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33 Year Old Monogram 1970 Challenger T/A-Restored


mustang1989

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 After 4 months of building I finished restoring this build in late November/ December of 2014. It was only supposed to be a simple touch up that was initially gonna take a week or so to complete but ended up being my first all out attempt at getting auto model building as right as I could get it. I wouldn't touch another aircraft build again until nearly two years later as the auto bug had bitten..............hard!! 
   The quick story: I built this originally when I was 14 for my brother. I joined the Army at 19 years old and left home in November of 1987. I picked the car up from my parents house in 2003 (16 or so years later) and cleaned it up and gave it to back to my brother in 2009 after some years on my display shelf. It stayed there a year and was accidentally dropped and left on a bed head board where I spotted in and rescued it again. It was missing a wheel/tire, the hood and the rear spoiler. My brother and I found the wheel/tire and the hood without the air intake / air grabber. I cleaned it up and put it back on the shelf where it stayed until November of 2014 when I had some "spare bench time" between builds. I had bought a spare kit in which to replace the hood and rear spoiler with and that was all it was going to be was a parts replacement and that's it. Well 4 months later and 3 kits later I reformed this thing from what it was to what it is here. The body and interior are all original save for the shifter lever. Everything else was scrapped and started over with. 
Several upgrades were made and it proudly sits on the shelf again.....only now in a much better state. wink.png 

Before:

 

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4 months later.........

 

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The engine compartment up close and personal:

 

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This award was a TOTAL surprise to me. I was already stunned that I had just gotten a 1st Place Award in its category.

 

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Edited by mustang1989
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You can tell you have built model aircraft engines when you wire the engine realistically. Too many cars leave the hood down, but then they do look like they move fast. Nice finish and a great build.

 

Tnarg

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NICE....Love Challengers,......Built mine in 84 along with the Cuda. I think they are in a

                                                file cabinet in the shed along with a Jo-Han Superbird  in

                                                Yellow. Been in there for 19 years.  Need to Barn Find mine

                                                and try this.

 

                                                 Sweet underhood..........Interior?

 

                                                   MOTHER MOPAR

      jack

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Well done, and Congrats on the awards !

 

Joe

Thanks Joe!

 

 

You can tell you have built model aircraft engines when you wire the engine realistically. Too many cars leave the hood down, but then they do look like they move fast. Nice finish and a great build.

 

Tnarg

 

LOL! Thanks alot Tnarg! Actually I've built a TON of 1:1 scale engines as well as a few hot rodded engines in my day. ;)

 

 

Always good to see this one again, Joe. It's a truly great rendition of the Monogram kit. Congrats again on the awards you received, you deserved them.

 

Thanks Kevin. She's my favorite of all my auto builds.

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NICE....Love Challengers,......Built mine in 84 along with the Cuda. I think they are in a

                                                file cabinet in the shed along with a Jo-Han Superbird  in

                                                Yellow. Been in there for 19 years.  Need to Barn Find mine

                                                and try this.

 

                                                 Sweet underhood..........Interior?

 

                                                   MOTHER MOPAR

      jack

 

 

Thanks Jack! The interior started off just like the rest of the car......like a 13/14 year old built it.....wait a minute  :huh:  I was 13/14 when I built it.  :D

 

Original interior: 

 

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Here's the original build on the dash:

 

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Here's the interior tub after it got the "revamp" treatment: ALl  parts are original except for the pistol grip shifter that I had to replace because I lost the original during the rebuild

 

Interiorrepair001_zpsd1d8cdb9.jpg

 

 

 

and the dash after the "overhaul". I ended up drilling through the OOB gauges and using decals that I applied to a plastic card and gluing in place on the backside of the panel. Again....all parts are original to include the steering wheel. 

 

MoreDashpics001_zpsa7691c46.jpg

Edited by mustang1989
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That really looks fantastic - what a great restoration! Love the challenger - if I were ever to be able to afford a classic car it is one I would strongly consider - one of the coolest cars ever IMHO

 

You and me both. I have several 1:24 & 1:25 '70 Challenger kits to be built, along with a few die-cast examples.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Beautiful Challenger and with the correct rake to the body, too.  Nice work!  Interior is so hard to get decent on these kits and you did a masterful job.  I have the same Challenger kit, and a '69 GT500 I'll get to sometime.  Definitely will keep the pics of your engine bay handy - plumbing is perfect.

 

BTW, that is one shiny body!   :punk:

 

Chris

Edited by CANicoll
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