I recently started on my restoration of my Vitamin C 440 4 speed bucket seat car. I was fortunate enough to have bought the car before the muscle car prices went through the roof. I have had the car for over 25 years in my garage. I was basically done mostly from the front doors on back years ago. I either ran out of money or time and 4 kids later I am finally turning over my bird to a local shop for a turnkey restoration. I discovered this site about a year ago and have learned a lot from it. I'm sure there will be a lot of questions that I will need answered on my car. Pictures to follow shortly.
:popcrn: :popcrn: :popcrn: :popcrn:
Welcome!
pictures and details about the car need to be your next step. :nixon:
Trying to post pictures. It says my files are to big yet.
:popcrn:
welcome. this is THE best site on the internet for muscle era -mopars :2thumbs:
Quote from: Hoser2455 on March 31, 2012, 08:10:13 AM
I was fortunate enough to have bought the car before the muscle car prices went through the roof.
Meaning about 1970? :scratchchin: :smilielol:
Welcome Jeff. :cheers:
Quote from: surmanajaja on April 01, 2012, 02:00:39 AM
welcome. this is THE best site on the internet for muscle era -mopars :2thumbs:
:iagree: Welcome :wave:
Quote from: 68X426 on April 01, 2012, 02:04:04 AM
Quote from: Hoser2455 on March 31, 2012, 08:10:13 AM
I was fortunate enough to have bought the car before the muscle car prices went through the roof.
Meaning about 1970? :scratchchin: :smilielol:
Welcome Jeff. :cheers:
70 through 88 were all good years to be buying. I got my RR in 83 and missed many original 5-7K hemi cars due to lack of cash in those years lol
Congrats on the resto and let me know if you need a steel nose. I'll probably sell the new one I have and buy a carbon fiber unit once this darned garage is done.
Figured out how to post pictures now I think. Here are a few before it went to the shop.
this is going to be a great thread. thanks for sharing your story.
if you have windows live photo gallery (it should be pre-installed on windows 7), you can use the edit tab there to resize the photos. this creates a copy of the original photo in the new size, so that you don't mess up your original files. the 800 and 1024 sizes are great for viewing on most monitors, and either one should compress the file size enough.
Congrats and success on your birds resto .If you happen to be looking for owner history on your car someone may know it from the day.As this bird from the 80s got updated
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,90145.0.html
Here are some more pictures so far. To my knowledge I am at least the 4th owner of the car. ID number is (RM23UOA166155). The previous owners I have records of is a Richard (Gene) Blaskow back in 1977 and then he sold it to a Wallace Warren in 1983.
Welcome Jeff,
Maybe we can have a row of freshly restored EK2 Superbirds at Talladega 2014? Mines in the shop and Wayne Perkins is just finishing up one also!
MJ
That's close to my vin. Mine's 166158. Looking forward to following this one. We just completed a B5 six barrel, 4 speed bird. They're all fun.
wild how the colors don't run in batches. 166156 is a B5/white bench/CA car that belongs to a friend of mine here in town...
That is weird how all the colors were different coming down the line with numbers so close, back then. I'm hoping to have mine finished in about 6 months. I'm thinking I also have a CA car and could use some help in identifying some of the differences in the CA car and the regular ones. More pictures to come. If I put all the pictures on here to quick then it takes the element of surprise and anticipation out of it for everyone. Thanks for your responses, this is a very cool site.
hello & welcome :cheers: :cheers: , looks like a good project going on there :drool5: , keep the pictures & up dates coming , love looking at this kind of stuff :yesnod: :popcrn:
Welcome.. We look forward to it's progress and your fun........ :2thumbs:
Cheers,
Troy
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You have to keep this thread updated. Looking forward to seeing the progress.
Quote from: Mopar John on April 17, 2012, 07:41:51 PM
Welcome Jeff,
Maybe we can have a row of freshly restored EK2 Superbirds at Talladega 2014? Mines in the shop and Wayne Perkins is just finishing up one also!
MJ
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,57850.0.html
here is waynes restoration
Here are a few more pictures.
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Been a while since I posted any pictures on my progress. Here are a few pics.
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Thanks for the update Jeff! We have a lot of the same repairs going on!
MJ
update
Looks great! :2thumbs: When do you expect paint?
Paint is going to be about 3 or 4 weeks. They are getting ready to finish blocking the car and then it will get primer for the last time. Then the car will sit for two weeks to let all the primer dry so there will be no shrinking of the primer. Then it gets blocked for the final time and then it will get paint. Here are a few more pics.
