Faux: the antonym of genuine

Faux-7-0 · Post by **Faux-7-0** » Mon Jun 10, 13 8:14 pm

Some of you may have seen my '69 442 on various occasions but my reason for joining the MMA is currently slightly less roadworthy. I don't envisage much happening for a while but now seems as good a time as any to start a workshop thread so you can see the start point and the progress (or lack thereof) for yourselves.

So, let me introduce the car which will ultimately replace the 442. This is my 1972 Challenger which as you can see has already had some serious surgery. Not only have the floors been replaced, but someone decided that they wanted a vanishing point replica rather than a 72 and have replaced the rear panel and inner/outer rear quarters so this will be the appearance when finished. i.e. a faux 1970!

Ultimately it will be taken back to bare metal so I can see what's actually under the thick white gloss but I already know about the skim on the roof (which dramatically fractured when the panel was thumped from underneath) although the metal's still good so it should be repairable.

Finished result will be a 440-6 pack & four speed instead of the original 318 auto. It's a while off at the moment but it's nice to dream.

sinny · Post by **sinny** » Mon Jun 10, 13 8:24 pm

Now that's got potential! Sixpack is a great choice too.

These things do take a long time but sounds like you've already got the finished car in your head & that's a great motivator!

Good luck with the build & make sure you keep us updated with plenty of pics!

db · Post by db » Tue Jun 11, 13 10:52 am

Yup, what Sinny says- Good luck with that

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Tue Jun 11, 13 11:20 am

I'm loving that filler on the roof, that's got to weigh ten pounds!

Nice project too, it will be great to see pix of progress, however slow or disastrous.

Dave81 · Post by **Dave81** » Tue Jun 11, 13 1:36 pm

Great looking project!

Shame you can't keep the 442 and this..........Would be a bloody good 2 car garage!!

Post by **MattH** » Wed Jun 12, 13 8:31 am

You could hide a sunroof in that filler. Looks like a project with a familiar ring to it, 72 to 70. Mines a 73 to 70.

Faux-7-0 · Post by **Faux-7-0** » Sat Aug 30, 14 10:23 am

Well, it's been a while since I've provided an update on this and to be honest, I was looking at getting the ball rolling in about another 6 months but circumstances changed recently.

You may recall my recent post in relation to a 57 Chevy for sale due to loss of storage? Well, my Challenger was previously residing in the same unit which has now been sold for redevelopment. This meant a serious re-think on timescales.

The end result (after a bit of panic) is that the car has now been moved to a body shop with the first task being to tackle the roof.

Just for clarity, I'm only paying the bill here (as I want a decent result at the end) but from the below, I'm fairly happy.

Further updates to follow (probably in quick succession).

autofetish · Post by **autofetish** » Sat Aug 30, 14 1:49 pm

Looking great

Keep the pictures and updates coming

drewcrane · Post by **drewcrane** » Sat Aug 30, 14 2:25 pm

Gosh what happened to the roof to require all that filler?

looks like a cool project , good luck

Bryan · Post by **Bryan** » Sat Aug 30, 14 3:03 pm

I think I saw this at North American motors in farnbourough a few weeks ago??? Plenty of potential there.

Faux-7-0 · Post by **Faux-7-0** » Tue Sep 02, 14 7:58 pm

Thanks for the comments.

Bryan: Yep, you did see it at North American.

Drew: No idea on the circumstances which required a half inch thick skim - it was like this when it was imported.

So, let me now bring you a bit more up to date. I mentioned previously that the car had already had some replacement metal work which included replacement rear quarters but as workmanship can vary, I wanted to be certain this was done to a decent standard. Fortunately the joint was found to be a continuous weld so there should be no issues going forward.

You'll note the running light aperture has been welded over - I've decided to remove these - partly because the lack thereof will suit the end appearance and partly to remove the bodge on the front wings which had been crudely adapted to take a 70/71 light.

There's also been some work on the front end. The bumper has temporarily been fitted to align the grille and repaired/blasted headlight mounts installed (although they're not fixed yet in the picture).

More soon - as a taster: the boot gutters are apparently all filler in the corners.

drewcrane · Post by **drewcrane** » Tue Sep 02, 14 8:05 pm

Drew: No idea on the circumstances which required a half inch thick skim - it was like this when it was imported.

I have removed more on our cuda, some people are just plain lazy and these cars were not meant to be around this long,

and during the 80,s and 90,s parts were very scarce so bondo was the only thing a person could do........or they were just cheap and lazy.

Keep the pix coming ,great project,and V.P.

autofetish · Post by **autofetish** » Wed Sep 03, 14 4:31 am

i had very similar filler issue with mine.

I found the rear quarter had been welded to far in on lower edge and then filled with filler to bring out to same level of door when closed

great thread keep the pictures coming

Faux-7-0 · Post by **Faux-7-0** » Wed Sep 10, 14 2:41 pm

As I mentioned previously, the boot gutter has previously been the subject of some overzealous use of filler which has meant replacing the channels.

The original rear valance panel had a rust hole in the centre so this was always intended to be replaced. The replacement panel was obtained in kit form (as it had previously been cut to fit a 'Cuda) so there's been a bit of reconstruction surgery here too.

More soon.

autofetish · Post by **autofetish** » Wed Sep 10, 14 3:02 pm

very impressive

keep the pictures coming !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!