BIG WILLIE Daytona restoration has begun.

[jonw29]

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/08/14/restoration-begins-on-big-willie-robinsons-last-charger-daytona/?refer=news

[moparstuart]

  thats a shame  ,  should have just left it as is , or at the most stopped the deterioration and left it as a time capsule        

[JB400]

Maybe, it was worse than it actually appeared to be.  There is quite a fine line between preservation and restoration.

[moparstuart]

Maybe, it was worse than it actually appeared to be.  There is quite a fine line between preservation and restoration.

granted I have seen the car and  it was pretty bad , but It ran and drove and could have been left alone .

[JB400]

What was the extent of the damage?  If it was just a matter of the rear rails and trunk being rotten, I'd of replaced those to keep it solid, and left the rest alone.  If there was more damage than that, then I'd have to say a restoration was necessary.

After taking a second look, I'm in agreement with the owner.  With the rear plug that far gone, he made the right decision.

[FJ5WING]

The "leave them as is" has to stop if you guys want to keep these cars around.

If I didn't address my car it would have returned to the great earth long before it would've appeared necessary. the previous owner sprayed on some retail store undercoating and the underside was beginning to rust under the undercoating. I found it when a piece of undercoating flaked off and exposed the floor pan while I was crawling under the car to ready the car for the tranny removal. Had I just drove and displayed a great unrestored Bird....well you know.

So anyway...I have no problem when someone restores rather than carts around something that needs attention. I know Im in the minority.

[nascarxx29]

I went to Cherry Hill Dodge while back which has my hometown dealer knew the owner and parts man from often visits .To get anything to support how it ended up in Ca or who bought it from Cherry Hill Dodge originally .But no luck also searched newspaper archives but didnt see any listed .Found other local  numerous  muscle car ads as John Anotelli Y2 daytona from Capitol Dodge Trenton Etc

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,11789.0.html

[Ghoste]

Not to mention, didn't Willie get all his cars acid dipped?  It could be really bad in all the places we can't see.  Leave it as it is too often turns into remember how it was.

[nascarxx29]

The king and Queen 426 drag cars were dipped to non existence .This car was a tow car or 440 personal driver of his

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,14491.0.html

[BigBlockSam]

Maybe, it was worse than it actually appeared to be

  you guys know that i'm a big believer in leaving cars orig . no matter how they look . this car needed lotsa luv just to keep it going . Donwan is my friend and i know the car well . this guy is doing the rite thing 

[Budnicks]

The "leave them as is" has to stop if you guys want to keep these cars around.

If I didn't address my car it would have returned to the great earth long before it would've appeared necessary. the previous owner sprayed on some retail store undercoating and the underside was beginning to rust under the undercoating. I found it when a piece of undercoating flaked off and exposed the floor pan while I was crawling under the car to ready the car for the tranny removal. Had I just drove and displayed a great unrestored Bird....well you know.

So anyway...I have no problem when someone restores rather than carts around something that needs attention. I know Im in the minority.

I agree, some should be saved, but also some need to be saved &/or restored also...  they're only original once, if it's a great shape survivor save it & clean up what needs to be cleaned up/fixed, otherwise IMHFO do what you need to do... Have fun

[chargerman69]

He's doing the right thing, he dipped the one daytona a noth times till it didn't exist, i got a mag about the cars

[65post]

I would be upset if it was going back bone stock. 

[tan top]

 shame its being restored !!!  but   would say leave as is , i'm all for keeping things original or as it was back in the day ,  & maybe you could only do the worst bits etc , but where does it stop as we all know , be for you know it  there are 20 boxes of parts & a empty body shell     , restore it & return it to as good or better than it was ,  just document , take pictures / videos  of everything    

[rob-dirt]

I would be upset if it was going back bone stock. 

Me Too - That would be like painting Joe Dirt

[bull]

There's a time for everything and the Big Willie era for this car has come to and end. The Daytona part of this story is more important. Save the car!

[FJ5WING]

since I stated Im not a fan of leaving them "as is" I also agree with the above that it should be restored as the "Big Willie" Daytona.

[Ghoste]

Yes, it should be saved but it should without question be saved as Willie's car.  Just stop the rot and make it right.

[richRTSE]

Yes, it should be saved but it should without question be saved as Willie's car.  Just stop the rot and make it right.

from reading the article, it sounds like it is going to be restored as the Big Willie car... 

The decision for restoration was made largely by the car's current condition, which Owens deemed too far gone for mere preservation. The plan is to recreate the car as it was in the mid-1970s...

Owens said he plans to replicate the car's original functional paint job, too, so look for red paint to show through the car's cream finish overspray in the trunk and engine bay. The original fiberglass hood is now too fragile to use, so Owens recreated the piece from the steel hood of a 1970 Charger...

If all goes as planned, Owens will finish the car this winter, meaning it will debut on the show circuit in 2014.

[wingcar]

As long as it's restored back to the way it was when "Big Willie" owned it...I would be fine with it.  If on the other hand the owner wanted to restore it back to factory show room condition....I would give it a big thumbs down.  To many "day-two" muscle cars from back in the day have been restored to better than show room condition....they have lost their individuality (something that they can never regain) and many times they become lost in a sea of stock muscle cars.   I am glad to see that the present owner is in fact returning it back to it's original condition (although I am sure that it will still be a step or two above the way it was back in the day....Willie was more concerned with speed...not looks).  I hope more people will keep the "Day Two" look, as it is really refreshing.  And, it's neat to see how they really looked back in the day......I know that none of my cars retained their stock look for long.  *Just my two cents on the issue.......

[Budnicks]

As long as it's restored back to the way it was when "Big Willie" owned it...I would be fine with it.  If on the other hand the owner wanted to restore it back to factory show room condition....I would give it a big thumbs down.  To many "day-two" muscle cars from back in the day have been restored to better than show room condition....they have lost their individuality (something that they can never regain) and many times they become lost in a sea of stock muscle cars.   I am glad to see that the present owner is in fact returning it back to it's original condition (although I am sure that it will still be a step or two above the way it was back in the day....Willie was more concerned with speed...not looks).  I hope more people will keep the "Day Two" look, as it is really refreshing.  And, it's neat to see how they really looked back in the day......I know that none of my cars retained their stock look for long.  *Just my two cents on the issue.......