After 9 years of racing our 1974 Dodge Charger my wife and I decided to
build a street car.
My all time favourite car is a 1963 Dodge 2 dr htp and so I hung a picture on the wall of the shop so I would be focused on the idea.
When my friend Gearge Watson phoned to tell me he had found a '63 I was not long buying it.
These pictures are of the car as it was found in the garage where it sat in British Columbia for 23 years.
I had collected some Max Wedge parts including a block, a set of
Stage 111 bare heads and a Max Wedge cam. Some friends found me a cable
shift big block trans. So I was on with the restoration!
As you can see it is not perfect but it is getting there.
Someone had cut the rear valance of
with a torch and there was no grill. The passenger side of the car
looked like it had been parked in the garage by a blind man and the
passenger front fender was stuffed in about 1 inch where the headlight
goes.
Since the car was from British Columbia and had been stored inside for 14 years there was almost "0" rust.
The frame had been dented by being chained
down by heavy chains when tranported but because it was not rusty we
were able to fix it perfectly. The rad support and passenger splash pan
were bent badly but a bodyshop owner friend of mine said because the car
was so solid and because the metal was fairly thick compared to a modern
car it was fixable. It took me several weeks but it came out fine as you
can see.
The body is now at the paint shop and the 426 wedge is being
rebuilt.
We will build it the same as the Old Reliable 440 we built in
our book by the same name. The only difference will be the slightly
smaller 426 bore (4.25 inches) and the Stage 111 heads. As the engine,
including all machine work, except the crank, will be done in our home
machine shop we will have lots of pictures as we go.
Stay tuned, 11s or bust!
Update, January 2000
The engine compartment is painted...
Update, April 2000
Visit Don's Web Site for additional details.
Upadate, May 8, 2000
Update August, 2000:
The chrome is installed and the wheels on!
Update August 2001
As of yesterday noon the 426 is sitting in the 1963 Dodge. I can not believe the amount of room around it. There is a lot more than in the 1974 Charger with a 440.
Looks like you found a great candidate for restoration!
Thanks for letting us follow along with the '63's progress.
Who will you root for when the your 1974 races your 1963?
Thanks,
Gary H.
November 27, 1999; January 6, 2000; April 26, 2000; May 8, 2000; May 20, 2000;
August 9, 2000; November 9, 2000; November 19, 2000; December 10, 2000; August 31, 2001; Moved to Gallery Page August 9, 2002
