THIS CHALLENGING CHARGER RESTO WAS WORTH IT
AT THE END OF THE DAY KEITH CLAPP RECKONS WHEN YOU SEE A SPOT OF RUST IT MIGHT JUST BE A GOOD PLAN TO IGNORE IT
Ialways liked the shape of these cars which were cheap compared to something like $100,000-plus for a Monaro or GT Falcon. I picked up this fabulous car for around $20,000 leaving me with a fair bit of play money.
I took it to a restorer who gave me a rough breakdown of what it would cost to get fixed, which was about $10,000 plus work on the motor (a 265 six), which had done 350,000km. It started from there and ended up a much bigger project than anyone anticipated.
There was more needed than we originally thought and we are still on speaking terms. My advice is if you see a rust spot, you give it a little pat and say brown is your favourite colour and just move on!
After finding the car, I started on the small stuff. The headlining is the rare ‘snakebite’ double perforated lining which even the Charger owner at the motor trimmer hadn’t seen for 10 years. I found Challenger Reproductions in the USA were able to match it after sending them a sample.
Next were the seats and door trims. It took three attempts with SMS Auto Fabrics, also in America, to get the right fabric for the seats, it being a special request for Bocca Ratan with Tan and Gold trim.
The seat samples had faded in the Australian sun so their attempts to replicate saw red become pink, green become brown and the gold look cream. I eventually found a seat part which stretched under the carpet and retained the vivid 70s psychedelic colours I was looking for.
I spread the seats and dash over the deck and during winter sanded and oiled the fasteners and springs to ensure they were free of rust, then lacquered them for the future.
When I took the seats to the upholsterer he said to throw them in the bin as he wasn’t going to put back 40 year-old springs, bolsters and fabric! He suggested matching all the vinyl sections of the seats, parcel shelf, door trims, kick boards, handbrake cover and extras to the original and ordered the matching leather-look material with the original pattern.
He told me the stylised Chrysler door trim patterns weren’t reproduced these days so we would have to fit custom ones. We found a person who, using tracing paper, could trace around the pattern, then use a heat wand to permanently replicate the original pattern. Wonderful.
However, a month after the job began, this gent rang asking for more fabric after he got distracted on a phone call and burned through one door card and backing chipboard. We ordered more but it was a different shade. We