1964 Dodge Polara

Works in Progress

Bill writes: The pictures show my Dodge as it was when I found the Mopar; now a 318 car, the goal is to have a 1964 426 wedge enigne in the engine bay when the project is done.

When I was a kid I raced a 1964 Plymouth Fury (361) and when I spotted this Dodge I thought “well, that’s close enough.” So here I am relearning my Mopar stuff. Should be fun and keep me out of trouble.

The 1962 to 1965 Mopar Web site is really great and I plan to rely on it.

Update August 2011

Thought folks would get a kick out of looking at the work I have have done to my car. I had to remove some former work done by some hillbillies. The floor was an old sign of some kind and it was screwed to the floor and then covered with BONDO. Man it was a real nightmare getting that stuff outta there. I have the true fit floor pans to weld in soon. Then it’s off to the rest of the work saving a beatiful old MOPAR car.

Update June 2012

Here is an update on my floor-job (ongoing). I will replace the driver’s side cowl soon and then off to media blasting for primers and body work.

Update July 2012

More progress on my 1964 Dodge. Now the fenders, hood and misc. parts go off to media blasting while I get back to grinding and seam sealing the new floor panels.

Update August 2012

Floors are ground, seams sealed, and POR15 painted. Man, getting all that Florida back road stuff off the outsides of the inner fenders was a lot of fun. I had to fabricate some metal repairs to one of the fender splashes and that was fun. Lots of welding and hammering into a pillow to get the shape right. Good work for the soul.

The engine comes out next and the work starts on cleaning and painting that area.

I plan to start on the 426 wedge engine block winter of 2012.

Update May 2013

I have replaced the driver’s side cowl including making the driver’s side under-cowl from scratch. That was “interesting” to say the least.

I wanted to do the same for the passenger’s side and found that no one re-manufacturers that side of the cowl, so I had to make my own. It was a lot of welding and patching (and some swearing) but in the end it looks pretty decent with some primer on it. There is certainly more to do, but I wanted to be able to see what it actually looked like. And you can’t really see it without a coat of primer. All things considered it came out very good and with some more finishing it will look great.

Fenders and hood are out at the media blaster, while I plan to strip the rest of the car by hand.

Update October 2014

I have done a lot of work this summer on my Dodge. The entire car was glass blasted in my driveway and the body is now in DP90LF primer. I have replaced the rear lower quarters since the was some previous metal work done there that I could not live with. I will also replace the lower front fenders since there is some rust going on there. The entire floor under the car is now clean and painted with POR15. I have added new suspension parts, including new (bigger 1.03 inch) torsion bars and new disc brakes on the front.

Next year is the finish body work and on to the engine.

Contact Bill:

Thanks Bill!

Welcome back to Mopars! You will have fun; no trouble allowed!  

Keep up the good work restoring the Dodge!

Gary H.