Mike Young

I have something for you if you're interested. I bought a kit that had a lot of things I needed, the body isn't one of them. It's yours if you want it.

The '70's were the hey-day for kit car bodies. Could be based on one of, or an amalgamation of all, of those made for a jeep chassis.

I just realized I had another idea sitting right in front of me on my work bench. A Monza! This one is 1/25 and the wheel openings are kinda small, but I think there are 1/24 Monza's as well. I already got what I needed from it, so if you don't have one and you wan't to try it to see if it will work, you can have this one for the low, low price of, "Yes please".

So, I was cruising Ebay today and saw something that made me think of your project. '91 to '92 Pontiac Trans Am GTA. You could almost build your whole front end with the parts from that car. The hood is almost perfect, the fenders are almost just right, and the nose has the right kind of shape and size. Cut the 'egg crate' holes in the nose, come up with some headlights, finish with some putty, boom!

I can think of one place to start, fender flares. That generation Malibu had wheel openings that stuck way out. Nova fenders stuck out some, but nothing like a '73 Malibu, and '70 Chevelle fenders are basically flat. Fender flares aren't perfect, but the ones on trucks and vans have that squarish shape you'll need, and they're not too hard to come by. Blend them in, scratch build some w/o trim, good to go. White ones are 1/25 '70's to '80's Ford van, yellow are 1/24 '80's to '90's Dodge Ram

Not exactly sure how to get there from here, but I think it's going to be with a lot of scratch building with sheet material. I don't think the Viper parts will help much. The prototype is too square edged and flat compared to the Viper being a big, fat bubble. The biggest problem with the production Charger body is that it ended up so far removed from the prototype. It's a shame really, that prototype looks a lot better than what ended up being offered. The newest Charger looks closer to the original idea, but I don't think there is a model available for that. Looking at the prototype and what Dodge was doing back in the 90's, it's clearly based on an Intrepid with maybe some Viper or Prowler parts underneath. They basically put the next generation giant size quarter panel on an otherwise low profile body. There are Intrepid models, but the only ones I found are Nascar models which don't really look like the real car. You might as well start with what you have. The good thing is, the prototype is square edged and flat. It could be done with a lot of flat sheet. You'll have to chop the Charger body down a lot to get the prototype's low dropping hood line and there doesn't seem to be any reference photos of the drivetrain and engine bay. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with a drivetrain and just build it with a closed hood. It would save you a lot of frustration. Focus on the body and close up the bottom promo style with just the oil pan and exhaust sticking down. I'd think about grafting the windshield, A pillars, and front section of the roof from a 2015 Mustang to the back half of the Charger roof. Only because they're really close to what you need, and readily available. I'm just not sure about the width, though, might be too narrow. Maybe someone has one they can measure. You might be able to start with quarter panels from a '69 charger and build from there. Or just shape them from flat sheet. The rear bumper from the charger is close enough you could get a lot of the shape you'll need at the back end. This is an ambitious project, look forward to seeing it.

You mean this one?

Yeah, no sweat. I was doing my usual Ebay cruising and thought to look. I found another idea for the rear wing, but I don't know, it screams '70's custom. LOL!!

Correct rear bumper (Ebay)

'71 Charger wing (Ebay)

Haha, yeah, not great, just sorta ok.

Pro touring, Nascar...ish sort of thing. Kinda like it actually.

This could be cool.

Found this on the web. Kinda looks ok.

I hear you all, and I am working on getting some pictures of some of the things I have. I agree, nothing ventured, nothing gained. The best part is most of what I need are parts. Of course, there are kits I would still need/want to acquire as well for certain projects or collections, but I don't know what half this stuff is even worth in terms of trade value, i.e., parts for kits. Most is from the 70's and 80's in all levels of condition, but there are a few things that are newer. I even have a few things I can't identify that were in collections of parts I've bought off Ebay. Lol! Stay tuned.........

Hmm......so I'm browsing around a few pages of listings and I'm not sure if my stuff is really worthy of trading and maybe more suited to Ebay. I see most of the traffic seems to be unbuilt kits or relatively complete projects. Most of what i have is more suited to be used for parts. Most of the parts listings I read seemed to die on the vine. Not sure now. Either way, Trading Post or Ebay, I need to start compiling everything I need to move and get pictures and descriptions together. Thanks for all the info, and yes, I would be happy to ship first with trusted traders. I understand the need to build the relationships.

How many of you have used the Trading Post? How have the experiences been? Value to value of trades? Traders following through? Etc.? I have a lot of things I need to move down the road. I'd like to help people here, but I don't imagine I could move everything. That leaves Ebay as the alternative. I just don't have any experiences trading stuff in a forum.

Give it a try, couldn't hurt. The only thing that could damage the aluminum is anything with acids that could eat into the aluminum, like say, Easy Off oven cleaner. But then, I couldn't say if the oven cleaner would touch the primer. Although, I have read that people have used it to strip paint.

They're metal, so you can get aggressive with a chemical strip. Acetone, paint stripper, etc.. Go to an auto parts store and get self etching primer.

That's going to be a sweet build when it's done! I think I'll take you up on that offer. Do you need a dash? I have to pull a copy of mine, I could get one to you as well.

I've been thinking the same thing on a '64. I hope you can get that body to work. That would be a fun build!

Completely agree! I think I have a pretty good skill set and am confident I can handle just about any type of build. But I know what you're saying, one tour around Ebay and it's easy to find a ton of 'Pro' built models that never should have happened.

Excellent build! Just a little info on drive line hoops. You will quite often find them at the rear on a lot of high HP/TQ street rods because the rear joints will fail more often from axle wrap, depending on the suspension design, of course. When the rear breaks, the driveshaft whips around violently. I've seen it, it's scary! The rear hoop prevents that. The front hoop is for the reasons stated, pole vault. The front joint breaking can be catastrophic, while the rear just trashes the car, hence the reason NHRA requires the front.

One thing is for sure, I won't be cutting it up for a pro street deal or anything like that. More than likely, this one will be built as an original '67 GT, all be it with some upgraded newer tooled parts here and there. Having said that, the original engine bay is actually more accurate than the new '66 Fairlane where the spring towers are. I don't see me cutting those out.

All my kits are fair game, but maybe 5% were specifically bought just for parts. Sometimes, just for one single part. Back in '88, I went to a Goodguy's car show in Pleasanton, Ca. and took a couple models to put in the MC exhibit. One was a '70 Challenger and upon taking it out of the box, one of the side mirrors was gone. I HAD to fix it, so a quick trip to a local hobby shop netted a '71 Satellite with some mirrors close to what was needed. I still have that stupid '71 Satellite sitting in the box, minus the mirrors, more than likely never to be built. But who knows, one day........I might need the wheels.