AWB Wagon Build

[Polara Pat]

So I've been planning this build for a few years now but needed to collect parts and finish off other projects before diving head long into this brute. The plan is simple really. Build a fairly period correct AWB wagon that needs to be converted to a two door. Oh, did I mention that the car is somewhat roachy and I dropped a carport on it two Winters ago? Don't worry about that (for now), '64 B-body wagons are bloody rare so I needed to use what I could get my mitts on. The plan to date is 12" move for the rear axle; 6"-8" move for the A-100 axle (relative to the original centerline of the front hubs); replace the roof from a parts '64 Belvedere wagon that we already have that is beyond repair. (good cowl though); new floors tied in with 2x2 sub-frame connectors; eight point roll bar; test mule 440; '65 PB 727; braced 8 3/4 with spool and Moser 35 spline axles; true SS leaf springs Etc, etc. The list goes on but I will try to fill in the blanks as I update this thread. Most people would run away screaming at the thought of doing this project and most days I think they're right. Time will tell.

 

[Endangered Species]

That is COOOOL!

 

[1badgtx]

Dang,looks like an episode of Chop,Cut and rebuild!!!What kind of powerplant is going to get her to move down the track?
Petty Blue 67 GTX

 

[Polara Pat]

Dang,looks like an episode of Chop,Cut and rebuild!!!What kind of powerplant is going to get her to move down the track?
Petty Blue 67 GTX

We'll start with a cast crank 440 with a special Dvorak low compression cam with aluminum heads and a dual quad since that's what we have. Ultimately we want a big inch wedge with a Hilborne. Our first season will be all about chassis tuning though.

 

[Redpolara]

Keep us posted on the progress Pat, don't forget the pics.
I've lowered roofs before.......never thought of using a carport to do it though, sorry Pat....but that was to good to pass up.

 

[Polara Pat]

Keep us posted on the progress Pat, don't forget the pics.
I've lowered roofs before.......never thought of using a carport to do it though, sorry Pat....but that was to good to pass up.

Don't be sorry, at the time it was truly devastating to see but it gave me a bit of insurance money to build a real shop and once I started digging deeper into this crushed roof I realized the real damage. It is by far the worst hidden rot that I have ever seen due to rodent infestation in the headliner and vertical pillars. The repair would have been nearly impossible and taken a long time to make right.
Don't worry, I'm documenting this build very carefully and will share my progress.

Valiant and my other Polara were unharmed.

 

[Redpolara]

Bloody hell Pat, what was the cause of the carport collapse?

 

[Polara Pat]

Bloody hell Pat, what was the cause of the carport collapse?

We get a pretty huge lump of snow every Winter but due to strange melt/freeze cycles that Winter, the snow just never slid from my tin roof. Then one rainy day in April I was watching it as one side slid, I then said to my girlfriend "there goes the carport" but the unbalanced offloading sent the building swaying in the other direction and down on my poor 330. Then I said (for real this time) "there goes the carport" and I hung my head like Charlie Brown.

 

[wannadrag]

very cool project there.

 

[khryslerkid]

Ouch! Cool looking wagon!

 

[dartforforty]

looks like a cool project. good luck with it

 

[65-440]

thats gonna be bad *** when its done !!!

 

[Polara Pat]

We just scored this A108 last weekend and got tons of good bits from it including a complete straight axle assembly, complete 8 3/4 with 3.91s, factory steel battery box, spare slant six and two excellent A-100 seats as used in the factory Hemi and A-990 cars.

sorry about the crappy phone photos

 

[khryslerkid]

Talking about horse shoes! Nice Score

 

[Polara Pat]

Successful trip to see our friends on Vashon Island this past weekend where we annihilated what I consider to be a quite rare car. Even though this car was severely gone, it still made me feel guilty to destroy a factory light weight '63 Plymouth. It was never coming back before we got to it but we really sealed the deal. It did give up it's doors and entire B-pillar assy with side glass for our two door post conversion. We also dropped off our '65 big block 727 for a complete overhaul from their resident guru that we will pick up in the Spring. We now have pretty much all of the pieces in place so we just need to put it all together. A few hundred hours should have it looking pretty good, I figure. Then I want to make it run and finally make it look really bad-***. Realistically, next Winter for that bit.

That Graham "330 wagon" peeking into this shot.

 

[Redpolara]

Nice score with the parts/donor cars Pat, selling off the leftovers will help fund the project to some extent.

 

[Polara Pat]

Nice score with the parts/donor cars Pat, selling off the leftovers will help fund the project to some extent.

Not too much to sell off really, the '63 is still a parts car for those guys so I didn't take anything that wasn't necessary, the van offered up some descent headlight rings and tail lights and I still have quite a bit of '64 Plymouth stuff from the Belvedere wagon that we chopped. I just need time to sort it and I hate dealing with e-bay as a seller.

 

[63wagon]

Yeah buddy...that was a fun weekend! How did you get me in the shot? I'm never in the photo.
Its all coming together....

 

[63wagon]

More photos

Here are a few more shots of the Plymouth tear down.

 

[Polara Pat]

I started a blog for the more in depth, long winded version of this saga. I will still post progress updates here but I'll try to keep the dialogue short so you can just look at the pretty pictures.

http://alteredwagon.blogspot.com/