My Charger is home!!

[Zentelis]

After 8 months in the body shop, she's home
It felt good when the tow truck guy lowered her off the bed and back into her bay where she belongs

I have to send out a HUGE thanks to Bryan (Mopar440+6) for supplying me with most of the new sheet-metal. Quarters, wheel houses, rear valence, new trunk lid, tail-light panel, and I know there was a bunch of other stuff, too. It all worked out great! (Thanks again, man!) 

What was done: In short, it has a new rear-end. In the pictures below, you'll see just how much was replaced. Just about everything except the frame rails.
Yes, there are 2 different primers on the car. I couldn't afford to have them do the entire car because there's a lot of rust and grime and old dry-rotted seals and things that need to be ground out before I can prime the rest of the car. But, I have the primer that they used and will be re-doing the rest of the car myself for now. And later, when I'm better at painting, I'll redo the whole thing.
Additionally, they sprayed the underbody, trunk, etc with rubberized gunk to prevent rust and protect the new sheet metal..he also painted the interior of the trunk with a dense material (I forget the name) for free because he felt bad for having it so long! (they're an insurance shop and had quotas to meet all the time)
The great thing is, even after all the extra work they put into it, he only missed his _original_ estimation by $90!! I thought for sure when he sent me the bill that there would be an extra $500 or $1000 on it!


Some of these pictures are almost sad..they certainly scared me when I saw the car in person :p

So, without further boredom, here are the pics. The last 4 I just took a few minutes ago.

[Blakcharger440]

Vey nice! Now that is great progress! Keep it going and keep everyone up to date!

[BMOTOXSTAR]

How much did all that cost, if you do not mind me asking? No parts or sheet metal, just on the body work labor?  I was curious to if I was getting ripped or not on the body work on my Charger. I really do not mean to insult you by asking the $.

[69bronzeT5]

How did that damage happen anyways?

[hemi-hampton]

You should have had the Trunk sprayed original Color, Looks like B5 Blue. LEON.

[TripleBlackGator]

My hats off to you for taking such a sorry shape Charger and bringing it back to life. There are some around that would have just rattle canned it orange, slapped a few decals on it and jumped it off a ramp all the while swilling beer with their kinfolk, starring slack jawed, as it came crashing down. (that's all that car's  in the condition yours was are worth or so I am repeatedly told.)  I wouldn't even care if you gave it a slick orange paint job and applied some decals. Just don't jump the damn thing. Promise?

[Silver R/T]

great progress, looks great

[PocketThunder]

How did that damage happen anyways?

if i remember right he was rolling it out of his garage without a drivetrain or brakes and the car kept going and ran into a tree!  

[terrible one]

Looks like they did some pretty nice work. I remember the thread way back when the damage occured. Congrats and good luck with the project!

[Zentelis]

The damage occured from a stupid mistake and a tree.. (rolled it out of my garage with no brakes).

However, there was a bright spot..it was determined that _everything_ in the back was rusted through..the valence panel broke into a pile of rust. The trunk floor was already gone, but the quarters were very rusted (and 1 had already been replaced).
The body shop told me the back end of the car wouldn't have lasted 5 years in the shape it was in and I'd have to get all this repair done anyway.
It just happened a lot faster (and much more traumatically) than expected.
Not only that, we found out the rear-end had already been pushed in..it wasn't noticable because everything was pushed in uniformly, but when they went to put the bumper back on the new body, it was very obviously bent. (The bumper wasn't on the car when I hit the tree).

The rust was so bad that the frame-rails took the majority of the impact..they kinked pretty bad, but are otherwise solid. They straightened them out with no trouble.
Here's what they were like:




As for the cost, it was high, but he walked me through every step of the process with good detail (I went out there in person whenever they made some progress). Everything in the rear-end is sealed against rust, now..every body panel joint was reinforced and sealed.. he said if i decided to back into a tree again, the tree would go down this time
I paid a lot, but I honestly feel like I got my money's worth. I'd rather not disclose the amount, though, I hope you understand!

[ck1]

You should have had the Trunk sprayed original Color, Looks like B5 Blue. LEON.

I'll guess QQ1 blue for 68

[Charger_Croatia]

I agree with TripleBlackGator. That was amazing thing to do. 

[wetfeetmi]

 Thanks for the pics. I am blown away that he could straighten that mess out. He must qualify as a master in his trade, because the average person would consider it a total with all the frame rail damage. Take care and good luck with the rest of the restore.

[dodgecharger-fan]

Great progress! That's amazing work.


Thanks for posting that. Now I don't feel alone in my insanity. 

j/k I can relate completely with some of those pictures.....