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Okay, You've seen the paint scheme. What should I name it?

  • "Utter Madness"..Also a good name

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1962 Plymouth Belvedere "Jackpot"

58K views 247 replies 27 participants last post by  Road Angels 
#1 · (Edited)
So it's time to get a build thread going on my 62 Plymouth...I am going to start with a bit of history of the car...

But before I get started, let me say something...I may sometimes use the term "gasser" when discussing this build...yes, this forum is called "Gasser Hot Rods", correct? Now I don't want to ruffle any feathers!

I know what I am building is NOT an exact era-correct "gasser". It is NOT built to race in a specific "gas" class...I am aware of what a true gasser is, and I will be the first to say that is not what this car is.

What I AM building here is maybe a gasser "style" car? A "straight-axle hot rod", "nostalgia drag car", "2% altered","street freak"....whatever you want to call it. I'm not into naming a genre my car is "supposed" to fit into and building it to suit. When it is done it will speak for itself.

Anyway, I am trying to build is a bad-ass hot rod...Something fun! Something that is going to make you smile just looking at - then maybe your smile cracks your face in half when you actually drive it! Something I may have built in the mid-sixties had I been around to do it. There are elements of old school Mopar super stock, street machine, and gasser influences thrown in there. The idea is to have it look period correct as much as possible, but with some leeway given to safety and driveability. Some things like brakes and fuel system are just too important go for me to go really "old school" on.

Thanks for listening so far...:)
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Anyway the history - Maybe 1991-92 or so...I saw this very car sitting in a parking lot in Daly City, CA. White with red interior - really nice condition. An old man's reading glasses and a cane sitting on the front seat, no joke.....I HAD to have it. I left a note on the windshield expressing my desire to purchase the car and then pretty much forgot about it.

About three years later,I get a phone call... "this is ..(can't remember the name), want to buy the Plymouth?"

At first I don't know what the hell he is talking about, since I am a Mopar nut gearhead, I must have looked at a dozen Plymouth's or more since then. So I figure it out, run over there with cash in hand, and make it mine.

First order of business was to rip out the old moldy carpet and the broken bench seat. It was originally a slant six car, but I set out to swap in a big block 383 - tracked down a big block pushbutton transmission, ditched the power steering, etc....

So here are a couple pictures of that FIRST restoration in progress, around 1995-1996 or so??


 
#3 ·
So after the big block swap, there was still seat covers, paint, etc to be done. (the buckets and rear seat were from a 1965 Coronet 500 that I had)

Most if not all the mechanical work was redone, and in great shape. The car ran and drove great. But that paint....Ugh.. There were some rust issues, the cowl had some perforation into the drivers compartment and door jambs, and there were rusty lower corners by the front and rear glass. There were rusty bubbles beginning to come through the lower quarters on both sides. I located a replacement trunk because the lip had started to rot.

The body of the car was a ticking time bomb, but I didn't have the ability or money to fix it yet. I drove the car like this for a few years. I just enjoyed the fine running Mopar that looked a but run down from the outside.
 
#4 ·
So in 2003, for various reasons I had to get rid of the car....But the fortunate part is that I sold it to a friend, so that it stayed “in the family”. I wasn’t saying goodbye to it forever, hopefully. When my friend took the car, he had big plans to fix the rust damage (which was advancing as every year passed) get the paint done, and recover all the seats.
So this car sat, in his warehouse, In San Francisco (salty air) Ouch! This car sat there for seven years. Although he had good intentions going in, we all know that doesn’t always work out. I had asked him many times if he would consider selling me the car back, I was ready to tear into it if he wasn’t going to. So finally, a couple years ago he sold the car back to me, and I bought it sight unseen. I was HOPING the condition hadn’t worsened too much over the years.
Boy was I wrong! The cancer got this car something bad. Here are some HEARTBREAKING pictures of when I went to pick the car up from storage...What the hell happened?!?!:


 
#6 ·
Let me start by saying that is so cool! I think there are guys who either were there in the 60's, or for some reason become far too hung up with the terminology, and get their panties in a knot whenever they see the term gasser used on any car that wasn't run in the gas class back in the 60's.
Fortunately the crowd here is very open to what most of us are trying to do, so I haven't seen anyone correcting folks when they use the term gasser for their latest build. It's really nice to see a survivor, but there's just not enough of them around for all of us fans, so we have no other choice than to build if we love this style car. I was around as a teenager in the 60's, and I've owned a few straight axle cars, and ran some of them at local strips. Never anything serious, so I could never be competitive back then, but I had a lot of fun. Here we are over 45 years later, and still building what made me smile back then, and having even more fun with them today!
I love that there's a renewed interest in the old gasssers, and I hope it continues to grow and get to the point that NHRA opens their eyes and puts the gas classes back into their lineup. If they don't that's OK, because we'll still build them and enjoy them either way!
 
