body work on my 69 / she's finished!/ *UPDATE 5/25 * PICS*

[nh_mopar_fan]

I said it before, I'll say it again.

Awesome work.

[Blue Pentastar]

excellent job both the pictures and the car. this shows just a small portion of what is gone thru to bring a car back to life. Great job and enjoy the car,

Mike Schrader

[Doc74]

Again big thanks to all for the kind words and as for the jealousy that a flat black charger can give a man, go ahead, let it rumble, I got it too. 

It's going to hurt seeing it drive out and knowing I have the same ride but some 4000 + miles away from me, which at this point feels about the same as not having it at all.   

As for all your cars, sending one over could actually save you a buck since I can work cheap after hours but...I won't have time for it, there's a sixties Sunbeam in the shop now getting a complete rotisserie resto, if anyone wants to see pics of that too lemme know. In the states it's called the Tiger, same body but a V8 under the hood instead of a 4 banger. Cute ride, about half the size of a charger 

Once in Michigan and settled I will, with lotsa noise and fireworks, open my own private little shop in the back, once I got that I'm back in serious biz.
Working saturdays fixing a car on a budget is something I have to do, it's limiting and sometimes hard to do since you need to be careful how far to go with it before budget runs out. It's not always fun but having your best bud working with you does help a ton, I wouldn't want to do is alone.
If I could I would do nothing but full restos the way it should be done and let me tell you, there's not many left who do, forget the custom car and bike shows on tv, the real deal is a few levels higher. BUT who can afford it? I can't remember when I had a guy come up to me and say whatever the cost, make it better than new, it has been a while.
Either it's not worth the money to them or they just don't have it and I understand that, I sure as hell couldn't afford a resto or custom job but I'm hoping there's a bigger market for that in Michigan. I know there's plenty jobs in CA but that's about as far from Mi as I am !
Once settled I'll be doing anything from collision to full restos and customs, cars, trucks, bikes, the works, the stuff I learned to do and love to death, only now it won't matter what it is, it has to be right, my boss would have a fit if I got every tiny dent out of a complete car side, way way faster to hammer it out 95% and finish of with filler but it's not something i like to do, it's a necessary evil.
I don't care how big or tiny the damage is, I need to do it right for me so also my own charger will be something...unique...you'll see.
I always said I'll drive it every day if possible, just like I did the last but I know now that's not gonna be easy in snowy MI  but as long as I use it that much, I just may as well make it my calling card right ?

Our beloved master and servant Troy  only he knows which is most accurate  will very likely be the first to crash his charger through my new white picket fence and since I owe him more than I have space to type for...let's just say he'll finally have what he wants.

NOW on to the big black beast
First the bad news.....the 'clouds' did not fade away, alas. The good news, we don't give a rat's *** since it looks WICKED. 

Seriously, we walked into the paint booth this morning, saw it hadn't changed, altough the sample did before and went like...well..it still looks killer 

As you can see, there's no trace of a trunk lid..well I sorta hadn't had time to finish it so I really hope to get it in paint by thursday to set it up friday and get it out of the shop.
Also the floors, back to front on both sides will be cleaned, sealed and undercoated with new plugs in the floors. then it's a matter of putting the bumpers and lights and other bits on and we are done.

Enjoy the pics

[Doc74]

More

[Doc74]

Last ones for now

[CB]

brrrrrr scary !!!

man it looks killer!!!!

[4402tuff4u]

I like the new gas filler pipe or rocket launcher!! Looks like your fuel capacity will increase too!

kidding aside, it looks phenomenal, very nice and straight body work - looks like the new and improved BAT MOBILE!

[Smoke20]

I LOVE THAT FLAT BLACK LOOK!!!

It's just so bad-ass! I just wish mine was 1/3 as straight as that. You do mighty fine work.

[terrible one]

That looks sooo sick!! Very nice!

[AirborneSilva]

Awesome job Doc 

[myrt70]

Nice work. That came along way.

[BigBlockSam]

looks great. after all the hard times I've had with bodyshops, i would have no problem, trailering my car to Michigan. 

[Doc74]

Here's some more for your viewing pleasure.

The floors have been cleaned, sealed and coated. All plugs have been placed and sealed so now all that's left to do is the underside which we'll do when the exhaust is off.
That too will be welded into something special and then all there's left is paint the trunklid and we're done.

[Doc74]

More

[Doc74]

Last batch

[deputycrawford]

Doc74 I had a question. Where in Michigan are you moving? I am in Toledo, Ohio. My city ends at the Michigan line. I'm at the west corner of Lake Erie. I would love to bring my 69 to you to see when you move here. Let me know, I'm VERY interested.

[Doc74]

Doc74 I had a question. Where in Michigan are you moving? I am in Toledo, Ohio. My city ends at the Michigan line. I'm at the west corner of Lake Erie. I would love to bring my 69 to you to see when you move here. Let me know, I'm VERY interested.

I'll be about 45 minutes west of Detroit so that's about 45 miles south to toledo, not bad 
There's no way for me to know for certain when I'll be in Mi and when and if I could fix or restore a charger, but we'll surely get together and I'll look it over toroughly.

