Bringing it back to factory specs!

[resq302]

That will be a stunning car when you're done with it!!!!!

Well, its a stunning car to begin with. I might not have decided to go all out like this if this car wasn't so rare and so original. Lets face it, how many convertibles do you know of that still retain its original, all of its factory installed sheet metal, and all of its original drive train! My personal feeling is that a car of this unmolested caliber deserves nothing but the best. The fact that supposedly there were only about 50 1969 GTX verts painted the T3 Honey Bronze color, plus as of 2002, only 47 of the 701 total produced still are around makes me want to restore this car just as it was produced.

 

[Budnicks]

Well, its a stunning car to begin with. I might not have decided to go all out like this if this car wasn't so rare and so original. Lets face it, how many convertibles do you know of that still retain its original, all of its factory installed sheet metal, and all of its original drive train! My personal feeling is that a car of this unmolested caliber deserves nothing but the best. The fact that supposedly there were only about 50 1969 GTX verts painted the T3 Honey Bronze color, plus as of 2002, only 47 of the 701 total produced still are around makes me want to restore this car just as it was produced.

just curious, how did you find out how many were actually still left ??

 

[resq302]

We purchased a matchbox sized die cast when they did a Barrett Jackson series when one in a T5 or T7 exterior color sold there back around 2006 or so and according to the stats on that, it said that as of 2/14/02 that there were only 47 left known in existence out of the 701 made. When we purchased the car, the salesman who seemed to know Mopars and old cars pretty well said that there were only about 50 painted in the T3 Honey Bronze color. With the low total production made, and T3 not being a popular color, I'd say that the guy was right.

 

[droptop]

Be very careful when you remove that tape from the chrome strip on the door panels. Don't ask me how I know that.:sick:

 

[resq302]

Well they are made by Legendary so aren't they lifetime warranty?

 

[peresvet24]

Nice work.

 

[resq302]

Just another update on the progress of the car. I was able to get the underside of the trunk painted as well as the rain gutters and jambs for the trunk repainted on Wednesday. Trunk lid was reinstalled on Thursday as well as putting the trunk light and interior panels and seat back in.

Notice the dark gray primer on the front side of the trunk and inside the void on the trunk where the access is for the finish panel speed nuts.



you can see the freshly painted area on the trunk jamb with the older paint (still dirty with a slight film of dust/dirt) but once it was all cleaned up and quick detailed, the paint matched perfectly!





trunk lid installed and aligned.

 

[resq302]

interior going back in. rear cross piece that goes behind the seat and ties the rear convertible door panels together.



rear panels and rear seat back in.

 

[resq302]

since I have some other stuff that needs to be plated, I decided to pull off the carb and pull it apart to get the linkage replated as well. Might as well do everything since the place I am dealing with has a minimum price. Anyway, here is the carb before and after. This carb appears to have been a replaced at one time, possibly a warranty carb as it is dated Apr. of 69 as the car has a SPO date of 10/68. I'm actually glad to be pulling this off and rebuilding it as whoever did painting at one point got redish orange paint all over the lower part of the carb!:soap:







Check out the garf that is inside the carb. This car ran absolutely great before I pulled the carb. We added Star Tron Fuel system treatment to every tankful and we still had this inside the carb. I am pretty sure that this was there prior to us getting the car as we replaced the tank and blew out all of the lines and installed the correct vapor separator too. Hopefully this will make the car run even better once it is all clean. At least we wouldn't have to worry about having any issues after this!

 

[resq302]

With everything else going on, and unsuccessful attempts at trying to find an original trunk weather stripping for the car. I decided to try something unprecedented before. Dad removed the original trunk weather stripping off of the car and while it didn't have the original molded part number on it, he found weather stripping that had the same profile as the original. It has bothered me that all of the weather stripping on the car would have been all original with the exception of this one so I decided to carefully remove the rubberized "skin" off of the foam core for the trunk seal. This allowed me to retain the part that had the molded part number and DCPC logo and other markings on it. The next step will be to adhere the rubber "skin" to new "core". I'll update as that happens also. For now, here is what I had started with. FYI - it took me over 2 days! just to remove the foam core on the old one.

 

[Basketcase]

awsome work!

 

[resq302]

thanks. Its coming but still has a LOT of stuff to do. Really hoping it will be ready for its debut show (after restoration) the week after Carlisle at our clubs National meet.

 

[mahoney0_00_3]

I got 4 road runner ragtops/did you know a hemi car has all convertible bracing? (spring mounts and a plate welded at the rear spring mount)

 

[mahoney0_00_3]

if you need any parts let me know

 

[resq302]

yes, torque boxes and other stuff. helped reduce the flexing / twisting of the body due to the lack of upper unibody "frame" work.

 

[resq302]

View attachment 5298if you need any parts let me know

Will do! Thanks. I also see you are from NJ as well! :cheers:

 

[resq302]

So I was at Dad's house again today and he got some work done while I was at my job this weekend with removing the grille, bumper, and headlights so I could apply the black out to the rad support area since whoever did the exterior of the car was nice enough to leave this the T3 Honey Bronze color. Once we get the satin black color from the paint jobber, we should hopefully get the front end back together and move along to something else that needs to be done.





I also got the console back in the car today making the interior whole again!





I also removed the wiper motor as I am getting a bunch of parts replated with the gold cad plating. The wiper motor is the original to the car to my knowledge and never seems to have ever been restored. Its a shame that the barrel is faded like it is as it is in fantastic shape! If I remember right, the date coding on it is 267 of 1968.



I also got a chance to apply the decals for the trunk jacking instructions and the tire pressure decal and federal requirement decal on the driver side door jamb today too. They were applied in the exact same location as the factory applied them. (Thankfully I took pictures with measurements before I removed the old ones!)

 

[droptop]

I got 4 road runner ragtops/did you know a hemi car has all convertible bracing? (spring mounts and a plate welded at the rear spring mount)

Hemi cars do not have double rockers panels.

 

[resq302]

Hmm, I wasn't aware that there were double rocker panels in the convertibles.

 

[Budnicks]

I love the interior, sweet