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00:00Hey everybody, my name is Mark Warman, the creator of Graveyard Cars, also known as Ice Tray, Ice Pick, Ice
00:06Shavings.
00:07Like I said, Ice Hole, technically is where you'd fish in the ice.
00:10Right, right, yeah, no, that's what the, I'm Aaron Smith, I'm the co-creator of Graveyard Cars, and no ice
00:16names to claim.
00:17This is a very special episode of Graveyard Cars coming at you.
00:21We've talked about it previously, and we've done this before this season.
00:24A kind of original idea I had, and he took credit for it.
00:28We're taking a car from its very beginning to the very finish of it, and we're going to cram it
00:33into a half an hour episode.
00:35So instead of having to wait years like you've had to do in the past, we're going to take some
00:39of our most famous and endearing builds,
00:41and we're going to cut them down so you get just the fireworks, the good stuff.
00:46And we've done this before with single cars, but this is the first time we're actually cramming like two of
00:50our favorite cars into one episode.
00:51And we're theming them together. In the past, we've themed Hemi cars together, we've themed TV and theater cars together.
00:58In this one called Family Matters, it's two very cool families that had an enormous amount of history,
01:04one with the original car, another one replicating the original car.
01:07First one we're going to see are the Walton's wonderful family, 1972 Dodge Charger.
01:13I called him Sparky Griswold.
01:15The father, the patriarch, bought this car so he could, and he ordered it with a 318,
01:20so he could drive his family all over the country sightseeing.
01:23I don't want to spend a bunch of time talking about it. Aaron?
01:25Yeah, no, let's watch it.
01:27I'm Jim Walton, and this is my daughter, Mitzi, and this is our Dodge Charger.
01:32When Mitzi wrote me on Facebook and she told me the story about the car,
01:36and then I saw the pictures of the car back in the day,
01:39saw that it had pretty much carried and raised a family,
01:43and then a second family, you know, as generations go on,
01:45I think that the story offset the rarity of the car.
01:48We just wanted a car that we could travel around the country with, and we liked the color.
01:53I can't tell you enough about how much the back story means.
01:56When you start hearing the story, you hear Jim talking about when he was a young man
02:00and just starting his family, he wanted a car big enough to haul everybody,
02:04but yet still got good gas mileage.
02:06He wanted to take his family all over the United States on vacations in this car
02:10and be able to afford to do it.
02:11Remember, gas was probably 50 cents a gallon.
02:13It's 1972, so he was thinking economy.
02:16When the car is finished and we receive it back,
02:20I'm going to keep it here in Springfield for about a year and drive it and just enjoy it.
02:29Eventually, they'll give it to their oldest son.
02:32He will have it until he's done with it, and then it'll go on to maybe my youngest son,
02:38and then the two boys will be in charge of which grandchild gets it,
02:43who is able to take care of it and honor it and keep it the way it should be kept
02:48so it always stays in the family.
02:50I love you, Dad.
02:52I love you, too.
02:55Very few people still have their original cars after 43 years, so...
03:01Yes.
03:01You're a good man, Charlotte Brown.
03:04Thank you very much.
03:05Great to see you.
03:05Thanks, Mark.
03:06Okay, you're welcome.
03:08Now that they are gone, it's time to knuckle down and get some work done on the car.
03:12And in the case of Jim and Mitzi's car, very solid car.
03:16The only metal that we had to replace was that roof skin,
03:17which we were lucky and had a 71 satellite out back.
03:20Most people don't realize 71 and 74 satellites, 71 and 74 B-body,
03:23the roof sections are the same.
03:24Well, they would if they were a car person, usually.
03:26Or a Mopar guy.
03:27So in that case, all we had to do was replace the roof skin,
03:30and then we could start doing the body work.
03:31It was a pretty straight car, so there wasn't much filler on it at all.
03:34Primer it.
03:34Once the primer's done and kicked off, it was ready to move over to the paint guys,
03:38so they could do the block, prime, block, prime, paint.
03:41It's interesting when you're doing a stencil on a blackout
03:44versus doing, like, the V21 blackout on the black Challenger.
03:48So when you're normally, on most of the cars, when you're doing it,
03:50you just got a great big vinyl graphic.
03:52You get it wet.
03:53Put your application gel on there.
03:55You place it where it's supposed to go.
03:56You make your marks, and you begin squeegeeing it out,
03:58and that can be a long, tedious process.
04:00In the case of the mask that you got, like Phoenix Graphics supplied us with the mask,
04:05that's just like a graphic that's put on the hood, except it's in reverse, right?
04:09The area, instead of having black vinyl in there, is wide open
04:12so that you can actually paint the surface.
04:14You have to be very careful.
04:16I tried on that one to put the gel on it and move it around a little bit.
04:19That masket paper is not designed to do that.
04:22It is designed to come back up, though.
04:23But every time you touch it down and you pull it back up again,
04:26you take the chance of distorting it.
04:28So you really should make your measurements, put that thing down on there,
04:32get it all sealed around the edges, run around every square inch with your finger,
04:35and making sure that that masket paper is touched really well against the actual paint of the car.
04:40Then you can go around the whole thing with the scuff pad.
04:43When you're scuffing it, if it's not scuffed right, that paint will blow right back off again.
04:47So you've got to have it scuffed.
04:48You've got to get down.
04:49If this is the groove right here where the rally stripe is, you need in there.
04:52And if you go too hard, you can roll that paper back up.
04:55So you just take your time and just work it around until that thing is dull,
04:59until that paint is dull and you know you're going to get adhesion.
05:01Once that's done, you can clean it, blow it, turn the fan on, and go mix up your stuff.
05:05In the case of that blackout on the hood, it's the exact same cocktail that we use whenever something needs
05:12to be blacked out,
05:13like the AAR, the tops of the fenders and the hood on the AAR,
05:18which actually goes into the tops of the doors and the quarters, you know that,
05:21instead of a belt molding.
