My 1978 Dodge Monaco 4 door sedan.

[Gary P]

Gary, maybe not cheap but certainly this:

Hawk - perfect lyrics hahaha nice!

 

[Gary P]

Hello guys. It's been a minute. Business has been pretty good, and I've not had time for the car. Today was Memorial Day (Monday) and after a busy day with the lady riding bikes and fixing up her yard, we went to the shop and did a little bit of this...


This rancid old fender from the other week...

Once the new bit was kinda in, I did the usual scribe, bend, notch, grind, pretend I know what I'm doing...

Still a lot of welding left on this patch panel but I was very pleased with the contour that I bent using my hands and a floor jack handle (rolled the metal over it with my weight on it to get the curve). I'm thinking this car will get some more love this week so watch this space.

Hope you are all doing well, guys! Be safe. G.

 

[Kern Dog]

I do like to see you find ways to make these patches!
Nice work and congratulations on the uptick in business.

 

[HawkRod]

Ditto to what Kern Dog said. Nice job fabricating the patches and a good lesson to everyone that sometimes we don't need all the tools, just the determination.

Keep up the good work.

Hawk

 

[Gary P]

Thanks you guys!!!

 

[moparedtn]

I do like to see you find ways to make these patches!
Nice work and congratulations on the uptick in business.

Agree! It's amazing what he's doing with what he has to work with.
Color this shadetree impressed.

 

[Greg Ducato]

You must have been a metalworker in another life because your repairs are amazing for someone with so little experience or specialized tools. You continue to impress

 

[Gary P]

Awww shucks, thank you guys! Your words are very encouraging.

I must exclaim that I have read a LOT of other peoples threads, watched bodywork videos on YouTube, and thumbed through books and magazines to get as much information as I can and try and apply that in a practical way - so all praise should go to them.

I am not always happy with my work, and I am going to find some kind of fabrication course at night school that I can take, because I believe I am still a total hack, and the only reason I'm getting away with this is the low value car I'm working on, and also how pretty pictures look on the internet compared to real life. Sure, sometimes I'm a little proud of myself BUT I absolutely know I need help in all areas, and I want help desperately. I WANT to be amazing at this, because good metal work, to me, is like magic. I want to be good at it.

You guys rock, thank you for still looking at my hack work and being encouraging! I appreciate you all so much!!

 

[moparedtn]

Awww shucks, thank you guys! Your words are very encouraging.

I must exclaim that I have read a LOT of other peoples threads, watched bodywork videos on YouTube, and thumbed through books and magazines to get as much information as I can and try and apply that in a practical way - so all praise should go to them.

I am not always happy with my work, and I am going to find some kind of fabrication course at night school that I can take, because I believe I am still a total hack, and the only reason I'm getting away with this is the low value car I'm working on, and also how pretty pictures look on the internet compared to real life. Sure, sometimes I'm a little proud of myself BUT I absolutely know I need help in all areas, and I want help desperately. I WANT to be amazing at this, because good metal work, to me, is like magic. I want to be good at it.

You guys rock, thank you for still looking at my hack work and being encouraging! I appreciate you all so much!!

You got me covered on the bodywork stuff already. I've never done it; I'm a wrencher by nature.
As with you, I can seriously admire those who are gifted with the metalwork for sure!

 

[HawkRod]

Awww shucks, thank you guys! Your words are very encouraging.

I must exclaim that I have read a LOT of other peoples threads, watched bodywork videos on YouTube, and thumbed through books and magazines to get as much information as I can and try and apply that in a practical way - so all praise should go to them.

I am not always happy with my work, and I am going to find some kind of fabrication course at night school that I can take, because I believe I am still a total hack, and the only reason I'm getting away with this is the low value car I'm working on, and also how pretty pictures look on the internet compared to real life. Sure, sometimes I'm a little proud of myself BUT I absolutely know I need help in all areas, and I want help desperately. I WANT to be amazing at this, because good metal work, to me, is like magic. I want to be good at it.

You guys rock, thank you for still looking at my hack work and being encouraging! I appreciate you all so much!!

Look, I'm not thrilled with the welding I did on my new valve covers for my Road Runner. But I am learning.

What is important is you are building a car, for the love of the car. Isn't that at the core of what this site is all about?!? It may not win some kind of concourse award at a snobby car show, but does it matter? Who gives a **** if the car is not perfect??? It will be pretty damn nice and you will hopefully have a blast driving it and showing it. When I do my drive across country I'll be glad to hook up with you, drive with you and throw a beer or two back! I'll gladly display my Road Runner next to your car!

Keep up the good work!

