Hemi Challenger

[bergy]

Well..... I've decided to restore my Hemi Challenger. Thought I'd share a few pics that I took of it yesterday.

[bergy]

OK - now that I know that the pics are downloading OK - here are more:

[bergy]

We were really pleased with the condition of the original body panels. I'm sure that you've all been through the experience of stripping a "southern" body, only to find a lot of hidden rot! This car turned out to be as solid as we thought it was though. Note the original stick and spot welds - Chrysler weld work is way worse than GM!

[black69]

awesome car (I am a fan of 70 challengers). I can't see the torque boxes with the under body shot. It would be nice to see those for my own grins.

[69Tom]

Lookin' good Bergy. Love'the '70 Challengers. Can't wait to see it in Plum Crazy.

It's funny, before I read your post on the spot welds, I was thinking to myself "is that an amateur patch weld job? It looks so clean otherwise..." lol.

[njsteve]

Those pinch weld/stich welds may be an early repair. Every hemi car I have owned had panel separation issues in the rear floor area where the rear passenger's feet would go. I think it was a body flex issue. Even my 12,000 hemi charger had a split in the welds and in the center of the floor panel on the passenger side, rear floor section. Four speed cars were especially susceptable to this problem.

Was there any purple paint over the welds or did it look like someone had been in there with a welder?

[bergy]

The purple paint was on top of all of the welds. We removed all paint one layer at a time on exterior (3 coats). This car came with the rear "bumble bee" stripe (white). Verified that the factory actually painted the white stripe on first and then taped it off to put the plum crazy on. We got 100s of pics of the details.

[njsteve]

Cool! Gotta love that 1970 Chrysler assembly line quality control. Start posting those photos!

[black69]

fyi, check in with ken mosier over at the 'finer details' in indiana, his purple challenger 4spd hemi just won muscle car of the year a a goodguys event in joliet. I know him, he is a nice straight up guy and can give you tips on what he found on his car(considering your car and his are essentially the same).

[HPMIKE]

Looks like a very solid body.

If you need any help along the way, dtop me a PM. I nave restored several Challengers and currently own a low mile 71 hemi car with a ton of original detail. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

MB