesome story!!  Cannot wait to see the after pictures and your dads expression!  That should be priceless, especially after you tell him it's going to live at his place!   

Cheers

[John L]

What a day for a 4 year old kid, a new Charger and a new puppy!!!!! 

Great story and a fine thing you are doing for your Father, waiting to see this thread as time goes by.

[Baldwinvette77]

you had me at "charger on autobahn" Nice story 

[tan top]

   thanks for sharing the picture     , looks like a Tantop in that picture   

[Mopar Nut]

Great photo.