Death Proof Charger

[DeathProofCharger]

Ya'll seen Death Proof? That Quentin Tarantino movie. Well, I just bought one of the cars that were in it and I'm just seeing if there is any interest for this car. As you know the cars weren't treated too nice so there'll be quite a bit of work that needs to be done, so if you're interested in seeing a build log or something just let me know.
Some history behind THIS car: Originally it was a year 68 car(from Texas) but it was rebuilt to look like a 69 for the movie, it's one of the three chargers that were taken to Sweden after filming, it changed owners X amount of times and then found It's way to Åland and somewhere along it's journey someone decided to build a drag car out of it. But didn't get finished(or even close). And then I bought it.

So the car is just a mishmash of a lot of different stuff and nothing's original, so, what should I do with it. Since it was gonna be a drag car the rear has been built to accommodate for huge wheels and tires and there is no way I'll have the money to convert it back to the way it rolled of the show room floor with the kind of budget I have, see I'm just 16 yo so money is tight, I bought the car for 6000euros + shipping 500e and i'll have about 15k to finish it within a couple of years( I'll just point out it's my own hard earned money, there is no rich daddy behind this project). I was thinking of making it into a pro street car, so as to take advantage of the work that has already been done to it.
Opinions? Thoughts?
I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how to get the pictures from my phone(that is about to break down any minute) to my PC(that never really worked in the first place) ,ooh technology why won't you work.

[Ghoste]

First, welcome to the site.  Second, of course we find the car interesting.  Lastly, my opinion would be to try and do it as close to the Deathproof look as you can get it. 

[rt green]

Aland?

[cavemanno1]

Welcome to the site!

I'm sure 15k euros would buy some new sheet metal,interior and rattle can paintjob to look death proof charger again!

Aland?

I think it's an island between Sweden and Finnland!

[Dino]

Welcome!

I think you have the right idea; work with what you have.  I'd love to see the pics first though to get a better idea.

[Brock Lee]

I know of a survivor the owner maintained for years, but ended up getting restored to a stock Charger. He still has the duck on custom made pedestal hood ornament. I tried to buy that, but he isn't interested in letting it go. 

[RallyeMike]

Do you have the documentation to prove without doubt that it is from the Movie? If so, I think it would be in the best interest to preserve as much of it as possible as the movie car and keep it that way. Nobody is going to care (or believe you) that it was a former Deathproof Charger if you restore it to something else.

[Baldwinvette77]

Sweet man, welcome to the site, Im curious though, what skills do you have at 16? or is this a learn-as-you-go project   

[VegasCharger]

Hello and welcome to DodogeCharger.com

Cool story! Loved the Death Proof Chargers

Aland?

Cavemanno was correct (see pic).

[Ghoste]

That is an impressive journey.

[DeathProofCharger]

Sweet man, welcome to the site, Im curious though, what skills do you have at 16? or is this a learn-as-you-go project   

To be honest the only thing I have going for me is being good at looking things up on google, so yes it'll be a learn-as-you-go project.

Do you have the documentation to prove without doubt that it is from the Movie? If so, I think it would be in the best interest to preserve as much of it as possible as the movie car and keep it that way. Nobody is going to care (or believe you) that it was a former Deathproof Charger if you restore it to something else.

I do not have any documentation that would definitely prove it was in the movie but the story behind this car holds up, it looks like it got the deathproof treatment and it has documentation that it was taken to Sweden around the time the movie was made and finished(it was taken to Sweden in June 2007). Another thread about this car: http://bluesmobiles.proboards.com/thread/1216/death-proof-charger-land-finland

[DeathProofCharger]

Pictures

[DeathProofCharger]

more pics

[DeathProofCharger]

more pics

[Baldwinvette77]

Nice, i cant imagine theres too many primer black 69 chargers in Aland  

i say, keep the body the way it is, and get it running, glass would be nice though  

i think i remember reading about this one, it was going to be turned into a drag car, but then the movie got it, and they stuck leaf springs on it and left the custom frame intact.

[kanadanmajava]

Hälsningar från Esbo! Great that the car has found a committed enthusiast. I have to admit that I'm pretty jealous. I saw the ad in Nettivaraosa but to my huge disappointment I was way too late to make any offers.

Eventually I found a replacement (from Kansas) that is also in quite rough condition but that is just what I was looking for.

What are your plans with the exterior of the car? Is it going to look nicely restored or staying in rough condition?

[DeathProofCharger]

What are your plans with the exterior of the car? Is it going to look nicely restored or staying in rough condition?

