The Crusty Cuda: Whole lotta Shakin' (N96) Goin' on!

[A12pilot]

Criminey Steve-O! Had I of known you’d have this much problem with the car I never would have sold it to you!!! Oh, wait, I know....it’s “come uppens” for all the voodoo hyjinx you sent my way on engine break-in day! You and that Woj guy, what with his “Good luck Dave. I’m sure it’ll go well.” encouragement text!!

So moving forward, I’m about 90% done with the undercoating removal and the clue hunting continues for replication when painting happens. Just like my Bee and other Mopes, they are dipped in a vat of gray primer which leaves drips and a distinct line on the firewall where there stopped the dip. Also, they’re painted in one piece with two painters on either side of the car. As such, when I do paint, I sort of get into the mindset of what that guy might have been thinking as the car was coming down to get sprayed. Three things come to mind: Hurry up, make it sorta neat, and don’t spray anything you can’t easily reach in the interest of time. And as supporting evidence to that is in underside of the frame rails being only lightly coated, under the battery tray being slightly dusted, and several other overspray patterns being noted. And interesting tidbit on my Super Bee was the fact that since it was a vinyl top car, the roof does not get painted. But again, with two painters on either side of the car, that varied. One side of my Bee had the entire roof rail painted and the other side stopped halfway up the A and C pillars. Another interesting thing is the vinyl top cars got a elastic caulk sealer at the C pillar while painted cars got lead. However, true to Ma Mopar being consistently inconsistent and wanting to ensure that people will debate something this stupid years later, a vinyl top 68 Charger XP car had the C-Pillar joint leaded!

There’s also factory markings on the rear seat support, passenger inner rear wheel house, and Driver’s side door. All will be replicated in authentic script because....I don’t know why.

Recently I flew with a fellow pilot who’s father worked the assembly line at Chrysler In the St. Louis plant in the late 60s to mid 70s. As an entry level position, guess what he did? Painted cars!!!! And you wonder why they were painted so crappy!

More this weekend!

Cheers

[njsteve]

Nice progress Dave,

And now that you mention it. I did forget to pull the needles out of that cuda voodoo doll I had set up. That explains it all now!

[njsteve]

And those crayon markings? That "X" on the door is so the door guts installer knows which door to throw his lunch bag and crumpled Coke can into.

Reminds me of our old 1972 Satellite Suburban 9 passenger wagon (Rallye Red with black interior!) We always wondered why the tailgate rattled so much and how the rear window washing mechanism never worked. My dad finally brought it into the dealer and the dealer pulled out all the assembly-line parts, rubber banded together, and clanking around in the bottom of the tailgate. I never thought to ask if the "X" was there, though.