MA MOPAR BIT ME AGAIN or SO MANY MOPARS, SO LITTLE TIME

[1967 'cuda]

More mural shenanigans. It's difficult to paint a picture of a black car on a black car. - Sort of like painting a picture of a white rabbit in a blizzard. You just can't see it. To solve that I started on a corn field background.

The gold needs to be shaded yet so that it highlights the body lines. I need to add the PLYMOUTH, CROP DUSTER logo, and contingency decals to the side. I'm not sure if I want to add interior detail or just paint glare on the windows. I keep telling myself that it will look better when all of the details are finished. - And that it's just a race car. I know that my quickie paint job on the sides of the car didn't turn out bad but I would have been much pickier if the black paint hadn't had flaws.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I purchased a set of Sharpie brand PAINT MAKERS off of eBay. They're not marking pens with ink. They have enamel in them. I'm hoping that they will work for the final detail work on the mural.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Another day with little accomplished. You'd think the rest of the world would understand by now that I need my garage time. I had to get some yard work done and then I got roped into running errands by the 'ol lady. (I can call her that because she doesn't read these threads and I've hidden all the sharp knives in the house)

I ended up having to run to Columbus, Nebraska to get shopping done and deliver some cash to one of Teresa's daughters. I tried to make the best of it by loading up the 'Cuda on the trailer and taking it along. They were having a Show 'n Shine at the Ramada Inn.

When we stopped at Menards to pick up some supplies I found these cool DODGE caps for sale. At $8 I couldn't pass it up. They had a bunch of them on the shelf. I should have picked up a few. They're actually embroidered.











We made it to the Show n Shine late. It was already getting dark. After unloading the car and bullsh*tting with folks for awhile we headed on over to the DQ for some chili dogs. The 'Cuda is still as loud as ever and I cringe at the prospect of getting pulled over. - But man, it sure sounds mean.

You'd have thought that they were giving away free ice cream at the DQ. It took a half hour to make it through the line and order our food. - Another 20 minutes to get it. When we hopped back in the Barracuda it was dead. No power anywhere. Luckily the Ramada was only a few blocks away and the truck and trailer were there. I snarfed down the dogs as we walked back to the truck.

I had a battery charger and generator in the back of the pickup so I figured that I was all set up to recharge the Cuda's battery. I didn't have my toolbox with me but I did have some tools. It didn't take long to figure out that I was going to need them. Even with the charger on, I was still dead in the water. I had a 12 volt test light that helped me determine there was power to the bulkhead connector on both sides of the firewall. I traced the problem to a wire connector to a pigtail that I'd installed off of the back of the Ammeter. (I'd run a couple of pigtail wires off of it to make it easier to install the cluster. That way I didn't have to struggle so hard to tighten those two wires on the back of the gauge while the dash was in.)

Teresa tends to get panicky when stuff breaks down. You'd think she'd have more confidence in my ability to fix things by now. (that's the way I view it)

I put the car together and now it doesn't want to start. What kind of idiot am I? (that's the way she views it)

It took about 20 minutes to trace the problem and about 2 more to fix it. No harm. No foul. Just life in the fast lane.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I decided to forgo sleep and work on the mural. I started out by re-making some templates to assist in the body shading. I probably added too much white into the gold for the top shade, but I'll reserve judgement until after all the lettering is applied. I added more cornstalk background. It still needs to continue across the deck lid (behind the chicken and farmer). According to the UPS tracking, my paint pens are in Omaha. Hopefully they'll deliver later today. I really need them to add detail and to correct flaws.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I hope that this thread isn't boring folks to tears. I'm pretty slow at doing the trunk graphics. I thought some might find it interesting to see it evolve as more details were added.

The paint pens did show up today and I began by adding tread to the front tires and the CROP DUSTER logo on the side. I feel that the added black stripe in 'The Rapid Transit System' helped to make it stand out more. I struggle to keep my wrists from smearing areas that have fresh paint on them. - So I tend to jump from one spot to another. If I had a steadier hand I wouldn't need to lean on the trunk as I work.

The paint pens are great and awful. They're easier to control than a brush but they tend to want to plug up and not flow paint. You have to depress the tips often to replenish the paint on the tips, but sometimes it takes a great deal of effort to get that paint to come out.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I took the lazy route on the windows and just painted them blue. To make them look better I should airbrush the sunlight reflecting off of them. I did manage to get the contingency decals painted. They're awfully small, but there is a FABO sticker on the front fender. I couldn't finish with the highlights on the corn leaves because the green paint was still wet. I'm still considering a shadow effect on the lettering. I just realized that I forgot to put GOODYEAR on the slicks. I'll probably airbrush some dirt being tossed up in the air too.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The GOODYEAR was a piece of cake to draw on.



