Tolley's 1970 Charger

How to Navigate This Site

Follow the links in the sidebar below to see my Charger in its various stages of existence, either by date or by category.

In the "footer" of each post to the right, you will see a link to a page with only that post. From there you can proceed one page at a time, chronologically, if you wish. You will also see links to each category in which that post is placed.

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My Charger's History

Click here to go to a page that tells the interesting story of how I obtained my car and its early history.

Restoration Progress Journal

As I work on my Charger, I post updates on this site. Newest updates are at the top. Click here to check them out.

Before the Beginning

I owned my Charger for 17 years before I had the facilities and skills to enable me to do the full restoration I had always dreamed about. Click here to view pictures illustrating the various changes in my car during that time. The most recent information is at the top of the page.

My Mopar Miniatures

I collect Mopar miniatures, mostly in 1/18th scale die-cast metal. Click here to look at my collection. The link will open in a new window.

My Other Mopars

My family's vehicle fleet consists of five Mopars besides my Charger. Click here to check them out. The link will open in a new window.

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November 11, 2006

Grille restored!

One of the things that can set off a '70 Charger no matter how beautifully painted the body is, how shiny the bumpers are, or how clean the interior is, is the grille. If the grille looks tired and old, cracked, deteriorated, I think it affects the way the entire car is perceived. I have spent a great deal of time repairing, cleaning, masking, and painting my grille, the headlight doors, and the Charger 500 emblems. I am very happy with the end result I achieved. As good as these pictures are, I don't think they do the grille justice. The paints I purchased from Totally Auto were excellent. I had my doubts as my first coat of silver was going on; it sort of looked blotchy. But as it dried and multiple coats were applied, it really did take on a nice even smooth finish everywhere I used it. Besides having the grille very clean, spending hours masking with high-quality masking tape seemed to be the key to getting a good final product. The grille will soon be packaged safely and stored in the attic until needed during reassembly, but first I want to show it off to some of my local Mopar buddies.

October 05, 2006

Restoring the grille

I was really happy when I was able to get this grille some time ago, as documented earlier. It was in vastly better condition than my original grille, but it had one flaw: one of the vertical fins was missing a section. I used Plastifix to repair it. The major steps in the process are shown below. Warning to people planning to use this product: It smells really strong, and may have your family really disgruntled if you use it in the dining room. Trust me on this, I know.

This was the trouble spot I was going to try to fix.

After using the soft molding block provided to make a mold off of a neighboring good fin, I clothespinned the mold into position and filled the mold with the liquid plastic repair material. This took six or so hours before it was really hard enough to take the mold off.

After trimming, sanding, and filing the new plastic to meet the shape and contour of the other fins, a quick shot of flat black was applied just to test how well my new piece would blend in. Visitors to whom I have shown my grille in person cannot find the repaired fin until I show them which one it is, and even I have a bit of trouble finding it sometimes.

The next step for my grille (or is it grill?) will be to take it outside, clean it, buff it up with a Scotch-Brite pad, and repaint it using correct paints I purchased from Totally Auto. Stay tuned for completed grille pictures soon.

March 10, 2005

Grille

Another item I had been searching for for decades was an intact 70 Charger grille. I have come across very few over the years, many in worse shape than my original. Recently I was able to acquire this very nice Charger 500 grille. After a few years of seeing them go for unbelievable sums on eBay, I am delighted to finally have one of my own. Currently a company called Premiere Plastics is considering using this grille as a pattern for a future reproduction '70 Charger grille. Stay tuned on that.

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Posted in RESTORATION | trim | link to this page | | Comments (1)

500 finish trim

When I got my charger back in 1986, the finish trim that surrounds the taillights was crinkled up almost into a little ball in the trunk. I did a fairly decent job of getting it smoothed out, but never really good enough to ever be put on my finished car. I was delighted to come across this very straight original trim piece. Once repainted, it will really help set off those distinctive Charger taillights.