The wagonette build.......the restoration of a neglected wagon.

[R/T68Rani]

Ok, I am taking it upon myself to make a place to show the progress on bringing a 68 coronet wagon back to life.

The story starts out that it was sold new in fall of 67 to a young worker at the local steel mill (that was when the steel mill was in business and had not moved to china yet)

Then the car remained local and after it was showing its age, it was advertised in the local paper as a parts car. The previous owner bought the whole car instead of just parting it and decided to keep it together, being such a decent car.

Then it was parked in a rural area on some private property as a temporary storage solution and was vandalized when vandals tin snipped the radiator and battery out of it. They also destroyed the car it was sitting next to.

After it came into my life it grew on me and I would have to say it means a lot to me now.

[R/T68Rani]

Because mice got into the car ....it was simply nasty. The front seat became their nest where the seat bottom meets the seat back. There were at least 7 dead mouse carcasses and was totally unsanitary.....so the front seat was tossed...... as well as the carpet.

[R/T68Rani]

I actually intend to build the worlds only R/T wagon.

So a rally dash is to come as well as bucket seats and a 4 speed.

oddly enough....this very car in 500 trim which it originally was could have been ordered with bucket seats from the factory ....It was an option!!!

The bucket seats and dash and 4 speed I have came from a wrecked 68 charger.

[R/T68Rani]

unfortunately I had to make the decision to get rid of the woodgrain.....some of the driver side trim had come off over the years and instead of fixing it with replacement clips ....it was put back on the car with wood screws drilled though the trim. Needless to say that most of the trim on the driver side is junk.

So I am going to remove the trim and weld the holes shut for a sleeker look .

[Jim 68cuda]

Sounds like an interesting build. Sorry to hear the wood trim has to go. Hopefully the remaining wood trim from the passenger side will help the restoration of some other 68=69 Coronet woody wagon. Looking forward to watching the progress on your wagon. Can't wait to see it completed.

[Tyrra]

Nice project !

[65rbdodge]

cool project! thanks for taking the time to share the pics.

[Joe mama]

Looks like a fun project!

[R/T68Rani]

while it still had the 318 in it....I got as far as doing the electronic ignition. I was born in 1986 so what would I know about points and I refuse to fiddle with points when its sooooo easy to electronic convert.

The one valuable lesson I learned with doing the conversion on this car is never never get your ignition run (blue, white stripe) and your ignition start (grey wire with black stripe) mixed up .....getting those two wires upside down will cause it to have spark while its cranking but then as soon as you let go of the key.....it dies. Blonde

Also make sure you install a dual field alternator and add a green wire to the second field that wasn't there before and that goes to the voltage regulator

One of the things that I absolutely love about this car is the dual gate ....you can open it as a tailgate or as a door .....when is the last time you saw a hatchback do that drunk

[R/T68Rani]

working out the electrical gremlins was a challenge but now I need to find the light bulbs for the markers ....one out of four works :mad: