Customs Undergoing body reassignment surgery

Sometimes a car is built with a body that doesn't reflect the car it is on the inside. New advances in technology allow us to change a car's outward appearance into a body style that better reflects it's true self.

(The following is a true story and contains graphic images of sheetmetal surgery. Viewer discretion is advised)

Thought I'd give my '62 Chrysler build thread a goofy title/intro, but in reality I'm just documenting the build. Bought this car last winter, Wisconsin HAMBers might recognize it, it's been for sale in Skandinavia WI for years, always parked out for sale on the way to Iola. Always too much money for me and/or no one was around, but finally I caught it on Craigslist and the price had come down to a point where I had to have it.

I had pieces left over from my '60 Plymouth Fury 2 door conversion, so I figured I'd build the world's only '62 Chrysler 2 door post. This was the car to start with (sorry for the shit pictures)





And here it is after a couple day's work. The first day was just gutting out the interior so I could cut into the doors and quarters, it had all 4 functional doors still on it this morning.

Just like on the Fury, I took the doors off, cut out the center pillar, then hung the 2 door sedan donor door. I used the door jamb from the donor car, but the outer skin and upper pillar had to come off of the Chrysler's rear door, since the Chrysler is longer there and has a body line that the Plymouth does not have. Here it is just pieced together and held up with tape.



Then again with the pieces tacked in solid and the trim mocked up. The door trim is from a Chrysler 2 door hardtop and fits the Plymouth sedan door perfectly.



I didn't go into the process step by step with pics this time since it's basically the same operation I did with my Fury. I'm hoping to get the passenger side all cut in tomorrow, then on Sunday I can do all the welding, including some repairs of the horrible floors. Will post pics as I go along.

I'm hoping to have it roadworthy by Symco to pull my new camper up with it, so I've got a long way to go.

 

I really like what you're doing here. I don't know about the wheels though. I'd run stock wheel covers and let the hoi polloi try to figure if it's factory or not.

 

That's got some nice proportions and lines... I really like the look!

 

thumbs up from me---

 

Is it a she or a he .Lol Keep pluggin

 

I think it's cool as heck! Lippy

 

My kind of build ! I love it ,cant have too many pics in a thread like this!! (hint hint)

 

Maybe you should just do the driver side and really confuse people.

 

Already looks right.

 

This is going to be interesting, I like it already.

 

I'd have to make it into a cheap model with dog dish hub caps in this style. What engine is in it? I dig 2dr post cars. Maybe a 413 with the long cross ram??

 

How do you handle getting into the back seat when you convert a 4 dr like this? Do you use a 2 dr front seat with the backrest that flips forward or.....??????

I think the lines of the car really take to this modification and the car will look sharp when it's done!

 

Really, really nice conversion.........totally changes the character of ther car! Very cool looking one-off (or maybe not.....others may be motivated to duplicate ) Thanks for posting.

Ray

 

Thanks for all the replies, always appreciated.

I've thought about this, and I'm still very much considering it. Chrysler offered a handful of ultra-cheapie Newports in 61 and 62 that had a Chrysler-only dog-dish hubcap, rubber floormats and stick on the floor with a delete plate for the pushbutton shifter. If I found a donor car with those pieces on it, I could fully see making this car into a factory-ordered stripper/sleeper like that, with dual quads on the 361. I've already got the radio delete plate.

I've got the bucket seats out of a '63 300 sport for the front and the rear is half 63 300 and half 64 300-K. I set it all in the car before I started cutting and it fits nice, should look factory.

I'm off to do some more hacking, will post more pics tonight.

 

It's interesting about the wheels, I remember those keystone classics all the way back to the 70's, and I have never liked them. Yet as soon as I saw the pictures of your car I thought they looked great! Go figure!

 

I like his idea of taking it out the first time looking stone stock. But I never been big on those wheels even back when they were new.

 

LOL good idea!

 

I think it already looks a thousand times better. Hell of an improvement. Thumbs up from me. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

That is a nice conversion, it looks a lot better. Look forward to seeing more progress pics.

 

Totally cool conversion. I hate Keystone Klassics though...

 

WOW, I know where there's a couple of nice newports sitting around here. They are too ugly for me, but your 2 door version really changes the looks of it.

 

Lookin good Jon.

 

nice work on the conversion , i like these builds when they turn out good , makes for an unusual ride

 

Quick mid-day update, inside for a few minutes of air conditioning to cool off. Passenger side is coming right along, first pic shows the door pillar cut out and the new door hung, this door is off of a '61 Dart Seneca, the door from the donor car was smashed pretty bad.



This one shows the donor door jamb in place with the door open. I had the jambs blasted clean and I painted them on both sides since it'll be impossible to do that once they're welded in place, and the donor car was pretty rusty.



One with the door closed on the new jamb



And with the rear door skin peeled off and tacked into place. Once I get that solid, I'll cut out the old door handle hole and make a patch for that, then start cutting in the upper door frame to form the top of the quarter window opening.

 

Hey,


Oh, yeah!

Everytime I see a '62 Dodge Dart 4dr. I think about your '60
Are you going to paint it in that off pinkish -tan colour most of those came in?

" Humpty Dumpty was pushed "

 

The 300 interior I have for it is light blue so the car will have to stay blue.

This is where I ended the day today, got the door handle hole filled and got most of the welding done on this side. Hoping to get all the welding done on the other side and finish my floor repairs tomorrow, we'll see how it goes.

 

Hot damn, son, you workin' on commision?
It look great, good luck on the rest of the project!


'' Do not reach greedily for the Kool- Aid "

 

Got both sides welded up today, but it's like 95 degrees so I didn't get to the floor pans, think I'm going to call it an early day. The passenger side pic gives a really good idea of what the car is going to look like, gets me very motivated. Chrysler should have built them like this.

 

very impressive! i'll look at 4 doors differently now. great job.

 

I can't get over how much you improved the looks of that car. Awesome job.