Ma's `cuda. A long time coming.

[mmissile]

Thanks. My electrical guy does basicly...anything. He's good, and charges hourly. He's in Mt. Clemens. His name is JR.

 

[Chargervert]

Cool project! Not everyone had a cool mom who drove around in a high performance F8 green 70 Mopar,but we did!

 

[mmissile]

Here we are a year alter, and I've done very little. This plandemic crap, along with our state politics...have put any thoughts of finishing my car on hold for a long time. No place to go, nothing to do. I managed to get the whole front-end assembled. That's about all. A friend and I had to remove the door glasses, to put in pieces that weren't there. Now, there's no holes in the NOS door-skins, to figure out where and what mounts to them. YEA!!! I'm sick of this thing. It's 80%+ finished, and I can't make myself work on it. Why??...it'll just sit in the garage anyways. No functions to go to.

 

[Rhino7415]

Hang in there. Sooner than later the shows will come back. The car looks great! I'm in the process of body work and painting right now. Hopefully mine will be ready before the car shows kick in.

 

[70chall440]

I have been where you are many times, as you get to the end of the project it seems like it gets harder to work on it, its like a mental block. I am somewhat in a similar situation on a clients car. I had it bad on my Cuda, took me almost 14 years to build it and the last year was the hardest. All this said, you just have to push through it and keep thinking what it will be when done.

At least for me I think it is a subconscious worry that something I did wasn't done right and I will have to go back and deal with it; kind of like the fear of failure.

 

[mmissile]

I've been on this one..... on-and-off, for 20+ years. I've built and restored a half-dozen cars in the interim. This car just doesn't get my inspiration. I've got a ton of time, money, ideas, and fabbing into it....but I just don't seem to care about it. The front-end picture posted above, is from August....and I just went out to the shop to work on it for the first time since, yesterday. The whole car has a ton of dust on it. All it really needs, is the finished interior installed, front-end alignment, and A/C charge. After 45 years of this stuff, I think I've finally had enough.

 

[PasiR]

Keep going Mike, don´t give up. That´s a great car!

 

[1972CudaV21]

Finish and sell it? Could be time to move on.

 

[mmissile]

Just can't make myself work on it. 45 years and 300 cars later....I don't really like cars anymore. Trying to sell stuff to most of the public these days, is like dealing with window-lickers without money. It's very frustrating. Doesn't matter what you're selling....cars, guns, bikes, beanie-babies, dirt..LOL

 

[mmissile]

Well, finally getting the interior done. If things work out, I'll have the car in the HDK tent, at the Nats in Columbus. Every item I installed, requires me ordering stuff. LOL The console/shifter are gonna be the thorn in my side. Otherwise, pretty basic assembly of sub-assemblies.

 

[fasjac]

What a labor of love. Fantastic job o the whole thing. Can’t wait to see it finished.

 

[mmissile]

Thank you. Me too. LOL


I just realized after reading this whole thread again, that there are hundreds of details and changes that haven't been discussed or posted.

 

[AUSTA]

This is the start of my resto-mod project. My mother/dad bought this N-code, `cuda ragtop in Jan of 1972, from a bank repo-auction. It's an original F8/F8 car with a white top and stripe delete. The motor had been frozen[ice], and the car never ran cool. Finally, my father got into the engine, and found the lifter valley had heaved, and one cylinder was cracked. He installed a 71 440 and TF out of a 71 New Yorker that caught fire. My mother drove the car till about 76, then it came apart for a resto. Fast forward to 1993, and my mother passed away and left me the car. It sat for many more years, and I was gathering parts and getting stuff restored. Lots of projects kept getting in the way and the ragtop was constantly being back-burnered. About 7 years ago, I had a friend in financial trouble do the the body resto. I didn't need the car done[anytime soon]...but he needed to keep his house. So, here we are now....and I'm finally gonna do the car the way I've always wanted it done. This entire build is dedicated to mom........she loved this car more than anything. It'll be F8/F8, white top, 6.4/NAG1, big brakes, upgraded underpinnings, and still appear like it did in the 70's[except for the 18" wheels]. I'm sure I'll be looking for answers and opinions at times, and applying stuff that sits right in my idea of the build. Thanks for the welcomes.

View attachment 32693

View attachment 32694

View attachment 32695

That,s gonna be 1 sexy Beast

 

[mmissile]

Attacking the console project today. Once I get it to fit, then I have to scrub the piss out of it, and prep it for fresh color. Then the carpet can be finished-up, and onto assembling the seats. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but It'll be a year before this thing completely done, and sorted out. Driving it will find the bugs.

 

[70chall440]

Looks awesome.

 

[i_taz]

My fav color combo, maybe a white int but if you do decide to sell....

 

[340challconvert]

WOW !

 

[mmissile]

My fav color combo, maybe a white int but if you do decide to sell....

It's funny. The two colors I would never have for my interiors are black and white. My personal tastes are more imaginative. I almost put a gold interior and green top on the car.

 

[i_taz]

Mod top...!

 

[mmissile]

I looked into having one made. VERY expensive, and too many down-sides.