Happy Holidays to all

I know, I know...  there haven't been any fun car updates lately...  It IS the holiday season and we have been with family things....

I wish everyone a safe and wonderful holiday season, whichever holiday you celebrate!!  See you all again in the New Year, or if anything fun happens so do check back occasionally!

Black Friday HA!

I am SO over these crummy over commercialized Black Friday ads...  There is seriously nothing I can get on Black Friday that I can't find all year long.  Just gotta know where to look!! 

Got a 6.1 L Hemi for $2500....  can't find that on Black Friday.
Got a wreck 300C no motor or trans for $600 .... Can't find that on Black Friday either.

I do admit I LOVE Amazon's lightening deals, it isn't only on Black Friday The engine hoist we got from Amazon for $150 that we purchased on Monday came on Wednesday.  So can't complain on that one either....  I did pick up a super awesome Christmas gift for Hubby for very little monies because we had discussed cancelling Christmas.  There are plenty of "gifts" in the garage and all the Christmas decorations are in attic.  Of course the attic access is directly above the Coronet....  So all Christmas stuff is safely tucked away and will stay there this year!  LOL!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving and only one month til those annoying "you must buy the woman in your life a diamond for Christmas" commercials...  personally, I much prefer my Hemi and a transmission would be nice!!! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Been busy today baking!  Tried my hand at a "Carmel Apple Cheesecake"

Will let you know how it tastes tomorrow!!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Not much new

We had a "lazy weekend".  Yesterday we scraped what was left of the front and rear glass off the 300, which was really a safety concern for me, and not much else happened.  I am not feeling great so I took the weekend off and rested.

more pictures and updates will come as we progress.

Had a few set backs and have to re-imagine the project.  As I understand it, the 300 is AWD and since we did not know that before buying the 300 or buying the 6.1L hemi. I guess the AWD cannot handle the power churned out by the 6.1, especially if we "warm it up" so to speak, by porting or polishing the hemi.  And I guess to convert the 300 back to RWD instead of AWD is very difficult and can be quite expensive.

Since we won't be able to use the whole 300 as a donor car for a "body swap" which would have VERY complicated but do-able, we will now have to cobble rear-ends and transmission tunnels and all sort of fun happy stuff, that I'm not even too sure about.

While I would have LOVED to have something to show everyone when I actually have the 10 year cancer free party; there is no real "time frame" and if it isn't completed until the 15 year party.... then, so be it!!

Christmas came early

Ok, so I KNEW it was coming, but Christmas came early today when the freight company delivered my 6.1L Hemi...  awesome awesome awesome!!!!
so unwrapped, it looks like:

and yes those are exhaust manifolds, harmonic balancer, and oh, yes, the wiring harness came with it as well.  We also got an alternator and a/c compressor...  Could not ask for more....

Now, we got the big stuff out of the way, we can continue to strip down both cars, to save a lot of the labor cost because this WILL be expensive.  We can take our time removing the bumpers, motor and tranny out of the coronet, stripping down the 300 to bare bones.  We can then evaluate what we all have and start to try to re-sell items to attempt to re-coop our massive expenses at this point.

Luckily, it isn't a race, there is no "due date" so we can take our time from here out.  Doing little by little until we get her perfect!!

lighter fluid and razor blades

I'm not one to complain too much...  BUT one of the previous owners of the Coronet decided cheap purple window tint would be an awesome idea.  Getting that crap off the windows is such a PAIN in the under-carriage....

First, this film is like a dual layer thing, there is a thin clear layer that peels off rather easily, but it leaves the horrible purple sticky layer, which only comes off in LITTLE BITTY pieces even with a steady hand and a razor blade.
*sigh*
here is a lovely shot of me finishing up the passenger side door window:

good news is the window is now crystal clear with no funky residue leftover.  My super secret miracle cleaner?  Lighter fluid!  Not the kind you use to start charcoal, but the kind you would use in a Zippo type lighter.  Comes in a yellow and blue plastic bottle and the brand I use is Ronsonol Lighter Fluid, and one of the first things listed on the bottle is "label removal"

The back glass has been removed intact which is FANTASTIC however the front windshield decided to make a huge cracking sound which scared me half to death!!!  but the damage is done there:

Hopefully, we will be able to replace the front windshield with something after market, I know many of the rusted body panels are available since I have searching and pricing them, I'm going to have to search for front glass.

Donor Car has arrived!!!

Earlier today our donor car arrived via tow truck!

 Little did we know when we purchased her sight unseen, that she was an AWD vehicle.

unfortunately we were unable to keep the 22" wheels that were on the rear, but what we got for $600 is worth it's weight in ...  well, hemi parts!!  LOL!!!    All mechanical bits are included except the roof and motor and transmission.  We have discovered the complete wiring harness in the trunk with the drive shafts, the original owners manual and lots of unidentifiable bits that I am QUITE sure are important because Joe was grinning ear to ear like a toddler at Christmas....

Both cars are looking REALLY sad right now, all half torn apart in the garage, but soon they will be merged into a super awesome vehicle that I'm beginning to suspect that I will not be driving often....

The storage unit is beginning to fill up...  There is more room and I think one we get some things sorted I will be able to sell off some things to attempt to recoup some funds to put back into the cars... that am I picking up sewing jobs to supplement the car parts.... 

No huge news on the sewing front, right now it is all cars!!!  LOL!

Deconstruction in progress!!