05:22It's kind of cool.
05:22So it kind of emulates the original black matted finish that the factory put on it,
05:27except it's done in today's acrylic urethane.
05:29So I use an acrylic urethane single-stage paint, but I put a flattening agent in it.
05:34And with the right amount of reduction and the right amount of flattening agent in it,
05:37you can get that stuff to blush off like that and leave that nice matte finish.
05:40What's nice about that versus a rattle can black, because you could make it look the same with a rattle
05:44can,
05:44a rattle can, number one, would streak.
05:46You would have streaks in it that would not look very good.
05:48But number two is you could walk right up to it with a wacker thinner and just wipe it off.
05:52Right.
05:52You can't touch catalyze urethane once it's cross-linked together.
05:55So it's more durable. It'll hold up.
05:57The way it looks now is the way it's going to look 20 years from now.
06:00Oh, wow. Yeah, that's really cool.
06:03It's cool.
06:04Kind of stiffy task.
06:05Good product.
06:06Well, good brain.
06:08Time is starting to run out on the 72 Charger delivery date.
06:11We need to really light a fire under everybody and do as much multitasking as possible to get that car
06:16done on time.
06:17So I'm installing the decals that go in the rally doors.
06:23I got pretty crazy with the graphics in 72.
06:27In the 60s, 1970, and 1971, it was all about power.
06:32Now, Chrysler fused power and wild looks together in 70 and 71 on their E-bodies and some of their
06:38V-bodies.
06:38Yeah.
06:39But in 72, because the kids were getting killed and the insurance rates were going out of sight and the
06:42fuel was so expensive,
06:43they pulled back on the horsepower, but they wanted the cars to stay flashy.
06:47And so they continued to get wild and wilder with the graphics.
06:50I remember in 71, the scallops had two scallops that went up and down like this.
06:54In 72, it had four of them, five of them that went like that.
06:56Yeah.
06:57And those had a strobe stripe in them.
06:59Again, a wild graphic that when you put them up against the yellow cars, they just pop off of there.
07:03You add that in with the rear stripe, the rally stripe that went on the back end of that car.
07:09Very difficult stripe to install, by the way.
07:13So I'm putting a piece of tape right here on this line to show the very center line of the
07:17lock cylinder.
07:18This has a lock cylinder cutout in it, but when it's on there, you can't really see it because you've
07:23got a reverse curve that's just like that,
07:25and you're putting a flat decal on it.
07:27And so getting this half to stick and then that half to stick without having an air bubble in the
07:30middle of it is really difficult.
07:32Same thing out on the quarter ends.
07:33But when you're done putting all that ornamentation on there, the decals in the doors, the rear stripe on the
07:39back end of it, the hood blackout on it, it just popped.
07:43The thing on that when it comes to the graphics that I didn't understand is that whole car was loaded
07:49with the rally package.
07:51Everything.
07:51It even had a tachometer for a 318.
07:54Everything was rally.
07:55It should have had the stripe on the back end, but you can clearly see in the original pictures of
08:00the car that it didn't.
08:01But for whatever reason, whether it was an oversight, whether somebody just forgot to put it on,
08:05or whether somebody before Jim got the car just decided, I don't like it on there and I'm going to
08:09take it off.
08:10I felt that since it's such a good looking decal, and it is just a decal, that we'd put it
08:15on there.
08:15And I'm glad that we did because it really made the back end of the car pop.
08:18I had actually played with the center of the hole and matching up the actual opening in the decal itself.
08:24And if I had brought it down to perfect center and left and right to perfect center, it would have
08:28looked like crap on the back of the car.
08:30It would have been too low in it.
08:32The actual decal at the bottom would have been hanging over a half of an inch and rolled up.
08:35So I selected the best of all of the worlds in the way of centering it left to right, up
08:40to down,
08:40and still maintaining the spirit of the original graphic on there.
08:45So where I'm at now is the motor is basically put together.
08:47I just got to put the water pump and the harmonic balancer on it, and then I can roll it
08:51out, clean it down,
08:52mask a couple of ports off, and it's ready to paint.
08:54When you're non-high performance, like this is just a 318 two-barrel, it doesn't go the Hemi orange.
09:02Typically, every engine you see us paint out there in the paint shop is Hemi orange,
09:06but this one actually goes the corporate blue.
09:08Somewhere around 71, 72, Chrysler was changing over.
09:12And so you started seeing that corporate blue come in.
09:15You saw it in the 73-18, but you saw it by 71.
09:1871, it was on almost all the engines except for I think the 440 was still orange.
09:22By 73, they were all corporate blue.
09:24So while it is a cool color, and I understand that they were just mainstreaming for it,
09:29I think that Chrysler was playing down the muscle and building up just the fact that it's a good car
09:36and it's a nice-looking engine.
09:37But if you had a 69 440, it should be Hemi orange.
09:41If you had a 70, it should be Hemi orange.
09:42Depending on the year of the Hemi, they also had different colors.
09:45Did you know that?
09:4566, 67 were different colors.
09:48Orange.
09:49Mm-hmm.
09:49And the air cleaners were also a different color from that.
09:52I'm surprised you didn't know all that.
09:53You can give us a chance to say it.
09:55We're going to have a good day today at Graveyard Cars.
09:57The 318 is painted corporate blue and ready to go on to the K-member and the stand.
10:01Our goal today is to get the motor put onto the stand,
10:05build it out as much as we can with the parts that we have,
10:07and reunite it with the 72 Charger.
10:10I like putting together the whole entire front end.
10:12Having the engine...
10:13The holy sacred union.
10:14Yes, the engine to the K-member marrying the transmission to the engine,
10:20getting it installed.
