My 69 300 project/ driver and the things that distract me from it.

Rustyrodknocker

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I am starting this thread in hopes to organize my data and help me keep track of what I have done.

For those that are looking for some type of satisfaction from seeing a story told and a restoration completed. There will be none of that here. However,
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I do intend to get this car to a very presentable state. Reason being, it has grown on me and earned its keep. I will attempt to put together the back story as I upload my content.

For starters. I found the car on craigs. There was no picture and only a few words. I caught it shortly after it posted and called. He answered and I headed out straight away. It was only about 3 miles from my house. He was a scrapper and got it on a door knock. It had been in a carport for decades.
I put the battery out of my car and dumped fuel in the carb. It fired on the points as is. I gave the man his asking price of $600. I believe this was 2012 based on the date stamp on some of my pictures.
 
Some backstory, before I get going on the car. First of all, I'm hopelessly addicted to shitty cars.
This is for many reasons. First being that I learned if all you have is a nice car it can be damned boring at times. Second. I don't really have any sense of pride of ownership when it comes to buying things. If it's a nice car and somebody says " hey, nice car!" I don't feel the urge to say thank you. They are complimenting the car not me. If the car is as I bought it, I may agree, yea, it is a nice car.
For me these things are not esteem builders. They are something to think about. I must have something to think about at all times. I have never watched tv programs or sports. I don't care about it and don't want to waste any of the valuable space in my noggin on such things.
What gives me a thousand times more satisfaction then driving about in a nice old csr is breathing life back into an abandoned derelict and the older they get and closer to being cast off forever the better.

I do plan on reducing what I own and settling in one nice car as I get older. But as long as I can crawl under one I will do so.

Finally I'm going to be 47 in a few months and I have been financially stable for 25 years. I know what it is like to have nothing. Not even a home. I spent some of my teenage years living with friends at no cost, as I had no means.
Once I was old enough to work things got better and I had a goal of aquiring some steller mopars.
First and foremost, a 70 Hemi cuda.
I was born into the logging industry and as a teenager had always planned to go to Alaska to work. I turned 18 in August and it was too late to start work for the year. So I had to wait for the following year.
That winter I met a new girl and we spent much time together. But I was clear I had to go come spring. I figured two seasons to get the cuda. They were in the 30k range.
My girlfriend could not believe I was leaving for a car but I assured her, this was not any car. It was the King of muscle cars.
Well, it's been almost 29 years and I'v'e never been to Alaska...
 
