MOPAR JOHNS EK2 SUPERBIRD RESTORATION!!

[farm966]

Congrats! So what did they deduct points off for?? Those guys are way too picky for me...

[hemigeno]

Congratulations, John - some more awesome hardware for all that hard work!

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Congrats. 

[maxwellwedge]

Good stuff - Congrats John.....I know the judging there is very......intense. I understand no one got a gold.
Well done 

[41husk]

congratulations

[Mopar John]

Linda and I would like to thank EVERYONE for the kind comments and thoughts!
Many of you are the same people who helped the restoration with tough to find
original and correct NOS parts. Others notified us when there were hard to find
parts on EBAY. Then there were the ones who commented on the posts and
helped with those details. Last but not least were the ones that just cheered us on!
The Superbird would not be what it is today without all the help!
MJ

[Mopar John]

Good stuff - Congrats John.....I know the judging there is very......intense. I understand no one got a gold.
Well done 

Jim,
To say the judging was VERY INTENSE is a good statement!
There were three of the most knowledgeable guys in our hobby looking over 4 pre-approved cars for 2 1/2 days!
Each with their own line of expertise aided by thousands of pictures and equipment.
They had high powered LED flashlights, a magnet to test filler thickness and a lift to see the bottom.
I have attached a few pictures of the Superbird on the lift to show those hard to see details.
Other than when the Superbird had it's turn on the lift the judges took turns looking at specific items on each car.
I stayed with it most of the show in case it needed to be started, moved or just answer a question.
MJ

[Mopar John]

Congrats! So what did they deduct points off for?? Those guys are way too picky for me...

Congrats! So what did they deduct points off for?? Those guys are way too picky for me...

farm966,
That is a fair question!
First of all there is no other OE judging like this!
I believe they have a base number of points for cars that I think is 2,000.
Then depending what options the car has they add points.
So a Superbird with an auto on the column would go off the base on the transmission
but a Superbird with a floor shifted console would have say 50 more points.
There are no best of show and each car is judged against it's points values.
These formulas and points are the property of the judges.
There are about 20 catagories with their own points values.
So I will list a couple of catagories that we aced.
The Superbird received a perfect score on emblems, stripes and decals 80 out of 80!
ALL of the decals and emblems were period correct NOS parts including the hard to find nose decals!
The Superbird with all the NOS received almost received perfect on the Grille/nose with 59 out of 60!
Now I will list a couple of catagories that we didn't do so well on.
The Superbird did poor on the engine compartment with a score of 172.25 out of 189.
It also did poor on documentation and received a score of 116 out of 132.
That one really hurt and I'll explain why.
We do not have any original dealer paperwork as I was the third owner.
We do not have a window sticker nor a broadcast sheet.
I bought this Superbird 40 years ago and would think that long term ownership should come into play more!
But all I have is a copy of the application for title in Indiana from the BMV where I had to surrender the
previous Illinois title. The Illinois title was used as the bill of sale where all the selling amounts and signatures were!
So I made notes during the show of the items that I found out were incorrect or missing.
The judges didn't have time to come get you and go over each item they found wrong.
So I have my summary and my list of items that I know need corrected.
I am sure that we can fix .7% and score GOLD which was the ultimate goal but we have decided not to go through that again!
One of the items that I almost cut my wrists on was the hood pin lanyards.
I spent a great deal of time searching for original "D" shaped hood pin clips and getting them replated.
Then I get docked for the wrong lanyards that hold them !%^&*()! OUCH!
I am told that the correct ones are crimped with a 4 sided crimp on the ends. Almost a square with rounded corners.
The ones that we had on the car had 6 sided crimps and look like a stop sign shape on the end.
The 6 sided ones are very common and when we got home I checked the ones on the Daytona.
I bought them from a well known expert and they have the 6 sided crimps???
I have since found an NOS pair of the correct lanyards and installed them on the Superbird.
I don't know what the point loss was for the lanyards but we are now 94.3% +!
Enough for now!
MJ

[farm966]

Thanks for the info. I had no idea it was that detail oriented. I tip my hat to you as that is a lot of frustration to go through. You car is beautiful, but to get to the point where you are at now took many, many extra hours and buckets full of cash.