Oh My Lord God Jesus that's a MIRACLE resto ! You deserve it ! Keep them pics a coming !
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looking good :yesnod: :drool5: :2thumbs: :popcrn:
When should we expect to see paint? :2thumbs: :2thumbs: :2thumbs:
They are planning on painting it 2 or 3 days after Christmas vacation.
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our car sat for 6 months in primer. the longer the better.
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Ah Man... Look at all those panels ready for paint..... :2thumbs:
I spy some other Mopes around the shop...a 2nd gen. Charger and a '70 Coronet...Nice!
Your car is looking great! :buff:
Jeff,
GREAT PROGRESS going on there!
MJ
Just started painting the bird last week. The outside of the car is painted now. The bottom of the car needs painted yet as does the inside of the car and the trunk. Then comes sanding and buffing. Here are some pics.
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Looks pertty :drool5: :drool5: :drool5:
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Thanks, many years of savings to get this far.
gawgeous ! :2thumbs:
Comin along nicely... :yesnod:
:coolgleamA: nice :drool5: :popcrn:
wow just wow :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5:
Very nice! :2thumbs: Get it ready for Talladega 2014!
Looks beautiful!
Nuttin' say WOW like new paint! :icon_smile_big:
Thanks for posting
:2thumbs:
Very, very nice. :2thumbs:
Nice :2thumbs:
Agreed, very nice progress pics. Why no frame connectors?
Someday mine will have that treatment, but for now putting in a new engine and driving it around :)
Schwing !!!!! :2thumbs:
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:drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint:
Looks perty :dance: Let the fun of assembly begin. :popcrn:
What a pretty bird, :2thumbs:
:drool5: looks awesome :yesnod: :2thumbs:
:popcrn:
:yesnod: :2thumbs:
Thats Purdy. :drool5:
Been awhile since I posted any new pictures. Might have the car done in a little more than a month. I'll be posting some pictures of some of the parts I have had redone for now.
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Nice Jeff! I love the before and after pics!!!
Are you targeting the Nat's?
I think it will be done by the Nat's, but I don't have an enclosed trailer for it. I plan on driving the car around here locally, weather permitting, but on long hauls like the Nats, that is 8 hours away for me. I don't want to take a chance of nicking it all up going up there since it is a fresh restoration. There is a show in St. Louis down here that same weekend called the All American hot rod show. All of the best of show winners and 1st place winners in their division from the Mopar show, the Chevy Show, and the Ford show are invited back to compete against each other. I don't know if I will be eligible to compete against everybody since it was not done yet at the Mopar show, but the shop restoring my car told me that DuPont is picking up the tab for my entry into the show under a tent to display the car. It's a tough decision to go to the Nat's or to St. Louis, 20 miles away. The Nat's would cost a lot, St. Louis would be for free. Would like to go to the Nats because of them saluting the cars this year and enter it into the competition. However to support the shop restoring my car would mean much more to the owner which is a great guy. Decisions, decisions...
Support your local guys. They did a first class job. Everything looks beautiful.
Thanks Steve.
looks GREAT!
I should be getting mine out of jail very soon. the top was installed last week and once all the glass is back in the shop is done with it.
I have an appointment for July 9th to get the top and the headliner put in. After that the dash, windows, interior, all that good stuff starts popping on. Motor, tranny, front end, and rear end is installed and my exhaust is on it's way. Did not install the nose yet. More pictures to come eventually.
Bucket seats now done.
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Back seats finished.
And the back seat top
Gawgeous :2thumbs:
You gonna slip a scan of the buildsheet under the front seat... ;)
I do have the original build sheet for the car, but I thought they went under the back seat top?
If that's where the original was found put it there.
I've seen them under the front seat, under the front carpet, under the back carpet, in the back of the front seat, in the back of the back seat.
And I've heard people have found them in the headliner, behind glove box.
Behind backseat if you could see it with the trunk open that would be cool, but I think there's a separator there, no?
Yes, there is a separator there. Mine was originally behind the top of the back seat. I never new they had put them in all the other places.
Windshield wiper transmission arms.
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Looks perty :2thumbs:
Been way behind on pictures, here are a few more.
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:drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5:
It looks awesome!!!! :2thumbs:
Thanks, here are some more pics.
1 more pic for now.
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That is looking fantastic!!!
