Dodge Monaco 1977 project

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Projects' started by dodgemonaco, Oct 17, 2013.

  1. dodgemonaco

    dodgemonaco Active Member

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    Thanks for the advises about starting a project thread.

    First, I can tell you that my amcar enthusiastic period startet back in 2003/2004 when my dad and his best friend started building a Street legal race car. This car were bought without asking permission from any wives. "Better to ask for forgiveness than permission" right?

    Same year my dad bought a Dodge Ram from 1985. After that I learned what "Mopar" was and the Amcar madness started.
    I then understood why we had been driving a Chrysler Grand Voyager for my whole life, having problems with gearboxes and so on.

    The street legal races became a family hobby and we have been driving drag race since. I got my first "doorslammer" 14 years old, after driving Jr. Dragster for one season.

    Anyway, thats how it all started.
    It was time for my first real car. I was 17 years old and tried to decide what car to buy. We wanted a project and it had to be a Mopar, no questions!
    Many cars passed by, and suddenly the Monaco appeared in at "Finn.no" --> Norwegian e-bay.
    We bought it for 4000$, something we after a while found out was WAY overprices, haha.

    We went to a town called Trondheim to get our new car.
    Fixed it up in a garage of a friend. Changed plugs and repaired some easy-fixes before a ca 1000 Km drive homewards (621 miles?).
    Quickly found out a thing or two about the car. It did not have any rear brakes. The interior roof was very loose and hanged down in our heads while we drove! It also made a lot of "wrack sounds" from the back of the car.

    With good mood on the road we started to plan what we had to do with the car to make it look good and pass the state's annual check.

    When we came home to Northern Norway, we started taking the car apart. I will try to remember the whole history and tell you more about it later. It is many years since we started, so I will to try to explain the progresses we have had!

    Thanks :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2013
  2. dodgemonaco

    dodgemonaco Active Member

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    Doing some easy-fixes:

    p5010031.jpg

    On the road home:

    As you can see we met some snow next to the road. Luckily it had been plowed.

    p5030043.jpg
    p5030044.jpg

    After 14 hours we arrived our home:

    dsc00199.jpg

    Parked in our garage next to other cars, just before we started tearing it apart:

    dsc00550.jpg

    "I'm ready to work"

    pa240073.jpg
     
  3. dodgemonaco

    dodgemonaco Active Member

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    A photo taken before I started to take out the interior:

    interi_r.jpg

    Ongoing work:

    dsc00587.jpg

    Interior taken out, before it was sent to be rebuilt in Asia. We had to get it rebuilt because of the bad condition. With the extreme prices to get them rebuilt in Norway, we had to send them all the way over to Thailand. Here we had to design the new look of our seats and decided what materials we wanted. We sent both my seats and my brother had 2 seats as well. We also sent door panels.
    I will come back to the seats later in this thread and show you the results. We are very happy with them and they will look great in the car!

    img_0171.jpg

    img_0170.jpg
     
  4. the Rev

    the Rev senior junior Charter Member

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    going to town are ya?

    she'l be great when done man(y)
     
  5. MikeT1961

    MikeT1961 Well-Known Member

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    Looking great. One thing I notice is the blue interior. As far as I know that was not available with the red exterior. Do you know what colour she was painted originally? Sounds like you have your work cut out for you, too. Good luck and yes, do keep us up to date with the progress. Looking good so far
     
  6. dodgemonaco

    dodgemonaco Active Member

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    Ready for a for a walk in the town, yup;p

    Correct, the originally color was "Black Sunfire" as far as I know. I have not used much time to check the color code. She was cured for rust in her earlier years, and after that repainted red. She looked like a "fire wagon" when we got her, just missed blue lights and sirens! You can see the originally color inside the doors.

    Thank you :)!

     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2013
  7. Fullsizelover

    Fullsizelover Active Member

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    All the best with the rebuild and getting her ready for the road!
    A lot of people I know here have sent their upholstery to Poland which may be easier than Thailand.
    Don't you guys have salt on the road in the winter as I see all of you driving them in the snow, how do you protect your vehicle?
     
  8. dodgemonaco

    dodgemonaco Active Member

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    Thank you Fullsizer!
    Good idea to send it to Poland, though. In our case it's actually easier to send it to Asia. Cause we're often there, which makes it possible to follow up the progress :)

    Yes, that is correct. They are salting the road a lot. The only way you can protect your car is to use Tectyl products underneath it and wash it often. I wouldn't use a car I was afraid for, like an old car. When the Monaco is finished it will only be used in the summer season. Or when winter is at its worst. Like after Christmas; at that time of the year they don't salt the road because of the low temperatures.

     
  9. MikeT1961

    MikeT1961 Well-Known Member

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    This may sound counter-intuitive, but it is a trick I learned from friends of my Grandmother's. They NEVER washed their cars in the winter. In the fall, they would clean everything, over, under, and in. Then the underside was coated in heavy grease and all the paint and chrome got waxed. After that they did nothing until spring, when everything was cleaned off with dish detergent and Varsol. The one lady got 20 Ontario winters out of a 72 Toyota Carolla, with no rust at all. The car outlasted her!
     
  10. mashaffer

    mashaffer New Member

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    How did they go about doing the grease undercoating? Interesting idea. I think you also have to keep it outside rather than a heated garage. Otherwise the warmth would allow the salt to go to work.

    I am thinking about these things as I am going to pickup Pat's CP this coming week and want to protect it as best I can.

    mike
     
  11. dodgemonaco

    dodgemonaco Active Member

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    Oh, I see that "The only way" was a little bit too narrow to say, heh.
    That was an interesting method, smart. Same way as if you want to store metal equipment outside? Guess they had to set of a day each fall to do that job, it was certainly worth it if it outlasted her!

    And now, we all park inside to keep the car free from snow...
     
  12. MikeT1961

    MikeT1961 Well-Known Member

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    Dodge, I use that method on my Mom's 1990 Volvo 245. 24 Ontario winters, and there is not a single speck of rust on that car. Put Arthur on the hoist, and you would swear the underside is a car that is only a year old at most. Even the brake and fuel lines are in pristine condition. Our weather normally eats a car in 10 to 15 years, and there is hers, still like new. Yes, I spend the better part of 2 days a year cleaning him up, but it pays off.

    [​IMG]

    That is Arthur after his semi-annual clean and polish at the age of 22, and yes, that is 22 year old paint you are seeing. This car is driven through every kind of weather you care to name, and we us a LOT of salt around here.
     

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