It looks like my T/A project may actually be moving ahead after way too many years! It headed off to the shop in MI back when the twin towers were still standing and you could probably track down a hemi cuda for 50K or so. It started to turn into one of these stalled out resto shop horror stories not long after, the one employee moved on to a better opportunity and wasn't replaced, then the owner went on medical leave to donate a kidney to his dad, further health issues had him working another job while working in the shop part time (which turned out to be no-time), etc etc. In the meantime I had taken a big loss in the 2000-2002 market crash, job security disappeared (I was an engineer in the automotive part industry until late 2005), eventually leading to a layoff in early 2005, and another late that year leading to my spending most of 2006 collecting unemployment until it ran out.
I resorted to having to tell some of my know-it-little friends and acquaintances I'd sold the project to get them off my back and to stop nagging me about it. Trying to explain to someone who knows everything, that shopping around for a top level restoration shop, moving a project in 1000 pieces 100's of miles, and commiting to spending 50+K on a project has to go on the back burner when you don't know if your going to be employed next week or next month is like trying to teach a co cker spaniel how to speak French! "Helpful" unsolicited advice really has become a pet peeve too, "You should take your car to that hot rod shop thats doing Bills GTO. They just got his frame back from the powder coater and looks like factory new!" Yeah, I am sure powder coating will really pile up the points in OE judging. These are the same people who still refer to my car as a cuda or a Charger so I cannot even think of trying to explain Mopar restoration standards to them.
But a little over a year ago the guy with my car got back going full time. That got my hopes up but he spent most of his time finishing the car in front of mine. In July I drove 2 hours out of my way during a trip to MI to go to his shop to pick up a couple parts I'd been bugging him to no avail to send me so I could send them off to specialists. Not much seemed to be happening with my car, which along with him blowing off shipping me the parts left me feeling even more discouraged, but that being said there were only 2 other cars there at the shop beside mine. One of which was only getting some detailing. Ironically the other full project is a genuine '67 Shelby Trans Am Mustang race car owned by the former coworker of mine who had introduced me to the shop owner in the first place. I wonder what he thought about my car still being there after so many years? It obviously didn't discourage him from entrusting his very rare car to that shop.
Then he calls me back in the last week and tells me he is getting the car ready to get off to his media blaster, taking off remaining parts and stripping undercoating etc. He says my car and the Shelby racer are his only projects going and he is going to be putting full time into these cars this winter! He told me he wants me to order up the Goodmark quarters as he will get the car back from the stripper around 3 weeks after it goes in, and he wants to work in the quarter panel area first and wants to see the new ones to see what he has to work with before he starts removing any part of the old ones. I guess I am a little jaded after all these years but it sure seems like the project is getting back on track?
My goal has been to get my numbers matching car back to first day at Mr. Norms standards. The bottom of the car and engine compartment is mostly untouched so we have a lot of documentation to follow to recreate that.
I'll keep posting pictures and updates as time goes on and I hope I'll be posting often! Keep your fingers crossed for progress to continue on my car and my cash reserves to hold out. I am coming up on my first anniversary at my new job in a new industry so as long as the paychecks keep coming every 2 weeks I think I can keep up with the bills!!
In the meantime here is a link with more information on my car, a picture of it as it left for the shop way back before electricity had been invented
and one of it at the shop in early July.
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=36194.0
