Progress Updates Update

For those who have checked back periodically for updates on the progress of the Road Runners restoration, you have undoubtedly noticed that there hasn't been any. I see that my last update was early last year. I have made a small amount of progress since then but not really enough to get all fired up about. Here's what's happened on my end.

Back in November I was made a very attractive offer on my '68 Road Runner. I accepted this offer with the idea of finally getting the '70 all the parts and attention it needed. Without this money it was very likely that the '70 would never be completed as I was missing just about everything. I didn't realize just how much I was missing until I started taking inventory on what was not there... interior, brake hardware, all the detail items required everywhere... the list was incredible. Since selling the '68 I have been able get the majority of what this car needs to be complete. I have purchased NOS parts when I could find them, the very best reproduction components, and when neither were out there, I've tried to get the best possible used parts I could find. The parts situation is looking good.

Up until November I had all the time in the world but very little extra money to put towards the car. Well, in mid January, my wife and I had our first child. Since that day I have had all the money I need, but absolutely NO time! It is now the end of April and things around the house are relaxing a bit. I have been able to get out to the garage on Sundays. I have a plan!

Now, back to the car and the body. With a pocket full of money and the desire to get this project on the road, I started looking for someone to take what I had done so far, complete the small amount of metal work required, straighten the panels and paint the car... returning the painted unibody to me for re-assembly. Now this body has nothing to hide. No one is going to get into it and run across some hidden rot or damage that is not clearly visible during the initial inspection. The work that is required is right in front of you and I would have thought that an experienced body and paint man could attach man hours (as a man hour estimator in my field, I do it every day) to the work and give a price to do the job... I was wrong. Apparently high profile and even high profile wannabe restoration shops refuse to give even a maximum amount of hours. I can completely understand this approach with a car that is together and/or is driven into the shop for an estimate as the shop has no idea what it will find when it digs into it... but a car body with no chance for hidden problems, there is no excuse for not being able to give an estimate to within a minimal margin of error. My guess is either they don't know how to estimate accurately or they just plain want to be able to bill what they want, when they want. More power to them. That puts them right up there with doctors and lawyers. Anyhoo, I was not able to get even a maximum amount estimated. I had no real problem with the numbers thrown around to do the job, but once that number is reached, I for one cannot keep writing checks with no maximum defined. The whole process of searching out a shop was very eye opening... and quite disappointing.

Not willing to give up that easy, I kept looking. While browsing through Hemmings, I spotted an ad for restoration work offered right here in my home town. I contacted the guy and met with him one afternoon. What I was looking to have done was not quite his forte, but he did turn me on to a close friend of his that he knew would be interested. As luck would have it, Tim, the paint and bodyman recommended, had a shop just 10 minutes from my office. I stopped by one day and talked to him about my project. In his small shop was an absolutely beautiful '67 Shelby that he was just finishing. If the paint on my '70 would end up anywhere near the quality of that Shelby, I would be one happy Mopar guy. He later made it out to my house to evaluate the whole thing and we agreed on a FIXED price and what I had to do to keep it at that price. My work included finishing the metal work (welding) and delivering the car, and its related components, to him primed and ready for working. My confidence in the system has been restored!

As mentioned before, I have been able to get out in the shop the last 2 weekends and it looks like I will be able to continue doing so. I will be spending all available time getting the body at a point where the paint and body guy can take over. I plan on replacing the front lower core support, patching the small area at the drivers floor, complete the attachment of the drivers quarter panel and related items, finish off the small areas I have welded such as spot welds, seams and such that need cosmetic type completion, strip the paint from the doors, hood, deck lid and fenders and coat the whole mess with the sealer of choice of my body man. I have until July to get this done as that's the time frame the body man has given me. I will be posting updates starting now as often as possible. Also, look for the cam to be active on Sunday afternoons. Thanks for hanging in there with me and maybe we'll get this car done before too long. If things go ok with the body, the car looks like it will be one of the nicest '70s around... and I got the receipts to prove it!

Later, Sandy