Rebel
Part of things
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Well, now that I'd managed to drive the 250 miles from Luton to Newcastle without any major problems, the worn out suspension parts have been replaced making it a better drive than it was. Although at this point in time it still wasn't handling very well. I did find out from the excellent MMA forum that they just don't handle very well, at all. Unless you throw a lot of money at them and of course the more money you throw at them the better. Now this is only a problem when you don't have any to throw, so, I thought I'd start with things I could do for free and then as something either broke or wore out, I'd replace it with the upgraded equivalent. As long as everything didn't break or wear out at the same time, I should have time to save some money between changing bits and pieces here and there and eventually have a Charger that not only handles well but goes round corners as well. The estate that I live on ( like most other places these days ) is littered with speed humps, the type that stretch from one side of the road to the other, no matter how slowly I drove over them something under the car scraped on them. Jacked it up to check and all seemed OK with nothing hanging down. I narrowed it down to three possibilities, the oil sump, exhaust or chassis. The oil sump had a couple dents in it, just little ones but no evidence of scraping, so it was ruled out, the exhaust hung about level with the chassis rails and again there were no obvious signs of scratching or scraping. I did think of trying to lift the exhaust half an inch or so just to rule it out completely but it was all attached properly and couldn't be moved any higher under the car. Well, if I can't lift the exhaust, perhaps I can lift the car? Back in the late sixties, they were made with 14 inch wheels but 15 inch wheels were available as an option. Mine had 14 inch ones fitted, these ones, Polished centrelines, but, I was also given the original wheels as well, these ones, Magnum 500's, I checked the size and they were also 14 inch. Dammit! In my garage were some wolfrace slot mags though, genuine first generation magnesium alloy slot mags to be precise. They had been fitted to my '73 Ford Ranchero previously and were 15 inch diameter. There was 6 in total, 2x 7x15, 2x 8.5x15 and 2x 10x15. Some checking of PCD's on the interweb and Ford 5 stud ( British or American ) is the same as Dodge / Chrysler ( also the same as Mercedes ), the next night, the centrelines came off and I had two 7x15 up front and the two 8.5x15 on the back, I did put the 10x15's on the back first, but they had N50x15 tyres on them and because of the very square shoulders, when I lowered the car the wheel arches sat on the shoulders. The 8.5's fitted though and seemed to fill the arches very well, much better than the 6x14's that were on every corner previously. The replacement wheels made it look like this, Much better and the rear arches are filled nicely, the fronts could, in my opinion, do with being moved outwards a little but for now they'll do very nicely and of course there was no cost involved. All wheel nuts tightened, car lowered of jack, test drove it over a varied selection of speed humps and, no scraping! So problem fixed, looks improved and all at no cost. I later sold both sets of 14 inch wheels that came with it which helped the money situation a bit as well.
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Woohoo! I really am glad that it's staying as is (albeit a few tweaks I'm sure!), I do like the 'General' cars, but always think a nicely done Charger is much better! Yours looks so tough already, it can only get better. Thanks, there's certainly going to be some tweaking here and there, thing is, it's such a good looking design already, there's a real possibility of spoiling it if I go too far externally. So apart from some minor changes on the outside, most of the modifications will be on the inside and underneath.
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Looking forward to the write up
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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I not only agree with the alfa stereotype because I have experience of it. Bought a 3 litre 166, within 2 months of owning it, lost all brakes on the school run when the seals went on the master cylinder. Due to alfa fitting there 3 litre engines with a water pump that has a plastic impeller which cracks in the normal heat produced and stops spinning, something that they are aware of but don't do anything about. It overheated, so I changed the pump for one with a metal impeller, which meant the timing belt had to be done because the water pump sits behind the belt and one can't be removed without the other. The a calliper seized causing 4 of the 5 bolts on the wheel to heat up and shear off ( nearly lost the wheel with that one ) fixed / replaced everything with genuine alfa parts, sold it.
Never again
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 27, 2015 22:10:28 GMT
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I wholeheartedly agree, 100% more Alfa content needed. I had a 156 sportwagon 2.4 JTD and it was the best car I've ever owned... a very pretty estate too. Oh please, mobile Italian scrapyards. Only good as doorstops, you could leave one parked with the engine running and still no self respecting thief would go anywhere near it
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 27, 2015 17:17:22 GMT
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What's the story on his tattoo then? My wife says, "you can't just leave it there without telling us" lol.
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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While I was waiting to go and collect the Charger, I started thinking about the change to a General Lee replica. I was hoping to have all the wording, flag and door numbers painted rather than using vinyl . I'd seen some examples where the vinyl had started to lift or separate from the body work, whether this was due to the vinyl product, paintwork or just poor application, I didn't want to risk any problems in that area. In my head, the list of jobs was remove vinyl roof, change radiator grille, change rear light panel, repaint in orange, add the push bar to the front, flag and wording to the roof and the "01" to the doors and of course the Dixie airhorn. Sounds simple, but in reality when you start trying to plan it and check the cost, it gets expensive and complicated. As I said earlier, I'd found out that the TV show used '68, '69 and even some '70 models during filming. This meant that realistically all I had to do was paint and graphics, but, in the show and all the films, the General was always portrayed as a '69 Charger, so to be factually correct the bodywork had to altered. Even then though, there's more to the conversion than that listed above. A '68 Charger has side markers ( front and back ) that are round and slightly larger than a 10 pence piece, mounted midway up on the front and rear wings, where as the '69 Charger has rectangular markers mounted lower down on the front and rear wings. So, more conversion work. Then there's swapping the column shift for a floor shift, changing the interior from black to the correct tan colour, adding headrests to the front seats ( finding them would be fun and expensive ). Not forgetting the roll cage / roll bar inside the car, the correct wheels, CB radio and aerial ( obsolete since 1985 ) and that's just the obvious stuff, there's a whole list of other not so obvious changes and additions to make it an exact replica. Finally, of course, there's the ultimate change, welding the doors shut! This particular change on its own gives a whole new set of problems, done properly, it removes all the door gaps and creates one smooth panel from the A post all the way back to the rear bumper. The TV General always had all its door gaps, the doors were never actually welded shut, they were just supposed to be. However, if they were welded, then the door glass would need to be removed or permanently wound down which leaves you open to the effects of English weather, trophy hunters and of course thieves. With all this to think about, I decided to visit a local car cruise and have a break. Where I spotted another '68 Charger converted to a General Lee ( without welded doors ), talking to the owner, it turned out that he bought it about a week ago already painted, from someone about ten miles away from where I live, not only that, but, he lives round the corner from me. Needless to say, we've been friends ever since. This new discovery posed a problem though, if I converted mine, then there would be two identical replicas within a quarter mile of each other, I could only begin to imagine the possible accusations of not being where either one of us were supposed to be from our wives who might see the "wrong" car parked where it wasn't supposed to be, lol. Having spent a long time thinking about it, I decided not to turn mine into a replica after all, so, decision made, it would remain as a true 1968 model rather than an expensive conversion to a replica TV car. When I collected the car, it came with a file of info and some pictures of work completed. When it arrived here from the states it was red, much like Ford Rosso Red, pictures in the file show that back in 1997 ( when it was imported ) it was stripped back to bare metal and painted in Jaguar Nightfire Red, a metallic colour that looks great in the sunlight when polished ( the colour it's remained to date ), with the black vinyl roof which is the original vinyl that was applied in the factory way back in 1968!
Well, next time, there'll be photos ( Woohoo! )
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Strange how it works out. If I'd seen the ad for the trans am the first time, I would of had it instantly, regardless of pics. Yet, I always wonder where I'm going wrong with my ads aswell, as you said, loads of watchers on my Cougar but no bids either
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 26, 2015 18:30:42 GMT
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Hopefully it's better than this one:- I photographed it at the docks last year, mines the one behind it thankfully! It looks pretty good doesn't it? Man alive it was RUSTY! There wasn't a panel on it that didn't have rust that you could probably poke your finger through, even the roof! It had been hastily painted, and close up it was really rough with runs and badly rubbed down filler, a lot of filler! As I remember the confederate flag on the roof had a big hole under it. I'll bet the guy who bought it bought it blind off the internet, he must've been gutted when he saw it for the first time! And that's the real problem with buying blind from so far away. In order for it to work out, you have to be certain that what you're getting is what you expected and what you paid for. With the description of the one in the pic, it sounds like an expensive few months / years is ahead of the new owner
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 26, 2015 18:24:47 GMT
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Well... That was one crazy roller coaster of a read! To extremes of car buying... One, buy it blind, nice and easy, jobs a gooden (Fox).. And one epic battle with ups and downs all along the way (I think we all know which one this is). All I will say, is I am glad that it's working out now, it looks bloody stunning in the latest pics you posted up, tough as hell. Are you serious about turning it in to a 'General'? or now you have hold of it you are going to keep it as it is and drive the wheels off it? Thanks for reading, I do appear to have made the right decision buying the Mustang, sitting in the car on the day it arrived here testing everything, the only thing that didn't work was the map light, but that was only because the bulb was missing. To be fair, with regards to the Charger I am glad I bought it, I love that it's given me something to improve on and tinker with as well as having the opportunity to learn so much. Turn it into a General, well, we'll see as the thread progresses
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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That's made it worse!!!
