Restore or "Restify?"

[Blake Rogers]

Yea, Mom was driving it down a steep hill when it stalled on her in early '76, she ended up putting it in a ditch and shoving the entire right side right up along the engine. They bought it back form the insurance company and Dad stripped the car and sold all the surviving goodies to a friend who built a Dart drag car with them. I don't know if that would have been restorable today, ut I do know it would have been worth quite a bit even before the Barrett Jackson lunacy!

oh man you have pics of the old girl? not ur mom

[Jordan White]

Yea I remeber that, and the face of the guy that sold it to him. I think it was a 454 or ls2 something car I think, I'm not good with chevells, but I know it had a pretty rare engine combo.

I don't have the DVD with me right now, but it was a 1971 454, and if it was a rare model then it had the 425hp LS6.

[Blake Rogers]

Last I saw, there was & is no drama in this thread, merely civil discussion & intelligent offering of differing thoughts & opinions. There's certainly nothing wrong with discussing a subject civily & having different viewpoints. That's called a conversation, which this is in it's own way.

I have yet to see any of us getting upset or creating drama in this discussion, we're merely offering our own comments, views & opinions.

i agree mark well said man

[dwc43]

Dave you are more than wrong here, WB's mechanics used everything including '68's, from 318-440's, column shifts to slap sticks, and dave's talkig about the tv series, the cars were everything from base models to SE's, and dave there were many shots of the engines.

I can tell you straight out that WB's stunt men have reported that anytime there was a large jump a 440 car was used but the "Ski" cars(the ones that would go on two wheels) had 318's due to there lighter weight and besides power wasn't needed, GL's even wore diffrent colors and suspension parts at times. Diffrent cages, push bars etc.

I'm talking about the premise behind the show. You base your replica on the show, not what they had to use to make the show. IF that was so, you'd see stunt car replicas with roll cages in them. And you don't see them built up.

Edited March 15, 2010 by dwc43

[dwc43]

pretty much you argue that all cars should be restored to stock specs as that makes them the most valuable, but then you turn around and say it's okay to modify a run of the mill car like a Volare? you tend to contradict yourself at every turn.

i can't bracket race a 4-speed car? who says? i can bracket race anything i like, that's the beauty of bracket racing. i could even use my daily driven Suburban if i wanted and quite possibly put a few racecars on the trailer if i'm more consistent then they are and take home the trophy and the money. it takes more driving skill to run a stick car in drag racing over an automatic and i happen to like shifting my own gears.

if one day that Roadrunner becomes mine i'm not wasting anything unless i sell it for scrap. currently it sits rotting into the ground, that's a waste. my intention of getting back on the road and modifying it for a better driving experience and fun is certainly no waste. is a Volare based Roadrunner a desireable "antique" that should be restored? maybe to those enthusiasts that are part of the niche group who are into them, but to most people out there they are just another used up 70's car. to me it's desireable because it's a 4-speed car, not for any other reason. does it matter to me that it's a Roadrunner and not the lower line Volare? nope, so what if it is.

Dave

Your not comparing apples to oranges anymore. A stock Volar'e wont be worth more than a stock Road Runner and neither will a modified Volare' be worth more than a Road Runner.

I'm not saying you can't use the 4 spd to bracket race, just don't expect to be a winner with it then if that clarifies. Brackets racing hinges on consistency an I've never seen a 4spd car when a bracket race cause they are not consistent. My guess is that the only person that could do it is long passed on now and that was Ronnie Sox. Mr. 4spd.

is a Volare based Roadrunner a desireable "antique" To answer that question, YES.

[dwc43]

Nick, are you confusing me with dwc43 or do you know his name to be Dave also? his name is still has not been added to his signature line.

Dave

It's in my title. Go by DW, and don't call be Darrel Waltrip either.

[dwc43]

Good thing nobody told this fella that.

They ran heads up, not bracket racing. Totally different thing, but as I already, if someone could do it, he would be the one. RIP.

[Jordan White]

^ You do know there's a button to multi-quote posts, right?

(Granted I think you can only quote 2 posts for some reason.)

Edited March 15, 2010 by YJIslander

[Joe Handley]

oh man you have pics of the old girl? not ur mom

I don't know if we still do, but it must have been from when the car was fairly new because it still had the door scoops and R/T badging on it IIRC. Dad ordered the car as a fairly stripped down R/T then ditched those scoops and badges in favor of 500 badges on the doors to help throw off their insurer, the police, and the local hot foots. Mom used to have issues with the '68 or 69 Cornet (it was either a Super Bee or R/T and even had the rump stripe, I can't remember which one they told me it was anymore and my folks can't remember either...) it replaced with being followed by the local teen boys, street racers, and cops looking for some kind of action

[dwc43]

off topic in regards to the question asked in this thread at this point but i'm sure you've heard of the Lenco and Liberty manual transmissions that are quite popular in modern "bracket" drag racing. anyone can run an automatic car, pretty much a point and shoot affair air or electronically shifted manual transmissions pretty much take the consistency issue out of that set-up as well. it leaves the consistency problem up to the driver and his ability to release the clutch pedal at the right time.

as far as an accurate Dukes Charger replica that could be up to how diehard a Dukes fan they happen to be. should the replica be true to the story line or true to the 1:1 cars as they really were. same for whether the replicas have a rollcage in them or not. how hardcore or accurate do YOU want to be? should i pick on your replica because it doesn't have real Georgia red clay in the wheelwells?

