Well I’ve made a few posts on here and so I thought I would start a thread as an introduction and show what I’ve gone through during the rebuild of my 72 Cuda. First some background on me and the car:
I bought the car when I was 15, using my college savings, from my sister back in 1987. My sister had owned it for around 2 years but it finally quit running and she needed money for another car (turned out the timing chain had slipped), so that’s how I ended up with the car cheap. Trust me; she never lets me forget that she sold it to me.
The Cuda was my daily driver throughout high school and college including every summer with no AC (this is in Tucson, AZ with 110 degree heat). My wife and I started dating when we were seniors in high school and there were many nights we didn’t go out on dates due to me working on the car for some reason or another
So needless to say the car is as much a part of her life as mine. That’s helped a lot since she’s my biggest supporter to finish the car the way I want it.
After a few years of driving it off and on after college, I finally decided to fix all the little things that were never right with the car (all the things I would previously band-aid just to keep the car on the road). So the main things were the rusted hole in the drivers floorboard and the spaghetti nest of electrical issues. Of course after stripping the car for those things and then life in general getting in the way (career, etc.) the car sat for a few years. Finally I had gotten the road racing bug, and I decided that was the path I wanted to take with my Cuda.
Here are some pictures of the car before the disassembly process (these are from 1999). The car was a definite 20 footer (busted up grille, non-painted front valance, etc.). The body work and paint job were done by a buddy and me when were 18… and so it’s FAR from perfect with tons of body filler. The car has obviously been in minor accidents before judging by the condition of the frame, etc. However I’ve had the car professionally checked out on a frame rig and everything was surprising in spec.
Future plans for the car include 17’s or 18’s (I actually like the look of 17’s better, however in this day and age there are a lot more tire choices in 18’s), 5.7 or 6.1 hemi, 5-speed manual, AlterKation, big brakes, etc. This will not be a show car as I intend to drive it hard… on the dragstrip, on track road course days, autox, etc. One of my good friends has a 2003 Corvette Z06, so my main goal is to try and keep up with him…. I know it’s a very tall order, since those cars are incredibly well balanced.
I’m still undecided on how far I want to go with the body work before I progress on the mechanicals…… it’s one of those things where I want to get the car running ASAP, but if I don’t have the body work and paint done now, I’ll regret it.
More posts to follow below to show where I’m at today:
Travis
