Mr. Norm 1969 Charger 500 Restoration

[CornDogsCharger]

Well, this time has finally come for this car to get a proper restoration. The owner purchased the car about three years ago and it has been waiting it's turn ever since.  Just about the same time that I was wrapping up the restoration of a real '68 L89 Camaro RS/SS, a major hail storm hit the area. For the last year I have been swamped with hail cars. Now that it is starting to slack off and I am able to get back on restorations.

I took this picture the other day when the car was brought to me and came out of hibernation.




Justin
"CornDog"

[CornDogsCharger]

[CornDogsCharger]

[chargerman69]

Looks pretty soild

[tsmithae]

That does look very very solid.   

[tan top]

 X3  ,     looks good from the pictures    ,  looking forward to seeing pictures & up dates & stuff 

[Ghoste]

The Mr. Norm part is cool too. 

[RallyeMike]

So youre going to wash it and send it out the door?       Wow.

[CornDogsCharger]

So youre going to wash it and send it out the door?      Wow.

You're right! In order to get a VERY thorough cleaning... this morning, I started dismantling the car.  You know, to clean every nook and cranny. Haha!





The car "appears" to be very solid, and for the most part, it really is.  But the car has been hacked together. The car had the original quarters rough-cut off and new quarter skins applied right over the others. The floors have been patched and not properly replaced. It appears that someone installed a used interior floor panel, and it looks decent, but the panels were not drawn up tight before welding... so I'll install a new one. The previous owner bought the car in primer and all of the parts were in boxes. He sent the car to a Maaco body shop to be painted, so you can only image what the paint job looks like in person. When the car was reassembled, apparently there was a fully stocked bolt bin close by because just about every nut, bolt, screw, etc was mismatched and wrong. I'm sure I'll have a few hardware questions that are pertaining to C500 specific parts.  

Justin
"CornDog"

[odcics2]

A Maaco job would be about what a properly restored car from that vintage should look like.     

If you see an original paint car today, keep in mind that years of cleaning and waxing make it look nice and smooth!   

[hemi68charger]

... I'm sure I'll have a few hardware questions that are pertaining to C500 specific parts.  

Justin
"CornDog"

Luckily, there aren't too many...........

Awwwwwwwwwww, it's a four speed car too....... 

[CornDogsCharger]

A Maaco job would be about what a properly restored car from that vintage should look like.     

If you see an original paint car today, keep in mind that years of cleaning and waxing make it look nice and smooth!   

The thing that is very sad about it... it was painted by Maaco only 5-10 years ago.  I don't think he even got his $400 worth!  Ha. They also did him a favor by running a 40grit inline sander across the original real glass.  So another glass will need to be located.

Justin
"CornDog"

[CornDogsCharger]

Here is a post that I made about the car last year. This will give little bit of history on the car. "Alaskan_TA" is the one who gave me about the lead of it being a real Mr. Norm car. We have since contacted Larry Weiner and acquired all of the original Grand Spaulding Dodge paperwork.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,99032.msg1152787.html#msg1152787

Justin
"CornDog"

[JB400]

Sad they didn't do a good job the first time.  At least it's getting done right this time.

[RallyeMike]

That's gonna be one super clean 500 when you are done 

[Ghoste]

A quickie paint job right around the time of the musclecar price peak and it was in AZ, the car didn't beling to someone trying to make a quick buck did it?

[XS29L9B2]

very nice project 

[Mytur Binsdirti]

very nice project 

It certainly is. 

[tan top]

 wonder how many C500s were sold from MR Norms , did he still have all the invoices etc still of all the cars he sold , or have I imagined this 

[CornDogsCharger]

wonder how many C500s were sold from MR Norms , did he still have all the invoices etc still of all the cars he sold , or have I imagined this  

Well, when I spoke with Larry Weiner about the paperwork, he told me that he purchased all of the boxes of paperwork from the dealership.  He went inside and rescued boxes and boxes full of stuff.  He said, at the time, homeless people had gotten into the building and used some of the papers to start fires, wipe themselves, etc.  So as far as 'actual numbers' of cars... it's hard to say for sure.  He did tell me that in all of the records that he acquired, he only showed records on two Charger 500s being sold at GS.  I started a post the other day asking about another Mr Norm C500 that I found on the net and it appears that particular car was originally F8 Green. ( http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,109377.0.html )  The car I am working on was originally B5 Blue with black interior, white stripe, and Road Wheels... just like the car in the old picture posted above.  I'm not positive, and would like to research it a little more, but I believe this could be the same car.  The picture was taken in the Fall of 1969.  Grand Spaulding purchased this car on Jul 25, 1969 from Chrysler and did not sell the car until Apr 27, 1970... so it is very possibly that this is the same car in the picture.

Justin
"CornDog"

[GL#10]

It would have to be the blue 500 in the above picture for sure .

[69_500]

If that B5 car was sold at mr. Norms then it would be the 3rd 500 that I know of that was sold there. I have paperwork on a Hemi 500 that was sold there as well.

[Ghoste]

Is it the only blue one Danny?

[RallyeMike]

The 500 in front of Mr/ Norms looks a lot darker than B5, but perhaps it's the age of the photo? Seems like it will be next to impossible to prove it IS that car, but sure would be neat.

[maxwellwedge]

I have a blown up picture of that pic off of the original negative. I'll see if I can identify the color. I am sure Norm sold more than 3 or 4 500's. Not all the paperwork was salavaged by Larry.