My Charger

[MoparManJim]

Okay, in the next few moths I will be starting to posting photos of my charger in this thread as I start to work on him. Now let me say first off, he is in some what bad shape right now.. and needs alot of work done to him before he even sees the road again. This will make my 2nd charger I had. I already have a paint color pick out for him as well and everything. I know his past some what also. He does need total interior restroration work done. I will be doing all the new door panels top and buttom's and seat uplostery work myself on him. I will be redoing the dash pad also myself. Fixing the dash back up and going with after market gauages though. Doing my own wiring on it him as well and also all the sheet metal work to.  He has no rear end or rear at all almost right now., he has no rear frame rails at all either so I am making those as well myself out of steel. He does have afew bad spots on the floor in front that I will need to cut a path into but nothing major though plus a slice on the firewall I will need to repair as well. I am planing to run a 318 in him, no none of the high end motors like you all run in you all chargers. For me the 318 will be just fine and work just fine as well for me. But the interior will be kapt some what stock BUT yet also modified also. The rims I'm thinking along the lines of either steel wheelies, 5 sloted mags, or the 10 spoke mags. The wheels I plan to try to keep in the 7 inch wide range all around area. I will be doing mod's to the supension also but I'm not going to say at this time just what though. But I do plan on adding afew skid plates     

[tan top]

cool stuff MMJ  , lets see pictures  !!  got to be slots mmm slots 

[MoparManJim]

I also for got to mention before, He started out as a '68 charger, then later was converted over to a mix of a '69 charger also.
To what I know so far, he was used in at least 2 films way back in the day (I won't release there names just yet). The first one he was in white primer and afew other color primers.. It was a horror film. He was only used in the one scene area and that was it. The scene layed out at night with a guy coming down a road to a dinner with his head lights on and doing a spin out in the parking lot and then waiting for his girlfriend to come out from work at the dinner. Then later on years later he was used again doing a daylight drive by shot in a family movie and in another primer coat of many different primer colors with sloted mags on and again only used in afew scenes and that was it. He also did some events in his past and used as a stunt car as well to what I have found out before he was parked and setted for a very long time (sense 1995). The car is not a number matching car at all.. and is far from being original also, he had been modified afew times back in the day. The quarter skins has been replace at least two times in his day and I got new ones with him also. When I got him he was a mess and dirty as well and was like a big puzzle.  

[Grim Jhaixus]

Except for the years, I'm almost jealous. He sounds like a neat car, but then again I just love going from one end to the other and trying to imagine how these cars must have earned their scars. Please post some "before" pics!

[doctor4766]

Yep, definately some pics Jimbo!!
And you don't have to feel bad if the car's not up to scratch yet, a lot of our pride and joy cars started out with us as project cars. Some worse than others for sure.

[nvrbdn]

yea jim, love to see the car as it sits before you start at all. feed me seamore 

[MoparManJim]

yea jim, love to see the car as it sits before you start at all. feed me seamore 

Well, I have already started working on him alittle afew months back. I haded him for afew years now, just hardly ever talked about him to much was all. The road work ahead for him is alittle long, from the back seat area back needs all replace and I will be doing alot of faberaction to get him into shape. I will have to remove the front clip to prep things.. make some cool modifications to him as well that will be under his skin.. I am going to rebuild him to be driven hard on and off road you can say. He will be built like a driver show car, off road vehicle and also a stock car in a way. You all like the way I build model cars and always adding much detail to them, well let's see what I can do on a full scale one for once.   

For the interior, he has both an a consol shift and also a colum shift as well. He has buckets or had bucket seats. I'm thinking about making a bench seat and making a consol that would be fitted in the center to line up with the seat but not attach to it though. Have the bench seat where the sides would be like the buckets and tilt forward so the people can get in the back seat area. The interior will be tan marine vinyl all hand stitch by me. Yes I do sew as that is one of my talents I also have.   

[MoparManJim]

Yep, definately some pics Jimbo!!
And you don't have to feel bad if the car's not up to scratch yet, a lot of our pride and joy cars started out with us as project cars. Some worse than others for sure.