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Even thought I never made it to Alaska and never caught that cuda. I can't complain. Work was lean for a few years. But I traded my way into a Roadrunner that had belonged to a freind and I loved that car from the time I first saw it. It was a Fuselage car and I had never seen one before. I still love the look of it.
I traded it for a factory big block pickup and some cash because I could not get insurance on the car at the time.
My girlfriend was extremely disapointed that I sold it and made a point to keep it it fresh in my mind for 20 years. It still comes up once in awhile too.
Because that stung a little. I used my knowledge of getting by with very little and have never sold something I cherished to get by. My first mopar other than trucks. I was 20 and it was too.
To this day I have never owned a late model car.
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We moved away from our home town in 95 because work was scarce. At that time I had the 72 big block truck, several big blocks in inventory and a slew of English motorcycles. I sold the truck to fund the trip and lighten the load. We gave away or threw away all the furniture and loaded a uhaul full of motors, trannys, motorcycles and our stereo.
We were pioneers on the Oregon trail. East Oregon to West anyway. We did a prelim trip in the girlfriends 70 Nova. It looked promising so we left it there and borrowed a little truck to go start the move.
When we made it to the valley I stored all my motors in a shop out in s small town where my father in law owned a rental property with said shop.
They are still there. 25 years later. I brought 4 motorcycles and still have 2 of them a 69 BSA and a 62 Triumph. I sold my 69 Triumph Trident and have had regular *** chewings since. I miss that bike as does the Wife.
After a couple of years working in a sawmill and saving money for the first time ever. I bought a 68 Coronet with a transplanted 440. It was not the 69 A12 Superbee that I had been lusting for as the plan Bee from the failed Alaska cuda plan.
But it was a damn sharp car with a mint factory black interior and a fresh hemi orange paint job with cop car steels and caps.
I still have it and the tags expired in 99.
I moved it to offsite storage with the 300 this year.
I put it in a tarp carport for a couple years and it was hell on that car. I'm sorry I did that.
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I had the 300 running good the day after I got it home. It has been licensed and on the road since.
It had rust under the rear window and was pretty pitted above the windshield. It had some zero mile meaty bias plies that unfortunately were rotten. They looked super cool. Those were mounted on custom Stockton wheel cop car wheels 8'and 10's
Had new exhaust out the back. Cheap reupholstered seats in green and black and the dash was butchered.Bad. It was also sporting a typical scuff and shoot paint job the kind that frustrates you because they were 90% of the way to a nice paint job. I pulled the rear window and formed some patch panels to fix the rust issue. In the process I had masked off the car and when pulling tape the damn paint pulled off. So I primered the roof white and tried to capture the rear where the paint pulled off in a moparesque style. Good enough to get on the road. For a $600 dollar car anyway.
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The Chrysler is a drum brake car, so I was on the lookout for disc brake stuff. It also had a bent main leaf on the drivers side. But the car was on the road. We drove it daily and took it on many weekend runs to the coast.
It also had a crack in the windshield about 6 inches long.
Eventually I found a 73 fury on craigs. It was two miles away. It was listed as non running with problem in the "electrical system" . The guy was living in an apartment and had been warned about working on the car. He was asking $800 I said I could do five and we agreed.
I had the wife tow me home with my c30 dually.
I had a tow rope her Mother got me in a kit for Christmas. It was 6' long. Well that's what I had and I was not going back to the house.
Also I had previously learned the last time that I towed the Wife home on a rope. That it was in fact the last time. ( power steering power brake with no power) So she was in the Dually and me in the Fury. Off we went and it started to rain. The battery was near dead so the fury had slow wipers.
I don't what party she was late for but we were truckin! I rolled down the window and put my hand out motioning in a downward fashion. As in slow it down honey! All the water coming off those duallys combined with a 6' rope had me paying full attention. She literally thought I meant get on it! What the hell!? Now we are flat getting it. Speeding through town in the rain on a 6' rope no power brakes! Is she getting even for the time with the Caprice? Holy **** man. At this point I can't motion nothin, I got to damn drive. Finally a stoplight, I never been so happy to sit at a light. But I took the opportunity to yell, "what the hell!?" "I said slow it down!" She yelled "you said faster!" I said "bullshit! We were hauling ***"!
I could see her looking at me eyes welling up in the rearview mirror.
I said "your doin fine honey" she just responded by flipping me off. With both hands..
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I did the brake swap. But because I try to save every damn derelict I find, I put all my old parts back on the Fury. Brakes, rear leaf springs, plus I kept and extra leaf. Gas tank. But apparently I should have kept my sending unit. This one is funky.
The fury had broken motor mounts. But all electrical was brand new. Cap,rotor,wires plugs, alternator. But it would only back fire once in a while. I pull the cap and the rotor would hang up then spin. I could not figure it out. I thought the cam was broke. I called a buddy. He is strictly a GM guy but his parents had Furys when he was a kid. He said "dude, I told you about those Chryslers and the nylon cam gears stripping out. Every damn one my Dad bought did that"
Ok, ok. I'll check it out. Sure thing, teeth all rounded off. New timing chain kit and a couple motor mounts and the Fury drove great! The interior was good but plain. A couple Grandma dents but no rust. Ran awesome. 360. I wanted to keep it of course. But alas, no room. We sold it for $600 and the new owners drove it over a hundred miles home no problem. I threw in a motorhome 727 with the drum brake on the back. The other kid was into Internationals and needed Torqueflight parts.
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I fabbed up a trailer hitch for the 300 so I could fly down the freeway with my trailer and go see my Mom who was getting around on a hover round. I would put the scooter on the trailer and put Mom in the 300 and we would go down to the public pier In Florence. It was a great time and my Mom loved the big Chrysler. She is gone 3 years now and I miss those times dearly. So, I no longer do that but many a dirtbike trips have made use of the hitch.
Wife hates it.
On one Florence run though after making the mistake of buying some heavy weight oil on clearance the rear main let go after an hour on the freeway. I only noticed because the battery started to discharge and I pulled off the road at a home improvement center. The alternator bolt had broken and it and the spacers were gone.
I bought some bolts, steel tube, tubing cutter and all the oil in the lawnmower section. I fabbed up some spacers and remounted the alternator. I ran that set up for several years. I got on the road home stopping to add oil as needed. Cars were staying way back! My trailer was covered in oil when I got home.
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The rear main was the first of several to let go on me. I never did find the proper Mopar part. Which I think was the issue. It just was not tight enough.
I was watching Aussies setting them up in Holdens and they were way more snug. They could check them with a torque wrench on the crank.

