Ellie May is on the road

polaratherapy

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FCBO Gold Member
Joined
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Location
Rockwood, Ontario
Hi all, well it's been a year since I got her and she's gone through a bit of a transformation. My 70 Polara convertible was raped and mistreated and as mentioned in my original post I had intentions of bringing her back to some respectability.
Items removed consist of, rotten floors, Monte Carlo bucket seats, trunk lid, monster stereo system, front bumper brackets, under body lighting, ugly looking tack, fire extinguisher strapped to passenger foot well, old carpet, reservoir bottles and Joe Dirt foot pedals. All relays installed by former owner to try and make a Polara look like a Challenger from the head lights point of view have been removed and any other hacking of the electrical has been put back to its original state as best I can.
Things I did to Ellie May with a twist, as mentioned ripped eveything out, cut out all the footwells, used a barrel for the redo to many's dismay. Glad I did it this way the cancer was extensive, aftermarket pannels would not have been sufficient. My job consisted of metal fabbing the foot wells, contouring them, cinching them down with tapping screws and then mig-ging the seams. A sealer was then applied then covered with foil- butyl sound deadener. In the mean time the wife was helping with the custom carpet edging, the sleeves for the visors, bibs for the bucket seats and the covers for the head rests.
The dash looked like a slasher went at it with a box cutter so it had to be removed and rebuilt and recovered, pretty happy on how it came out, only one little scrotal section but considering I saw one for sale at Moparfest for $2300, I'm really happy.
I went out and got the appropriate bucket seats and a rear seat that came out of a 70 Monaco sedan, luckily the sedan seat skin is slightly larger than the convertible one and fit right over the original back seat frame no problem, I've had tougher situations skinning a deer or moose! The Monte Carlo seats were not even anchored to supports just bolted to 1 mm rusted out 50+ year old metal, pretty scary thought.
The instrument panels were faded worn and tattered so I recovered them with Vvivid carbon fiber wrap as well as the interior wood panel stripping on the doors.
Carbon fiber wrap was added to the tail light surroundings and the front closures which had to be extensivly repaired before covering up.
The body didn't need as much cheese as expected, I replaced the trunk lid with a better one, cheeseless! Removed old bondoed sections that were seperating and redid them, sanded everything down with 80, then 240 then 400, Scotch Britted and the used a tack cloth in preperation for the Ghost Satin Copper wrap. All you purists can rest assured that the car is preserved under giant sheets of plastic wrap.
Ellie May past her safety Oct. 6th 2022 a year to the day I went up to Sudbury to get her, the same day I quit smoking. When she was in the shop she got a tranny tune up the rear axle resealed and the intention of having the intake resaled also. Learned that the mechanic was concerned in removing the intake as the former owner used an unknown substance on the intake to seal it. I have sourced another one out that came out of a 70 Challenger, just cleaning it up, creating a EGR delete and painting it up again.
I have the top scheduled for replacement in November, I still have to source out new wheels for her and I have a normal hood to work on this winter.
FCBO has been a great source of info throughout the process, thanks to Boydsdodge, Big John, Ayilar, Cbarge and many others that created threads to follow or bookmark.
The last photo consists of all I pulled out of Ellie May except for the hood on the left.

Have a good day!
PT

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Holy hood pins!

Screen Shot 2022-10-11 at 10.08.21 AM.png


All three wheels have too many spokes for me.

Recommendations;

The Grant looks a lot like a Mopar Tough Wheel, but the original Mopar Rallye wheels are even nicer.

Screen Shot 2022-10-11 at 10.16.35 AM.png

Road wheels

Screen Shot 2022-10-11 at 10.17.28 AM.png

Or

Screen Shot 2022-10-11 at 10.18.22 AM.png

The oversized modern wheel looks on vintage American muscle cars doesn't do anything for me to the point of having to look away. Locally in front of the tire shop is a '66 Buick Grand Sport with 20"s, the manager's car, so wrong... I look the other way when I drive by.

Seen a lot less of this on vintage Mopars all the sudden, like none, so the fad may be dying.
 
Holy hood pins!

View attachment 562503

All three wheels have too many spokes for me.

Recommendations;

The Grant looks a lot like a Mopar Tough Wheel, but the original Mopar Rallye wheels are even nicer.

View attachment 562507
Road wheels

View attachment 562505
Or

View attachment 562506
The oversized modern wheel looks on vintage American muscle cars doesn't do anything for me to the point of having to look away. Locally in front of the tire shop is a '66 Buick Grand Sport with 20"s, the manager's car, so wrong... I look the other way when I drive by.

Seen a lot less of this on vintage Mopars all the sudden, like none, so the fad may be dying.
Cragars are in the cards for Ellie May's future, a nice wood grain steering wheel also. She's not quite there where I want her to be but we're getting closer!
 
@polaratherapy -- great to hear about your progress. You had an ambitious plan to bring back Al's old car, DL27G0D127970 -- you are getting close to the finish line, this is super.

