'68 Dodge Charger

[Sonic65]

So, I have finally started working on the Charger. Story behind the car...my uncle (mom’s brother) bought it when he was in his last year of High School in the mid-70's. He was racing some guy in a Camaro and the engine began to overheat. He pulled off the road and headed to a gas station but the engine quit and he could not get it started. He pulled the engine out and rebuilt it with my Dad but for some reason they never put the engine back in. So, the engine (has been on an engine stand) and car have been sitting in my grandfather’s barn as long as I can remember.

My Uncle gave me the car and I pulled it out of the barn and loaded it up on a car hauler in CA and towed it to Texas in 2014. After hauling it to TX, my uncle told me that he never looked for the build sheet behind the rear seat. I thought, wow, what if it is there? I pulled out the lower seat and nothing. I figured the previous owner must have taken it out. I decided to try the seat back and sure enough, there was the build sheet in the seat springs in one piece. I carefully removed it.
I crossed checked the numbers and VIN from the build sheet and discovered that I had a numbers matching, Special Edition Charger with a 383ci High Performance engine, auto transmission, factory AC, bucket seats and a few other goodies.

I stripped the car of its interior and am working on reupholstering the seats using Legendary Auto upholstery products. Stripped the car down to bare metal and found that the only place in the car that needs panel replacement is a small center section of the trunk. The floors are solid and the doors even open and close nicely. There are a few crunched areas on the outside, to include a section of the right rear quarter panel and right front fender.

Plans are to re-paint the car its original white color with Bumble Bee stripes on the rear. I will also be installing a black vinyl top as it came off the factory floor with one. The engine will be machined to provide a bit more horsepower without sacrificing the originality, but I will be installing a FiTech unit instead of the carburetor to add a bit of modern fuel intake technology to the car. The transmission will be beefed up a bit and I will be replacing the front factory drum brakes with disc.
More to follow…

John

[Funky61]

What a great story/history behind this car and one of my favorite muscle cars too.

[GMCDAC]

What a great "barn find"! Glad you are building the car close to it's original roots.

DAC

[Sonic65]

Thanks everyone. This is a build that I have been looking forward to for a long time. I am hoping to have it road-worthy by May or June 2018 in time for the car shows. I am glad it stayed in the family...my uncle gave me the car on the condition that I never sell it and that it stays in the family and I will honor that condition. I will have to fly him out to Texas when it is done so he can ride in his car once again. I have sent him photos of the build and he is glad that I have the car, otherwise, it would still be sitting in the barn unnoticed. He half jokingly said that he should tow his 1965 Caddy Convertible (that is in another barn!) to Texas so that I can get that one on the road too. I remember him telling me years ago that the transmission started leaking, so he parked the Caddy in the barn and it has been sitting since.

[Sonic65]

Been hard at work working on the Charger. Got the inside of the car cleaned out, all seats etc. removed. Removed the entire dash in order to properly restore it. Cleaned up under the car, removed rust from inside car and underneath then used POR-15 and sealed the inside of the car and underneath. Still working on the body panels, hope to have the car out of the paint booth before Christmas. I need to figure out if there is a way to fill in the cracks in the dash pad or else I will have to buy a new one.

[Sonic65]

Update: Engine came back from the machine shop a couple days ago. It had to be bored .40 over. I am glad there was nothing wrong with the block, since it is numbers-matching car. Electronic Dyno Program estimates the 383 engine will push around 383HP and 400 plus ft lbs. of torque.

Transmission is rebuilt.

Finally finished restoring the dash. Had the original radio (on top) gone through by JC Auto Restoration in Washington State. Radio came back looking great.
I wanted to update the radio, but could not justify modifying the original radio that was installed in the dash at the factory, so JC Auto sold me a radio they had on the bench and modified it with a new board, etc. I know have AM/FM, Bluetooth and USB connectivity.

I provided some "previous condition" dash photos for comparison.

[Funky61]

Dash came out Fantastic!

[Sonic65]

Originally Posted by Funky61

To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?

Dash came out Fantastic!

Thanks Funky. It was tedious work.

[Sonic65]

Still working on the body. It should be ready for paint in a week or so.

[Sonic65]

Engine is built. Next step is to put it on the engine run-stand and fire it up.

383 Cubic inch engine bored .040 over

Should be producing (based on dyno-sim program) 383'ish HP and 436'ish ft lbs of torque.

More to follow as the build continues.

John