David

[Mopar John]

While all this stuff is fresh in my mind I would like the folks with survivor Superbirds a question.
If you think you have the ORIGINAL rear package tray I would like for you to get a light and
look up above the spare tire through the holes in the package shelf and tell me what color the
insulation is on the bottom of your ORIGINAL package tray?
Maybe you could hold your camera or phone and take a picture?
This information would be most helpful to me and others will be interested!
Thanks! MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                              SUPERBIRD WINS BEST OF SHOW!
After we returned from the Carlisle show we looked at our local car show schedule.
We decided to make our first show the fall car show and swap meet in Valparaiso, Indiana.
There were close to 400 vehicles of all types in a participant style voting.
They award trophies to the top 50 entries along with a best engine, best paint and the best of show.
At the awards ceremony they skipped over our number for the top 50 trophy??
The reason was that they were going to give us that at the end with the best of show trophy!
It was nice to be back home and see a bunch of our local Mopar guys and gals.
MJ

[1970Moparmann]

Congrats!   Move that trophy from the door....it's going to fall and scratch it!   

[Davtona]

Then I get docked for the wrong lanyards that hold them !%^&*()! OUCH!
I am told that the correct ones are crimped with a 4 sided crimp on the ends. Almost a square with rounded corners.
The ones that we had on the car had 6 sided crimps and look like a stop sign shape on the end.
The 6 sided ones are very common and when we got home I checked the ones on the Daytona.

I've been told also John the assembly line correct lanyards have one end that is shiny like stainless and the other end is dark colored. Both ends are not plated the same. Why they did that I have no idea. I don't think I've seen the 6 sided version. Learn something new everyday. The correct 18" Daytona lanyards are hard to find. At least they were for me.

[birdsandbees]

Mine are 6 sided, both ends, and on there when I bought the car in 1989 and no reason to believe that they're reproductions.   

[Mopar John]

Then I get docked for the wrong lanyards that hold them !%^&*()! OUCH!
I am told that the correct ones are crimped with a 4 sided crimp on the ends. Almost a square with rounded corners.
The ones that we had on the car had 6 sided crimps and look like a stop sign shape on the end.
The 6 sided ones are very common and when we got home I checked the ones on the Daytona.

I've been told also John the assembly line correct lanyards have one end that is shiny like stainless and the other end is dark colored. Both ends are not plated the same. Why they did that I have no idea. I don't think I've seen the 6 sided version. Learn something new everyday. The correct 18" Daytona lanyards are hard to find. At least they were for me.

Dave,
Were you able to find NOS ASSEMBLY LINE 18" Daytona lanyards with one end stainless and one end blackened?
MJ

[Davtona]

Mine are 6 sided, both ends, and on there when I bought the car in 1989 and no reason to believe that they're reproductions.   

They may not be reproductions as there probably weren't any in 1989. I would guess they are later issue Mopar lanyards. 

[Mopar John]

Mine are 6 sided, both ends, and on there when I bought the car in 1989 and no reason to believe that they're reproductions.   

They may not be reproductions as there probably weren't any in 1989. I would guess they are later issue Mopar lanyards. 

I agree with Dave's comment above.
Maybe for a short time you could get NOS Mopar replacements?
Then the blackened ends went away and eventually superceded to a different supplier with the 6 sided crimp.
The blackened end might have been an aid for assembly line workers on which end to fasten to the body and the other end for the clip?
I will post some pictures of these soon!
MJ

[bannedbird]

John, we haven't talked in a while. Congrats on the 'Bird - and Daytona restorations. Weren't you close to selling me that 'Tona in the 1980's but I didn't buy it because you wouldn't toss in a spare scissor jack? -LOL.  I feel your pain on that level of judging and the lanyard issue. The 400 mile Cosworth Vega you saw in my garage missed a Chevy Vett Fest Gold spinner because it didn't have the dealer installed front license plate installed.  It was still in the original GM package on the back floor (where it should be). They told me since the car was delivered to an Illinois dealership, it had to be installed to be a "correct" car. I wasn't happy for a few days, but then laughed about it. Never went back to that show and was the last time I took a "judged" car show serious.

Your 'Bird and 'Tona are beautiful. You guys did a great job. Hope to meet up with you in 2017.
-SB Steve - Chicagoland.

