Sent my ‘69 Charger 1300+ miles for body/paint work! (Updated!)

[rikubot]

A couple years ago I sent my car off for new quarters, roof skin, trunk drop downs, valance and a few other things. I paid up front and got the car back with a lot to be desired. I was told the metal work was finished, but you didn't have to look closely to see that it wasn't done right. Fast forward to now: my car is currently at Harrington Classic Car Restorations in Asheboro, NC (1300 miles away, I live in Colorado). I've been watching their page on Instagram for over a year now and I am blown away at the level of detail in his work. So far I am very happy with my experience with the shop and Kevin, the body/paint Wizard. He posts updates almost everyday of the work he is doing. Definitely a workaholic.

[Mopar Nut]

Looks good. Where's the before pictures?

[rikubot]

The first photo is the state of the car as my dad bought it. It's had a few changes since then but nothing major to the body. The picture of the valance corners are from after I got it back from the first body shop. Notice anything wrong? Lol. The next one is the car getting loaded for the trip to Asheboro and a few from Kevin's Instagram going over the car trying to decide how he's going to fix what the other shop did wrong.

[rikubot]

I've got quite a few pictures to share from Kevin at the shop. A lot of progress has been made on the car.

- He has fixed the areas where the trim didn't fit well (both windshield and rear window)

- Filler the seam between the quarters and rocker panels with patches

- He got the doors gapped and perfect

- The passenger side door got a piece grafted in from another door because of a rust issue

- He filled in the sail panel seam with a strip of metal and welded it in

- The unibody has been sanded, epoxied, body worked and primed

- The deck lid has been body worked and primed (it was in poor shape)

I also want to note that the body was in really rough shape both from the previous work and 50 years of a hard life. We are still looking for a rear bumper for it before he can finish fitting the new tail light panel and fixing the valence corners. Super exciting stuff! 

[rikubot]

Some more photos:

[rikubot]

And a few more:

[JB400]

Looks good. Somebody had fun with the decklid.

[1970Moparmann]

Yet another story of bad work at a shop...   Hope you got some of your money back!   Glad you found a good shop!

[AKcharger]

When you have the $$$ and don't mind car gone for a long time., thats definatly the way to go!!

[rikubot]

Yet another story of bad work at a shop...   Hope you got some of your money back!   Glad you found a good shop!

Yep, another one. I can tell you which shop in Littleton, CO to avoid. Sadly I'm not looking to pursue any recourse. I figured it would be more trouble than it's worth. I'm very happy to have found a good shop, even if it was halfway across the country 😜

[rikubot]

When you have the $$$ and don't mind car gone for a long time., thats definatly the way to go!!

I could never do what this guy does. And he's faster and more affordable than I expected! I'm pretty certain that he will be finished before I have my engine ready and I've got a lot of little things left to do that are going to add up in cost which will slow me down even more.

[70 sublime]

I did not go back through the whole thread
Did you ever say what colour you are going to paint your car ?

[rikubot]

I did not go back through the whole thread
Did you ever say what colour you are going to paint your car ?

I don't think I did. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the B5 blue, but I haven't ruled out others if you have suggestions or pics. There's a nice turquoise that was really rare for '69 that I really like too 🤔

[CDN72SE]

I also had to get a second shop to fix/continue what the first shop didn't.

God luck with the resto. 

[70 sublime]

I did not go back through the whole thread
Did you ever say what colour you are going to paint your car ?

I don't think I did. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the B5 blue, but I haven't ruled out others if you have suggestions or pics. There's a nice turquoise that was really rare for '69 that I really like too 🤔

Q5 ?

That is what my 69 was originally
Think I am going to paint mine F6 green 

[rikubot]

I did not go back through the whole thread
Did you ever say what colour you are going to paint your car ?

I don't think I did. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the B5 blue, but I haven't ruled out others if you have suggestions or pics. There's a nice turquoise that was really rare for '69 that I really like too 🤔

Q5 ?

That is what my 69 was originally
Think I am going to paint mine F6 green 

Yes sir. It's even hard to find pictures of it online. So you're wanting to change it up to F6? Mine started at F8.

[rikubot]

I also had to get a second shop to fix/continue what the first shop didn't.

God luck with the resto. 

Sorry to hear that! Such a bummer. I appreciate it though, I'm gonna need it! So many little things I still need that will add up. And the engine still needs rebuilt!

[rikubot]

Looks good. Somebody had fun with the decklid.

Yeah, looks like somebody had a ball peen hammer and an afternoon of boredom XD

[rikubot]

Here's an update from the body shop:

The brand new AMD hood has been stripped and primed. Thing is looking goooood 

[rikubot]

Couple more:

[AKcharger]

nice! wonder why they felt the need to strip hood?

[rikubot]

Some of those AMD panels have been known to have some surface rust under the e-coat from time to time. Better safe than sorry!

[AKcharger]

  ah! gotcha!

[rikubot]

I meant to say *under the e-coat* lol. Corrected.

[rikubot]

Setting the fenders on gettin ready to do some body work on them: