Restoration of an origonal owner 73 Challenger Rallye

[Topcat]

I'm going to send my intermediate cable to you. If you can use it...great. If not, give it to someone who can.  I'll get an accurate measurement now that the hardware is off of it. It was supposed to be 89" but I think it's 90".

Thanks. Hopefully it'll work. I'm betting it will.

[dutch]

glad you got that sorted.  The interior turned out super nice 

[burdar]

1973...parked out infront of my grandparents house


2013...today, 40 years later in the same spot


The current owners had a vehicle in the way so I couldn't get the angles just right.  Still, I'm glad I was able to get this shot.  Here's a couple more...

[dutch]

cool shots! but...  how on earth did the lamp post in the first pic turn into the big a$$ tree in the second....?    

[GranCuda1970]

that's neat! 

[EB3-GranCoupe]

 

Very cool indeed!

[EB3-GranCoupe]

 

Very cool indeed!

[joelson6]

hey Darren, the car is looking sweet! 


i feel your frustration with the whole e-brake thing. when i was putting my car together, i lucked out with my original rear cables,
they worked great so i blasted the outside, washed them up, lube, some clear coat and back in they went. i did get the front and
intermediate cable. i ran into the same problem as everyone else. after futile attempts over the phone to explain things to them,
i brought their cables and my original cables to the nats one year to show them the differences. the guy told me he wasn't  aware
of it but there's nothing they can do cause someone else makes them. deal with it. so i fixed my intermediate cable and install
the new front cable.

[burdar]

I'm glad it's hooked up and working that's for sure.  The shift linkage is sloppy on this car.  You have to put it into PARK fairly quickly for it to catch.  Since the e-brake has been hook up, I've been using it every time I park.  The 68 Dart I'm working on has perfect cables.  I'm just going to soak those in EvapoRust and they should be ready to go...as long as 7 1/4 rear end cables will work on an 8 3/4.

[burdar]

I played around with the pictures and tried to get them looking old.  I think they turned out kind of cool looking.  I reduced the sharpness of the first picture to make it slightly blurry like the 1973 picture. The second one kind of looks like what you would have found in an old dealer brochure I think. I increased the sharpness of that picture.

[dutch]

hey Darren, that looks really really cool     
so, how does your dad look at the project now it`s done?  It must be weired to see it just like when he bought it new...

[burdar]

He's a man of few words...just like me.  All he says is that he never thought I'd get it back together again.

[burdar]

I'm bringing this back from the dead.  As some of you may remember, the Challenger has been parked since Oct 2013.  In that time, it has been in a heated shop under a car cover.  I shouldn't have left it there over the summer but I needed a break.  For some reason, a lot of parts didn't hold up very well since I parked it.  A lot of work needs to be done to get it looking good again.  There are also a lot of noises, vibrations exc...that I never got around to fixing.  Now it's time to get off my butt and get this car sorted out so it will be reliable when I want to go for a drive.  I'll post pictures of what happened in storage a little later.  For now, here's what happened today.

This morning my wife and I made the hour and a half drive to where the car was parked.  I took the battery off the tender it's been on for 1.5 years and threw it in the trunk.  I wasn't sure if it would still be good or not.(been sitting in the corner of the garage the entire time)  I also brought along some spare tools and the floor jack.

Here's what it looked like once I got the cover off.  It's a little dusty but the paint still looks good.




I set the battery in place and put a little gas down the carb.  The engine cranked over strong.  Those battery tenders really do work...even the $10 Harbor Freight ones.  After putting a little more gas down the carb it fired right off and didn't miss a beat.  I let it warm up while I installed the battery hold down hardware.  Then it was time to take it off the jack stands.  The next half hour/45 minutes was spent carefully maneuvering the car between the shop door and my cousin's camper.  It was pretty dumb since there was less than 2" clearance per side, but we finally got it out without putting a scratch in the paint.

Rain showers were supposed to move in this afternoon so I wanted to get home before the weather got bad.  We got a half hour from home when the rain hit.  The good news is that the wipers work and no water found its way inside the interior or in the trunk.  It's very dirty now so it will probably be getting its first hand wash this week.  So, there is a lot of work to do but for now, it's safe and back home with some company.  More in the following weeks...

[Bullitt-]

Glad to see your back into it Darren 

[joelson6]

glad to see it back on the road. nice to see it again. i hear you about all the little problems, haha. i almost
gave up on my '72. since i got it on the road, i had problems with the first 3 master cylinders that have been
in the car. the last one leaked from the shaft seal and ruined my firewall and frame under it. now i have to pull
everything out and respray the engine compartment. the seat springs broke and the cover ripped at the seam
on the drivers side. got a new one coming from Legendary. it's always something.



Greg