10:22I would have to say it's one of the best parts of the whole thing
10:24because prior to that, it's just a car.
10:27It's just a body shell.
10:28It's just sitting there.
10:29But when you put that engine together with the transmission,
10:31all the pieces bolted onto it,
10:33the cooling lines, the fans, the hoses, the belts, the wiring harnesses,
10:37everything is on there.
10:37Marry that to the K-member with all the suspension,
10:40upper and lower control arms,
10:41in and out of tie rod ends.
10:42You know all the pieces that go on.
10:43Once you've done that, it's ready to go in the car.
10:47You lower that car down around that engine and transmission,
10:50you raise it back up in the air with them together.
10:51For the first time, that's a car.
10:53You've got the heart.
10:54It's ready.
10:55Oh, inspection cover got to go on first.
10:57What cover?
10:58It goes over all this.
11:00Oh, you know what we forgot.
11:01Where's the shield?
11:02One of my better attributes is finding fault mistakes
11:05as the others have made here at GYC.
11:07I guess that's actually a good thing.
11:08Mark, is this the only thing?
11:09That is it, yes.
11:11Okay.
11:11Because without that shield in there,
11:12you know, besides having rocks and gravel,
11:15it would be a few pounds lighter too.
11:17Speaking of being lighter,
11:18how's your weight watchers doing?
11:20See, that's the problem right there.
11:23Well, you know, the front and the side,
11:26and working our way back,
11:27Derek and I did get the rear end installed.
11:30We got the leaf springs.
11:31We got it put onto the actual rear end housing.
11:33I was going to say, you guys did a good job on that.
11:35The brake backing plates looked right.
11:37The shoes, everything had the right color,
11:40the right fit.
11:41The housing had the right sheen to it.
11:43The leaf springs looked great.
11:44The shackles at the back, the hangers in the front,
11:46everything looked right.
11:47I thought you did a good job on it.
11:48A real good job.
11:49Well, I'm Larry Fortner,
11:50and I'm Larry's interior in Crestwell, Oregon.
11:53And I come out and do Mark's tops for him
11:56and put the headliners in,
11:58and I've been doing it over 40 years.
12:00One of the things that I think's the best about Larry
12:02is that he'll come here and do the work.
12:04And you remember in the past,
12:05we were taking him across town to some of those people,
12:07and they were charging twice as much as Larry
12:09and taking twice as long,
12:10and you always run the risk of moving a car.
12:12And again, care, custody, and control.
12:14I like it when I got control over a car,
12:16when I can walk out my shop and see it.
12:18So he does a good job on it.
12:20He does it for a fair price.
12:21And I think the truth of the matter is
12:23he was doing these vinyl tops
12:24when there were vinyl tops on cars,
12:26where a lot of these shops,
12:27the kids that are working in them today
12:29don't even know what vinyl tops are.
12:30Right.
12:32So this is the emblem that goes on the deck lid of the car.
12:36Okay, now that I got it cut out,
12:38I'm going to go in and just make sure
12:39it goes in the right spot.
12:40You know, when I looked at the original photos,
12:42that charger main plate on the back,
12:44it was down on the right-hand side.
12:46And I've seen that many times.
12:48I mean, these were mass-produced cars.
12:50The guys didn't care.
12:51Like I say, a lot of them were like Darren.
12:52You know, they weren't really-
12:53Just put the emblem on it and get it over with.
12:55No, it's an emblem.
12:55Just put it on and go.
12:56No, because you want to emulate the way the factory did it.
12:59If they did it wrong, they probably didn't.
13:05I got it.
13:05What's the hardest part, do you think,
13:07of reassembling the dash with Derek
13:09and putting it in the car?
13:10You know, Derek and I worked together
13:11the whole entire process.
13:12And that made it go by a lot quicker.
13:15And him and I kind of hit a few roadblocks.
13:17But we just came in here to the books,
13:19Dave Wise's books,
13:20and got as much research as we could on it.
13:23It just went right in.
13:24We lifted it up,
13:25screwed in the screws up top,
13:28tightened the screws down in the door area,
13:31and it was intense.
13:32You did all that without fighting
13:33and infighting and calling each other bad names?
13:36Yep.
13:40Coming at it from a different angle, I suppose.
13:46One of the big components
13:47we're getting ready to put on now
13:48is our exhaust system.
13:49Again, we get those from Accurate Exhausts.
13:51So what's up with the machine gun tips?
13:54Is it that horsepower?
13:55That car never came with machine gun tips
13:57from the factory.
13:58That car was a single exhaust car
14:01that he wanted to make look like
14:02if it were a 340,
14:04because that's the lowest engine level
14:06and you could have got dual exhaust
14:07with the machine gun tips.
14:09The only significance to it is
14:11they look cool as hell
14:13and they sound cool.
14:14I mean, the tip itself
14:15doesn't make any difference
14:16in the audio of the actual exhaust.
14:19Let's first see if it cranks over.
14:20Derek, if you want,
14:21you can hit the keys,
14:22see if the neutral safety system is working.
14:24Everything's plugged in,
14:25so I hope so.
14:27Be nice.
14:38Make sure all our fuel lines...
14:40Yeah, there's a little bit of a leak.
14:41Oh, we don't have a fuel line
14:43hooked up down there.
14:45Oh, I thought you hooked it up.
14:46Again?
14:47Wait a second.
14:48Is this the third time?
14:50No, I bolted the thing
14:51and then went on to something else.
14:53Sorry.
14:54Actually, I got pulled off.
14:56Third time.
14:57Every time we go to start one of these,
14:59he forgets to hook up the fuel lines.
15:00All that means is the car's got to go back up in the air,
15:02connect the fuel lines,
15:03and figure out why it won't start.
15:05This is classic oil.
15:06Tell the difference there.
15:07It's sounding a little different.
15:08Okay, go ahead.