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
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Apologies for the lack of photos, there will be photos once I get into the cosmetic and mechanical update bits.
So then, I'd waited almost 30 years, spent all my money and more besides, and, I didn't like it, just couldn't put my finger on it but I didn't like it! I knew it would take a bit of getting used too but I didn't expect this, at all. Every day I woke up I thought to myself, I'll go for a drive and every day I'd find an excuse not to. It sat on my drive for three or four days while I thought about what to do. Then I had a thought, maybe it wasn't me, maybe it was the car, I mean maybe there was something wrong with it. I drove it to a mates place who new more than me. It wasn't me, it WAS the car. The list included, new upper wishbone bushes, new shocks, tracking set up properly and a nut added to one of the bolts holding the rear leaf spring in place on the passenger side ( it might have come off on the way home, or it might have been missing when I bought it ). No pics as I didn't think to take any at the time. It did prove one thing though, it drove better, a lot better. I had finally started to like it and now new my plans for it, after painting it and adding the graphics, I wanted it to handle better, a lot better.
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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You can't leave us hanging there, man! Sorry, didn't mean to leave it there, I've added a bit more to the end of the last post and there's more below
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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I did say earlier that there was a twist in the tale, it wasn't about the multiple emails at the end of the auction though. You might remember at the start of this journey that it involved three Chargers. The mathematicians amongst you may have worked out that the Charger I bought is actually number four, ( and here's the twist ). I thought there was something familiar about it but couldn't think why, then it hit me ( no, not the car. The reason why it seemed familiar ). This Charger was the one that I was about to bid on about a year earlier when my computer froze. When speaking to the previous owner about it, in the seconds after my computer froze, the auction ended without the reserve being met, so it didn't sell. Almost a year later it was advertised again with a lower reserve due to the previous owner emigrating, I don't know, maybe I do sometimes have some good luck after all.
So, having secured the car, I now needed to pay for it and get it home. After getting in touch with the previous owner to discuss the details, he said he would prefer cash and i really didn't want to wait for a cheque to clear or transfer the money through the banking system without having something to show for it. Which is pretty ironic really, especially as not all that long ago, I was ready to transfer a similar amount to a virtual stranger something like five thousand miles away that would leave me with nothing to show for it for about two months.
We agreed that I would take the train to Luton, he would pick me up at the station and take back to his house to pay for the car and drive it home. So, a week later, I'm on the train to London, changing at Kings Cross for a connection to Luton. It was a worrying journey, carrying a backpack full of cash all that way. But, I'm glad to say the only "scary" parts of the journey were getting in to Kings Cross and finding out that my connection to Luton was at a different station round the corner and down the street, and I only had five or six minutes to get there! That and waiting for the previous owner to pick me up as I stood on a strange street in a strange area on my own with a bag full of cash trying not to look conspicuous, lol. All however went according to plan and as we rounded the corner in to his street, there it was, just standing on his drive, paintwork shining and chrome glinting in the sunlight, truly a vision to behold. Paperwork signed, cash counted and it was time to head home in My Charger. Now, at the time of buying the Charger, my daily driver was an eight year old Mondeo with all the comforts and boredom that is the beauty of an eight year old Mondeo. Not that I have anything against them, I've had two of them, but they do tend to reliable to the point of mind numbing boredom, I mean, you try and unlock the door and it unlocks, you turn the key to start it and it starts, then stays running until you turn the key to stop