At first I thought I would leave the exterior as is but when I saw it in person it looked a lot worse than it did in the pictures (I doubt it would even pass inspection because on the Rh side there are sharp edges, it also looks terrible) so to begin with I'll fix everything that is mounted solid to the car, rear 1/4 panels and rear tail light panel etc. and when I eventually get the money I'll buy new fenders, outer door skins, rims and tires etc.
If you ever find yourself in Vaasa feel free to come take a look.

[Billy832]

Welcome to the site!  Glad to see the young folks getting involved....I agree with the previous posters, restore it as much as  possible to movie specs once you get it running safe and can drive it a little.  Use your computer skills though and so some follow up and try to get the car documents from the movie house or rental company that supplied the producers with vehicles.  If you can get documents that it was used, value goes up substantially.

[DeathProofCharger]

At first it seemed like a good idea to make it the way it was in the movie. It's just that the interior doesn't look all that nice and it's going to be really hard to sell it if it looks like this(see pic). I'll probably have to sell it when i go to study at university in a few years so i don't want to work a 1000 hours on it and then sell it at a loss.

[RallyeMike]

Super cool. I'd suggest tracking back and documenting the Deathproof heritage as much as possible while you can still find people and their memories are intact. Otherwise, it's really just another beat up Charger (still cool).

 

[68X426]

Find Kurt Russell and get him to autograph it.

[kanadanmajava]

At first it seemed like a good idea to make it the way it was in the movie. It's just that the interior doesn't look all that nice and it's going to be really hard to sell it if it looks like this(see pic). I'll probably have to sell it when i go to study at university in a few years so i don't want to work a 1000 hours on it and then sell it at a loss.

I haven't visited Vaasa for a long time but I did accidentally buy an Opel Kadett when I visited there in the last time. Maybe in the next summer I might have some reason to go there again.

The Finnish market is so small that it is hard to get much investments back when selling a car. Restoring it to top notch condition might work but it's going to be expensive.

Are you planning to change it back to '68 or keep it as '69? If you need to change a lot of parts either option should be possible. It was a 383 car but any idea about the options that the car had?

If you are thinking about getting a better grille I might be interested in the old one. Mine has lost the grille and I would like to find a rough looking grille. I was planning to use Road Kill style solution if I cannot find suitably bashed up grille.

[Baldwinvette77]

i dug through my pictures on my pc and found this one, i THINK its of your car, its from death proof, and if you look closely the wheel tubs have been cut out too  

it even looks like the hood is red oxide? 

[1965gp]

There are a couple good old threads on here I just read about your car- I just searched death proof charger on Google and the threads came up. Guys on this site are amazing- really detailed and can probably help track its history.

[DeathProofCharger]

Find Kurt Russell and get him to autograph it.

It'd be cool, probably won't happen though

Are you planning to change it back to '68 or keep it as '69? If you need to change a lot of parts either option should be possible. It was a 383 car but any idea about the options that the car had?

If you are thinking about getting a better grille I might be interested in the old one. Mine has lost the grille and I would like to find a rough looking grille. I was planning to use Road Kill style solution if I cannot find suitably bashed up grille.

It looks like the majority of people would like to see it being built back to the way it was in the movie so that is what I'll do. These grilles are crazy expensive so I won't be able to buy a perfect one, besides this one isn't all that bad, just a bit of super glue and new chrome and it'll be back in tip top condition. If you're building your car on a budget the Road Kill solution is a clean option, in my mind.

i dug through my pictures on my pc and found this one, i THINK its of your car, its from death proof, and if you look closely the wheel tubs have been cut out too 

it even looks like the hood is red oxide? 

That's the one i have in my garage. Scratches matching.

[kanadanmajava]

It looks like the majority of people would like to see it being built back to the way it was in the movie so that is what I'll do. These grilles are crazy expensive so I won't be able to buy a perfect one, besides this one isn't all that bad, just a bit of super glue and new chrome and it'll be back in tip top condition. If you're building your car on a budget the Road Kill solution is a clean option, in my mind.

Good that it might be keeping the DP appearance. If you are planning to keep the car with the movie appearance you should try to keep the bent trim pieces around the grille and do only fixes so that it would look more complete but still nicely bent.

You can buy new repro grille for $1000 but it's hard to find nicely dented that has such interesting background.

Any idea what stunts was it used for? The body is dented but it still looks pretty straight. Did it have any bad damages that might have been already repaired? Or did it still have some remains of the roll cage?

