Hi there!
This is a story of a T/A who's life was hanging on a thread, or beyond even that. Probably the cars soul, if cars has soul, could already see the light att the end of the tunnel. Or a metal compactor, whatever a dying car usually sees. A friend of mine had come to a decision to sell some of his cars due to, at the time, health issues. Hi asked me if i wanted to buy any of his cars. He owned several Challengers at the time. He had some nice cars and we loked at them but I could not afford any of his car. He said he had another car, it was probably a car heading for the junkyard. Could have been used as a racing car but barely. The sun dropped behind the horizon and It became dark. We walked up to the car and i could se the contour of a Challenger under a tarp, on the ground, without wheels. I had only a bad flashlight, the kind that you can shake and it light up until you point it at where you want to look and it goes black again. the only thing I could se was a rear reinforcement, the torque box. When I looked at the front i found one there too. I understod that whatever this car was it should be saved. This was 10 years ago. Car had a severe accident in the past and was permanentely relieved from further duty. A more healthy car offered itself to cary on the legacy of the crashed T/A with the help of some parts, the tags, a new paint and his identity.
It has taken me 10 years of discussions with experts, manufacturers representatives, authorities, inspection companies, investigation companies, car club and so on. I bought books, magazines, documents, wrote emails talked to people. At times it looked as if I had to give it all up. I waited a year or so gathering new energy and documents. Made my own investigation, paid for one and paid for a second one. At last the car was finally approved. I could not start the restoration because cutting and welding would perhaps have reduced my chances to prove the cars identity. You guys in US don't have to worry so much because this story all took place in a country far far away. the land of midnight sun, viking, vamps and also where, to my happiness, there is more or less allowed to exist two cars with more or less same identity (Sweden)
So this is what it looks like these days. Not so pretty but some day I might start restoring it. Until then it will be driven occasionally and stored in a real barn, not the well known internet "barns" for T/A:s
Thanks if you cared to read it all!