[Doc74]

Well well look at that...it's done..

Last pics, others might be taken when I borrow the charger for a while 

As you can see, the trunklid is painted and on, a new trunk seal would be nice tough, don't forget CB because it's not waterproof like this and the plugs are in.

The exhaust needs to be modified as well but it runs as is. If possible we'll weld one next week and of course pics will be taken.
Now it's not a bad idea to add some fuel cuz I 'might' have wasted most of that today...just checking if the paint sticks...     

[mikepmcs]

 

[deputycrawford]

You have to let me know when you get to Michigan. My e-mail is deputycrawford@aol.com I don't necessary need you to restore it, (although it would be nice). I would just like to drive it there and see yours up close and have you look mine over. I would love to swap info about the different things we do to them. You could also let me know what I could get away with and what needs to be done for my body work. http://www.geocities.com/kc8lbo/  this web site will have pics of my car. It is a straight, clean, Texas car its whole life. It should be a good start. I would love to make the drive to meet another Charger guy and to swap secrets.

[Doc74]

You have to let me know when you get to Michigan. My e-mail is deputycrawford@aol.com I don't necessary need you to restore it, (although it would be nice). I would just like to drive it there and see yours up close and have you look mine over. I would love to swap info about the different things we do to them. You could also let me know what I could get away with and what needs to be done for my body work. http://www.geocities.com/kc8lbo/  this web site will have pics of my car. It is a straight, clean, Texas car its whole life. It should be a good start. I would love to make the drive to meet another Charger guy and to swap secrets.

Ditto to that !
Your email has been added to my list, we'll definitely get together and check your ride, which is gorgeous by the way.
Mine is still in Ohio as well, little further down south than where you are, Troy's hanging on to it and protecting it with his very life ! HA, just had to think about him losing his morning coffee reading this 

Mine will need a full blown resto, top to bottom and will have extensive custom touches, not many optical though so your charger is by far the purdy one here 
Am I correct in assuming you know most if not all history of your charger? So it's unmolested? Can't have a better start than yours, I can tell you that much right now. With CB's car the trouble wasn't as much to make panels from scratch but to remove the previous 'repairs' and get it done right. Same was true for my old 68, a few spots were done real nice, then someone else finished the job and it looked terrible, I don't think it had even 20 inches of straight, untouched panel.

Love your squad car, how many batteries have you got in that thing to feed all that? You got more gear than a loaded Winnebago, altough a hot persuit wouldn't be so hot in that 

So tell me, have you passed your own squad car with the charger to see how fast you were going ? 

[deputycrawford]

     My Charger has had an old repaint in the 70s, it looks like. The drivers rear quarter has been sectioned. Its a great 20 footer. Get close and it looks horrible. It is straight on the passenger side.

     Hazel Zorn took possession of it on August 20th 1969 in Del Rio Texas at Haynes Motors. I believe her daughter, Harrieta, got it in 1988. It was in the family until 2001. I have the dealer delivery card and the build sheet, and a ton of receipts. It might need more than I think. A second paint job scares me but at least its the original color. We will have to get together and look all of our cars over.
     Oh, my cruiser is a 2005. Its my very own issued car so I take care of it. I never go over 120MPH without a cool down period . No, I have never clocked my Charger with my cruiser. I have blown past the Highway Patrol and laughed as they realized it was me. They yelled at me when they saw me on the job next. We all laughed.
     By gosh, keep in touch. Oh, and get in the chat room at night. Some of us were talking about you behiind your back . I think I speak for many of us by saying that we would all like to hear from you in the chat room

[Silver R/T]

looks nice

[Doc74]

     My Charger has had an old repaint in the 70s, it looks like. The drivers rear quarter has been sectioned. Its a great 20 footer. Get close and it looks horrible. It is straight on the passenger side.

     Hazel Zorn took possession of it on August 20th 1969 in Del Rio Texas at Haynes Motors. I believe her daughter, Harrieta, got it in 1988. It was in the family until 2001. I have the dealer delivery card and the build sheet, and a ton of receipts. It might need more than I think. A second paint job scares me but at least its the original color. We will have to get together and look all of our cars over.
     Oh, my cruiser is a 2005. Its my very own issued car so I take care of it. I never go over 120MPH without a cool down period . No, I have never clocked my Charger with my cruiser. I have blown past the Highway Patrol and laughed as they realized it was me. They yelled at me when they saw me on the job next. We all laughed.
     By gosh, keep in touch. Oh, and get in the chat room at night. Some of us were talking about you behiind your back . I think I speak for many of us by saying that we would all like to hear from you in the chat room

Haha glad to hear you guys have a sense of humor about it 
Talking behind my back ? Uh oh...how bad is it...
We'll give the charger a good checkup and see what needs to be done. And while i need to build a name for myself anyway, the estimate's free...depending on the behind the back talk 
Since it's 6 hours later than where you are, my chat hours can be...weird but I'll try to be around when I can,

doc