The damn things would hold for weeks around town and on short jaunts but would not survive extended freeway running. I blew two at the same place 70 miles from home.
I tried a poly seal it was an immediate failure. Made it 5 miles.
I am going to have the knurls ground when I overhaul the engine then run a poly seal.

So I started a motor search. That was a serious debacle and will not elaborate unless asked. Craigs list flakes. But I found a super fresh motor home 440 and put it in. Its been great. Never gets hot hauling bikes. Runs on **** gas. I did add an electric fan salvaged from the c30 dually after an engine fire. And wait for it... blasphemy... an GM hei module mounted to a heat sink on the core support with a Chrysler electronic pick up. Because I wanted to, that's why. Modules are cheap and available and I keep a spare in the trunk.
It has been pretty smooth sailing other than I can tell the trans is soft and stopped hauling bikes mid summer.
A continuing issue is an ignition switch intermittent failure. This led me to change the relay and the neutral safety switch. No change. If the humidity is just right typically in the a.m. you get nothing. I can jump the relay with a screwdriver and if will be good for the day.
But the Wife was at her friends house late one night and it did not start. She tried to jump the relay in the dark and it turned into a welding operation. That resulted in a blown fusable link and a ride home.
I was given official notice that she was done with this ****! We are mid 40's with no bills and she is done with **** cars. So....
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The Wife loves the modern car and I love the freedom it gives me to tear apart whatever I want without having to worry about affecting her daily transpo. When I bought it. I drove the first portion of the test drive and found a place to turn around. Then we switched places. At that point she adjusted the drivers seat and said "this seat will never be adjusted again, because we are buying this car and your not driving it again".
To be fair I have driven it just a few times in a year and a half and only a few miles. But Iv'e never moved the seat. I just squish in and take it to get the oil changed.

The roof on the 300 has gone from bad to worse. So in a bit of horse trading I picked up a 73 Newyorker parts car and stripped it down then traded the remainder for a roof.
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That's kind of where it sits for the moment. The car is in storage for the winter. I am on a mission to get our 66 GMC Suburban back on the road by summer. As a long overdue promise to the wife. Although it was originally mine. She fairly stole it I guess. Anyhow day drove it for years and is much attached.
I don't expect any progress on the Chrysler until the Burb lives. Much metal to replace. And motor...
 
Very much enjoyed your stories...thank you for sharing, reminds me a lot of my life's journey as well and I'm turning 46 this year. ;)
 
Good stuff, thanks! I’ll be back for more.:thankyou:
 
Great read, the '68 Coronet is a sweet car, any plans for it?

Sorry for the late response. I guess I'm not subscribed to my own thread!

I don't know what I'm going to do with it. For the last 6 or 7 years I have thought it would be my 50th birthday present to myself to get it restored.
Now I'm second guessing that.
I want to get my 300 in nice shape. Even though its not a very good car. It's loyal.
The Coronet was the last nice car I owned. It was not stellar but it had nice original interior a fresh enamel paint job and a new vinyl top..
It was perfect for the time. I was 24 and did not have a good place to wrench on cars. I just drove it.
I get more enjoyment and less stress out of wrenching on and driving derelict cars.
I was stressed about that car constantly. I couldn't afford to fix it if it got damaged.

But the day will come that It's just not worth the pain of crawling under these things anymore. When I'm there. Ill settle for a nice driver.

I may just buy a different car all together. The thought of that sounds fun.
It's getting rid of all my other cars that I know I'll have to come to terms with.
 
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