Thanks Dave, about 3 or 4 weeks out now I think.
Beautiful, ...just gorgeous .....& I have a question on the wheel wells.
Are you planning on undercoating them for sound & chips or going to leave/drive as is?
As pretty as they are though, it would be hard to cover up.
Yes, unfortunately I am going to undercoat the wheel wells. It was nice to show that the car was done completely to this extent, but to protect it from dings and chips I think it will be a must and it will appear original also. Like you said, it will help on the sound too. My next pictures will show the Dynamat that I put inside the car for sound and heat. I plan on driving this car quite a bit, weather permitting, and enjoying it. The bummer of it is wiping the underside of it off now when I drive it. I plan on in the future eventually getting an enclosed trailer for it for the far away meets and car shows.
Looks awesome! Glad to hear that your going to drive it. :2thumbs:
Quote from: 1970Moparmann on October 06, 2013, 09:37:44 PM
Looks awesome! Glad to hear that your going to drive it. :2thumbs:
:yesnod: :2thumbs:
Here are some pictures with the Dynamat installed in the inside and the back end so far.
You're getting there :2thumbs:
:popcrn: :popcrn: :popcrn:
Old and new restored dash pictures.
Scott from ESE & Associates did the dash for me in Chicago. Scott rebuilt all of the gauges and checked them on his test fixture. The dash was painted by Blue Star Performance in Chicago also. They both did a real nice job and I was well pleased.
More progress and pics.
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:drool5: :2thumbs:
Very very nice !!!! :2thumbs:
That is just beautiful. :cheers:
Someday mine will get that treatment and I hope it comes out just as good.
Looks good!....be sure to get rid of the hard edges left by taping off the black out, normally one would backtape to avoid a hardline/edge you'll have to carefully sand/featheredge the hardline, otherwise it will "outline" itself under the decal, the decals film is very thin, and actually magnifies what's under it, so the underlying surface must be smooth/flat :Twocents:
Mike
Jeff,
I've been checking for the 'car's all finished' pics, you've got time to get them up now that it's Winter; help a brother out with his Cabin Fever!
Christopher
Your right Christopher, the car is now mostly done. I just got to drive it the other day for about 5 miles. I drove the car across town with no windshield in it about 20 years ago. This is the first time the car has been on the road for over 30 years! I only drove it about 5 miles because of some of the salt on the roads around here yet. Had to go back and wipe it back down real quick, but at least the roads were dry. I'll start posting some more pictures now. Here are a few.
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Car looks awesome! Very nice job! :2thumbs:
Wow, Jeff!
She really looks great! That's the cure for CabinFever I was talking about!
Enjoy her!
We're can I get the piece of rubber for under the sb from the
K frame to the nose.
Jeff,
That EK2 Bird looks great! A lot of attention to details. Hope you bring it to Talladega?
MJ
Quote from: billssuperbird on February 05, 2014, 12:03:21 PM
We're can I get the piece of rubber for under the sb from the
K frame to the nose.
Check with David Patik at Performance Car Graphics. He puts out the best reproduction of the K-member seal, if I may say so myself. Whether he will still "post cure" the rubber to replicate how stiff the originals were, I dunno. Regardless, the rubber David uses (same stuff I spent 9 months researching) is as close as I've ever found to the asbestos-impregnated OE material.
:Twocents:
Oh, and great looking car, Jeff! :2thumbs:
NICE!!!
Can't wait to see it in person.
I second that Talladega request!
Looking great !!!!
Thanks guys I'll try to post some more pictures.
Bill I got my air duct seals from Dave Patik from Performance Car Graphics in Florida. I bought them about one year ago and at the time he only had two sets left. At that time he was talking about not having any more made. They are very high quality just like the originals. Give him a yell and see. John and Dave I'm hoping to be able to go to Talledega, I have to get a hold of a trailer first. This restoration kind of wiped me out money wise for a while. Here are some more pictures of the car.
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On my interior I have to wipe it down yet as is part of the rest of the car yet. The weather in St. Louis has sucked this year. I went with the original AM radio that came in the car but it has the guts of a AM/FM MP3 player in it from Retro Radio. I have the dual voice coil speaker in the dash with two 6 x 9's speakers in the back deck. I mounted the 6 x 9's in their original mounting holes so no drilling or cutting was done. I drilled 3/16 holes equally spaced in the material of the package tray then covered it back up with the package tray top black material. You can hardly tell there are speakers in the back now. All 4 speakers now have 45 watts per channel going to them. It isn't the loudest stereo in the world, but when you want some tunes driving it works real well. Here are a few more pics.
