1969 Dodge Charger B-Body

1815 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by drive til its broke, Sep 13, 2021

MrPingPing

Discussion Starter · Sep 10, 2021

Charger Forums referred me here so, hello if you're seeing this again lol

I want to build a full 1969 B body dodge charger from scratch. I wouldn't mind using 100% reproduction parts. However, I have no idea where to find a complete parts list at. Hopefully someone can provide this and I can order all the parts similar to ordering parts for a computer and assembling it myself.

I'm not really worried about performance for now. I just want to build this for as cheap as possible then upgrade performance parts later. The build would hopefully look like the image below. I'm not looking for technical advice just the parts to start this project. Thanks in advanced

Note: I'm a IT professional and this will be my first build ,so I apologize for the ignorance beforehand.

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curtis73

· #2 · Sep 10, 2021

You mean buy every individual part? Like buy a firewall, fenders, lug nuts, frame bolts... all of it?

Not really possible, and even if you could, you'd be at about a million dollars and have a car without a VIN or a title and no way to get one. You could save money by going to a Mecum auction and buying an actual 69 Charger that was sealed in a vacuum bag in 1969.

They are a unibody car, meaning it's all stamped steel welded together. Dodge originally built them with precise jigs and tens of thousands of spot welds.

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ericnova72

· #3 · Sep 10, 2021

If you can even get ALL the individual body parts, which I don't believe is possible, Curtis73 is right, you'd have more into the parts than you could buy an entire restored car for.....and you's still have to do all the work.
All that work is even something the very best Mopar restoration shops don't want to do, as it is a very demanding task for even a fully tooled up shop to manage.

Cheap is not even a word for use with that body style Charger.....but the only way you are going to keep costs down is do all the work yourself to restore a rust bucket you can afford....which means you'll have to buy all the equipment to cut, fit, and weld panels together and build all your own fixturing to hold it all in alignment prior to welding.

massive, massive undertaking for someone with zero experience to manage, but with enough time, money and sweat you could get there eventually.

Best advice if you want to do some of it yourself is buy a 75% done example from someone who has burnt out on funds or desire AFTER they did the worst of the hard work.

I would have thought the Charger forum or some other Mopar specific forum would have the best info pool....if even they don't, that should tell you something....

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MrPingPing

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 10, 2021

curtis73 said:
You mean buy every individual part? Like buy a firewall, fenders, lug nuts, frame bolts... all of it?

Not really possible, and even if you could, you'd be at about a million dollars and have a car without a VIN or a title and no way to get one. You could save money by going to a Mecum auction and buying an actual 69 Charger that was sealed in a vacuum bag in 1969.

They are a unibody car, meaning it's all stamped steel welded together. Dodge originally built them with precise jigs and tens of thousands of spot welds.

ericnova72 said:
If you can even get ALL the individual body parts, which I don't believe is possible, Curtis73 is right, you'd have more into the parts than you could buy an entire restored car for.....and you's still have to do all the work.
All that work is even something the very best Mopar restoration shops don't want to do, as it is a very demanding task for even a fully tooled up shop to manage.

Cheap is not even a word for use with that body style Charger.....but the only way you are going to keep costs down is do all the work yourself to restore a rust bucket you can afford....which means you'll have to buy all the equipment to cut, fit, and weld panels together and build all your own fixturing to hold it all in alignment prior to welding.

massive, massive undertaking for someone with zero experience to manage, but with enough time, money and sweat you could get there eventually.

Best advice if you want to do some of it yourself is buy a 75% done example from someone who has burnt out on funds or desire AFTER they did the worst of the hard work.

I would have thought the Charger forum or some other Mopar specific forum would have the best info pool....if even they don't, that should tell you something....

Yeah, that's a bit defeating to hear, but it sounds like the path I'm going to end up taking. Any trade secrets on finding my future rust bucket?

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ntfday

· #5 · Sep 10, 2021

I just looked on eBay and there were 8 listed. The lowest was a rust bucket for 36 large and the highest was a 4 speed Hemi car for 239.9 large. I believe if I was looking for a basket case I'd try the southwest , in particular the junk yards of Arizona and New Mexico, but you better have DEEP pockets.

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curtis73

· #6 · Sep 11, 2021

You'll have to start a wee learning curve. The secret for me is to not buy the unicorn version. My dream car is a 67 GTO convertible, but two things prevent me from buying one: 1) I don't leave anything stock, I modify heavily, which means I don't want to bastardize a true classic and potentially take away from its value, and 2) they are bloody expensive. So, instead I now have a 67 LeMans convertible and an LS6/LQ9 and T56 ready to go in with a host of suspension upgrades. It will be a far superior performer than any restored GTO ever was, I don't feel bad hacking into it, and I bought it running and driving for $5500 instead of $18,000 for a true GTO that basically differs by VIN, engine, and badges only. I like the car for it's looks, and a GTO is the same body as a LeMans or Tempest. Since I'm changing everything else anyway, I see no need to pay top dollar for an actual GTO.

Find a 6-cyl, 3speed stripped-down version of your Charger and build it how you want. Maybe even find one with no motor or transmission. Heck, find one that is just a shell with no axle or suspension. The further away it is from being a complete car, the more buyers you've eliminated and the cheaper it should be. 426 Hemi is a lovely idea, but 440s are a dime a dozen in old motorhomes and they're bigger anyway. If you just want to bark tires with it, a 383 or a 360 would even be fine. Or, if you want to have a real conversation piece, go crazy with a Caddy 500 or a Ford 460 just to raise eyebrows.

No 69 Charger will be cheap, but there are ways to at least start with the least expensive version and turn it into what you want.

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Gold Key Lee

· #7 · Sep 11, 2021

MrPingPing said:
Yeah, that's a bit defeating to hear, but it sounds like the path I'm going to end up taking. Any trade secrets on finding my future rust bucket?

Go to - for b body only - they will be able to give you the answers you need

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drive til its broke

· #8 · Sep 13, 2021

MrPingPing said:
Charger Forums referred me here so, hello if you're seeing this again lol

I want to build a full 1969 B body dodge charger from scratch. I wouldn't mind using 100% reproduction parts. However, I have no idea where to find a complete parts list at. Hopefully someone can provide this and I can order all the parts similar to ordering parts for a computer and assembling it myself.

I'm not really worried about performance for now. I just want to build this for as cheap as possible then upgrade performance parts later. The build would hopefully look like the image below. I'm not looking for technical advice just the parts to start this project. Thanks in advanced

Note: I'm a IT professional and this will be my first build ,so I apologize for the ignorance beforehand.

View attachment 618843

It will definitely be a pain to make a 1969 dodge, You could get a crown vic. strip it down and hang dodge parts on it like this general lee. It will take less time and less money. You will need to know how to weld and think around the box.

This General Lee Dodge Charger Is Actually A Ford Crown Victoria

Vintage Dodge Charger muscle cars are rare and expensive, so James Smith built this clone from a Ford Crown Victoria cop car for stunt shows.

www.motor1.com

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