December 22, 2024

1964 Dodge 440 Restoration

This is a car you dont see everyday, Here we have Joe’s 1964 Dodge 440 for a full restoration. Joe did the hard work under the hood of the car, building a serious engine, and taking care of the suspension, brakes, ect, leaving us with all the fun stuff 🙂 When we got this car it still wore its original White hue, and was in very good shape for its age with a few rust issues you would expect with a car 40 years old. A Common problem with any vehicle of this age is Rust/ Rot in the window channels, and this car was no exception. With the windows out we got right to work, making our own window channels, this might sound easy but it takes alot of fitting of the glass to make sure you have an air and water tight seal. With that hurlde out of the way, we could work the rest of the metal on the car, removing all dents, dings, and unwanted trim holes to set it apart from the pack. Since we were dealing with a car that had the original paint, and didnt have rust, we decided to hand sand the car down to bare metal instead of the normal media blasting we use for our restorations. Once it was all down to bare metal we quickly gave it some Sealer to make sure nothing crept into our fresh metal. After we finished that, we were ready to do the body work, we worked one panel at a time, getting it to prefection and then laying down some High Build primer, getting it ready for a few rounds of block sanding. Panel after panel, we worked our magic on the whole car, and gave it a good block sanding with the car all together, and then rolled it into the booth to re-prime the whole car and get it ready for another shot of primer when we had it all apart. Once that was dry, we dissassembled the car and begain working the inside of the doors and under the hood and trunk. We stripped all these parts down to bare metal and and adressed a few small problem areas, this way the car looks as good on the inside as it does outside.  With all of that set, it was time for the teadious job of wet sanding the car and getting it ready the its mirror finish.  Once that was done we rechecked the body one last time and rolled the car in the booth, after giving it a new bath in black paint we re-assembled the car and begain the long process of color sanding, which gives the car its smooth, mirror like finish. Now that its complete its a sinister looking black paint the car is sure to be a real show pleaser and a definate head turner!

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