What did you do to your car because everyone else did it. What did you not do?

[bull]

This got me thinking tonight when I was vacuuming the carpet in my 68. I didn't put any of that Dynamat stuff on my floor, mainly because it's such the "in" thing to do and I survived well enough without it back in the 80s. There are some things I did because I want to experience more of the old school feel.

But then there are plenty of things I've done to the car that other people did because it either made sense to me or just seemed like the thing to do. A front disc brake upgrade would be one thing I fell in line with but refusing to upgrade to a power brake booster kind of bucks the trend.

Black paint would seem to be a "follower" move but now that there's such a black Charger backlash it's almost defiant to paint one black now. Well, unless it's flat black.

[fy469rtse]

mines hidden defiance, black undercoat "
led lights , none standard exhaust tips and ricer ones at that , photo"s have been posted awhile on my build thread and not one bad comment to tail pipes, happy with that to you guys they didn't look that bad 
I have put the dynamat in because off the noise this will make, different stripes and bonnet treatment, wait till I finish the power bulge bonnet, with turn signals and all,
68 paint treatment to a 69 grill because I just like it, cd player in the dash , shit I paid for the new dash bezels, and don't want to be trying to change cd"s in glovebox or under the dash,
third brake light in rear window, only because I want people behind me to know I'm braking,
I will copy what a lot of guys on hear do because there where solid reasons for doing so,
like the hydro boost brake set up, its got my attention because of vacuum problems,
when I have the money going to convert to the electric head light doors system by charger specialitys,
I think a lot of the things I have done were common on here to just update and modernize these cars where they needed it , lights , electrics, etc, brakes   

[dodgey68]

Camaro spoiler,, because I liked it,, and it hides the front suspension/k-frame

[six-tee-nine]

Funny you mention the black paint.
When i first started my restoration I decided it should be black..... Today black would be the last thing I want because everyone paints their black.

I'm istalling subframe connectors because everyone says to do so on a full resto. I wont notice the difference since I have never driven my Charger before the restoration.

[Ghoste]

I suppose one thing I did because everyone did it was to put really wide tires on it.  My first Charger back in the 70's had the really big 14 inch diamter rubber that everyone cool had then, the kind that stuck out past the sheet metal.
As for things I've resisted, adding all sorts of modern power accessories.

[cdr]

the only things i can think of is, replacing trunk drop offs,lower 1/4 patch,rt 1/4 panel,,,,cause they started rusting when the cars got to the dealership 

the way i am doing my car is the way i pictured it before i even owned it,& yes it will be black just like my 1st car that was also a 68 charger.

[tsmithae]

Everything I am doing to mine is to make it be the car I want it to be.  I have learned a lot from the guys here and the guys at the 1970 Charger Registry and this knowledge has led me to change a few aspects of rhe build, but at the end of the day everything is to make it the car I want.  Unless you're a flipper do things that make sense to accomplish the vision you have; be open to new ideas and other opinions because they may have a better way to do what you want or may know a trick to make what you want better.

That being said, I got sold on torque boxes and subframes connectors, mixture of rubber and poly bushings/mounts,  275 rear tires, alt/amp gauge upgrades, headlight relay upgrades, AMD replacement panels... just to name a few.

Things I'm doing that I am doing to buck trends are; raptor liner undercoating with rubberized only in wheel wells and fender wells, keeping my column shift buddy seat setup,  not going with original color combination, no vinyl top, painted tail stripe, to give you a couple ideas.

[Cooter]

Enjoy it because everybody else seemed to enjoying theirs.

[HeavyFuel]

The factory was my example cause I wanted to stick to stock (or nearly stock).   That took a lot of options off the table.

 

What I didn't do:

Paint my numbers matching car the original color...lots thought I should.

Put the original A/C in the car.   Many thought I'd miss it...I haven't.

Shelf my original 14" rims and go for bigger/wider ......the skinnies are working fine.  

Don't add subframes and torque boxes to a numbers car.....I did.

Put a stripe on.   It's a delete car....   .....that MIGHT happen this winter.

[hemihead]

My 73 was a factory 3x Black car but because there are more Black Chargers out there than Camaros I'm contemplating a color change . I am building mine with what works , what makes sense , and what I like . I never cared for what is trendy or what anyone else thinks .

[twodko]

Kept mine true to its VIN.

[Lord Warlock]

about the only thing that I did that was trendy, was to paint the inner fenders and radiator supports black because there were paint chips and a little rustout under the battery, taking all that black paint off a couple years ago was a major pain in the *ss due to the contours of the inner fenders.  I do wish that i had repainted the firewall when i had the engine out in the 80s,but I didn't think ahead that far back in my past, back then it was get the engine in and cross fingers that it will work afterwards.  

I did try to hold trunk rust in check by coating it with fiberglass, that was a mistake, when i pulled up the fiberglass years later, it pulled up a good helping of the surface metal of the trunk with it and the rust was much worse than it would have been if i had left it alone.

I put on wide tires in the back when the car was a driver, the 440 got almost no traction with g70x15 tires, they'd spin all the way through 1st, 2nd and 3rd if I didn't let off, the L50-15s i put on did a lot better job getting traction, they'd still spin endlessly if i wanted them to, but the car would launch better with wider rubber.  When i recently got new wheels and tires,  I got WIIIIDE wheels for the rear, at least the new rubber sits on wheels designed to hold wide rubber now.  

I've kept the car mostly true to the Vin/Build sheet.  I did add the v21 hood treatment just because i liked it, and i was repainting the car myself anyway-first ever repaint of the car.  stripped whole car to metal first.

[John_Kunkel]

I don't remember ever making a car-related decision based strictly on what everybody else does. IOW, "makes sense" over "everybody does it".

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Camaro spoiler,, because I liked it,, and it hides the front suspension/k-frame

Same here. Lots of people were doing it but it just looked so right. I did paint it later to match the body color though, nobody does that.

[Challenger340]

I would never, nor would I ever...put "Big Wheels" on a Classic Car just because the rest of the sheeple do it,
but,
I did give my Classic car a name though....because if sheeple can put stoo-pid looking wheels on Classics....hey..... I guess I can give my Car a faggy name like "Bruce"......which really bugs the Fast 'n Furious I live my life a quarter mile at a time "Big Wheel" crowd.
Maybe "Fred" mighta been better ?

[roger440]

Camaro spoiler,, because I liked it,, and it hides the front suspension/k-frame

Same here. Lots of people were doing it but it just looked so right. I did paint it later to match the body color though, nobody does that.

But it looks so right in white

[roger440]

Didn't paint the car original despite what i was told. Should have been T7, but is a subtley modified T5. Who would actually choose to spend $40K on a T7 car given a choice? T7 might be right, but its awful and unsellable.

Color aside, keeping it factory eliminated and mods such as chassis connectors.

But subtle mods to steering and suspension are in order. I NEED it to drive better than stock

Despite the stock effect, camaro spoilers keep occuring in my mind!

[cdr]

I would never, nor would I ever...put "Big Wheels" on a Classic Car just because the rest of the sheeple do it,
but,
I did give my Classic car a name though....because if sheeple can put stoo-pid looking wheels on Classics....hey..... I guess I can give my Car a faggy name like "Bruce"......which really bugs the Fast 'n Furious I live my life a quarter mile at a time "Big Wheel" crowd.
Maybe "Fred" mighta been better ?

i like your humor!!!   

[68RT440]

Im sticking to stock on my 68. Im painting it black, because that's the color it was originally, and going back with the original dark green top and interior, despite people's reaction to that color combo. I think its going to be pretty neat and unique....

[fy469rtse]

after reading this realised I have forgotten so much that I have done,
chassis connectors , torque box's , braced 8 3/4 rear, rear sway bar, upgraded front,
liked the look of the Camaro chin spoiler so much going to attempt to make one in alloy,
just so it doesn't look like I borrowed any GM product for my car.

[RallyeMike]

There's a backlash against black Chargers?!  Oh, $%#^@, I'm going to more unpopular than ever!   

[Dino]

Camaro spoiler,, because I liked it,, and it hides the front suspension/k-frame

Same here, I followed and installed one myself not just because it looks good, but I was tired of seeing that big, gold sway bar.

Things I did not follow was everything else I guess.  I installed 17" wheels and am installing lots of creature comforts in the car.  I will also get rid of the R/T stripe and replace it with an unmarked stripe but it'll have to wait.  I just don't want anything R/T on my car even though it has a 440 under the hood.

[cdr]

 

[1974dodgecharger]

Enjoy it because everybody else seemed to enjoying theirs.

X2

I put 20s in the rear and many folks mocked it and told what they would of done to mine.  Some didnt even have a muscle car and some were describing their car to me on how my should look like theirs.

[myk]

I would never, nor would I ever...put "Big Wheels" on a Classic Car just because the rest of the sheeple do it,
but,
I did give my Classic car a name though....because if sheeple can put stoo-pid looking wheels on Classics....hey..... I guess I can give my Car a faggy name like "Bruce"......which really bugs the Fast 'n Furious I live my life a quarter mile at a time "Big Wheel" crowd.
Maybe "Fred" mighta been better ?

i like your humor!!!   

Yeah, because a big man who's caught guilty of LYING on a public forum has to resort to name-calling in order to seem humorous and save face.  I'd like to see this funny man question my sexual orientation and insult my car to my FACE, but then again you can't expect that sort of bravery from a convicted LIAR and a name-calling COWARD.

By the way, here's a couple examples of RIDICULOUS "big wheel Chargers" like mine that are clearly just a waste of space on this planet:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/744737/1968-dodge-charger/

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/features/1203phr_1968_dodge_charger/

Now, those two are members here, along with other "big wheel Charger" types-I wonder if that aforementioned insult applies to them as well?