After the body came back from acid dip, the shop and I were shocked. It was riddled with WAY more body cancer than we ever expected. It was so bad we thought the acid dip shop may have pulled a switch as a joke - no joke, it was real. There was hardly a clear foot of metal that wouldn't require attention. I sat on it for several months deciding the best way to proceed. A new body shell/rolling chassis project had come into mind but it was too risky. We could have got another body like that, it's a lottery sometimes. I decided to get $15k NZD worth of new panels and save for body work. After getting these parts and several months having passed, I made a BIG decision.

To pull the plug on the project. Reasons were; the time to do it, the $$$, plus and more importantly, I wasn't "feeling it" like I once had (ie: no vibe, lost interest). It was better to walk away while I could and just bite the bullet. If I had spent $40K+ on body work, been halfway through the body work stage and then pulled the plug, that would have been suicidal. As it was, I spent money on brand new reproduction body panels, however, the panels also helped the sale of the 'Cuda and I took that into account when making the final call to sell the 'Cuda.

The 'Cuda was a disappointment but it was better to walk away early rather than continue and make a bad hand, a REAL bad one. In this hobby, you win some and you lose some. I got very lucky with Lucy and Dad's 'Cuda and got kicked in the balls with the 71 'Cuda, just the way it is. No point crying about it, make some tough calls, get some cash back and move on. While the 'Cuda "could" have been completed and some may have thought so, it would have been done on the cheap and that isn't my style. It's done properly to the highest standards or not at all.

Anyone can strip a car in a day, slap some bondo on it, spray bomb it, buff it till it gleams and call it "a restored car" but again, that isn't how I do things. I listed the 'Cuda on Trade-Me and there was a lot of attention (as you'd expect) and a lot of rubber necking tyre kickers to boot. I wasn't sure what I would get or what to ask so I listed it at $10,000 starting price and the reserve was set high at $45K. I know my E-Bodies but this was different. It was a body only (rolling chassis) needing heaps of work with new panels provided. Not an easy one to price by any means. I had originally thought $30-$35K would be awesome and that I'd walk if that offer came up.

Long story short, a couple of serious buyers from up north came down to inspect and make a deal on the spot. After their rather brief inspection, figures were thrown around and I couldn't believe my luck when a deal was made on the spot for $45K!!! Sure I lost money, I was never going to get it all back but $45K was awesome. The funds were paid and on the 2nd of May, 2009, the 'Cuda was collected. The Hemi and some of the major parts were put away in storage. I sold an assortment of other parts that I had purchased for the 'Cuda to recoup some cash including the Keisler 5-speed conversion kit, tyres, suspension parts, 2 tuff wheels, etc.

I decided at that point no more projects for me for a while. The funds were split into BATRAM cash and into the ole savings account. To have restored the 'Cuda properly and do it right, it was easily a nice house worth of cash. The photos below are only some of the issues and there were many other areas requiring work. While there are definitely worse cars out there, it was still a helluva lot worse than I had ever expected and came as a total shock. I paid more at first for a "solid" vehicle expecting body work to be minimal. Boy, was I wrong. I should have purchased an original paint car with surface rust, etc, at least it wouldn't have had any bad repairs or "resto attempts". Hindsight is a lovely thing isn't it! It was an excellent decision to pull the plug on the project and one I'm very proud to have made.