Its been almost exactly 6 years since I bought my Challenger project car. It was a 1973, with rallye package, had no engine or tranny. I was 13 at the time, and worked out 1500 bucks to buy the car. Little did I know what I was getting into. In the stupidest deal I ever made in my life, I agreed to pay for all the body work if my dad would pay for the drivetrain. Well here is what all has been done to it.
-72 340 bored .60 over rebuilt, Hooker headers
-torqueflite trans bought and rebuilt
-dual exhaust
-2 new fenders
-2 new quarter panels
-new trunk pan
-new trunk lid
-used hood
-new windshield
-used header panel
-new valence pan
I painted the car myself (rallye red with flat black hood), and it looks pretty good for first time painting a car!! It was to be a father-son project, and turned into a son project to be honest. SIX years later, I still have not really driven the car on the road. I have bought and bought for this car, and still seem so far away. I would like to at least get it running and road worthy, and then I could put the finishing touches on it as I go. What I need to drive it at least is:
-new tires
-hood latch
-floor
-carpet
-rear decklid trim
-trim put back on
-passenger side window put back in the door
-any weatherstripping that needs to be replaced
It just gets me soooo down and out when I see the price on things like weatherstripping, and little trim pieces. They are things that have to be bought, but that are hard to appreciate, especially when they are so dang expensive for such little things!! I'd give anything just to drive this car on sunny weekends. Its not perfect, but its good enough for me. Having done almost all the work myself, I've missed out on alot of things. While my friends were off hanging out or something, I was working on the car. After doing that time after time, and still not being able to drive the car with my friends and such, it gets depressing. In the future, after I get it on the road, I would like to do the following:
-get Rallye wheels
-get a sure grip rearend, with different ratio gears
-put my fender scoops on and put my strobe stripes on
-new dash pad (or cover cap)
-new seat covers
-new air cleaner
-exhaust tips
How do I stay motivated guys?! Having to work on the car under the deck (no garage big enough!), and going to college at Appalachian State, I don't have much time to work on it except in between classes. Six years, and still haven't drove the car. All I have to show for all the work I've done, and all the time I've spent by myself wrenching, sanding, painting, and what have you, is just a good looking paper weight. Some times I just like to go down and start the car up and pretend I'm driving it. And I wanted to upload some pics so yall could see how far I've come, but they are all too big. It's been a long process, and been so much stress, and money out of a college kids wallet. I just want it to pay off!!!!