[Davtona]

Dave,
Were you able to find NOS ASSEMBLY LINE 18" Daytona lanyards with one end stainless and one end blackened?
MJ

Yes John I have a set. From my records it looks like it was an September of 2014 Ebay purchase. I haven't pulled them out of storage yet but my notes on them state: "Assembly Line Correct One End Black 18" Cables" So I am real sure they are correct. Only about the 3rd set I have ever seen. Gene's car has a set I know. I missed another set a long while back that were in a complete hood pin kit that sold for around $600. That's the problem they are usually mixed in complete kits and they go for quite a bit. The 18" version seems to be a lot harder to find than the 24". I ran across a 24" set a while back at a swap meet. Needless to say I did not argue the reasonable price.

[Davtona]

Maybe for a short time you could get NOS Mopar replacements?
Then the blackened ends went away and eventually superceded to a different supplier with the 6 sided crimp.

John, Here are links to what Mitchell Motors sells. Are these what you are describing? These I think are NOS Mopar parts. These would still be considered NOS. Just not assembly line correct lanyards. It gets maddening doesn't it. Must be some reason we put ourselves thru this.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-71-72-73-74-Challenger-Cuda-GTX-Charger-NOS-MoPar-18-Inch-Hood-Pin-LANYARDS-/401137456454?hash=item5d65a7d546:g:F14AAOxyzHxRMNKA&vxp=mtr


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-71-72-73-74-Challenger-Cuda-GTX-Charger-NOS-MoPar-23-Inch-Hood-Pin-LANYARDS-/361581842351?hash=item542ff50faf:g:etcAAMXQlUNRMNAn&vxp=mtr

[Mopar John]

John, we haven't talked in a while. Congrats on the 'Bird - and Daytona restorations. Weren't you close to selling me that 'Tona in the 1980's but I didn't buy it because you wouldn't toss in a spare scissor jack? -LOL.  I feel your pain on that level of judging and the lanyard issue. The 400 mile Cosworth Vega you saw in my garage missed a Chevy Vett Fest Gold spinner because it didn't have the dealer installed front license plate installed.  It was still in the original GM package on the back floor (where it should be). They told me since the car was delivered to an Illinois dealership, it had to be installed to be a "correct" car. I wasn't happy for a few days, but then laughed about it. Never went back to that show and was the last time I took a "judged" car show serious.

Your 'Bird and 'Tona are beautiful. You guys did a great job. Hope to meet up with you in 2017.
-SB Steve - Chicagoland.

Steve,
Back then the Daytona that I was trying to sell was the B5 car which turned out to be the more valuable one and the one we restored.
Glad your still at it!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                            HOOD PIN LANYARDS!
I took some pictures of all the different lanyards!
The first picture shows 3 sets of lanyards laying on the Superbird.
The pair attached to the car are the recently purchased 23" measured from hole to hole on each end.
These are the correct length and correct 4 sided crimps on the ends!
The other new looking pair is what was on the Superbird at Carlisle and they were NOS!
There are two problems with these. 1) They are the newer 6 sided crimps and 2) They are 24" long.
The last pair are the originals off the Superbird!
They are 23" long and have 4 sided crimps and one blackened end on each.
If anyone has a pair of NOS 23" lanyards with 4 sided crimps and one blackened end I would be interested!
The second picture shows a close up of the original Superbird lanyards with 4 sided crimps and blackened ends on each.
The last picture shows NOS 18" lanyards on the Daytona.
Same story should be 4 sided crimps and one blackened end.
Hope this helps confuse everyone!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                            More On Lanyards!
I have received a couple of PM's on hood pin lanyards.
So I have attached a couple more pictures.
The first one shows that the NOS lanyards that I had on the Superbird were actually 25" long not 24" long as previously stated.
I bought these NOS and were on the Superbird a short time.
Does any one know what the application would be for 25" lanyards?
I would like to sell those to someone who needs them as they are hard to find NOS.
The second picture shows a close up of what the 6 sided crimps look like.
MJ

[Davtona]

                                                                            More On Lanyards!

Does any one know what the application would be for 25" lanyards?

Section 15-11-78 in the 70/71 parts book references a 26" cable. #3579673 is the part number for the whole hood pin package and it references 1971 cars R & W. (B Bodies) I believe the 25" actual length is called out as 26" in the hard to understand at times parts book. Also I remember hearing the longer 25"/26" cable possibly has a 70 Coronet application. Maybe someone can confirm or deny this application.   

[odcics2]

Hey guys, I think I have a set or 2 of NOS assembly line Daytona 18" lanyards.  I'll look for them...