it, at which point, of course it stops. They probably all aren't like that but both of mine were and of course driving a thirty seven year old car from Luton to Newcastle for the first time is never going to be the same experience. I was nervous, excited and scared all at the same time at the thought of driving all that way, yet strangely looking forward to it. Of course we'd been out for a drive before I left, we both took turns in driving, him to show me what controlled what and me to get a feel for it before the long journey home. I'd driven left hand drive cars before, indeed I feel just as comfortable, if not more so sitting on the left. But, it had been a good few years since I last drive an American car, and that was a 1973 Ford Ranchero pick up, with a few creature comforts, like disc brakes and headlights that lit up the road ahead at night. Not the Charger though, I was informed to bear in mind that it's eighteen foot long, almost six foot wide, weighs something like two tonne, has over 300bhp and comes with manual drum brakes all round. Shouldn't be a problem I thought, I mean brakes are brakes are they not. I obviously new they worked from driving it, all be it around a housing estate for ten minutes. So with directions to the nearest petrol station and on how to get to the A1 after that, I fired her up and burbled off down the road, slowly. No real dramas on the way home I'm glad to say, got to the garage on the way home and filled up, then lost about half a gallon due to filling the tank above the overflow pipe, lol. She ran like a dream on the way home, all the way. Although, there was one minor issue of which I was certain. Over the 250 mile drive, cars and bikes etc would pass and give a wave or nod of appreciation which was great, but there was that small problem. I pulled in for more petrol on the way home and a drink, accidentally left the lights on, all was ok though, but that little niggle was still there. I burbled in to my street a little after midnight, pulled into my drive, turned the engine off, got out and locked up. What? Oh, yeah, the niggle, it bugged me all the way home. I had thought it was due to it realistically being an old car but couldn't stop thinking about it. I didn't like it!
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Last Edit: Oct 26, 2015 1:33:43 GMT by Rebel
1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 25, 2015 22:40:02 GMT
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wow you make buying a car a whole new type of pain, but to get a charger i most defiantly would go through all that pain too. great read so far and booked marked. You know, sometimes I don't even believe it was that difficult to buy it. I mean why couldn't it of been as simple as man sees car, man likes car, man pays for car and drives home? Having said that, if it had been that simple, I'd have nothing interesting to write and you'd all wonder why my thread consisted of thirteen words in total, so far, lol. Thanks for bookmarking it. speaking of paying for and driving home.......................
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 25, 2015 22:31:48 GMT
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Bloody hell! What a tale! I'm exhausted and need to go for a restorative beer now. Thanks Glad you're enjoying it, thanks
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Freezing computers, con artists and Hurricanes, everything just seemed to be working against me. I really started to think it was indeed just going to be a dream car. I felt like Nicholas Cage in Gone in 60 seconds, the Charger was my Eleanor, my unicorn. It had been at the top of every Christmas wish list I'd ever written ( well, you've got to try ), the subject of every birthday wish when I blew the candles out, I had wanted one for nearly thirty years. I'd had some amazing cars in that time, two Mustangs, two Ranchero's, a Camaro and an Oldsmobile Cutlass, not to mention the Escorts, the Cortina's, a Capri, a Marina and two MKII Granada's and yet, as much as I loved them all, the need for a Charger kept coming back again and again. Well, enough was enough, I'd chased this particular dream for too long, far too long in fact. I was nearly forty for gods sake, the imminent release of the new Dukes of Hazzard movie would only push the value of them higher again and even further out of my reach. Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to stand up and say "F**k it" and move on........................
That's not me though, I mean, I wouldn't be much of a Rebel if I did the things that everyone else did, would I, lol.
The next one then, a cold and wet night in early October 2005, I was at work in the last hour of my shift, looking through the bay of fleas, more out of boredom than anything else. Then, there it was, a Charger of the Dodge variety and at a decent price, there'd been a few bids on it but it was still in my budget. There were just a few minor details that stopped me from bidding on it there and then. It was a 1968 Charger with a 383 V8 ( 6.2 litre V8 ), column shift automatic gearbox and it had a vinyl roof! So, a completely different car to the one I wanted. Oh, and it was in Luton, bloody Luton FFS!. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Luton itself, but all I knew about it was that it had an airport ( Lorraine Chase sang about it, remember. Now try and get the song out of your head, lol ) and it was 250 miles away. Well, at least 250 miles is better than something like 5000 miles and its in the UK, back at home and I'm frantically searching the interweb, I manage to find out that the front radiator grille of a '68 is interchangeable with that of a '69 and also the two rear light panels are also interchangeable. Obviously vinyl roofs can be removed and column shifts can be changed to floor shift, so the idea of buying it is becoming more appealing..... I can hear you at the back muttering, "why would you change it, you'd ruin it by turning it into some kind of frankencharger". Well, you see, I didn't just want a Charger because I saw it on TV, I wanted the ONE I saw on TV, 1969, floor shift etc, and in orange with the flag on the roof and 01 on the doors that were welded shut. Oh yes, I wanted my own General Lee! Decision made, I bid on it and went straight to highest bidder, even though you get emails saying you've been outbid, I kept checking just to make sure. A couple of hours later and I'm still highest bidder, the next morning, that afternoon, that night etc etc. The auction was due to finish at 09:45 on a Sunday morning. I'd spent most of the week leading up to it checking that I was still highest bidder ( which I was ). Then late on the Saturday night, the dreaded email arrived, I had been outbid! I went to bid again and was instantly outbid, by now I was getting close to my maximum but I put another bid on and this time I got a message on screen advising that I wasn't authorised for bidding that much, lol. All I had to do was register a credit card, accept that there would be a charge of a penny on the card and my bidding limit would be increased. But, but, what, erm, err, what do I do now? I thought. I mean it's the interweb, might be the bay of fleas but it's still the interweb and it's a credit card, l lit a cigarette and had a coffee while I thought about it....................more coffee and cigarettes later, I was typing my credit card details on the screen and accepting the penny charge ( well, no choice really, was there? ). My bid went through and I was highest again. A couple of hours later, before going to bed, I had one more check of my emails and I'd been outbid again! No, No, No, I can't have been, but I had been dammit. That was it then, I was out of money, totally. My last bid had been the maximum that I had, there was no more budget and so another Charger was slipping away ( remember what I said earlier, if it wasn't for bad luck etc ). The thing was though, when I remortgaged in order to buy a Charger, I did my sums and thought about it a lot, I had a couple of credit cards running at the time and I wanted to go to America. So, I borrowed enough money to buy a Charger, pay off my credit cards and go to the states. By now though, I was so far into wanting to take what I thought was pretty much my last chance of having one that I dug out my calculations and went through them again. I couldn't do anything about what I'd spent paying for the holiday but, the credit cards, yes, the credit cards, what about the credit cards. I mean it's a once in a lifetime chance, it's not like I'm going to do this again, ever! So I added the amount available on the cards together and added that amount to my last bid. Then I placed a new bid, to the full and final amount I had. That was it though, there really was no more this time. I once again was the highest bidder, if I was outbid this time, I couldn't do anything about it. By now it was very late or very early depending on how you look at it. I went to bed, didn't set the alarm as there was no point, if I didn't win the auction then so be it, it was out of my hands. I woke up the next morning in time to make coffee and be in front of the computer with five minutes until the auction ended. I didn't have the heart to hope I'd win though after last night, I just wanted to see how much I'd been outbid by. I didn't check my emails, I didn't have to, why upset myself. I just went straight to the bay of fleas and signed in............................OH!.......MY!.........GOD! I'm still highest bidder! Two minutes to go, just two minutes, I lit a cigarette and watched the time countdown........... 90 seconds and still highest bid...............60 seconds..................30 seconds, heart racing...........25 seconds..........that child on Christmas morning feeling...........15 seconds............heart pounding,...................10 seconds, I'm going to pass out, God, I feel sick...........5.........4..........3..........2.........1..........then, there's an email, then another. The first email says congratulations the item is yours ( I'm doing the scene from when Harry met Sally again ), the second email advises me that I've been outbid by another bidder. What, how, I mean like, WTF. Stunned and a little confused, I'm wondering what happens next, I have an email saying it's mine and another saying I've been outbid, so someone else must also have an email saying they've won it. How does that work then, who gets it. Two people just can't both win an auction like this. Disheartened and more than a little peeved I go looking for contact details for the seller, then there's yet another email, this one advises me that the highest bidder has retracted their bid and as I was the next highest bidder the item is indeed mine! I've done it, finally I've got one. My God, what have I done.........................
