Progress report, Junkyard Dog

[a68postcar]

I'm not sure how it happened, but I'm sorry I missed this thread Matt. it sure is gonna be a sweetheart. and I like the vert too.

 

[Ron 73]

BAD to the bone DAWG!!!

 

[roadrunner69440]

Great to see ya back! Car is lookin good , I need the motivation !!!!

 

[747mopar]

Great news! With paint in the near future you'll be putting this thing back together in know time. Congrars.

 

[detmatt1]

Thanks Gents, I'm damn excited! They are moving pretty quickly on it and I got a call the other day requesting some parts for fitment. Then it dawned on me that I still had my hood inserts at my shop and had a decision to make. I decided I'm going without the hood blackout treatment and that since I have a nice pair of each, I'm having both the '68 and '69 hood inserts done in body color. If you all remember I have a complete Air Grabber hood set-up that I'm going to use but I figure it wouldn't hurt to have the correct inserts on hand in case I (or the next guy) ever want to put it back to original.

 

[Superfreak]

Good to hear some action going on with the dawg.
I hope business is going well for you, any pics of the shop work area.

Robert

 

[Plum6pak]

Impressive, most impressive! :huh: That was quite a long read, I'm google eyed after going through all of this from the start, very good work! Can't wait to see more, thanks for sharing all the hard work and details!

 

[SGTPaul]

Nice to see you are back from your over a year break form us. Will hopefully be posting some new work on my R/T soon as well.

 

[roadrunner69440]

Matt,, buddy, we miss ya ! How's the runner "dawg" coming along ?

 

[detmatt1]

Hey guys! I'm sorry to say that there's not much new to report as far as progress on the "DOG". It seems to be stuck in the body shop waiting in line I guess. I'm not terribly happy about it and have begun making some noise with my buddy about it, it needs to get done already. I have gotten a steering column restored for it this year though!

 

[detmatt1]

I did finally make contact with the guy that owned the car and made it the "JUNKYARD DOG" back in the '80s. Really nice guy that remembers everything about his time with it and says if there is one car he regrets selling it's the Road Runner. He raced all over the southeast with it and was actually track champ at Jax with it in '85.

 

[detmatt1]

His wife sent me these just yesterday which show the paint scheme that I uncovered when I got the car. These are the ones I've been waiting for and I hope they find more. He says at one point his tow vehicle was a '69 RR and I certainly hope they have some pics of that! That's Mike in the photo below. I actually spoke to him a year ago or so and iirc he's still into racing and has an A body now.

 

[detmatt1]

Here are a few more kool old pics from the later paint scheme. He bought the car when he lived in east Texas out of the woods it had all but been abandoned and the original drivetrain was already gone.

 

[Superfreak]

Seems like to many guys are getting stuck in body shop limbo. How's your biss doing? Keeping you busy?

Robert

 

[detmatt1]

Really great Robert, thanks for asking.
I'm staying very busy with work, cars and life.
Turned the convertible into a major project a year ago last February with a much needed complete drivetrain rebuild, a repaint under the hood, Rallye instrument cluster conversion and a new top. I continue to drive the Imperial almost daily during the season and in fact have put over 6,000 miles on it since spring. Driving a 50 year old car past it's 150K mile mark requires quite a bit of maintenance so I'm always doing something on it. Included in that was an over 2,000 mile trip to upstate NY and Boston early in the summer where I tied the knot, I drove it to the Mopar Nationals and we took it up north for a long weekend at the end of summer.
How's things with you?

 

[Glenwood]

Cool website, I can totally relate to your background. Looking forward to updates on the runner!

 

[Superfreak]

Congratulations on your wedding Matt. I have been super busy with work and trying to get my house reno's done on the exterior before the end of Nov (permit extension runs out), the living room area and the kitchen before Christmas and yesterday was insulating the garage/shop (electrical rough-in passed for shop and house) then start boarding. I hope I can get back on my car by Feb.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Good to hear from you and some of the latest doings with the Dog. Great story and old pics of the car.

 

[detmatt1]

Cool website, I can totally relate to your background. Looking forward to updates on the runner!

Thanks! You have a similar background? And me too!

 

[detmatt1]

Congratulations on your wedding Matt. I have been super busy with work and trying to get my house reno's done on the exterior before the end of Nov (permit extension runs out), the living room area and the kitchen before Christmas and yesterday was insulating the garage/shop (electrical rough-in passed for shop and house) then start boarding. I hope I can get back on my car by Feb.

Thanks, here's a pic from shortly after the nuptials.
Are you doing all of the work on your house or hiring some of it out? Forgive me for having to ask but how far did you get on your car, any paint yet?