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beautiful car
:2thumbs: That's AWESOME!
I was happy to just get my rear suspension hung last weekend.
I cant believe how many pictures I didn't take. I should've been on this site about three years sooner to see how a restoration project is done. :P
Quote from: DAY CLONA on October 28, 2013, 10:58:41 PM
Looks good!....be sure to get rid of the hard edges left by taping off the black out, normally one would backtape to avoid a hardline/edge you'll have to carefully sand/featheredge the hardline, otherwise it will "outline" itself under the decal, the decals film is very thin, and actually magnifies what's under it, so the underlying surface must be smooth/flat :Twocents:
Mike
That's pretty cool mentioning that. :2thumbs:
Nice!!!
Looks awesome! Great job! :2thumbs:
Here are some pictures of the just about finished product. I used some old headlight decals that looked real good. When we put the decals on they ended up getting some lines in them horizontally when they got wet putting them on. Usually these lines disappear within about 3 days when the glue and water evaporates out but the lines are not disappearing like they should have. I'm going to have to park the car outside on some 70 degree sunny days to see if they will disappear. If they don't disappear then we will have to put new ones on again. John's Auto Body in Imperial MO did the restoration of the car and John told me they will come right back off real easy with a heat gun. This is why we did not put the round Superbird decal on the headlight door yet. John's did a real nice job on the restoration that exceeded my expectations. His crew are a bunch of good talented guys that are real good to work with and very knowledgeable about the restoration they are working on. For anyone interested in a restoration by him get a hold of me. John has a collision shop and a separate restoration shop. He generally does about 6 to 8 restorations at a time. He always wins a lot of shows everywhere. He does a little bit of everything, Chevy's, Ford's, Trucks, bikes, and he has done a lot of Mopars. John's is doing another Superbird now. The guy that has the Superbird owns his own body shop and got aggravated with the car. He came to John's for John's open house and looked at my car and now he has John's doing his car also. For those of you that have a project that is just sitting there, don't give up. I have owned my car now for 30 years and was fortunate enough to be able to keep it all them years. Between not enough time, not enough money, and 4 kids later, I was finally able to save up enough to get the car done. Don't give up on your car or your dreams because one day it will happen, sometimes it just takes a little time.
Some more pics. I decided on my license plate HI TAIL because that is what was on the plate when I bought the car years ago. Tough decision because I did like WING IT a lot also.
That car looks AMAZING!!!!!!!
:drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: :drool5:
Quote from: Hoser2455 on February 08, 2014, 07:18:42 PM
Here are some pictures of the just about finished product. I used some old headlight decals that looked real good. When we put the decals on they ended up getting some lines in them horizontally when they got wet putting them on. Usually these lines disappear within about 3 days when the glue and water evaporates out but the lines are not disappearing like they should have. I'm going to have to park the car outside on some 70 degree sunny days to see if they will disappear. If they don't disappear then we will have to put new ones on again. John's Auto Body in Imperial MO did the restoration of the car and John told me they will come right back off real easy with a heat gun. This is why we did not put the round Superbird decal on the headlight door yet. John's did a real nice job on the restoration that exceeded my expectations. His crew are a bunch of good talented guys that are real good to work with and very knowledgeable about the restoration they are working on. For anyone interested in a restoration by him get a hold of me. John has a collision shop and a separate restoration shop. He generally does about 6 to 8 restorations at a time. He always wins a lot of shows everywhere. He does a little bit of everything, Chevy's, Ford's, Trucks, bikes, and he has done a lot of Mopars. John's is doing another Superbird now. The guy that has the Superbird owns his own body shop and got aggravated with the car. He came to John's for John's open house and looked at my car and now he has John's doing his car also. For those of you that have a project that is just sitting there, don't give up. I have owned my car now for 30 years and was fortunate enough to be able to keep it all them years. Between not enough time, not enough money, and 4 kids later, I was finally able to save up enough to get the car done. Don't give up on your car or your dreams because one day it will happen, sometimes it just takes a little time.
Well said Jeff!
That car, sir...is drop dead gorgeous!!!
Stunning! :drool5:
Jeff, car turned out awesome! What part of IL are you? I'm between Chicago and Rockford...
Thanks everyone. Mike I live downstate about 20 miles from St. Louis.