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 24, 2015 23:57:12 GMT
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Aaaaargh... talk about sitting on the edge of my seat lol. I must admit whenever I buy a car from the other side of the world as soon as I pay, the panic sets in, what the car going to be like, is it going to be as described, is there even a car of have I just pAid a lot of money for a photo in the internet! My first Mustang, a 1965 coupe, candy apple red, white leathery looking interior, it looked absolutely superb, asked lots and lots of questions including what a the floor like, I was told it was immaculate all over, and it certainly looked it. Couple of.months later it's here, and I'm driving it home from the docks and guess what? NO FLOOR!! Not just a couple of holes I'm talking Fred Flintstones car here!! Oh how I laughed! Yeah, think I would have laughed just as much as you did. There are some awful horror stories about the state of some of the cars that are bought blind from across the pond. Sometimes makes you wonder why we do it, but if it's in the blood, then you have no real control over the need to keep going and hoping for the best. I've also had a '65 Mustang, also a coupe, mine was white though, with all its own floors, bought it locally, drove it home and then started redoing all the "professional" repairs that had been done to it, lol
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
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Now then, where were we............oh, yeah, Charger No.2, but, before I get too far ahead, there's a couple of snippets of info you need to know that I completely forgot about on the last update. Won't take long though, and we'll be back on track. As I said, I'd wanted one of these since I first saw them on TV when I was a child. Thing is, over here in the UK, if you want a certain model of car, then you go looking for one in the condition you want it. I know, I know, surely it's all the same regardless of where the car comes from, right?.......... err, no, let me explain. In England, cars are designed and sold for a few years, then they either disappear or go through a Doctor Who like regeneration, new body, different wheels, better engine and chassis etc. In the good old US of A though, the cars are redesigned ( regenerated ) every year. So if your looking for a MKI Ford Cortina, you get to choose one built from 1962 to 1966, but if you want a Dodge Charger, it's a whole new ballgame, they were built from '66 all the way through until '78 ( ignoring the modern version ), and every one is different, so you get to narrow it down to a certain model year, not just a certain car. The particular one that I wanted was the one used in the Dukes of Hazzard, that model exactly. As a child watching the show and reading everything I could find about it, I learnt that the car was actually a 1969 Dodge Charger with a 426 Hemi ( 7 litre ) V8 engine and a floor shift automatic gearbox, as a child, that's all I needed to know. I found out many years later that '68, '69 and a few '70 Chargers were all used in the filming of the programme. But, the actual General Lee is portrayed as a '69 Charger, so that's what I wanted.................. So, back on track and on to Charger No2 ( did someone at the back say "finally" ). Having been saved from losing a lot of money and gaining a whole heap of heartache by some really great people in the MMA forum, I turned to them for assistance in finding the car of my dreams. The forum has a cars for sale section ( as do most forums of course ) which I kept checking but when a Charger did come up for sale it was outside my budget, usually by a few thousand. Then someone suggested that it might be worth importing one from the states myself, there's an idea, I thought. So, every night was spent looking on the bay of fleas.com, Craigslist and any other sites I could find. Nothing, not for months, sure, I found Chargers for sale, loads of them in fact. All of them were either too expensive ( remember I had a budget and, if importing one myself, I would also have to pay for transporting it to the nearest docks, the shipping charges to get it here, then import duty and VAT when it got here and of course some form of shipping insurance would be useful ). As you no doubt know, with the exchange rate between pound and dollar, things can be cheaper in the states, especially vehicles, or, more correctly, they can appear to be cheaper. So, a car with an asking price of say ten thousand dollars, depending on the exchange rate can be as little as seven or eight thousand pounds, but, by the time you add all the shipping and import duties to it, it all adds up. As a general rule of thumb, whatever the price is in dollars is what you'll pay in pounds by the time it's in your garage, just in case you're thinking of importing your own. Anyways, one night while searching through the various websites ( don't you just love the interweb, turns out it's good for more than just porn ) I found one, yes indeed, a 1969 Dodge Charger for sale within my budget, oh the joy, the jubilation. I found myself actually sitting in front of my computer re-enacting that scene from when Harry met Sally. Not only was this a Charger of the right model year, it had a 440 V8 ( 7.2 litre ) engine, ( OK, so it wasn't a 426 Hemi, it was bigger and bigger is better, right ) floor shift automatic and no vinyl roof. It was perfect and looked great in the photos. I know what you're thinking, that last sentence gave it away didn't it, " looked great in the photos ", well, you're wrong, the reason it looked great in the photos is because