Okay, I have to ask this, are you talking about pic's of the car from the films it was in back in the day or as it is today? 

This car had lived afew different lives back in the day so it has been through alot to what I understand.. and now days doesn't even look like it once did back then.   

[skip68]

Pics Jim...   I think a real deal full scale car may be easy for you since you have an eye for detail.   Look at it like a BIG model and you will be fine.    Any chance the color might be orange .                       

[drifter69]

Hey, Jim I don't know if you already mentioned but I have always been curious how someone decides wheather there car is a girl or a boy and I noticed you refer to your car as him. I am waiting till my car is on the road before I give it a gender, what is him's name if you don't mind me asking? I have three year into my car so far and I can't wait to name it. Been thinking of names keeps me into it.

[Khyron]

all cars are Girls, because on a cold morning, no matter how much you need em, they just won't turn over

[MoparManJim]

Pics Jim...   I think a real deal full scale car may be easy for you since you have an eye for detail.   Look at it like a BIG model and you will be fine.    Any chance the color might be orange .                       

Like I told a friend of mine  last month when I told him I was plan on tackling the charger in the spring BUT doing the interior stuff during the winter though. He looked at me and said well, knowing how well you can build models all the time, just think what the full scale will look like  .  But when I told him how I was plan on building the charger, I think he saw a ghost or something as he had that strange look in his face. I told him I was going to chop the car up alittle to get him into shape right to how I want him to be. I told my friend it will be like I am working on a model but just full scale though and instead of using glue I will be welding. About the color you ask, you are very hot. 

[Grim Jhaixus]

Scars is all that is man, and cold days are the ones he runs best.

Also, he doesn't complain about my car parts spending habits, or how much time I spend in the garage, or how I always have engines on my mind...

[MoparManJim]

Hey, Jim I don't know if you already mentioned but I have always been curious how someone decides wheather there car is a girl or a boy and I noticed you refer to your car as him. I am waiting till my car is on the road before I give it a gender, what is him's name if you don't mind me asking? I have three year into my car so far and I can't wait to name it. Been thinking of names keeps me into it.

Well I can't answer this for everyone about how they name there cars base on things, but only from my stand point is all though. To me, I call him a him because and due to his past and what he once was. My car has two names well one name and one nick name, when I talk to people I reffer to him as "The Charger" which is his nick name. I won't say yet what his real name is really that I call him is but it's pretty good name that shoots him very well and it's not your every day name you would hear either probably.       

[MoparManJim]

all cars are Girls, because on a cold morning, no matter how much you need em, they just won't turn over

Okay smarty, how about trucks? they are the same as a car, but instead they don't have a trunk they have a bed.

[drifter69]

Fair enough, I don't have a name yet, I am hpoeing the car will somehow present one for me. I just hope it is not through a bad experience.

[MoparManJim]

 Okay I have some screen caps from the one horror film he was in back in 1985. The other film was in 1992 and the film was a family movie. But he also lived a life before the 1985 film doing other things and also after the 1993 film too and then around 1994 or 1995 he was parked to what I understand as he took a back end hit on the rear frame area which took it out leaving him without a rear frame or back end area and he also took on alittle bit of front end issues as well along with the sides some what. The driver door also sangs to when it's open and when I go to close it I have to pick up on the door handle to raise the door up to close the door right. All this stuff is stuff I can fix though.   

[MoparManJim]

Okay, I am having issues with photobucket again. I  really am starting to hate there new lay out alot    

Here he is as I understand it in the horror film back in 1985 during his 2nd life.
 
 





As I understand it, I guess he got his '69 tail panel later in around the early 1990's along with some other stuff added before I guess he got his 3rd paint job which was only primers for when he did some events and then set with no headliner.. then he landed a small role in another film which was a family film. This time around he had miss  match rims on.  
Then to what I heard after that he went through more stuff in around a year and a half  (1993 to mid 1994 early 1995) where he took another hard hit on his rear frame that took him out and he was parked. He was repainted in primers again some where in around 1994 as the other owners was going to fix him up but lost interested in him though and said it would be to much work to save him and just letted him sit.. they said they was going to haul him to the scrap yard just to get him out of there way.