15:09I've got to run it.
15:14I've said it before,
15:14I'll say it again.
15:15When you're having problems on a car,
15:16the best thing to do is walk away.
15:18Like when Larry showed up with the interior,
15:19it was a perfect segue for us
15:20to get the hell out of all the problems we were having
15:23with the car not running
15:24and start putting the interior together.
15:25And it was beautiful.
15:26He did a great job putting the legendary covers on.
15:29They fit the seats really well.
15:30They were a nice, tight bolster,
15:32which sometimes isn't the case.
15:33We put all of the interior in it,
15:35the back seat, the back door trim panels,
15:37armrests, rear package tray, door armrests,
15:39door panels in the front got put on,
15:41seatbelts were put in.
15:42I know we got a lot of the trim done on the outside of it.
15:44If I remember right, the front windshield,
15:46the back windshield, the lower reveal moldings,
15:48a lot of trim and ornamentation along with the interior
15:50got put together on that car.
15:52And by the time we were done,
15:54our heads were cleared again.
15:55It was time to go back to the problem.
15:58Boy, that's a real thing.
16:00Right over there, check that one.
16:01Right there, check it out.
16:07Runs good.
16:08Runs really good.
16:09That's good.
16:10You know, once we had so much done on the car,
16:12like the interior in it and the engine running
16:14and all the stuff buttoned up,
16:16all we had left was a little bit of trim.
16:18It's that little bit of trim and ornamentation on these cars
16:20that when you're at the end of a week-long suicide shift
16:24to 24 hours straight and you're just exhausted,
16:26that's when you can make mistakes.
16:28But putting the wheel opening moldings,
16:29putting the bumpers on, looks beautiful.
16:31Darren, go get your bolts.
16:32I got out of there back here, buddy.
16:34Okay, we're going to go up and in.
16:38You want to tape the fenders a little bit or nothing?
16:40No, we're just going to go in careful here and guide it.
16:44Hang on, bud.
16:45You can get a bolt started right over here, chief.
16:51Okay, these two brackets here.
16:53That's the upper ones.
16:53Does this need to be cleared?
16:55And yes, yeah.
16:56Probably, yeah.
16:57You know, really, the car went together well
16:59because it came apart well.
17:00You look back at all my photos in the inventory
17:02that we took of the car, it was so complete.
17:05Putting the front bumper on was a piece of cake.
17:06Putting the grill in it, the grill work,
17:08the headlight doors, even the ornamentation that went in that,
17:11the lower valance, the front park lamps,
17:13all of it came out of the car, so it should go back in it.
17:15We had Bumper Depot did a beautiful job on the bumpers,
17:19absolutely beautiful job.
17:21With all the fighting and all the bickering
17:22and all the crap that we do,
17:25two things are amazing to me.
17:27One, I don't kill both of you,
17:28and Royal, who's never here.
17:31And two is we seem to pull together and get the car done.
17:33And when the cars are done, they're done right,
17:35and they look great, and we have happy customers.
17:37What, like a rectal exam?
17:39Yeah, no, being with you is like a rectal exam.
17:41It's the equivalent of a rectal exam.
17:43I would rather have a rectal exam.
17:44I would rather have him shove the Hubble telescope up my
17:47and spend an hour in a car with you.
17:49Okay.
17:51Hi, guys.
17:52Hey.
17:52Hi, guys.
17:53Good to see you.
17:54Hello, Studley.
17:55Good to see you.
17:57Yeah, Mark should be back anytime now.
17:59He actually took it on a test drive.
18:00I'm really excited to see it.
18:02We've been waiting a long time.
18:03It was sad to drive by in my yard every day
18:06and see it sitting there and deteriorating,
18:09and it would just kill me every day.
18:11So to see it all put together and back to normal and drivable
18:15and can't wait to take it to some shows.
18:18And my dad's 84th birthday is on the 22nd in a couple days.
18:23So that's very special, too.
18:25And it was my mom's car, and I brought a picture of my mom.
18:28We've been waiting quite a while,
18:30and we've been planning this for years.
18:34I think he's going to cry.
18:37I think we all are.
18:38It's meant a lot to him over the years.
18:40My mom and dad and him spend a lot of time just traveling
18:43and going places in it.
18:46I think he's going to be pretty excited,
18:48and he's been very excited.
18:51I'll tell you about cutting it to the wire.
18:53There's nothing more scary, more nerve-wracking,
18:56but a bigger reward than out doing the driving of the car
18:59for the very first time,
19:01then pulling in and seeing the whole family,
19:03a whole tribe of Waltons,
19:05Waltons Mountain right there in our front parking lot.
19:09Oh, look at that.
19:12I don't think Hunter's ever seen this.
19:14Look at it, Hunter.
19:16Oh, my God, it's beautiful.
19:20Ta-da!
19:24That's better than you.
19:25Oh, my God.
19:28So beautiful.
19:29Hi, everybody.
19:30I pull up.
19:31I know it's kind of an emotional moment,
19:32so I'm thinking I don't want to lock eyes.
19:34I do.
19:35Right off the bat with Mitzi, she's balling.
19:37Jim's all teared up.
19:39How do you like your tires?
19:40That's great.
19:41It looks good, doesn't it?
19:42Yeah.
19:43Like, back in the day when I remember it.
19:46What do you think, beautiful?
19:47It's absolutely beautiful.
19:49Good.
19:49You know, it hasn't been this bright for a long time.
19:52Being able to see their reaction when the car first pulled up,
19:55you know, I didn't realize what I was in for.
19:57What's it all about?
19:58You know, bam, all of a sudden, they're all crying.
20:01What man can't say that it would bring a tear to their eye
20:04to see somebody that happy?
20:05That guy had desert for eyes.
20:07Everybody around here was looking for a Kleenex,
20:09and it looked like he needed Visine.
20:11The Waltons are good people.
20:12It's one of my favorite families that we've worked on any of the cars for.
20:15Very emotional family, very close family.
20:17It was nice.
20:19Great.
20:20It was beautiful.
20:22And so when you look out there and you see Jim and Mitzi and the kids
20:27and the grandkids all in that car and hovering around it
20:30and water in the eyes knowing that their dream has come back around
20:33and that it's true and that they're going to enjoy this car
20:35for another 40 years, as a person, it makes you feel good.
20:38It's a very rewarding feeling.
20:40Radiator's been reconditioned, brand-new AC condenser.
20:43All the pipes for the AC are completely restored or reconditioned.
20:46The hoses are all replica, original.
20:49And look at that thing purr.
20:52Yeah.
20:53Step on the gas a little bit.
20:57How do you like those tips?
20:59Oh, my God.
21:01Those are great.
21:02See the holes out there?
21:03Yeah, holes.
21:04Oh, brakes.
21:05Brakes.
21:07Wow, he got a lead foot.
21:09He crazy.
21:11Yeah, he's crazy.
21:16Wow, that looks new.
21:17I think it sounds good.
21:19It does sound good, yeah.
21:20But it was cool.
21:21The car did perform well.
21:22The car ran good.
21:23It tracked good.
21:24I felt good about handing it over to Jim and Mitzi and the family.
21:28And so for me, the big payoff, of course,
21:30is we didn't have any functional problems with the car.
21:33And at the end of it all, we had two really happy customers
21:37and a whole happy group of them.
21:38They all just piled in their carloads on them.
21:41Lava, let's get a ticket in this thing.
21:43Lava, let's get a ticket in this thing.
21:46That's right.
21:52All right, Dad.
21:56I'm still in second gear again.
22:04There we go.
22:07Much better than I thought it would be.
22:10It drives good, comfortable, and the upholstering and everything is in it is nice.
22:17The whole bunch of us love it.
22:18And like Mitzi said, it's going to stay in the family.
22:22It's so much fun to ride in again, and it's been so many years.
22:26We haven't driven it from probably since 1990.
22:2999, I think, was the last time it was driven.
22:31So, it's pretty exciting to ride around town in it and cruise around.
22:36The car just feels good.
22:38You know, I'm happy to be able to drive it again.
22:42We're very glad that Graveyard Cars took it in and did this for us.
22:46And it did.
22:47It brings our family back together.
22:49And it's, you know, something that we're sharing now together that not very many families share
22:54something like this, and it's really important.
22:56And I have my grandson here, too, one of my grandchildren that's sharing it with us.
23:00And it's pretty exciting that he's involved in this, too, because someday he may get the car.
23:04I'll keep it until this fall, September, October, something.
23:09And then they'll take it to Montana.
23:12They'll keep it for a while and give it to the oldest son.
23:16He has it for a while until he gets tired of it and goes to the youngest son.
23:20And then down finally to the great-grandson.
23:24Oh, for sure.
23:25Always.
23:25It'll always be in the family.
23:26As long as it runs, it's in the family.
23:34All right, everybody, welcome back to Graveyard Cars.
23:36Hope you enjoyed the Waltons 1972 Dodge Charger.
23:39The next one, right along the theme of family matter, is a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, 383
23:46four-speed, belonging to the Zinx, a wonderful family just right here in Oregon.
23:50We actually picked that car up over in Bend.
23:52And what's cool about this, unlike the Waltons car, which was the original car that they had
23:56the entire time, for the Zinx, they're actually recreating a car that they had because,
24:01unfortunately, they didn't have the original car.
24:03They couldn't find the original car.
24:04Yeah.
24:05So if you have an original 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, 68 Henry Charger, whatever it is you had,
24:09you go out and look for it, like I did my Charger.
24:12Yep.
24:12If you can't find that car after years of looking, don't give up.
24:17This is the guy to call.
24:18Call Graveyard Cars because we built him a replica to the original car he had that he
24:25actually got married and went on his honeymoon in it.
24:27It's one of the coolest parts is seeing their old wedding photos and you get to see them.
24:31Beautiful stuff.
24:32Yeah.
24:32I don't want to spend a bunch of time chatting.
24:33Let's watch that one.
24:35You're going to watch the car go from beginning to end in one episode.
24:43This is the time of year that we always go out and start looking for our new projects
24:46for next season and next year.
24:48I sent Mike over to Bend to pick up our next one, which is a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, 383
24:54four-speed lemon twist yellow.
24:56What makes this little car cool is it's an identical twin, option-wise, to the one that
25:02the guy who has it now had in high school and had to sell.
25:04And now it's his time to relive his childhood.
25:09As soon as Mike gets back with the Roadrunner, I want to get Alyssa, move the car inside and
25:14do an inventory with her.
25:16You know, this is a nice little Roadrunner to start with.
25:19It's a great example of an older restoration that probably wasn't done by a Mopar expert,
25:24but that's why the owner sent it to us was to get it done right.
25:27This is going to be a two-fold learning thing for you.
25:29So one is what cars shouldn't look like when they're done getting restored.
25:33And it's going to be another car that we inventory so we can have it on our insurance list so
25:37we can have it ready for the disassembly, which needs to happen right away.
25:41So first, what I want to do is just give it a quick wash, okay?
25:43Okay.
25:44You remember how to wash the car?
25:45Yeah.
25:46Yeah.
25:46That's something you can do.
25:47Okay.
25:47Not intimidated about this task.
25:49All right.
25:50All right.
25:50Let's see just how...
25:51Now, don't get crazy.
25:52Let's see what you remember about washing the car.
25:53I know the first...
25:54The one thing I remember is you soaking me every single time.
25:57You ain't wet.
25:57You ain't working.
25:58Oh, my hair.
26:25With the Roadrunner washed and documented,
26:28Mark walks us through the brake assembly.