#7 · (Edited)
Let me start by saying that is so cool!........ Fortunately the crowd here is very open to what most of us are trying to do...... I love that there's a renewed interest in the old gasssers, and I hope it continues to grow......
Well said.....
NO KNOTS in anyone's panties here!!!!

Sadly, there are "gasser" purists just like with other things everywhere. There are even some hot rodders that do not want repro parts or custom wheels (like Rocket ten spokes) used. Even though these parts, wheels, etc are almost identical they are not acceptable in some circles. If you show-up at one of the events sponsored by certain groups you cannot run or show the car.

Having a 100% survivor is awesome BUT like Val already mentioned "there's not enough of them.... so we have no choice than to build...."

LIKE THIS....
 
#9 · (Edited)
That's a perfect example of thinking outside the box.... just used something more available.
The G-Body Chevys (Maibu & El Caminos) are being referred to as "today's shoebox" for the same reasons as the 55-56 Chevys back in the day. There are plenty of them, can be purchased reasonably, have a full frame with great rear suspension, etc.... make great looking cruisers, drag & "gassers-styled" cars.

The car I "traded" for the Opel was a G-Body El Camino that I was building "gasser-style".
 
#10 ·
I'm glad to hear the responses here ....Glad to see that members here are sensible enough that they aren't getting all bent out of shape about terminology or bashing repop parts. It's what a lot of us have to work with. This seems to me like a group that likes to build our hot rods, share, and bounce ideas around. GOTTA LOVE IT.

I 100% agree that it would be great to have a correct survivor - I could think of nothing better. But I am going to borrow a quote from my 5 year old: "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit". I am happy to be building this project with what I have to work with - There is a definite movement going on right now with the whole gasser thing and it would be a shame to sit on the sidelines and miss out...... The SPIRIT of the build is what matters to me, I am glad to find like minded individuals here

Anyway, I am off on a tangent there - Here are some pictures of the car coming home and some (Uuugghh) RUST DAMAGE

Kids love old cars!!
 
#14 ·
Yikes is right. What a mess. The bright spot in this is that those are pictures from when I started the project. The next set of pics I will post is are of the repairs. The rust nightmare is all behind me now..but I want to post all the progress to date until this thread becomes current.
 
#15 · (Edited)
So the next thing on this project is getting the rust all cut out, making patches, and getting the sheetmetal all back together. The cowl area was especially tricky because there was the firewall plus an upper and lower cowl panel that covers the firewall. These three parts were all badly damaged and welded together with spot welds. They had to be cut apart and pieced back together with a variety of new patches in each.

It was like the worst jigsaw puzzle ever!




 
#19 · (Edited)
It's all handmade out of sheetmetal - Although I have done lots of work on cars over the years, this is the first time I have done any sheetmetal/welding work. I practiced a lot on scraps, etc. before doing anything on the car.
Thanks for the compliments

Now we we are getting somewhere - all of the cowl is pinned back together, the welds are smoothed out and the bare metal is etched. Frame connectors, cage, and straight axle swap are coming next! Stay tuned!


 
#20 ·
Nice car. It's amazing how little the radiator support changed over the 60's in the B bodies. I am also on for B bodies only. I have a V Code 70 Charger and I will be using repop parts on the restoration. Some people might not like that but it's my car and I plan to keep it until I can't drive it. I met Mark Worman from Graveyard Carz when I was at home last year and he had his 70 roadrunner in his showroom and it had a lot of repop interior parts. You couldn't really tell, it looks factory. He had his 71 Triple green sixpack Charger car that he showed me before it was complete. It was nice!

Your metal work is looking really good. I am glad it's all coming together. I am going to buy a welder soon and get busy. I can't believe I've gone on this long without one. I can't wait to hear this thing run.
 
#21 ·
I am also on for B bodies only. I have a V Code 70 Charger and I will be using repop parts on the restoration. Some people might not like that but it's my car and I plan to keep it until I can't drive it.
Good to see you here also....I like the sounds of a '70 Charger. Good stuff! Hey, nothing wrong with repop parts in my book, it's good there is a lot available for your project. I wish there were even a couple parts available for my '62, really nothing out there. But I guess that is some of the fun, using what you can get.
 
#22 ·
Building a car lucky enough to have repopped parts available for is really nice! Sure makes it easier and often less expensive when someone decides there enough demand to build them! I recently finished the build of my '71 Camaro SS and it was nice to be able to order door panels, fenders, hood, etc. right on the phone, and not have to repair old stuff.
One of the drawbacks though is the fit on many sheetmetal pieces from repops. My interior door panels were great, but most the sheetmetal from OER was a lot of work to get it fitting correctly.
 
