DePouli's 1969 Charger 318

[Brian DePouli]

Finally off to the paint shop... Back in 3 months.

I had been more or less at a standstill since my last post waiting for my slot to open up.

Now I have room to paint the new headlight structure and radiator plus a couple other smaller pieces I missed the first round of black items.

I will attempt to complete some stuff while the car is at the shop like get the whole headlight/grill assembly complete and maybe the instrument cluster. But have a feeling I am gonna be spending more time on my Buicks than anything else.

 

[Paul Boucher]

Good too see it moving forward. May be slow but it's in the right direction!

 

[showard]

Finally off to the paint shop... Back in 3 months.
View attachment 606312
I had been more or less at a standstill since my last post waiting for my slot to open up.

Now I have room to paint the new headlight structure and radiator plus a couple other smaller pieces I missed the first round of black items.

I will attempt to complete some stuff while the car is at the shop like get the whole headlight/grill assembly complete and maybe the instrument cluster. But have a feeling I am gonna be spending more time on my Buicks than anything else.

Exciting!

 

[Brian DePouli]

Shop got everything bolted back on.

Gonna go for replacement fenders and quarters replaced way back need some love relative to the doors

 

[Brian DePouli]

Sorry for the lack of posts...just kinda in a hurry up and wait scenario.

The shop said it would be cheaper to get repro fenders so I ordered some. The passenger side came in a few weeks back but the drivers side has been back ordered. YO says maybe next week. Without the fender we cant line up the door which need to be lined up so we can adjust the fronts of the 1/4's so all the gaps are right all the way around. The shop is supposed to be making some progress at the back of the 1/4's and now on the pass. side but I have been a bit busy so I haven't stopped by to see progress, nor asked for photos. in the mean time I've been stock piling repro parts. Mostly big stuff that needs to be shipped, bumpers, front to rear brake and fuel lines, AC condenser, etc. The smaller stuff i will place an order for soon and just pick up at YO when I occasionally visit my HQ nearby.

Hopefully we will get that fender in and then we can get cranking again.

 

[oldbee]

Sorry for the lack of posts...just kinda in a hurry up and wait scenario.

The shop said it would be cheaper to get repro fenders so I ordered some. The passenger side came in a few weeks back but the drivers side has been back ordered. YO says maybe next week. Without the fender we cant line up the door which need to be lined up so we can adjust the fronts of the 1/4's so all the gaps are right all the way around. The shop is supposed to be making some progress at the back of the 1/4's and now on the pass. side but I have been a bit busy so I haven't stopped by to see progress, nor asked for photos. in the mean time I've been stock piling repro parts. Mostly big stuff that needs to be shipped, bumpers, front to rear brake and fuel lines, AC condenser, etc. The smaller stuff i will place an order for soon and just pick up at YO when I occasionally visit my HQ nearby.

Hopefully we will get that fender in and then we can get cranking again.

Just like the military- hurry up & wait. It’ll happen, keep the faith.

 

[Brian DePouli]

So next week just turned into 90 more days from AMD to YO...so we decided to use the OEM fender and cancel the repro. Shop hasn't made much progress waiting on the fender, but I place an order for a bunch of repro, most that are in stock... so when the car gets back to me I'll be ready to do fuel, brakes, etc toward having a running moving vehicle again.

 

[Don selleck]

You're better off using the original, I waited over 4 months for mine,

got it on and shot some 2k primer on it and center body line was stamped with a curve in it so it was 3/4" lower where it met at the door, so that means I bought it after its primed. So they hammered and dolly for a several hours and worked it back to where it needed to be, would have been easier to patch up the old fender I had, but I did learn some metal working technics. bottom tape shows where line was and top piece shows where it was supposed to be. School is expensive. good luck!

 

[Brian DePouli]

So I finished restoring the instrument panel...

Shop hasn't made any progress on the body but hired some more folks...fingers crossed

 

[moparnation74]

So I finished restoring the instrument panel...
View attachment 654652
Shop hasn't made any progress on the body but hired some more folks...fingers crossed

Well done!

 

[showard]

So I finished restoring the instrument panel...
View attachment 654652
Shop hasn't made any progress on the body but hired some more folks...fingers crossed

Instrument panel looks very good. It looks brand new. Good work!

 

[Brian DePouli]

I had 2 days stuck in the house while Florence came through so I tried to be somewhat productive.

 

[Brian DePouli]

Finally making progress.

Hope to have it in primer this weekend and color early next week. Then they will put in the front and rear windshield and then it comes back to me for assembly... excited. Ordered some more stuff from Classic Industries that will be here soon and have enough in hand to stay busy for a while.

They had to cut a section of the old fender and weld it into a section of the repro fender to get the gaps right. You can see it in the one photo. They've been struggling a bit with the repro quarters that we're put in 15+ years ago in a less than perfect way, but I think they got it pretty close now.

 

[threewood]

Looking very nice!!

Don't let them put the front windshield in before the dash frame goes in, it could get sporty.

 

[Brian DePouli]

Dash is already in

 

[moparnation74]

Finally making progress.

Hope to have it in primer this weekend and color early next week. Then they will put in the front and rear windshield and then it comes back to me for assembly... excited. Ordered some more stuff from Classic Industries that will be here soon and have enough in hand to stay busy for a while.

They had to cut a section of the old fender and weld it into a section of the repro fender to get the gaps right. You can see it in the one photo. They've been struggling a bit with the repro quarters that we're put in 15+ years ago in a less than perfect way, but I think they got it pretty close now.

View attachment 677403 View attachment 677404 View attachment 677406 View attachment 677407

Very exciting.....Getting close Brian.....Appears they are doing a great job......

Even if you had NOS 1/4's, fenders etc....They require a lot of work to get right......Most folks think NOS sheetmetal fits beautifully...and it does not but they quality of the metal is better but these days we have no choice.....

Looking forward to see more progress...

 

[Brian DePouli]

Primed and guide coat ready to be blocked out

 

[showard]

This is fun to see!

 

[Brian DePouli]

It's BLUE!!!!! So excited!!!

 

[Don selleck]

LOOKING GREAT!