26:31So what you see here is the original K-member that the car started life with.
26:35This is a 70 Roadrunner 383 car.
26:37So all the components that are on it, the sway bar, the sway bar brackets, the strut rods,
26:41the lower control arms, they look beautiful because we've reconditioned them.
26:44We put our brand new PST, Performance Suspension Technologies, suspension pieces in it.
26:49But that is at the point where it's ready for the spindles.
26:53That's what we're going to talk about now.
26:55So you see that I have this one marked 70B body drum.
26:59This is the point.
27:00This is the key point right here.
27:01The one in my left hand, this backing plate, this brake drum, these brake shoes.
27:06That would give you the manual drum or power drum brake setup.
27:10As far as that front end goes, you've got that front end if you've got manual drum brakes
27:15or if you've got disc, you've got that whole setup.
27:17It's which one of these you put on.
27:19Well, these fasten to a ball joint.
27:22It's that simple.
27:23This ball joint goes into the lower control arm like that.
27:28What I put on that from here is going to determine disc or drum.
27:32Here is our drum.
27:34I bolt this on right here where it goes with the two big fat bolts.
27:38I'll just give you a visual here like that.
27:41And now I would put on my backing plate, which would go on next.
27:46After that, this great big bulky drum, then the brake shoes,
27:50and I would have a drum brake setup based on that knuckle.
27:53You would not know whether this car started life with it or without it
27:56based on just looking because this is all Mopar components.
27:59Now we'll just step back.
28:01I want power disc.
28:02Let's put that spindle down, grab the Mopar factory part number.
28:06Everything that goes on this spindle is over the counter parts at any parts store in the world.
28:11At that point, when I tighten these down and I put a cotter pin in it,
28:14after that, I would put my disc brake spindle on.
28:18Then the knuckle or the spindle will be attached to the lower control arm.
28:22I will grab my rotor with its bearings in it.
28:27I will put it on there like that.
28:29I'll put my spindle mount on there next, and that will complete my disc brake setup.
28:34And if you look at it when it's done, it will look factory Mopar because it is factory Mopar.
28:40I cannot encourage you enough to stay within the world of Mopar.
28:44Stay within the year, the make, and the model of options that could have gone on the car.
28:48In the case of the disc brakes, it makes assembling it a piece of cake
28:52because they're all factory pieces that are meant to go together.
28:55It makes maintenance of it down the road so much easier.
28:59And it just makes sense that you're keeping it all within the family of Mopar.
29:03So I've been working on the 70 Roadrunner,
29:05and I'm at a point where it's time to get Mark to sign off on some things.
29:08I'm about ready to put the trunk floor in
29:10and just check over the things that I've been doing on it.
29:14Are they the same length section on both sides?
29:16Yep.
29:16Good.
29:17And I metal finished them so you can't see where I spliced in.
29:20Yeah, don't.
29:21No, it looks very nice on the outside.
29:24No, I mean, you did good, Bi.
29:25You did good.
29:26That looks good, buddy.
29:27All right.
29:36Now here's a little bit of trivia for you, Georgie.
29:38All right.
29:39They made a little over 20,000 two-door hardtop 383 Roadrunners in 1970.
29:47The standard transmission that came behind the 383 was a three-speed manual transmission.
29:54Only 584 of them actually left the assembly line with the three-speed transmission.
30:00Meaning when people bought the Roadrunners or when they ordered them,
30:03standard was the three-speed manual transmission.
30:06But out of 20,000 plus, only 584 still have the three-speed.
30:11People were optioning for the four-speed pistol grip shifter because it was the coolest shifter
30:15on the planet and the automatic transmission.
30:17Very few people wanted the three-speed.
30:19This is one of the 584 three-speed cars.
30:22Wow.
30:23That's kind of one of those trick things that, well, you think in your mind, well, that's really,
30:26really rare.
30:26Well, it is rare from a production value standpoint, how many they made.
30:30But it doesn't make it any more valuable.
30:33It probably decreases the value.
30:35Most people today are just like they were in 1970.
30:37They would rather have a 383 four-speed or a 383 automatic than a 383 three-speed.
30:43This car came to the owner that we're doing it for already being converted to a four-speed.
30:48So we sent that out to brewers having that four-speed rebuilt.
30:51And it's back now over with the drivetrain, which is also, by the way, almost done.
30:56So as soon as they're done in body here, we'll reunite all that and put it in.
30:59But this car will be on the road with a four-speed pistol grip shifter.
31:03The car had got packed full of a lot of plastic filler and appeared a lot better than it really
31:09was.
31:10If you look at it, by the time we're done, we're replacing almost every piece of sheet metal
31:13on the back half of the car, front rails and front fenders.
31:17So thank God, again, we got Auto Metal Direct to be able to pick up the phone and call and
31:22order this stuff
31:22because if we couldn't do this, we'd be knocking a 70 Roadrunner two-door hardtop or two-door post in
31:28the head,
31:28taking it away, or a satellite, or a sport satellite.
31:31We'd be taking a good, valuable, nice, potential car off the road to make this one whole again.
31:37Otherwise, that looks good, Georgie.
31:3970 Roadrunner, 383, what transmission?
31:44Three-speed.
31:45Three-speed manual.
31:46How many did they build in the two-door hardtop?
31:49It came optional, what was it?
31:52I want to say 2,000-something, only five...
31:5420,000?
31:5520,000-something.
31:5670 Roadrunner, 383s?
31:56Only 500 and some rolled off the assembly line with a three-speed in it.
32:00So you listened to a little of it.
32:02Yeah.
32:02Over 20,000 cars were built, 383, two-door hardtops.
32:07Out of that over 20,000, only 584 had a three-speed manual transmission.
32:13584.
32:14584.
32:15All right.
32:16So, try to...