#23 ·
I recently finished the build of my '71 Camaro SS
Small world! One of my high school cars was a '72 Camaro SS. Sold it in I think 1990-91. That is one I really wish I had kept. That car was so much fun. That was the first car I took completely apart and repaired/detailed everything I could. Back then there were some repop parts but not much - front air dam, emblems, rally caps, this-n-that. The car was black with metallic blue rally stripes- I don't remember too many specifics about the motor but I had swapped the cam, Dart heads, headers, 750 double pumper - TCI tranny. It was fairly quick but real driveable. Good stuff for a dumb 17 year old. Like I said, fun car...miss it..sold it too cheap
 
#29 ·
I've had some real brain fades too! I sold my 1940 Chev coupe, with 413 Mopar, 727 trans, and Dana rearend for a whopping $350 in 1972. Sold my gorgeous 1957 Chev Suburban Carryall, with 389 Pontiac, and TH400 for $375 in 1976. I could go on, but I'm starting to cry too! :(
 
#30 ·
Now ya just ruined the rest of my day---just remembered the ones I let get away, sniff, sniff. I traded my 2 year old '72 Trans Am 455HO Lucerne Blue/white stripe (I bought new off the show room floor in '72) for a new '74 Vega wagon because of the gas crunch. I'd kick my own arse if I could ever get my foot back out of it. The sad thing was, we ordered the Vega in mid September. Because of GM strikes we did not receive the car until Christmas Eve. We kept being told that the car was lost in shipping, then it was stuck on a railroad side on the railroad car up in Canada somewhere. After the car finally came we learned about the strikes, and the sabatoge that the workers did to cars. After gettng the car we had a loud clunck and rattle in the car. The dealer finally cut open a side panel by the rear wheelwell and found a tin can full of nuts and bolts with th etop smashed together to close up the can. Plus loose nuts and bolts in other panels. I did like the basic car but all that stuff, plus the fact that it was rusting out in the fenders from the moment it was assembled killed all like for thecar. We go it Christmas Eve, by April I sold it off. Wht a loss. Mark L
 
#32 ·
Ouch, this thread took a turn for the worse. Now I am sad about my 03 Cobra.

Mopars unfortunately are just not as common for replacement parts. I am lucky with my charger as a lot of the stuff is similar to a 69 charger or any other B body from 68-70 so they have a wide selection of parts. (AMD will be my best friend in a few years) The only part they don't make, which a defunct scammer company called premiere plastics started but never finished is the 70 charger grille and bumper loop. Mine is missing a portion and they dented the bumper loop. It looks like they forgot the front deck is a mile long while parking and hit one of those poles they use to keep people away from objects in parking lots. I will try my hand a plastic repair and hammer and dolly for the bumper. I am seriously thinking of the spray on chrome process to re-chrome everything, although there is a place in Holyoke that does re-chroming and there is not a lot of detail on the bumper. I will have to price it.

Any updates on your car?
 
#33 · (Edited)
Ouch, this thread took a turn for the worse

I am seriously thinking of the spray on chrome process to re-chrome everything
Any updates on your car?
Yeah this thread got gloomy quick! Here are some updates, I will keep them rolling in.

As far as the chrome, spraying the bumpers silver always looks pretty good, in my opinion. Think of any car with fiberglass bumpers - painted silver - looks tough. I was originally going to straighten and paint my bumpers but ended up finding a good front (two actually) and my brother found a killer deal on a rechromed rear so I am good to go on that. But painted was my original plan

Anyway, updates:
As the cowl repair progressed, I also got working on some other rust repair. There were a couple spots in the trunk, the lower corners and rear lip of the back window were rotten, and both quarters ahead of the rear wheel were rotted through. So all that was getting patched as well. Also dent repair on the roof and top of passenger quarter where years ago a tree fell on the car. Also a big crease by the tail light panel where some yahoo apparently pushed the car around with a forklift while it was in storage




Patching the quarters:



And done:

 
#34 · (Edited)
Before the front end started coming apart for the straight axle, I installed frame connectors (still a greasy,dirty underside - but not for long) These frame connectors were made by Hammer, a guy on the 62-65 Mopar website and B bodies website. Nice piece and a great guy to deal with.





Notice how these connectors pass up through the floorpan so they can connect to the center of the rear frame member

 
#36 ·
.......

Notice how these connectors pass up through the floorpan so they can connect to the center of the rear frame member
Very nice.... I plan to do something similar.

Even though my car is setup with an OK-for-now ladder bar rear suspension it is lacking in "how" it was done. With the "mild 350" that is in it now the rear suspension is plenty strong...... at least for now.

With plans for a "500hp killer small block" on the list I plan to add 2x3 frame rails (Competition Engineering) I picked up @ a swap meet last Fall.

Even with all the changes that have been made over the years (sub frames, cross members, gussets, brackets, etc) the uni-body is still an integral part of both the rear & front suspensions. In time ALL that will be changed. It's not like I can't use what's there to make most of the changes I want to do (9" ford - move rear leaf springs inward - straight front axle - tilt front end)
 
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