I know it's still pretty amatueristic, but it isn't a bad representation of what the Duster looks like.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I really used to enjoy painting race cars for guys back in the day. I was never into it big enough to be more than a hobby. When I see some of the custom work out there that's flawless it makes me realize that 'hobby level' is a far cry from making show car stuff. Still, I've had fun doing this. The 70's look is what I was aiming at. Quality has come a long way since then. There were an awful lot of cars being raced 'back in the day' that were crude by today's standards. - But they were still really cool!

I guess I'm trying to do my part to keep vintage racing alive. I know that I'm going to hate selling the Duster when I'm done detailing it out but I'll most likely need the funds to finance the rest of the projects. I still dream of getting that blown early hemi in the funnycar.

 

[1967 'cuda]

A few of my buddies called me up to let me know that there was an auction in Wahoo, Nebraska. It was an estate auction with a zillion car parts (mostly Chebbie and flat head Ford stuff). There was a '65 Barracuda there along with a handful of 40s Mopars and a '36 Plymouth coupe. I wasn't looking for another project but I heard there were 4 blowers and associated parts for sale. The only blower intake was small Chevy. They did have a six deuce carb adapter for blowers that looked to be new. They also had a lot of rebuilt Strombergs too. - Several pallets of crankshafts, water pumps, heads, blocks, intakes, etc... I should never go to these swap meets and auctions. I almost always find something to bring home and then kick myself for spending the money. I only bought a few items this time. They had a set of Keystone center caps that were very nice and I thought we might have been missing one for the Charger. The other thing I bought was a dual carb air cleaner/scoop. I told myself it'll come in handy for the funnycar some day. My son had bought one of these Enderle style air cleaner scoops for the Charger's 512.



But I preferred this Hilborn style for the funnycar. - And I get to make the decisions for the funny. It'll look killer on the hemi. - Speaking of which, I should get the hemi hauled back into town before it falls victim to the thefts we've been having.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Flies versus me. They're winning. I had thought that I had everything under control for awhile. A few weeks ago I'd armed myself with a flyswatter and they left me alone. After I'd smacked a few of them around the others knew to keep their distance. But now they've changed tactics. They've realized that I can't hit what I can't see. Instead of making themselves easy targets, now they're attacking from behind with quick hit and run airstrikes.

I may have to explore the nuclear option. I think they sell bug bombs at the Dollar Store.

It was still dark when I hit the ground at the Fremont swap meet. I figured that if the thieves that had robbed our farm were selling my stuff there, - they might dump it cheap. That meant that I might not have a chance to spot any of it if I didn't get there early. But I had no luck. If the stuff was there I sure didn't see it. I did find a few decent bargains as I was going up and down the rows of parts.

I bought an ATV jack for $25, an extremely heavy duty engine stand (that should support my hemi a lot better than my old stand) for $60, a nice Dremel tool that has the cable driven arbor for $15, an old plastic Roadrunner figure for $10, and a heavy duty 4 gauge copper cable for $25. I wasn't really looking to buy anything in particular but the ATV jack will come in handy when I swap converters in the 'Cuda (I'll modify it to be a transmission jack) and the engine stand will mean that I can now bring the hemi into town without having to set it on the floor. I will use the copper cable to run my battery power from the 'Lil Red's battery to a connection keeping the trailer's batteries charged.

Historically there aren't a lot of Mopar parts at the swap meets around here. I saw a pair of new partial '69 Charger quarter panels for $200 each. There were some "69 B-body bucket seats for $400. A brand new 68-70 B-body fuel tank for $25. A nice '68 B-body console for $25. - And an immaculate yellow '73 'Cuda that they were asking $28,000 for.

 

[1967 'cuda]

It's time to start preparing for Halloween. I thought that the Summit Racing and DODGE caps on the zombies were a nice touch. I'll have to find a JEGS cap for the third one.





Last year we used a projector to display animated Halloween cartoons on our garage door. Maybe this year I'll do the Snake & Mongoose movie.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The engine stand that I bought at the swap meet may have been built strong but the rust and grime looked pretty ugly. I sanded off most of the old paint , cleaned it up, and shot it black. It looked better, but I couldn't resist giving it a more MOPAR look.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Rain again. The forecast says it will stay around for the next 3 days. Bummer. I guess it's just me and the flies out here in the garage. There wasn't any bug bomb spray at the Dollar store so I'm still holding out hope that they'll let their guard down and I can start to whittle away at the numbers.













Some seem to be just dancin' around.



They're every imaginable size.



All of the usual suspects are here.



DIE! DIE! DIE!!!!



I think it's all starting to really get to me!!!

 

[1967 'cuda]

I think it takes a special kind of insanity for someone to put this much time into these old Mopars. LOL. - Just by the way, I did not pose the flies in the pictures. I came across those pics when I did a Google search of "evil flies".

 

[1967 'cuda]

Man, I am so tired. I didn't get much sleep last night. I stayed working in the garage until way into the wee hours before deciding it was time to call it quits.