32:18Huh?
32:20Oh, I thought you...
32:21Oh, no.
32:22Said something.
32:26I'm very excited about the Roadrunner that's getting ready to be revealed to the Zinx.
32:29It's a neat car.
32:30It means a ton to those people.
32:32It's a very similar car to what he had back in high school.
32:35Those are the kind of things that I like the most.
32:37Even though it's not a cubic dollar car, I actually enjoy the back story and what it means to the
32:42people,
32:43more so than the big dollar stuff and all the bragging about what something's worth.
32:46So, yeah, I'm very excited.
32:48With the decals perfectly placed, it's time to get the engine and drivetrain installed.
32:54But before they can do that, the team needs to connect all of the necessary accessories in the engine well
33:01and on the firewall.
33:04Now, it's time to begin the installation of the engine and drivetrain.
33:09They begin with a rear end in order to counterbalance the car when it's time to install the engine.
33:16Then, much like the assembly line, the unibody is lowered over the engine and bolted into place.
33:22Tires and wheels are assembled and bolted down.
33:26The accurate exhaust system is installed.
33:29The beautiful Instrument Specialties dash is rusted into place,
33:33followed by the installation of the signature pistol grip shifter and interior.
33:41So, I've got my 70 Roadrunner all set up and ready to go.
33:44I've got my graphics laid out.
33:45I'm going to do my side stripes, which is the dust trail.
33:48I have Roadrunner birds, standing Roadrunner bird and running Roadrunner birds I have to apply,
33:52as well as the world-famous air grabber shark's tooth that go on the side of the N-96 air
33:57grabber door.
34:02When the temperature keeps...
34:04As it gets hotter and you're trying to do graphics, you've got to be able to compensate for that.
34:08All right, you've got to know your limitations, Clint Eastwood at Brick Ridge,
34:12and you've got to know when to hold them and when to fold them.
34:14If it gets too hot, you just can't put them on because you're going to absolutely waste the decal.
34:18But as long as you're under like 100 degrees or somewhere close to that,
34:22what you have to do is you have to get a solution on there that's either thicker,
34:25like if I'm using the Apgel, I'll put it on real, real heavy so I've got a ton of time
34:28to play with it,
34:29or if I'm using my soap, my Soapia solution, I'll just add more soap to it so I even have
34:33longer for it to set up.
34:35Because as you take away from those two elements, it dries faster.
34:39It dries too fast and you can't get it back up, you're calling Phoenix in order on another set of
34:42graphics.
34:46You know, I love painting cars. I've done it forever. I don't do it as much.
34:50Will's a good painter. He's taken over. I've taught him how to paint really well.
34:53Graphics are great because you're an instant hero.
34:55You lay that stripe out on a billboard car, you'd lay out a big, beautiful black billboard against a silver,
35:01gunmetal gray car, you're a winner.
35:03Lay out a black one against an orange, you're a winner.
35:05Absolutely one of the most gorgeous and quickest transformations of a car are the decals and the stripes.
35:11So I'd probably have to say my funnest part is probably doing decals.
35:15The graphics are completely done on a roadrunner.
35:17There's always a little bit of touch-up that has to be done.
35:19Will's going to come in early and do that.
35:21But after that, this thing's ready to be revealed.
35:31And there's the Zinx right there.
35:33The Zinx are really nice folks.
35:35I've met them a few times over the last few years while we're working on their car.
35:39The happy-looking crowd right there.
35:41Hi, how are you?
35:42Haven't seen you in a long time. How are you?
35:44Good, we're excited.
35:45Good.
35:46Terry, the husband, he's a big-time car lover.
35:48And the wife just is as sweet as can be.
35:51So it's going to be nice to see him again.
35:54Yeah, and then we have our nephew and his wife and their daughter visiting.
35:59And so we brought them with us up at their first time up to Oregon.
36:02So you belong to these two?
36:04Yeah.
36:04Oh, very nice.
36:05So car reveals are my favorite part of our job.
36:08We work all year to see the client's face when we give the car back.
36:11So it's our motivation behind what we do.
36:14And it's the big payoff for us.
36:16So I can't wait to see their face when we give their car back.
36:18All right, let's do it.
36:19Let's head out that way.
36:21Willie.
36:22I slipped the jab.
36:23I'm going to slip the jab.
36:25That's what I'm going to do.
36:25I don't know.
36:27Yeah.
36:30You know, it's funny.
36:31I don't get as nervous as I used to during these car reveals.
36:34I want feedback.
36:36And if it's negative or positive, I still want to hear it.
36:38You got the magic hat on.
36:39I ain't going to punch a man with the magic hat on.
36:41And the magic frosty and all that, winterland.
36:45The reason we took the car on, it means a lot to him.
36:48He had one very similar to it when he was in high school.
36:51Okay, so my question is, you had one of these cars almost identical to this years ago.
36:57Yeah.
36:57When did you buy it?
36:58How old were you when you first drove it?
37:00I bought it when I was 18 years old.
37:03I had a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, the lemon twist color Roadrunner, and she was fascinated
37:09by the car.
37:09She didn't particularly care for me that much, but she loved the yellow Roadrunner.
37:13And so it was a way of getting her to go out with me.
37:16We ended up getting married in that car.
37:19I was racing the car, you know, probably more than I should.
37:23And the engine ended up freezing up on us.
37:25And we had no money.
37:27I mean, we were, both of us were just dirt poor.
37:29We ended up saying, well, we've got to get rid of the Roadrunner because we can't afford
37:34to fix it.
37:35And for about 15 years, I looked around trying to find the car.
37:38And I was looking online and I found this car.
37:42It had all the equipment on it that our original car had.
37:45So I went ahead and bought the car and then we contacted Mark and said, you know, we've
37:50got this kind of love story with the car and we wanted to find out if it could be restored.