Glad that @Boydsdodge @Big_John @cbarge @CBODY67 and others could help you -- this is indeed a great place.

The 1970 Polara convertible crew, including but not limited to @71Polara383 @polara71 @Fratzog @vidsal @carfreak6970 @70VCode @Cags70PolaraConvert @POCONVERT70 @aaron t smith @JPMODL @TomC @1969vert500 @barry-mopar @convert383 @Jon Tessier @Ruger @DeMopuar @Bill King @Fred Jongeling @FURYGT @Molez, should be delighted!
 
Holy hood pins!

View attachment 562503

All three wheels have too many spokes for me.

Recommendations;

The Grant looks a lot like a Mopar Tough Wheel, but the original Mopar Rallye wheels are even nicer.

View attachment 562507
Road wheels

View attachment 562505
Or

View attachment 562506
The oversized modern wheel looks on vintage American muscle cars doesn't do anything for me to the point of having to look away. Locally in front of the tire shop is a '66 Buick Grand Sport with 20"s, the manager's car, so wrong... I look the other way when I drive by.

Seen a lot less of this on vintage Mopars all the sudden, like none, so the fad may be dying.

@polaratherapy -- great to hear about your progress. You had an ambitious plan to bring back Al's old car, DL27G0D127970 -- you are getting close to the finish line, this is super.

Glad that @Boydsdodge @Big_John @cbarge @CBODY67 and others could help you -- this is indeed a great place.

The 1970 Polara convertible crew, including but not limited to @71Polara383 @polara71 @Fratzog @vidsal @carfreak6970 @70VCode @Cags70PolaraConvert @POCONVERT70 @aaron t smith @JPMODL @TomC @1969vert500 @barry-mopar @convert383 @Jon Tessier @Ruger @DeMopuar @Bill King @Fred Jongeling @FURYGT @Molez, should be delighted!
Thanks Ayilar, progress but not complete, just happy to have her back on the road, lots of time to tinker, winter is coming!
 
Thanks Ayilar, progress but not complete, just happy to have her back on the road, lots of time to tinker, winter is coming!
Ayilar, maybe you can add some old pics of the Polara when Widdowmakker had her, I think you posted them at one time.

Thanks PT
 
Nice job. I would go with Mopar Rallye wheels or Keystone Klassics (do they even make those anymore?).
funny thing is, I'm just brousing some now, lots to consider, size, back spacing. I think 17" rims would be the right size, yes the 20"s I got with the car are too much but will have to do for now. Those Mopar rallye wheels sure look nice.
 
17x7, 4.0-4.25" backspacing. P235/50R-17 tires have the same approx revs/mile as a GR70-15 tire. SHOP the current and up-coming seasonal sales on wheels and tires both.

There's a thread in here of a member who put those tires on his '68 Fury III convertible a year or so ago.

Enjoy!
CBODY67
 
Ayilar, maybe you can add some old pics of the Polara when Widdowmakker had her, I think you posted them at one time.

Thanks PT
Attached is a photo of your car in October 2000, when Al Sproule (from West Gwillimbury in Bradford, Ontario) still owned it and Polara Dave (@polara71) first got to learn about your car. I found the pic here a few years back:

70polara400.jpg


Here is a MoparFest 2001 pic showing your car with @My70monaco and Al from the website that the former maintains for his 1970 Monaco coupe:

upload_2022-1-6_8-20-28.png


As you know, DL27G0D127970 was acquired in 2015 by FCBO member Widowmakker (aka Joe). Here are links from other threads, so that (as you requested) other FCBO members can read about your car's history:

post in 2015: second kick at the cat...

For sale in 2018: For Sale - 1970 Polara convertible for sale (Sudbury, Canada)

For sale again in fall 2019: For Sale - 1970 Polara 'vert for sale (Sudbury, ON)

Last sale thread in summer 2021: NOT MINE - 1970 Dodge Polara Convertible - C$8,500 - Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Cheers!
 