Dave

I'm familiar with them, but no one runs them around here. Only in the higher classes and they are heads up.

By roll cage, I mean the stunt cars roll cage, not that little roll bar in the story line cars or that horrible movie car. Actually the car was not horrible, just the movie other than the stunt drivers.

[Joe Handley]

There've been some people who've posted videos on YouTube of just the chase scenes form the movie so we don't have to waste our time watching that whole abomination too!

[dwc43]

There've been some people who've posted videos on YouTube of just the chase scenes form the movie so we don't have to waste our time watching that whole abomination too!

Yeah, I've seen a couple of them. What was the name of that Champ drifter that did the stunts? Something like Ryes Millian or something like that.

[Ryan Quantz]

So, what was the topic of this thread again...? Oh yeah. "To Restore or Restify?".

[Nick Winter]

He's Dave too Dave.

You mean like these.

[Tommy Kortman]

You know? I've seen similar threads like this in the past, and it always seems like it's the Mopar guys that come flying out of the woodwork. This is not a slam, just an observation...and a question. I wonder why? Is it because Mopars are generally more expensive to restore (or do anything with for that matter). Is it because the cars talked about are usually the most sought after (Cudas, Challengers, and Hemi anythings)? Just curious.

[Tommy Kortman]

Oh sorry... but just to put my 2 cents in about the original thread. If it's a rare care or a car with pedigree and history, then restore it. If it's a plain Jane belly button car (you know "everybody's got one")... the break out the smoke wrench and start cutting.

[dwc43]

You mean like these.

No, I meant the stripped out stunt cars that got totaled that have double main hoops and more bars than a Winston cup car. You ever seen the ones from Dukes Fest that they jump? Nothing inside but a seat, wheel and many roll bars.

[Nick Winter]

No, I meant the stripped out stunt cars that got totaled that have double main hoops and more bars than a Winston cup car. You ever seen the ones from Dukes Fest that they jump? Nothing inside but a seat, wheel and many roll bars.

I have seen them but those were not cars used on the shows. The ones above did double duty stunts and filming.

[dwc43]

You know? I've seen similar threads like this in the past, and it always seems like it's the Mopar guys that come flying out of the woodwork. This is not a slam, just an observation...and a question. I wonder why? Is it because Mopars are generally more expensive to restore (or do anything with for that matter). Is it because the cars talked about are usually the most sought after (Cudas, Challengers, and Hemi anythings)? Just curious.

Yes, and they fact that you can't find them cause so many were raced and destroyed, destroyed on the street (usually cause of racing or drunks or wrecks) and that many are just rare to begin with. Some are as rare as 1 of 1 or 1 of 4 and such.

Oh sorry... but just to put my 2 cents in about the original thread. If it's a rare care or a car with pedigree and history, then restore it. If it's a plain Jane belly button car (you know "everybody's got one")... the break out the smoke wrench and start cutting.

That's the problem. Everybody does not have one. Anything under the '80's in a Mopar is getting hard to find in an original state making them all worth more than they used to. They are chevy's where they built a 100,000 compare to 25.000 Mopar's. YES, it's just a number I made up to make my point, it's not real so don't no one get there panties in a wad over that number.

[dwc43]

I have seen them but those were not cars used on the shows. The ones above did double duty stunts and filming.

True, but that was what I was getting at when I said that. You don't see people building that kind of a car and calling it a replica of the General.

[Nick Winter]

True, but that was what I was getting at when I said that. You don't see people building that kind of a car and calling it a replica of the General.

Not yet anyway, I haven't done any scal replica's of the Dukes Vehicles yet. BVut you can bet mine will be just like the GL's and ETC used.

[dwc43]

Not yet anyway, I haven't done any scal replica's of the Dukes Vehicles yet. BVut you can bet mine will be just like the GL's and ETC used.

I have some stuff set aside to do a Gl and cop car and a Jeep, but I need the F250 and the I have the 71 but I need the 73-4 Road Runner.

[Nick Winter]

I have some stuff set aside to do a Gl and cop car and a Jeep, but I need the F250 and the I have the 71 but I need the 73-4 Road Runner.

Jesse's trucks were MOSTLY '73-'75 F-100's with the occasional F250 thrown in

[Chuck Most]

Oh sorry... but just to put my 2 cents in about the original thread. If it's a rare care or a car with pedigree and history, then restore it. If it's a plain Jane belly button car (you know "everybody's got one")... the break out the smoke wrench and start cutting.

I echo that... UNLESS said rare car has snobby fanatics who'd be uber-offended by me cutting it up. Then, all bets are off!

[CAL]

I'd only waste the money on a restoration if it had historical significance, otherwise restomod.

As far as MOPAR's go, IMHO they are way over-rated.