04-11-23, 01:21 PM
Per una serie di coincidenze il giro di amicizie virtuale nel mondo delle C body mi ha aiutato ancora, soprattutto nel mondo delle C body convertible, rimaste molto poche in circolazione. Beh colpo di culo, mi ha contattato un certo Bill che via mail mi scrive:
Davide,
This is what I remember.
I saw the car sit in the back yard of a house on a corner close to where I was living. It was against a bunch of brush that was growing against and starting to go over the car. I would drive by trying to find someone home to ask about the car. One day I went by and the car was gone. After some initial panic, I drove over to the nearest auto body shop and there it was. They had towed the car in and when they gave the owner the restoration estimate, the owners could not believe how expensive the restoration would be and were not going to have it restored.
I talked to the shop, got the owners contact information and bought the car for less than $500 US. A friend went with me and got the car running, removed some dead mice from the car and drove it the 2 blocks to the apartment building that I was living in.
My recall is that the original owner lived on Bee Street in Meriden, Connecticut and bought the car new from the local Dodge dealer that was no longer in business and may have been bought out by the current Dodge dealer in Meriden. Meriden is two towns from me. I live in Middletown, Connecticut and that is where I spied the car.
I think the guy I bought the car from was the second owner. They must have bought the car with a bad engine as they had replaced the original 383 with a '72 or '73 400. Once tuned up and tweaked, the car ran good.
The convertible top was an incorrect replacement when I got it and was in fair condition from being stored outside for an unknown number of years. The trunk floor was like Swiss cheese. There was a spare starter in the trunk and I was afraid it would fall out a hole in the trunk floor. The floor pans in the car were rusty and the first thing I did was pull out the badly worn carpet that would hold any water that got inside the car. The fenders and doors were in good shape. One of the quarter panels had some rot at the bottom behind the wheel opening and the other quarter panel had a large dent between the door and the wheel opening. The paint appeared to be original but was faded and the primer was showing in some places. It had the deluxe wheel covers and the seats need to be re-upholstered.
I sold the car with an NOS quarter panel for a 4 door car to repair the rotted panel and had located an NOS full quarter panel for a convertible for the other side in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania that Joe went and bought after buying the car from me.
I essentially sold Joe all the NOS parts that I had accumulated over the years that i had it and threw in the car for free. NOS parts included:
Both bumpers (the rear bumper with the emblem was only used on early production cars and then done away with)
Both Tail Lamps
All Side Marker Lenses or Lamps
Every grille piece and the bumper filler panels
A Superlite assembly, switch and other parts
Front and rear valence panels
All 4 wheel opening moldings
At least one of the rocker moldings
Nameplates/emblems
Hood molding and letters
At least one trunk floor extension
Most if not all of the body side moldings, which Joe elected to eliminate and probably a whole lot more than I am forgetting.
Joe did an awesome job on the car. He did the metal work and mechanical work. I wish he did not remove the A/C stuff and bet he regrets doing that. Hope you got those parts. He had the seats redone and the car painted.
I had too many projects and was gathering parts for 68 Furies, 71 Furies, a 66 Chrysler 300 and a 72 Fury wagon and decided to specialize in just the '68 & '71 Furies and sold the Polara.
This is what I remember right now. Let me know if you have any questions. My wife and kids nicknamed the car "The Beast" because it was big, black and a bit ugly during the time that I had it. Now it is a much different kind of Beast. I recall Joe taking the car down the dragstrip, 1/4 mile and the car could not get traction and spun the tires at least 1/3 of the way down the track. The track officials commented that if he ever got the car to get traction it was going to be a very fast car.
By for now,
Bill
Ora posso dire di sapere veramente la storia della mia auto
Davide,
This is what I remember.
I saw the car sit in the back yard of a house on a corner close to where I was living. It was against a bunch of brush that was growing against and starting to go over the car. I would drive by trying to find someone home to ask about the car. One day I went by and the car was gone. After some initial panic, I drove over to the nearest auto body shop and there it was. They had towed the car in and when they gave the owner the restoration estimate, the owners could not believe how expensive the restoration would be and were not going to have it restored.
I talked to the shop, got the owners contact information and bought the car for less than $500 US. A friend went with me and got the car running, removed some dead mice from the car and drove it the 2 blocks to the apartment building that I was living in.
My recall is that the original owner lived on Bee Street in Meriden, Connecticut and bought the car new from the local Dodge dealer that was no longer in business and may have been bought out by the current Dodge dealer in Meriden. Meriden is two towns from me. I live in Middletown, Connecticut and that is where I spied the car.
I think the guy I bought the car from was the second owner. They must have bought the car with a bad engine as they had replaced the original 383 with a '72 or '73 400. Once tuned up and tweaked, the car ran good.
The convertible top was an incorrect replacement when I got it and was in fair condition from being stored outside for an unknown number of years. The trunk floor was like Swiss cheese. There was a spare starter in the trunk and I was afraid it would fall out a hole in the trunk floor. The floor pans in the car were rusty and the first thing I did was pull out the badly worn carpet that would hold any water that got inside the car. The fenders and doors were in good shape. One of the quarter panels had some rot at the bottom behind the wheel opening and the other quarter panel had a large dent between the door and the wheel opening. The paint appeared to be original but was faded and the primer was showing in some places. It had the deluxe wheel covers and the seats need to be re-upholstered.
I sold the car with an NOS quarter panel for a 4 door car to repair the rotted panel and had located an NOS full quarter panel for a convertible for the other side in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania that Joe went and bought after buying the car from me.
I essentially sold Joe all the NOS parts that I had accumulated over the years that i had it and threw in the car for free. NOS parts included:
Both bumpers (the rear bumper with the emblem was only used on early production cars and then done away with)
Both Tail Lamps
All Side Marker Lenses or Lamps
Every grille piece and the bumper filler panels
A Superlite assembly, switch and other parts
Front and rear valence panels
All 4 wheel opening moldings
At least one of the rocker moldings
Nameplates/emblems
Hood molding and letters
At least one trunk floor extension
Most if not all of the body side moldings, which Joe elected to eliminate and probably a whole lot more than I am forgetting.
Joe did an awesome job on the car. He did the metal work and mechanical work. I wish he did not remove the A/C stuff and bet he regrets doing that. Hope you got those parts. He had the seats redone and the car painted.
I had too many projects and was gathering parts for 68 Furies, 71 Furies, a 66 Chrysler 300 and a 72 Fury wagon and decided to specialize in just the '68 & '71 Furies and sold the Polara.
This is what I remember right now. Let me know if you have any questions. My wife and kids nicknamed the car "The Beast" because it was big, black and a bit ugly during the time that I had it. Now it is a much different kind of Beast. I recall Joe taking the car down the dragstrip, 1/4 mile and the car could not get traction and spun the tires at least 1/3 of the way down the track. The track officials commented that if he ever got the car to get traction it was going to be a very fast car.
By for now,
Bill
Ora posso dire di sapere veramente la storia della mia auto
