'69 Charger R/T-SE "Speedfreak": Building My Dream Car

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Hey guys! It's been a long time coming finally getting onto the forum. I just turned 21 and have had my Charger for just about a year now. Most of that time was spent finishing up my other project. But since last fall I've been making some good progress on the Charger and hopefully be driving it this summer. So here's the story on my dream car in progress.

Just after I turned 19, I decided to start living the dream learning about and working on muscle cars, starting with a 67 Chevelle I had come across locally. But over the next year I kept on the hunt for my true dream car, a 2nd gen Dodge Charger.

One year of Craigslisting later I came across an ad in Los Angeles titled "project '69 Charger or '70 GTX." Upon contacting the owner I learned that I was the first guy to take notice of the listing. And in another stroke of luck, the car turned out to be a true R/T SE with 95% of the original parts on-hand and in excellent shape, including the car's original 440 which had (supposedly) recently been rebuilt. The car had been completely stripped in preparation for a full restoration, but the owner was caught in the middle of it and the GTX, and having a hard time moving forward with 2 cars going at once.

So with deal sealed, me and a buddy of mine made the 14 hour drive through winter weather down to sunny Norwalk, CA. Finally seeing my car, and sitting next to a '70 GTX no less, was a truly awesome feeling. The owner was sad to see it go but relieved to be freed up for some progress on the remaining car, and asked that I stay in contact through the build. So with the Charger finally on the trailer and a truck bed completely packed with parts, we headed back north and rounded out our mission with a total of 33 straight driving hours, managing to make it back with no real issues aside from some pretty deep snow and a few pissed off LA motorists. Finally the relentless search for a Charger had paid off as I rolled the car off the trailer behind my dad's shop, 500 miles from where I found it.

Late last summer I started renting a shop of my own to finally work on bringing the Charger back from the dead as I always pictured it, and have been going full speed ahead since. I'm sure I'll catch some purist flack for some of the modifications I have planned (changing the color scheme, wheels/tires, not installing a vinyl top, etc.) But I'm preserving/ documenting originality wherever I can, and life's too short to build your car for anyone other than yourself.

So here's some of the major things I have done/planned:

Black on black interior, flat black bumblebee stripe. Mostly original style interior.
70 Hemi Challenger spindles and brakes up front, rear disc conversion. Urethane bushings, QA1 shocks, original front and added rear swaybar, subframe connectors, and other chassis reinforcements.
Coys c5 wheels, staggered 17x8" up front, 18x9.5" rear, nitto 555 tires.
Rebuilt original 440 and 727, to be replaced with a separate procharged/intercooled, fuel injected 440, and a 5 speed manual trans later down the road. (Hopefully be able to do that build next winter)

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think as the project keeps moving forward, the forum has been a huge help already. Cheers!

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

The Charger as it arrived in California from Nebraska, got this picture from the previous owner.

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

As I found it in Norwalk. 


Loading everything up, pretty fun when the front suspension isn't in the car. 


Numbers-matching 440 hidden under a pile of other parts at the back of the barn/shop.

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Finally loaded up. Even in pieces on the trailer it still turned some heads and got some thumbs-up heading back up I-5. 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Fast forward a few months and I finally got moved into the shop. Stripped and painted the entire undercarriage back to the rear subframe with chassis paint, left most of the factory undercoating. Also blocked down the car just to get a better idea what was under all the filler primer. Had to strip and seal the roof because of some surface rust coming through the primer. Finally some progress 

[JB400]

Congrats on aquiring a 2nd gen  Looks like quite the project, but you can do it



                                                     Best of Luck

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks!! I was going to post every step of my progress so far but that's going to require a major chunk of time I could be spending working on the car

So here's a link to my buildthread over on "forbbodiesonly" with all the details of the work so far  http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?48110-69-charger-r-t-se-Building-my-dream-car

And some pictures of where I'm basically at right now 

[JB400]

Diggin the wheels  Well, when you ain't tooo busy, how about posting a few pix of the Chevelle?  I'm sure I might get hanged by the Mopar only crowd, but I'm a car guy in general.

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks! I was worried about not wanting them to be too huge/overly done but I'm really happy with them  haha, well I'm on your side. I still like a lot of cars, despite my Mopar obsession unfortunately I just recently had an accident in the chevelle driving in some really bad fog. No injuries or other vehicles involved, but sad to say I need some new front end sheet metal and a trip to the frame rack :/ I'm trying to getting the Charger driving first, but soon as that happens Blackie will get a full repair and then some.  here's a pic of it from last summer

[JB400]

Sad to hear about the accident. Hope you don't do that in the Charger.  It'll be 3 times more expensive to fix   Best thing is, at least all parts are easily replaceable and redily available.



67 Vette scoop was a nice touch.  I believe that's the first one I've seen on a Chevelle of that year.  What's the motor/ trans combo?

[tan top]

chargers looking good     


shame about the chevy   , least no one was hurt 

keep the pictures coming   

[Baldwinvette77]

 Thats Going to be Awesome,  and you aren't the only one throwing a chevy on the back burner as they build a charger 

[BIGBLCK11]

  Welcome to the site.  Nice score!  It is coming along nicely.  Looks like a decent car to start with.

[1970Moparmann]

Looks good.  Keep the pictures coming!   

[projectanimal]

Cool story and build!  Look forward to progress pictures! 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Sad to hear about the accident. Hope you don't do that in the Charger.  It'll be 3 times more expensive to fix   Best thing is, at least all parts are easily replaceable and redily available.



