OK, I was helping a guy with his car, and he decided that it may a bit much for him to handle.... Well, now I have the car
. It is originaly a 1972 Dodge Charger SE Brogham edition. I think I posted the fender tag codes including incomplete VIN (sequence numbers don't mean a whole lot when it comes to decoding), and it's got a few options. Here's a little about it, the car originaly came with a 400 automatic, now has a 383 with automatic. The car is a true triple black car (black interior, black exterior, and black vinyl top). Other than the motor, the car appears to be mostly original, including the 8 track player? Since I'm in my mis 20's, I obviously wasn't around back then to know if Mopar put the 8 track right next to the radio, or if it was off to the side seperate (as in someone added it later on)..... But anyways, the car has factory power disc brakes up front with rear drums. Front bucket seats, with floor console. Power steering, and AC (AC stuff under the hood, for some unknown reason was removed, but the rest was left). When I can get some pic's of the car and get them posted, I'll get them up. The car has after market sprint style wheels on it, the rear tires are 50 series, and both rear tires are about bald...... Wonder why....
The rear bench seat will probably be left alone, upholstery wise that is, because it looks in pretty good shape, however, the front drivers seats have split at a few of the seams, and the passenger seat as split in one area at a seam... The carpet overall isn't bad, but has one or two areas in it that have worn down, so the carpet will be replaced. The headliner is, well, shot... on about two of the seams, it's split all the way across, and in some areas has some holes varying in size, nothing bigger than 1.5" diameter. I'll have the sunvisors claened first, and see what they look like because the headliner insulation has caked itself on to the drivers side. The rear package tray needs to be replaced, but I've got a small problem... The car has factory rear speakers (not a problem since ones are listed with the perforations for rear speakers) but it also has factory rear defogger (I may have to cut a hole in the new one to be able to keep this).... One of the gauge assemblies looks like it needs some work. As for the outside, it's got the optional hideaway headlights, I'm pretty sure (but not certain) that this motor is froze up. The hood (not the original, but did come on these cars) needs to be adjusted because it doesn't center up for some reason and does not line up with the factory hood pins. I'm gonna have to replace the trunk lid, on the outside there's just minor surface rust, however, when you open it, on the backside of the trunklid (above the taillights) to the outside of the weather stripping mother nature got the best of it, and the rot has gone all the way through, and almost all the way across, so I'm gonna replace the whole thing, including the chrome trim. As far as the rear window, being an SE car, doesn't this car have a smaller rear window, like the Challenger SE cars did? Or are all the Charger cars (3rd gen) have the same rear window? To me it seems like the SE cars used a smaller window....
I've got some work to do on the roof, where there are a few small holes to feel, all quite a bit smaller that dime size. The rear window either needs some hard cleaning (if possible), or replacement, over time, with the rain and all, the rust has ran over the rear window, and looks like it has stained it.... Is there a way to clean this up, or am I looking to replace it? Once again, I'll get pic's when I can... The front windshield however, will have to be replaced. It's got 2 spots inside the glass, you can't feel anything on the outside of the glass (both the outside of the car, or sitting inside the car), because it looks like something hit it, but as I said, it's inside the glass..... The original vinyl top is pretty much gone, there's a few pieces sitting around some or the chrome trim. I'm planning on replacing almost all the chrome trim, the rear window trim needs to be repalced, at the very top conter, something hit it, and bent it way in, but thankfully didn't hit the glass damaging it from what I can tell, plus the rust has stained it also.... It might can be straightened out and buffed to a shine, but if these are available, I'd rather replace this.... I'm not sure if I have all of the vinyl top trim or not, but I know I have atleast one of the lower rear corners (passenger side the looks like a backwards J, well a combo of a J and a V). I have the original wheel well chrome, but they make replacements now, easier to just replace these.... Right now I'm gonna concentrate on the drivetrain first, get that out, and pay attention to the engine bay while the motor is out, fix it up, then the motor will be ready to go back in, and the engine bay will be ready, hopefully I want scratch anything up, because I'm gonna have the engine bay painted while it's out, just makes since to paint it while the motor is out, don't it? Anyway, I need to make a list of things, what needs to be done, and figure an order for them to be done in......By the way, this is my first true restoration attempt, not a bad car to choose to restore, eh? If anyone has a car similar to this, please contact me, I got a few model spicific questions to ask. This car has factory power windows by the way...
Topic: OK, so it's a B body, and not an E body, but it's a MOPAR (Read 4646 times)