Hi all, well it's been a year since I got her and she's gone through a bit of a transformation. My 70 Polara convertible was raped and mistreated and as mentioned in my original post I had intentions of bringing her back to some respectability.
Items removed consist of, rotten floors, Monte Carlo bucket seats, trunk lid, monster stereo system, front bumper brackets, under body lighting, ugly looking tack, fire extinguisher strapped to passenger foot well, old carpet, reservoir bottles and Joe Dirt foot pedals. All relays installed by former owner to try and make a Polara look like a Challenger from the head lights point of view have been removed and any other hacking of the electrical has been put back to its original state as best I can.
Things I did to Ellie May with a twist, as mentioned ripped eveything out, cut out all the footwells, used a barrel for the redo to many's dismay. Glad I did it this way the cancer was extensive, aftermarket pannels would not have been sufficient. My job consisted of metal fabbing the foot wells, contouring them, cinching them down with tapping screws and then mig-ging the seams. A sealer was then applied then covered with foil- butyl sound deadener. In the mean time the wife was helping with the custom carpet edging, the sleeves for the visors, bibs for the bucket seats and the covers for the head rests.
The dash looked like a slasher went at it with a box cutter so it had to be removed and rebuilt and recovered, pretty happy on how it came out, only one little scrotal section but considering I saw one for sale at Moparfest for $2300, I'm really happy.
I went out and got the appropriate bucket seats and a rear seat that came out of a 70 Monaco sedan, luckily the sedan seat skin is slightly larger than the convertible one and fit right over the original back seat frame no problem, I've had tougher situations skinning a deer or moose! The Monte Carlo seats were not even anchored to supports just bolted to 1 mm rusted out 50+ year old metal, pretty scary thought.
The instrument panels were faded worn and tattered so I recovered them with Vvivid carbon fiber wrap as well as the interior wood panel stripping on the doors.
Carbon fiber wrap was added to the tail light surroundings and the front closures which had to be extensivly repaired before covering up.
The body didn't need as much cheese as expected, I replaced the trunk lid with a better one, cheeseless! Removed old bondoed sections that were seperating and redid them, sanded everything down with 80, then 240 then 400, Scotch Britted and the used a tack cloth in preperation for the Ghost Satin Copper wrap. All you purists can rest assured that the car is preserved under giant sheets of plastic wrap.
Ellie May past her safety Oct. 6th 2022 a year to the day I went up to Sudbury to get her, the same day I quit smoking. When she was in the shop she got a tranny tune up the rear axle resealed and the intention of having the intake resaled also. Learned that the mechanic was concerned in removing the intake as the former owner used an unknown substance on the intake to seal it. I have sourced another one out that came out of a 70 Challenger, just cleaning it up, creating a EGR delete and painting it up again.
I have the top scheduled for replacement in November, I still have to source out new wheels for her and I have a normal hood to work on this winter.
FCBO has been a great source of info throughout the process, thanks to Boydsdodge, Big John, Ayilar, Cbarge and many others that created threads to follow or bookmark.
The last photo consists of all I pulled out of Ellie May except for the hood on the left.

Have a good day!
PT

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Looks fantastic, great work.
 
Attached is a photo of your car in October 2000, when Al Sproule (from West Gwillimbury in Bradford, Ontario) still owned it and Polara Dave (@polara71) first got to learn about your car. I found the pic here a few years back:

View attachment 562585

Here is a MoparFest 2001 pic showing your car with @My70monaco and Al from the website that the former maintains for his 1970 Monaco coupe:

upload_2022-1-6_8-20-28.png


As you know, DL27G0D127970 was acquired in 2015 by FCBO member Widowmakker (aka Joe). Here are links from other threads, so that (as you requested) other FCBO members can read about your car's history:

post in 2015: second kick at the cat...

For sale in 2018: For Sale - 1970 Polara convertible for sale (Sudbury, Canada)

For sale again in fall 2019: For Sale - 1970 Polara 'vert for sale (Sudbury, ON)

Last sale thread in summer 2021: NOT MINE - 1970 Dodge Polara Convertible - C$8,500 - Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Cheers!
I sure like the wheels it had back then!
 
good job! another conv. on the street! The important thing is that it is back on the road! :-D
Imagine driving a 19.5 foot car in Venice when you have 40 to 50 Vespas buzzing around you at a roundabout!
It was wild enough with my mother-in-law's BMW, CRAZYYY!
 
I sure like the wheels it had back then!
They’re not my favorites but they’re better than the current ones for sure. I personally am a fan of road wheels and the fancy OEM Dodge wheel covers.

What I note and really like is that you brought wheel well moldings back to your car for the first time in more than two decades. :thumbsup:
 
Attached is a photo of your car in October 2000, when Al Sproule (from West Gwillimbury in Bradford, Ontario) still owned it and Polara Dave (@polara71) first got to learn about your car. I found the pic here a few years back:

View attachment 562585

Here is a MoparFest 2001 pic showing your car with @My70monaco and Al from the website that the former maintains for his 1970 Monaco coupe:

upload_2022-1-6_8-20-28.png


As you know, DL27G0D127970 was acquired in 2015 by FCBO member Widowmakker (aka Joe). Here are links from other threads, so that (as you requested) other FCBO members can read about your car's history:

post in 2015: second kick at the cat...

For sale in 2018: For Sale - 1970 Polara convertible for sale (Sudbury, Canada)

For sale again in fall 2019: For Sale - 1970 Polara 'vert for sale (Sudbury, ON)

Last sale thread in summer 2021: NOT MINE - 1970 Dodge Polara Convertible - C$8,500 - Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Cheers!
Awesome research!
You are indeed the C-body historian.
 
Ayilar thanks for adding to this post, wheel well moldings, front hood molding and front fender extension moldings went back on. You might look at the car and go "geese" it looks the same but in a different color but a lot had to be done for a safety. The hood and wheels are a distraction, once they are replaced it will look much nicer.
I think Joe was removing parts and selling them off just to keep going.

PT
 
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