My friend was working for the company that brought the shipping container to Finland which carried the DP Challenger (that has been since popping up in Finnish gatherings). The roll cage was really weirdly cut up. It had been chopped up just below the window line. Since the car returned on the road the rest of the cage has been removed too.

[DeathProofCharger]

Any idea what stunts was it used for? The body is dented but it still looks pretty straight. Did it have any bad damages that might have been already repaired? Or did it still have some remains of the roll cage?

It was supposedly used for interior shots and some exterior shots as well, so i guess Kurt Russell himself has sat in it- I don't have any proof of it though. No damage had been repaired, the roll cage remains were only a few cents.

[kanadanmajava]

Try to find some interior imperfections that could also be seen in the movie. That would verify that it is the same car in some scene.

There wasn't many interior scenes but I guess they might have still used several cars. Is there any remains from possible camera mounts?

[lukedukem]

Try to find some interior imperfections that could also be seen in the movie. That would verify that it is the same car in some scene.

There wasn't many interior scenes but I guess they might have still used several cars. Is there any remains from possible camera mounts?

here is one i found and if you look the roll bar is different....

[Ghoste]

Are the seats different?

[Baldwinvette77]

theres a breif moment in the chase where you can see the top of the drivers door panel is missing, and see green paint, whats your door look like?  


also the charger intro scene has a straight dash bar, and a strange leaf spring setup, atleast to my eyes anyway.

[HPP]

With several different film mules, I don't doubt there are subtle differences between them all.

[Mike DC]

               
Those leaf springs have cheapo parts-store helper leafs bolted on behind the axle.  Very common in TV/movie muscle cars.  "Dukes" used them most of the time. 

Looks like traction bars in the front of the leafs too.



There were multiple closeup cars used in DP.  You can clearly see a different set of tubes under the roof above the backseat in some of the shots. 

[DeathProofCharger]

theres a breif moment in the chase where you can see the top of the drivers door panel is missing, and see green paint, whats your door look like?  

mine has that same race green metallic paint but it's been painted over on the drivers side, I'll be watching the 2nd part again to see if i find something

[DeathProofCharger]

so i re-watched the 2nd part and i think i found something interesting. my car has the LH rear 1/4 window and the little window in front destroyed and i think what happened was that Zoe destroyed them with a steel pipe, the reason why the door window is intact is that it was rolled down in that scene. look at 1h 40 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPjbdiVinWU the exterior isn't mine but it looks like when he is getting beaten it doesn't have the top door trim panel and it is black underneath -> matches with what i have. The seats in that shot are kinda sporty and black looking and are seen every now and then in the movie, that might be the one i have, no way to be sure though.

[Baldwinvette77]

Hmmmm, the steering column doesn't match yours, but i wouldnt be surprised if it was swapped/removed with the rest of the interior. 

[DeathProofCharger]

Hmmmm, the steering column doesn't match yours, but i wouldnt be surprised if it was swapped/removed with the rest of the interior. 

it had been removed, see pic. it came with a steering column but i suspect it was just put there so it could be moved around.

[kanadanmajava]

Do you have idea what's the purpose of the big holes in the firewall? I cant think up anything that might be related to its stunt car background. Camera holes for some unused interior shots from really weird angle?

[Baldwinvette77]

Do you have idea what's the purpose of the big holes in the firewall? I cant think up anything that might be related to its stunt car background. Camera holes for some unused interior shots from really weird angle?

Roll cage access?

[HPP]

its difficult to say what purpose these holes served as one of them has removed the steering column mounting point. Pretty sure that had to be in place during filming to allow the car to be driven. Possibly some quick post production hacks to do some asinine thing to them.

[Mike DC]

     
They could have been mounting lights in those areas to shine toward the actor's face.  Any number of things.  


They deal with props with the mindset that it can all go in the dumpster after the shoot wraps.  Sometimes they hack stuff up to get something done faster.  Etc.  


It's just the nature of the beast in that industry.  They generally aren't lazy or stupid mechanics, they are just working under a different set of pressures.  If your crew stood to get billed $150,000 for overrunning your work schedule by one single day then you might be cutting holes in a raggedy prop-car too.  

Believe it or not they generally treat classic cars more carefully than other props.  Sometimes they end up trashing one car even worse in order to spare another car from being hacked or crashed in its place.  

[ChargerSG]

Cool that it ended up in Åland and then Finland, that old thread about those when they showed up in Sweden...

[ChargerSG]

I thought it all was fishy so i dident buy one, hmm may regret it old thread http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,37863.0.html