37:57And he said yes.
37:58He said yes.
37:59And so that's what brought us.
38:00Just like me, I said yes.
38:01Yeah.
38:02Yeah.
38:03Well, I'll tell you, we've taken a lot of steps on this thing to make it as original
38:07as it would have been on the showroom floor.
38:09I know it's not the same car.
38:11Yeah.
38:11But if you bought a Lemon Twist yellow N96 Air Grabber Roadrunner when you were a kid,
38:17this is about as close as you're going to get to it right here.
38:19Excellent.
38:20So I'm excited to reveal it to you.
38:23And I understand you're going to drive it home from here.
38:25We are.
38:25Yeah.
38:26Yeah.
38:26Cool.
38:26I don't know whether we're excited or nervous, you know, because it, uh,
38:31What if it's disappointing?
38:33Yeah.
38:33I, I, I'm confident that it won't be, but you, you know, it's been so long and we've
38:37been looking forward to this.
38:39You get that anxious feeling about how's everything going to be and what's it going
38:42to be like.
38:42So I know both of us are really excited to see it.
38:45And drive it.
38:46And drive it.
38:47Yeah.
38:48That was just amazing color.
38:52Whoa.
39:06What do you think of that?
39:11Oh my gosh.
39:13Is that gorgeous?
39:14It is.
39:14Yeah.
39:15It's beautiful.
39:16Oh my gosh.
39:18Pretty amazing.
39:20It looks brand new.
39:22It does.
39:23Oh my gosh.
39:25Isn't that awesome?
39:26It is.
39:28Oh my gosh.
39:29Isn't that just too cool?
39:31Thank you so much.
39:33I think it's just beautiful.
39:35It's a culmination of so many things to do this.
39:38And the right team, Dave and Will and Alyssa and Royal when he's here.
39:42The paint is so beautiful.
39:43Oh look.
39:44Yeah.
39:44I know.
39:45Yeah.
39:45That's correct for the 70s.
39:47Supposed to have a little birdie.
39:48And then the dust trail ends into here like that.
39:51The thing that was most important to me in working with Mark was to be able to express
39:55to him the importance of this car to us.
39:58And the fact that we really were putting it in his hands.
40:00And I wanted to make sure that the car was done.
40:02It was done right.
40:03It's been great working with him.
40:05Mark was telling us all the details and showing us all the markings that he made sure were there.
40:10And it's like a brand new car.
40:12It's like we're back in 1970.
40:14It is.
40:14Isn't that so fun?
40:15That's what I just love.
40:18I think it's such a neat thing that this is all fully functional air grabber stuff.
40:22The car was an air grabber car so we put it all back on.
40:25It's got all your date coded correct original Gates hoses and replica upper and lower and heater hose.
40:30Your date coded third quarter of 69 spark plug wires.
40:37This is just so awesome.
40:39This is just so awesome.
40:40Take it out for a drive?
40:41Take it out for a drive.
40:42I love it.
40:43All right.
40:44You guys ready to go?
40:45We're ready to go, Mark.
40:46Rock on.
40:46All right.
40:49Making dreams come true.
40:52Bye, guys.
40:55It's like our honeymoon.
40:58The sound.
41:01I tell you, it brings back a lot of memories.
41:04Drive like you mean it.
41:10All like the good old days.
41:12I know.
41:12Oh, yeah.
41:13Feels good.
41:15Gosh, it runs great.
41:16Wow, it really does.
41:19Oh, my gosh.
41:20Worth the wait.
41:21Yeah.
41:22I'm going to put up the air grabber and see how that works.
41:25There it is.
41:26There it goes.
41:28I want to see flames.
41:30When can you punch it?
41:33I want to punch it.
41:35I'm going to punch it.
41:41The car is so awesome.
41:43It's better than what we thought we were going to do.
41:45Yes.
41:45It feels tight.
41:46The suspension's great.
41:48I got to drive it.
41:49She got to drive it, yeah.
41:51Oh, my gosh.
41:52Oh, my gosh.
41:54I don't know if I can do this.
41:55Now she decided maybe we should renew our valves.
42:00It was so much fun.
42:03Oh, my gosh.
42:04I got it down.
42:07It's like riding a bike.
42:08I know.
42:10Well, you know, it's really easy to shift with this pistol.
42:12I know.
42:14Well, you always liked that in the other one.
42:15Yeah, I did.
42:16Well, there's no place to turn around.
42:19Too bad.
42:20We'll just have to keep going.
42:21Just have to keep going.
42:23The car looks great.
42:24Drives great.
42:25We look great in the car.
42:26Yeah.
42:27I mean, look at this guy.
42:28Look at this.
42:29What a cute couple.
42:30You know, if there's any coyotes on the way back to Bend.
42:32Yeah.
42:32Watch out.
42:33We're going to be able to outrun them.
42:41Hey, thanks for watching, you guys.
42:43Tell us what you think in social media.
42:45Go in.
42:46Make comments on it.
42:47Send us an email.
42:48Leave us voicemails.
42:49We're thinking of doing some more of these.
42:51We've got lots of cars over the years that we've done.
42:53We're going to mash them together.
42:54Kind of a history in reverse type of thing.
42:57The 72 Charger, I would like to report, is still in the Walton family.
43:01And the grandson drives it now to car shows.
43:03And the Zinx Roadrunner is also in the family.
43:06And he enjoys it on weekends and outings.
43:08That's awesome.
43:09That's because Graveyard Cars is homophilia.
43:13Homofamilius?
43:14Like the same family?
43:15Homofamilia.
43:16Maybe we shouldn't attempt mashups of our Greek and Latin.
43:21Thanks for watching.
43:23I thought it was homofamilius.
43:25Homofamilius.
43:25I think it's familius, but I don't know.
43:28What's the necrophilia?
43:29Ooh, no.
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