I gave him the head liner last year as I got tired of looking at his skull    
Here he is in 2009 as he sits with his '69 tail panel.









He has all kinds of miss match stuff on him anymore. Like I said before, he's not a number matching car at all by a long shot. But he is a charger and I am going to do what I can to save him.    

[Grim Jhaixus]

Yep, I'm jealous, he looks experienced! Battle-hardened even!

I still don't like his year but I hope you get him rolling again soon!

[tan top]

    thats going to some fabrication  going in there MMJ  ,  good stuff !! you going to put a 68 tail light panel back in !!

[MoparManJim]

   thats going to some fabrication  going in there MMJ  ,  good stuff !! you going to put a 68 tail light panel back in !!

I'm going with a '69 one, I don't have tail lights of '68 but I do how ever as you can see have '69 ones, so I'm going with a 69 tail panel. I might even remove the one that is in it now and rework it after I get the whole tail end done that is. The deck lid right now is welded shut to hold things into place  . I have wheel wells from a 1974 Ford LTD that I am going to take and strip down and do some fabrication on and use on the charger, The rear seat floor pan that the rear seat mounts to is from a LTD I think  , I have the original floor mounts for the charger seats that are still on the front portion part of charger floor. It's just the floor pan and back was gone really when I got the car.. and sense my one cousin has a yard with old none running cars and trucks (1980's and up) that he used for parts, he helped me out with certain car pieces that was close to what I could use in metal wise. You see even he is a charger fan and likes to see old chargers come back but he said like his brother said, they don't know if I can bring this car back due to the shape it's in. He didn't have any charger parts as in metal wise and he knows I'm good at fabrication stuff (that is where my some of my newer model car building skill's comes from) he ask me if I could use some sheet metal off some of his old junk cars that was up in the field if that would help me out. I told him it would. He told me afew months back if I needed anything else just to ask as maybe he could help me more.

[doctor4766]

Yep, definately some pics Jimbo!!
And you don't have to feel bad if the car's not up to scratch yet, a lot of our pride and joy cars started out with us as project cars. Some worse than others for sure.

Okay, I have to ask this, are you talking about pic's of the car from the films it was in back in the day or as it is today?  

This car had lived afew different lives back in the day so it has been through alot to what I understand.. and now days doesn't even look like it once did back then.  

Well I was talking about current pics mate. Do show more

[MoparManJim]

Yep, definately some pics Jimbo!!
And you don't have to feel bad if the car's not up to scratch yet, a lot of our pride and joy cars started out with us as project cars. Some worse than others for sure.

Okay, I have to ask this, are you talking about pic's of the car from the films it was in back in the day or as it is today?  

This car had lived afew different lives back in the day so it has been through alot to what I understand.. and now days doesn't even look like it once did back then.  

Well I was talking about current pics mate. Do show more

Well, with me, you have to tell me. All you said was just pictures of the car. You didn't say which kinds.   

Now the thing that sucks is I have the one film which is the horror film, but the other film I do not have. It's the early 1990's family film one. To what I know.. in that one he was a more red oxide primer, yellow fender, a gray spot on his rear roof sail panel area and lower quarter skin down by the door edge. The car had no head liner, either at that time. The car was used in two scenes.

It seems all the stuff he done, he didn't have a headliner in anything, just a skull roof inside was all. His interior was a spray tan when I got him that was dirty and smelly also. His steering wheel was also replace it seems with another style one. He has '68 fenders on him but yet 1 '69 tail panel. The grill that is in him right now is a '69 center section. There was a broken up '68 one laying on the front floor board before that looked like it had 4 small holes drilled into it for something. The consol was all busted up and pieces was laying on the floor board from it. The dash was sprayed bombed tan along with his door panels (there shot)and the dash was mostly striped of it's cluster and other stuff. I do how ever have a cluster here that I found in the engine bay, it does need some work though as the fuel gauge, and the other small gauges are missing and so is afew switches.