'69 Charger from Italy

[Mike DC]

I think you have done an awesome job mate, the interior colours look fine to me!....i guess you have to ask yourself, are you making a replica General Lee or a tribute to the General Lee?, if you are happy with the two tone colour then that is all that matters and call the car a tribute car, that way its still a General Lee but has your personal touch to it. Then if anyone hassles you that you got something not quite right you can say "no problem, its not a replica" That's was i intend to do anyway when the time comes. But each to there own and i'm sure some would disagree with me , but keep up the great work your doing, encourages the rest of us GL lovers out there.

Cheers

An accurate replica GL would be embarrassingly rough and barely drivable on the street.  Fan-built GLs are pretty much all "tribute" cars when you get right down to it.  

Besides, it's not worth sweating what other people think about your car anyway, right?     

----------------------------


Pippo702, the car looks great.  You Europeans always do such great jobs on your restos.    

[brigond]

An amazing restoration of a a car that probably would have ended up in the grave.

[Dreamcar]

Beautiful resto!!! 

Just don't jump it 

[Generalkiwi]

I think you have done an awesome job mate, the interior colours look fine to me!....i guess you have to ask yourself, are you making a replica General Lee or a tribute to the General Lee?, if you are happy with the two tone colour then that is all that matters and call the car a tribute car, that way its still a General Lee but has your personal touch to it. Then if anyone hassles you that you got something not quite right you can say "no problem, its not a replica" That's was i intend to do anyway when the time comes. But each to there own and i'm sure some would disagree with me , but keep up the great work your doing, encourages the rest of us GL lovers out there.

Cheers

An accurate replica GL would be embarrassingly rough and barely drivable on the street.  Fan-built GLs are pretty much all "tribute" cars when you get right down to it.  

Besides, it's not worth sweating what other people think about your car anyway, right?     

----------------------------


Pippo702, the car looks great.  You Europeans always do such great jobs on your restos.    

Haha, i guess your right mate, a true replica GL would never pass a roadworthy test in Europe and pass as fit and safe to drive on the road, i guess true replica's could only ever drive on dirty back roads, aka the dukes boys way ! 

[Dino]

I think you have done an awesome job mate, the interior colours look fine to me!....i guess you have to ask yourself, are you making a replica General Lee or a tribute to the General Lee?, if you are happy with the two tone colour then that is all that matters and call the car a tribute car, that way its still a General Lee but has your personal touch to it. Then if anyone hassles you that you got something not quite right you can say "no problem, its not a replica" That's was i intend to do anyway when the time comes. But each to there own and i'm sure some would disagree with me , but keep up the great work your doing, encourages the rest of us GL lovers out there.

Cheers

An accurate replica GL would be embarrassingly rough and barely drivable on the street.  Fan-built GLs are pretty much all "tribute" cars when you get right down to it.  

Besides, it's not worth sweating what other people think about your car anyway, right?     

----------------------------


Pippo702, the car looks great.  You Europeans always do such great jobs on your restos.    

Haha, i guess your right mate, a true replica GL would never pass a roadworthy test in Europe and pass as fit and safe to drive on the road, i guess true replica's could only ever drive on dirty back roads, aka the dukes boys way ! 

My old 68 in Europe was in worse shape than the average GL, but as long as you register it as a classic there is nothing to pass.  As a daily however, quite a different story.   

[pippo702]

Great job there Pippo 

What are the engine and exhaust specs?

Where you live in Italy? I sold 2 of my former General Lee's to your country; one went to Saronno, the other one to Sicily.

I'm from Genoa..I think I know the guy from Saronno who bought one of your G.L.

The engine is a 383 block with a 438 strokes kit and aluminum stealth heads both from 440SOURCE.. On the exhaust we put two FLOWMASTER 40series muffler 3 inches inlet and outlet

[cavemanno1]

My old 68 in Europe was in worse shape than the average GL, but as long as you register it as a classic there is nothing to pass.  As a daily however, quite a different story.   

Unfortunately not all EU contries have the same rule!Hell over here i must have a number matching car or at least a date correct to register as classic!But even then the car has to be like it rolled off the assembly line !In this corrupt country(Hungary) you can do almost anything but register a old car is proving to be rather difficult!

No hijacking intended,sorry!

[six-tee-nine]

My old 68 in Europe was in worse shape than the average GL, but as long as you register it as a classic there is nothing to pass.  As a daily however, quite a different story.   