REMEMBER:

Never let your guard down.

Always be vigilant.

Flies are the Al Qaeda of the insect world.

As I walked through the door a few of them followed me in last night. - THE SNEAKY BASTARDS!! They bid their time, - waiting. - Waiting until I tried to sleep. Any exposed portion of my body became a target for their twisted hit and run attacks.

Normally I like to leave my arms and feet uncovered. - Not last night. I stretched the blankets over my arms, - they went for my legs. I pulled my legs under the covers, - they went for the back of my neck. As I engulfed myself with shelter they knew I would still have to breathe. With an entire house to soar around in - they focused on my nose. I think they were trying to get me to suffocate myself.

E V I L !!!!!!

I'm still groggy from last night. But I've wakened with a new resolve. One way or another they must be stopped. I'm beginning to envision the house filled with those sticky bug strips that you hang from the ceiling. - Venus Flytraps on every shelf. Lizards sort of creep me out but I think they might eat flies. Some of those bug zappers might come in handy too.









I think they actually like the insect repellant. It only seems to attract more.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I took a break from garage cleaning to work on another Halloween decoration. I had some styrofoam packing that I was going to throw away and thought I could turn it into a tombstone for behind the zombies. The dates on it are of when the first and last Plymouths were made.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Even if I'm making Halloween preps and trying to get some cleaning done, I'm still trying to get work done on the cars when I can. I think this next tombstone design will read:

..IMA..
.CUDA.
APRIL 1 1964
APRIL 1 1974



The Duster has always had a lot of flaws. Most of them could be taken care of with more detailing. I'm trying to keep from spending too much on the car because it's a race car and they don't usually command a lot of money when it comes time to sell. The silver paint around the tail light lenses had been sun baked over the years and was looking pretty sad. - So I pulled the light assemblies out of the car. I thought I'd try to stay with the 'gold' theme as much as possible on the details. The foam trunk seals weren't in the best shape. I left them on the lenses to aid in masking. After a few more coats of paint I'll strip the old foam off and replace it with new.

 

[1967 'cuda]

After I'd gotten the gold paint on I realized that the housings needed attention too. There was over spray from previous paint jobs on the outside and the reflective silver didn't have much luster. So I scuffed them down and repainted them inside and out. I don't plan on doing anything with the broken tabs.





I think the tail lights turned out OK. I keep messing with this poor old car trying to find ways to distract folks from all the flaws. Part of me would have loved to have gone all the way through it, but that sensible side of me is still saying "it's only a race car".





Once I get the plating setup all put together I'm thinking about copper plating the wheels.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Sometimes I just like to reminisce about just how it is that I got the Mopar 'hotrodding' bug.

Back in the 60s and 70s I got a huge thrill from watching NASCAR racing coverage on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I was a big Richard Petty fan. We had an HO scale racetrack in our basement and I spent countless hours modifying the cars to match those on TV. I used a cassette recorder to tape the race audio and would play it while I raced the cars downstairs.

I remember going to the drive-in theater in Schuyler, Nebraska regularly with my friends. We'd sneak in - in the trunks if we couldn't afford it. On one occasion I went in my buddy's 66 Impala 4 door. We didn't know what was showing until we got there. It just happened to be 'Crazy Larry Dirty Mary' and we were in a car identical to the one in the movie. I loved his 66 but the Charger in the movie was even cooler.



I didn't get my own car until after I graduated high school. The first car I ever bought was this '70 Roadrunner. The factory burnt orange was gorgeous but I couldn't leave well enough alone. After an accident in which I got rear ended, I decided to paint it black. Although the air grabber wasn't original to it, I couldn't resist putting it on. My inspiration for the flames came from watching 'the California Kid'.





Around here it was one of the most radical cars on the streets. I felt like a real outlaw driving it.




I thought that I'd have all sorts of women fighting after me when I drove it.



But the truth of the matter is that most women just looked at me funny.

 

[1967 'cuda]

After I graduated high school it was time to get a job. I wasn't picky. I'd have taken anything. The biggest criteria was to get a paycheck. Factory jobs tend to pay the best when you have no job experience yet. But I applied everywhere I could. Eventually I was hired by Walker Manufacturing in Seward, Nebraska. They made tail pipes and mufflers. It was long hours and hard work but it could've been worse. I could have started out doing construction.



The longer I owned my Roadrunner the more I loved it. Women still weren't fighting over me after I had the flames painted on.



As a matter of fact, even more of them seemed to give me funny looks.



This was the mid seventies and the invasion of 'Jap' cars was really starting to take off after the gas crisis. But I was amongst the crowd that referred to them as Jap crap.




I began to associate with more and more guys that were into Chrysler products. They were a motley crew. - You could tell us apart from those Chebby boys.



When you're around these Plymouths and Dodges it starts to get under your skin. I think that my own family even began embracing Mopars. You could see it in their eyes.