67 Vette scoop was a nice touch.  I believe that's the first one I've seen on a Chevelle of that year.  What's the motor/ trans combo?

Believe me, that's never happening. I learned my lesson of driving in fog, unfortunately the hard way but the repairs to the chevelle wont be very difficult at all. Once I get started it should be back in action within a month. :2thumbs-up: it's a 454 that I bought with a turbo400 but swapped out myself for a 700r4, definitely a lot of fun. And yeah that hood was a pain to actually get but was worth it to be different. I'm running a dart highrise intake so I needed the clearance

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys!

So far I have the front suspension completely restored, the entire undercarriage back to the subframe stripped and painted, engine compartment painted and ready for mechanical assembly, and the rear end pulled out of the car and that also stripped and painted. I blocked down the entire car just to get an idea where its at and started some bodywork when I was waiting for front suspension parts, but luckily the car is already for the most part really straight.

So as it stands now I'm waiting for a quarter patch to get here so I can replace a poorly done patch from some bodyshop the previous owner took it to, and a trunk extension. Then I'll be doing some metal surgery to fix those and what little rust there was in the trunk pan before I paint the rest of the undercarriage and reinstall the rear end and new fuel system (got a nice repop tank, sending unit, and fuel/ brake lines) Then I'll be ordering urethane leaf spring bushings, QA1 rear shocks matching the front, and a few things to get the motor ready to drop in. (pertronix ignition, water pump, oil filter, etc)

From there out it will be bodywork, paint, then interior. Luckily almost every single piece of the interior is there and in great shape so that part shouldn't be too bad All in all it's moving right along so I should have plenty of pictures for you guys

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Very cool build! Great work!   

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Alright guys, I've been MIA on here for a while but I've been making a lot of progress. Since my last post I finished all the metalwork; lower quarter patch, removing and patching the rusted sections all the way around the rear window, some inner wheelwell patches, and removing some braze and rewelding a seam at the bottom of the driver's side sail from an old repair. Just started laying all-metal on the seams and skimming the car with filler, so hopefully the body will be looking nicer in the next week or so









I also got the new fuel/brake lines, new fuel tank, and the rear end all installed. I had to take the front suspension back apart to switch the spindles around (now a rear-hung caliper setup) because of clearance issues. But that's all sorted out, and got the car back rolling after a few long months on jackstands 







And another big step, finally have my engine freshened up, stripped, repainted, and just about ready to drop in! I've been having a hell of a time removing an exhaust stud that was broken off inside the head, but now that's out of the way so I'm just be waiting for the mancini rear main to get here before the drop-in 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Finally think I got the hang of posting on here, (hard to tell since I'm posting from my phone) so I'll probably be on here a lot more now. Looking forward to checking out everyone's projects and keeping mine updated better

[RIDELIKEHELL]

  Awesome job Mr! Following this one for sure 

[Baldwinvette77]

oh this is gonna be good 

[djcarguy]

     really like the wheels an engine and ya makimg great progress on the body. shame bout ya chevy hope repairs go good on it.  my son in law is doing a 68 chevelle SS ,396 4spd.
        i crashed the same 69 dart gt twice above trail ,or on my way home to prospect years ago. there use too bee tons of neat ,big block mopars and every kind of hot cars in medford on weekend cruises  ..  way back in the mid 70es,then i moved to eugene area for  auto college,LCC in 77. 

  keep up the great work saving ya charger,an post more pix.take care down there.latter dj have 2 -67 mopar belvederes a rag an 2dr post,an 2 darts.   

[Ghoste]

Liking the progress so far, keep it up. 

[cdr]

Finally think I got the hang of posting on here, (hard to tell since I'm posting from my phone) so I'll probably be on here a lot more now. Looking forward to checking out everyone's projects and keeping mine updated better

glad to see you here. 

[bzabodyn]

Progress looking good - always like seeing us younger guys keeping the mopar love going - I was 25 when I started the HEMI charger resto and now @ 31 I finally got my second project. Looking forward to seeing more pics!

BZ

[JB400]

Looks good    

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Nice progress! Going to look sweet painted black with those rims.   

[tan top]

looking good keep the pictures & updates & stuff coming       

[Dino]

Yay another one saved!  Keep up the good work.   

[Bob T]

Gidday, good effort aquiring an 69 and it being an R/T to boot
Busy hands mate, you're really tearing into it, keep up the progress and pics

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Wow thanks to all you guys for such a warm welcome back! She's coming together pretty fast, and I'm no stranger to bodywork all-nighters so I'm hoping I'll have my Charger primered and driveable in time to make some river trips at the end of summer really can't wait to here it fire up for the first time.

Looks like the rear main should be here today so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get that done and the engine/trans both in the car, shaping up to be a busy weekend 

glad to see you here. 

Hey same to you Charlie! That '68 on the road yet? 

Progress looking good - always like seeing us younger guys keeping the mopar love going - I was 25 when I started the HEMI charger resto and now @ 31 I finally got my second project. Looking forward to seeing more pics!

Hey thanks BZ, remember seeing your Charger on fbbo, really gorgeous car!

[cdr]

no it starts & it could be driven but the police might not like it very much & the fenders might fall off,

[Dino]

no it starts & it could be driven but the police might not like it very much & the fenders might fall off,

Very good reason to keep wrenching for a bit, right there.