Luckily alot of that is changing more and more nowadays. To much people taking advance of the system. They drive around to work in a car registered as a classic but they use it for daily use to avoid road taxes and to have cheap insurance.
Here in Belgium fora classic you need to have a car thatsolder than 25 years, working brakes, working lights and the steering needs to be "OK" even if the rust holes are large enough to put your head trough its all right.

If I on the otherhand put a set of Viper brakes on my 100% totally overrestored Charger the guys at the local tech inspection are gonna start whining about it because the car is no longer up to factory specs.
I've had classics on the road for almost 15 years now and I could write books about technical regulations and laws that are too stupid to be in existance...

[Dino]

My old 68 in Europe was in worse shape than the average GL, but as long as you register it as a classic there is nothing to pass.  As a daily however, quite a different story.   

Luckily alot of that is changing more and more nowadays. To much people taking advance of the system. They drive around to work in a car registered as a classic but they use it for daily use to avoid road taxes and to have cheap insurance.
Here in Belgium fora classic you need to have a car thatsolder than 25 years, working brakes, working lights and the steering needs to be "OK" even if the rust holes are large enough to put your head trough its all right.

If I on the otherhand put a set of Viper brakes on my 100% totally overrestored Charger the guys at the local tech inspection are gonna start whining about it because the car is no longer up to factory specs.
I've had classics on the road for almost 15 years now and I could write books about technical regulations and laws that are too stupid to be in existance...

I know it all too well, I used to be Belgian as well.   

When I registered my 68 over there, I could put any type of brakes on the car that I wanted, but once it went through inspection they could not be changed for a different system. 

The whole inspection thing is a joke.  When I just started out in auto body, my boss would send me to the inspection with a pos and an envelope.  Need I say more?

[six-tee-nine]

I know it all too well, I used to be Belgian as well.   

Cool, did you emigrate?

I'd emigrate myself out of this working class raping Europe but you know family, friends and good job is something you dont leave behind in a hush...

[Dino]

I know it all too well, I used to be Belgian as well.   

Cool, did you emigrate?

I'd emigrate myself out of this working class raping Europe but you know family, friends and good job is something you dont leave behind in a hush...

Yes I did, 7 years ago this January.  It was hard leaving family and friends but I have not missed that pit of a country for a split second.  In this day and age with technology what it is, I never feel too far from my friends and family anyway. 

It's a long road to become a citizen here but well worth it.  Irony is a blast though as I now have a Charger that's in real good condition, but we don't have a technical inspection at all.   

[Mr. Lee]

I'm from Genoa..I think I know the guy from Saronno who bought one of your G.L.

The engine is a 383 block with a 438 strokes kit and aluminum stealth heads both from 440SOURCE.. On the exhaust we put two FLOWMASTER 40series muffler 3 inches inlet and outlet

Thanks for the info 

The guy from Saronne is Teo and this is his website; he has a lot of cars: http://www.v8epocar.com/home.htm

[pippo702]

I'm in that moment when you feel you've made a mistake..we reached a ridiculous amount of labor hours and we spent a lot of money we're not going to gain them back if we decide to sell it in an possible future..but I guess this is the story of every restoration..the thing here is that I picked the wrong partner..the body work has been done perfectly,what it lacks in are the details..for example the quarter panels extensions:they were a little off and he decided to cut them to have them fitting better and he did it without telling me..he put an on/off button for the engine ignition and when I told him I didn't like it he said that I was limiting him way too much..I'm willing to sell him my half but I know I'm not gonna get all the money I put in even f he's my wife's boss.
Add too that I've found a great 318 car for 25000€
My wife says that I need to drive it a while to change. my mind..the fact is that I don't
want to..I lost interest in it..the only thing that makes me going to the shop is that when I see it

[pippo702]

..when I see it's curves I fall in in love every time!
Sorry for this but I had to share it..

[Irish Charger]

Amazing work, in such a short period of time. Seemed like such a daunting task from page one I thought, how will this ever be finished?! Nice to see a Charger being restored in Italy. I have a friend in Italy who bought a car from me (Mazda RX-7 FD3S) and done alot of work to it. You guys are deep! Well done! Gave me inspiration to follow my Charger dream..

[Ghoste]

It can be discouraging when you think about the money invested but you should be proud of the progress you made pippo and just keep looking at those lines.  Let the curves keep you inspired.