So, today was fun!!  We spent a good deal of today in the garage taking the Coronet apart.  The donor car should be arriving on Saturday and need to get moving striping the coronet....

we found some surprising stuff in the car, including more than a handful of change....  Can't say the car has paid for itself...  BUT, at least we found some cash...  LOL...  also, check this out:

 apparently no one had ever taken the rear door panels off and the plastic "dust cover" was still intact, and the window gears under that plastic is pristine!! 

Unfortunately after ripping the back seat out and the strange home made speaker box that was rigged behind the back seat, quite a bit more rust was uncovered in the trunk area. 

Well, we knew the trunk was a basket case....

Anyway, the interior is now out and we need to investigate how to get the dash out intact, there are lots of bits that could be resold to someone hoping to restore a 1970 Mopar.

Stay tuned!!!  Hopefully more pictures will be posted on Saturday once the donor 300c arrives!!!  SOOO excited!!!

Car show in Ocala

So yesterday was my first time to the Mopar with Big Daddy in Ocala, while I've wanted to go for a while, just didn't find the time to do so... Since we have car parts to find and obtain, we went this year and many many many GORGEOUS cars to look at and my mind is just churning with design possibilities for my Coronet!

I still love the purple of the top car, and am 95% sure my Coronet will be paint Plum Crazy, with the side striping of the blue car.  Instead of the "Super Bee"  in the center, there will be a breast cancer awareness ribbon.  However, since it IS a tribute car, I'm waffling a little and am considering painting the exterior Panther Pink/Moulon Rouge pink (depending on who you ask!)

Joe thinks the ribbon will stand out more on the plum, and I agree; but I need to see the interior of the donor car (see below) before making any "set in stone" decisions.  Joe was "manning" the camera so I don't have a shot of the pink car, but you get the idea....

In other big news....  I purchased a Power Bulge hood for the Coronet and it was delivered earlier this week.  Joe was able to stop by the frieght office and pick it up:

 
Needs a little lovin' but so does the car, so it's a perfect match!  My super awesome wonderful hubby also found a wrecked Chrysler 300 without a motor that we are able to purchase for a song, so we are now going to try to graft the shell of the coronet on the inner workings of a 2006 vehicle.  It will be like driving a luxury muscle car!!

At Last!!!  I got my letter from Tower Imaging yesterday that states that there is no evidence of cancer from my latest mammogram.  So it’s officially been 10 years now cancer-free and I am elated!!!

Now to get the car started and completed as I was  bit apprehensive on starting it and telling the WHOLE world if the results of the mammo came back anything less than clear. 

 I have my newest corset all cute and pink and now I will start planning a party for February, since surgery actually took place in Feb 2003…..

 this corset was purchased at Corset Story in England (www.corset-story.com).  They have the most beautiful both fashion and steel boned corsets.  The customer service is unparallelled and the quality of the corsets is amazing!!

Storage success!!

After entirely too much drama, (wrong parts, wrong sizes, missing pieces) with used shelving for the storage unit, we are finally ready to start deconstruction of the coronet!!!

Now we will have the space we need for "his & hers" car parts, as you can see, there are some "his" parts already living in the unit.

Looking forward to the Ocala Pumpkin Run this weekend, at the very least to get some ideas for the car and maybe some parts….  And we MAY get lucky enough to find something for the Fury!! LOL! The Fury is a whole different sage, but will occasionally cross over to this one.  My wonderful Hubby had purchased a 1965 Plymouth Sport Fury, but unfortunately for us, those models aren’t THAT desirable so no one makes reproduction parts for it and coming by anything usable is like finding a needle in a haystack! Luckily it is currently living in a body shop where they are used to fabrication and have made lower quarter panels from electrical box covers!  This body shop will do the work on my lovely when the time comes!

We are also planning on hitting Mopars with Big Daddy in Ocala in November.  If the Pumpkin Run doesn’t have anything for the Coronet, I’m sure we will find SOMETHING at Big Daddy’s!!  At this point, I’m not looking for anything in particular yet, still undecided about the interior (I know I definitely want buckets seats to replace the bench but beyond that….) 

Also the Sarasota Renaissance Festival is coming up.  Unlike the one here in Tampa, it is only open for two weekends.  Not sure if I will go in costume this year,  I haven’t gone to that particular Festival dressed yet, but it may be fun for a change!  Plus I can wear one of my “old” dresses and I doubt anyone will know it is not new! 

The Journey begins

Welcome to my blog!!

This blog is dedicated to my wonderful husband to chronicle the restoration of a 1970 Dodge Coronet that my husband arranged the purchase of, to commemorate my 10th anniversary of being breast cancer free.

Our idea is to take this muscle car and do a one-off resto-mod by hopefully converting a newer generation 5.7l Hemi as her power plant, but still keep that classic muscle car look.  The interior is still being discussed, I'd love white interior but am having a hard time finding newer interior that I can convert to white.

The exterior will be Plum crazy purple with the longitudinal "C" graphics from the same year Super Bee, but instead of the "bee", we are going to have the breast cancer awareness ribbon.  We already have someone who does the vinyl graphics "on board".

So these are the plans for the car... 

  When not creating crazy car creations, my other hobby is sewing; especially large Renaissance dresses, though I have made everything from curtains, seat cushion, everyday clothes, my "specialty" is full ball gown type dresses.  I made my wedding dress, the bridesmaids dresses and a new dress every year for our local Renaissance Festival.

   
I am a blogging newbie, so updates will be forth-coming, however, I can't guarantee they will be daily.