Here is what $5000 buys you.

[aerolith]

Nice work Kern!

Oil canned panels are a pain doh...

Drill a 1/8 hole in the middle of the the dent and 'mig weld' it closed.

Or start a Caribbean band lol

[Daytona R/T SE]

Those dents do pop out for the most part but easily pop back in. I'm told that this is referred to as an "oil can" condition....guys under 50 probably don't get the reference since oil has been sold in plastic bottles for at least 30 years now.

That white fender would be a fairly easy fix.

Much easier than a rusty one.

The metal has been stretched.

You need to shrink it.


You'll need:

Oxy/Acetylene torch

Hammer and dolly

Wet sponge.

There are lots of you tube videos showing how to shrink metal with a torch.

I watched a few and grabbed a piece of scrap and went to it.

It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Don't waste your money on "shrinking" discs that you put on a grinder or so called "shrinking" hammers.

[hemi-hampton]

besides the stretched metal & heat shrinking sometimes the problem can be as simple as the dent is pulled out but it remains high metal all around the outside of the dent, if you pull it with a stud gun, hold the stud gun puller out as you slowly nock down the high spots around the dent with a body hammer, sometimes this can prevent the oil canning. if this has already been done & you still have the problem, then you'll have to go to the other alternatives mention. I worked at one body shop that had a heat shrinker gun that worked great. LEON.

[Kern Dog]

Thanks, guys.   

[Kern Dog]

When I bought the car, I got a signed title in the name of a person other than the guy that sold it to me. This happens all the time, no big deal.
Today I went to transfer the title. Here in CA, as odd as it sounds, our DMV actually seems to work pretty well. Most transactions are easy.
First though, the title had the prior owners signature but I thought I should get a legit bill of sale from her. I went to the address on the title. It turns out that she had passed away 5 years ago but I did get a copy of the death certificate.
At DMV, they found that the car was listed as a SALVAGE and to bring it back, I'll need 3 things: A VIN verification by a Peace Officer or DMV official, a brake & lamp inspection and some money.
I'm going to need a trailer!

I did take the car out to the nearby lake to get some cool pictures though....

[ACUDANUT]

Nice work Kern!

Oil canned panels are a pain doh...

Drill a 1/8 hole in the middle of the the dent and 'mig weld' it closed.

Or start a Caribbean band lol

What is this pan this letters on it used for ?

[Kern Dog]

At first, I thought it was a sequence for where to hammer out a dent. Now I am not so sure.

[richf]

That's a Caribbean Steel Drum, musical instrument.  Youtube the instrument and you'll recognize the sounds from various tropical-type songs.

[Kern Dog]

Thank you. It was way out of my scope of knowledge.
Yeah, I know that seems like a loaded admission!

[ACUDANUT]

That's a Caribbean Steel Drum, musical instrument.  Youtube the instrument and you'll recognize the sounds from various tropical-type songs.

Okay, What does it have to do with our Chargers ?

[darbgnik]

When I bought the car, I got a signed title in the name of a person other than the guy that sold it to me. This happens all the time, no big deal.
Today I went to transfer the title. Here in CA, as odd as it sounds, our DMV actually seems to work pretty well. Most transactions are easy.
First though, the title had the prior owners signature but I thought I should get a legit bill of sale from her. I went to the address on the title. It turns out that she had passed away 5 years ago but I did get a copy of the death certificate.
At DMV, they found that the car was listed as a SALVAGE and to bring it back, I'll need 3 things: A VIN verification by a Peace Officer or DMV official, a brake & lamp inspection and some money.
I'm going to need a trailer!

I did take the car out to the nearby lake to get some cool pictures though....

I would have thought getting a persons(who's not kin) death certificate would be difficult? 

[Kern Dog]

The lady at the address listed on the title was the mother of the deceased. She had copies and offered one to me. Lucky me!

[70 sublime]

Always always always think it is best to get paperwork straightened out before do anything on a new project car

What would happen if you fix it all up then find out there is an old lien against the title for $10 000 ??
At that point you would know why last guy sold it 

[Kern Dog]

Thanks. I do agree for the most part.
The guy that I bought it from is a guy that I have known for 11 years. I still talk to him to this day.

[Kern Dog]

I can't believe that it has been so long since the last update.
I've made some progress and am getting close to having it registered and insured to legally drive on the street. I put a horn in it, got the wipers working, fixed the license plate light and installed seat belts.

[Kern Dog]

There are no immediate plans to paint it but I wanted to get the bolt on parts looking better.
The drivers door had a hard kink in it along the edge. From what I could tell, the driver must have hit something and in doing so, both fenders were pushed back. The driver must have forced the door open, bending both the door and fender. I suspect that this black fender was on the car at that time.

[Kern Dog]

First up was to replace the door. Oddly, the orange door closed okay.

[Kern Dog]

Boom.

[Kern Dog]

Sometime in the past, the lower hinge was replaced.

[Kern Dog]

The car has led a rough life.
Have you seen cars on the road with different colored fenders and doors that are also bent? You know.....someone wrecks the car, replaces parts and then wrecks again?
Yeah....it happened to this car just like that.
It came with a maroon RH fender that was not on the car when it was last wrecked BUT this twisted valance was.

[Kern Dog]

Going way back to 2019, I did straighten it out some...

[Kern Dog]

A helpful guy on the 1970ChargerRegistry sent me a cutoff section of a valance he had that was damaged on the opposite side.

[Kern Dog]

.....AND just because I wanted to see if I could do it, I merged the two.

[Kern Dog]

Back to 2023.

I had three doors up the hill. This green one was the best of the three but someone ripped the handle off, requiring some repair.

[Kern Dog]

The panel gaps look good.