IT WAS GREAT! But, it was also something like 5,000 miles away, after almost getting caught out last time, this time round I was going to make sure everything was above board. I emailed the owner who turned out to be a really genuine guy, he sent me loads of photos of the car including detailed shots of some small areas that were starting to blister up. Nothing serious though, at least nothing that couldn't be repaired at reasonable cost. I even asked the owner for photos of specific areas from certain angles, just to make sure he actually had the car. He obliged very quickly and even stated in the email that he understood the reason behind me being cautious. So decision time, on one hand, I've found an almost perfect car of my dreams within my budget ( I say almost perfect because of the wrong engine, still, I figured I could live with the bigger engine, oh, and the colour, it was blue and not that nice a shade of blue either, think of the shade of light blue on MKIi Escorts, yeah, that colour blue ). I emailed the owner and said I'd have a decision for him in a couple days. Why? Nerves, well no, I was scared, I mean the idea of having to send a complete stranger in Louisiana a five figure sum of money for a car I'd only seen photos of and wouldn't be able to see, touch or drive for at least two months, well it didn't just scare me, it scared the cr@p out of me. But, you know what, I didn't care, the more I thought about it, the more it felt like this was the right thing to do. Christ, I was on the verge of actually buying my dream car, how many of us get to do that? Not only that, what an adventure, what a story to be able to tell, I not only found my dream car that I could afford, I was really, really going to import it from the other side of the world. I found it, I found it, Oh My God, the excitement. Decision made, I was buying it, I was sure it was an honest car, the owner was a genuine guy, selling for a realistic daily driver price. I sat in front of the computer the next night, unable to type, my hands shaking at the thought of what it was about to do. I lit a cigarette and made a coffee, then lit another one, eventually, I typed the email saying I wanted the car and requested the owners bank details so I could transfer the deposit agreed on. This would give me a couple days to arrange for it to be picked up and taking to the docks for transporting to the UK. Allowing for the time difference, I didn't see the point in waiting up for a reply. Thinking to myself, it's only an email, I haven't signed anything, no legally binding agreement, it's just an email, I can still change my mind ( que the little voice in my head screaming "why the F@&$¥€G Hell would you change your mind, just send the damn money, say thank you and wait for two months, you've waited this long, another two months ain't gonna kill ya!" Well, I tell you, if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any bloody luck at all. A couple of agonising days dragged by with no reply from the seller, I was beside myself, what if he's sold it already? What if he's changed his mind? What if he's had a better offer? The little voice again "give the guy a chance, he's probably busy, might have gone away for a couple of days, might be working". As I said earlier, this was 2005, the car was in Louisiana and it had been a couple of days since I'd emailed saying I definitely wanted the car.............. I got home the next night, made a coffee, lit a cigarette and turned the computer on. I quickly signed in to my email account, searched through the list of offers for cheap viagra, dates with Russian women and South African gentlemen who wanted my bank details to send millions of pounds to me etc, then, there it was, the reply, I stopped, the cursor hovering over the email, I excitedly lit a cigarette, took a seconds to try and calm down a little and clicked on the email. There was only a few lines on the screen, as I read through it, I couldn't believe what I was reading, I read it again......................and again, my heart sank, the excitement had been ripped out of me. I couldn't even begin to understand the true horror of the email, well, not until watching the news later that night!...................... Two words, Hurricane Katrina!! The email simply said "he was sorry for the late reply, but as much as he would love to sell me the car, sadly he would be unable to. It was no longer for sale because it and the garage it had been kept in had been destroyed by the hurricane". So, Charger No2 was lost forever, a few days later, I started looking again, the next instalment will have a bit of a twist in the tale as well............. ( I don't want to offend or upset anyone who may have family, friends or colleagues who suffered because of hurricane Katrina. I do appreciate what a horrific force of nature it was and have no wish to drag up bad memories of such an awful time in history. I included it purely because it was part of my journey in finding and buying my dream car )
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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I love Fox body Mustangs. I love Chargers too, you have a nice collection there. Thanks, to be honest, the Foxbody is only temporary, so I could continue to enjoy this years car show season as a participant rather than a spectator. There's nothing worse than going to a show without your car because it's still not finished, so I bought a substitute! At least, that's the plan, but we all know how our plans often turn out don't we
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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