Found! In a backyard in New Bothwell - a survivor? - hardly - but it was more or less a complete rolling 1963 Dodge 330 station wagon. After spending the better part of a year looking for a '63 Plymouth wagon, I thought this might turn out to be the next best thing. I did eventually find a '63 Plymouth wagon a few months later - bought it and put it away as a future project!

I towed the Dodge back to the shop - stripped the interior and front fenders, bumpers etc. - stood back and looked at what I had bought. Glad I haggled on the price! Anyway, I owned it now, so off it went to Marcel B. in Morris for all new floor pans, quarters, inner tubs and lots more. The front fenders were beyond repair even for Marcel so I located a decent set in North Dakota. Unfortunately they were still on the car in a field covered with snow. It's late January and it's cold and I'm on my back in my snowmobile suit. What the H--- am I doing here! I did find that a portable oxy acetylene outfit works just as well for keeping hands from freezing as it does for cutting rusty bolts. Next time maybe I'll buy fenders on the internet and have them delivered!

Marcel completes his portion right on schedule and it's back to my shop for hours and hours of straightening, blocking and prep for paint. Man, does this car have a lot of sheet metal.

Meanwhile, I find a set of '68 'Cuda buckets, make 'em fit and have them and the rear seat recovered in the same vinyl. Fresh carpet and the interior is pretty much done. Found a complete big block 727 push button transmission. Thanks to Ken at Ultra transmission for the rebuild. I happened to have in inventory, a stock bore 1969 383 and fitted a set of standard pistons that I also happened to have in stock. I pocket ported a set of 906 heads and added an MP Roadrunner cam. A holley intake, thermoquad and hi flo exhaust manifolds completed the engine works.

The last of the drivetrain was the diff. The '65 and newer "B" body housing drops right in and gets rid of those troublesome press on hubs. Add a 323 open gear set for cruising and we're done. The car originally came with a wide block 318 so I had to make a set of front mounts - but other than that it fit like a glove.

I chose the 1967 Charger A2 silver metallic to complement the red interior. Craig at Wayne Johnston Auto layed it on in base/clear. He couldn't believe how much paint it took to cover the car! By now Northstar Plating has worked miracles with what was left of the original bumpers and Pat's Advance Muffler has done their usual awesome job on the side exit exhaust - thanks Doug.

The wheels are original Keystone Klassics. The peeling chrome was stripped and painted body color with Dayton treads. Interesting history on the wheels. They were originally on a "Ford" station wagon owned by Bill Balicky in the late '60's. Remember him?

Many hours of thrashing to get it all together and 8 months later it's on the road. Used it daily as a parts chaser from mid September to late October - about 2,000 miles worth.