Hawk

 

[Gary P]

Look, I'm not thrilled with the welding I did on my new valve covers for my Road Runner. But I am learning.

What is important is you are building a car, for the love of the car. Isn't that at the core of what this site is all about?!? It may not win some kind of concourse award at a snobby car show, but does it matter? Who gives a **** if the car is not perfect??? It will be pretty damn nice and you will hopefully have a blast driving it and showing it. When I do my drive across country I'll be glad to hook up with you, drive with you and throw a beer or two back! I'll gladly display my Road Runner next to your car!

Keep up the good work!

Hawk

I absolutely agree with you and I would be honored to do those things with you brother!!

 

[Kern Dog]

A pristine restoration is something to be respected. I have great admiration for those that possess the skill to recreate a factory delivered appearance. Getting the paint to match the factory finish, the bare metal textures, the various markings and labels...it all requires skill.
A Resto-Mod is so much more easy to do. You have blue sky limits on everything. I took the Resto-Mod approach with my red car. I'm going a level much lower with this next Charger. Ratty but reliable. Beat but not beaten. Worn but not worn out.
The OP looks to be having a great time. Since this model is not some billion dollar Hemi car, you have a freedom to do whatever you wish without the guilt or stress of deviating from an original type style or design. This can be equally rewarding as a OEM restoration partly because you have no regrets about what modifications that you do.

 

[Aeronet]

Can't wait to see it finished. Not many people appreciate the later '70s B and R bodies. The '75 Cordoba I had, and the '73 Charger I have were and are excellent vehicles. Great for highway cruising and not bad in the curves. Very solid cars.

 

[Gary P]

Me and the wifey have been trying to find somewhere to have the seats reupholstered and have finally found somewhere. We will take them up there for a price soon. In the meantime we need to get the interior done so we started on the sound deadening.

There’s a ton of arguements online with regards to this stuff and it’s effectiveness compared to dynamat etc. All I know is that for my rattly buzzy tinny Volkswagens it works a treat for a fraction of the cost so I’m sticking with what I’ve known and tested.

She’s not afraid to get involved and life is much better when she does. We worked hard, and ended up with this...

A nice solid thump instead of a rattly drone. A good evenings work. More tomorrow. View attachment 956960

 

[moparedtn]

Well done on ALL counts. Kudos, sir!

 

[HawkRod]

Me and the wifey have been trying to find somewhere to have the seats reupholstered and have finally found somewhere. We will take them up there for a price soon.

Getting seats reupholstered is not cheap. If you can get seat covers you can do them yourself - really. If you can rip the front end off a car and cut out a part of a fender to fix it, you can reupholster seats!!!

Here is a link to my build thread from 5 years ago when I did mine. I really had very little experience but they came out fine. Something to consider if the quote comes back high...
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopa...-the-restoration.65096/page-25#post-910203532

 

[moparedtn]

Getting seats reupholstered is not cheap. If you can get seat covers you can do them yourself - really. If you can rip the front end off a car and cut out a part of a fender to fix it, you can reupholster seats!!!

Here is a link to my build thread from 5 years ago when I did mine. I really had very little experience but they came out fine. Something to consider if the quote comes back high...
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopa...-the-restoration.65096/page-25#post-910203532

Agree. It's a little rough on fingers and hog ring pliers are an acquired skill, but it's pretty straightforward.

 

[Gary P]

We had a large floor grommet go missing. Or it wasn't there in the first place. Or an alien came down and took it. Either way, we don't have this grommet here, for the other side...

So guess what....I had to make one out of an old rubber floor mat...

Believe it or not, it fits perfectly and even "pops" into the hole like the stock one. I'm absolutely going to seal it in place though, but for now, that saved me two hours of cutting and welding.

 

[Gary P]

I've only an hour left before a hot date with the wifey, so I dumped some POR15 on some of the light surface rust on the floor.

The bit under the milk crate is another story and will be a good few hours cutting and welding a new bit in.

While I was in the car, I spotted this, that wifey had left for me grafitti'd onto the sound deadening we did on friday evening....it's from one of our favorite movies True Romance with Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, (highly recommended should you be into movies), this made me smile a lot...

and here's a still from the movie

What a woman.

All I had time for was to remove the hood (very interesting when you are alone) and remove all the "stuffs" that was down that hole. I thought I had removed that previously but it's cavernous in there! That's all for today.

 

[HawkRod]

We had a large floor grommet go missing. Or it wasn't there in the first place. Or an alien came down and took it. Either way, we don't have this grommet here, for the other side...

I make NO PROMISES, but let me know the measurement of the grommet. I may have one I can send you (for free).

Hawk

P.S. Looks like you have a good woman. Treat her right and take care of her!