Motorex.
- Thread starter TheFossickingKid
- Start date
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TheFossickingKid
Angus Madden
Hey Charger!
I bought the car back in late 1999 in Angeles City Philippines, the story behind it was, that it was imported on to Clark AFB back in 1965 by a USAF captain who was stationed there. It spent the next 22 years being passed from one US servicemen to another until Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991 and the base was evacuated it wound up in the hands of a Philippine airforce officer.
He sold it to the mechanic that restored it for me in 1999. This guy was driving it around for 7-8 years with a 4 cylinder toyota deisel motor and gear box in it, he said it was cheaper to run on deisal then the original 289 V8.
When I first sore it , it was a rust bucket and in very poor condition, almost the entire boot floor and both inner rear guards were rusted out completly, same with ather parts of the body.
The interior was there but the original upolstry was worn ripped and in need of replacing. it took about three- four months to strip down completly and restore to what you see in the picture.
Most of the rust needed to be cut out and the mechanic hired a tin smith to hand make all the body panels. This guy was an artisan and fabricated every thing with basic hand tools, yet produced an exact replica of the original down to a T.
We also had an motor trimmer and apolstery guy redo all the interior with two tone leather to match the paint job. seats doors panels back quater panels as well as the back window tray. They also layed down thick pile blue carpeting through out.
I had an American friend who helped me search on American spart parts web sites for all the missing bits and pieces i needed , as some badges and lettering were missing as well as some other parts that were just not available locally.
I could not find locally a 289 V8 to restor back to original , and importing one from the states was going to cost me a furtune, so we bought and installed a 302 V8 Windsor motor and 4 speed gear box from the ford factory in Batangas Philippines, that cost me about $450 us. The mechanic re worked the motor as well put 4 barrel holly carb bigger cam bigger intake and exhaust ports with extractors to a duel exhaust and i cant recall exactly but we did something to the diff as well...
Around town in stop start taraffic it could chew the juice but out on the hiway it could cruise at 80-90 mph or burn rubber in first and second gear...
i used to drive it through the main gate on base heading up to the back gate where I lived about 3 ks it had a 2 k strait road no side streets just a gentle incline and trhee lanes to open her up and see what she could do . i would run it up through the gears at max revs and it would almost fly hit 100mph in about 7-8 seconds. Got pulled over once by the base security lights flashing etc they never would have caught me if i did not slow down and let them catch up.
The two Philippino guys got out with wide smiles on their faces and asked what the hell you got under there
i think we spent the next 20 minutes with the bonnet up heads down and talking about the engine how much gas it used etc ...boys and their toys ..they never booked me , I think they just wanted to rubber neck the car. 8) same thing happened at a military check point way out in the north of Luzon. Pulled me over just to check out a car they probably never seen pass that way before ..
He sold it to the mechanic that restored it for me in 1999. This guy was driving it around for 7-8 years with a 4 cylinder toyota deisel motor and gear box in it, he said it was cheaper to run on deisal then the original 289 V8.
When I first sore it , it was a rust bucket and in very poor condition, almost the entire boot floor and both inner rear guards were rusted out completly, same with ather parts of the body.
The interior was there but the original upolstry was worn ripped and in need of replacing. it took about three- four months to strip down completly and restore to what you see in the picture.
Most of the rust needed to be cut out and the mechanic hired a tin smith to hand make all the body panels. This guy was an artisan and fabricated every thing with basic hand tools, yet produced an exact replica of the original down to a T.
We also had an motor trimmer and apolstery guy redo all the interior with two tone leather to match the paint job. seats doors panels back quater panels as well as the back window tray. They also layed down thick pile blue carpeting through out.
I had an American friend who helped me search on American spart parts web sites for all the missing bits and pieces i needed , as some badges and lettering were missing as well as some other parts that were just not available locally.
I could not find locally a 289 V8 to restor back to original , and importing one from the states was going to cost me a furtune, so we bought and installed a 302 V8 Windsor motor and 4 speed gear box from the ford factory in Batangas Philippines, that cost me about $450 us. The mechanic re worked the motor as well put 4 barrel holly carb bigger cam bigger intake and exhaust ports with extractors to a duel exhaust and i cant recall exactly but we did something to the diff as well...
Around town in stop start taraffic it could chew the juice but out on the hiway it could cruise at 80-90 mph or burn rubber in first and second gear...
i used to drive it through the main gate on base heading up to the back gate where I lived about 3 ks it had a 2 k strait road no side streets just a gentle incline and trhee lanes to open her up and see what she could do . i would run it up through the gears at max revs and it would almost fly hit 100mph in about 7-8 seconds. Got pulled over once by the base security lights flashing etc they never would have caught me if i did not slow down and let them catch up.
The two Philippino guys got out with wide smiles on their faces and asked what the hell you got under there
i think we spent the next 20 minutes with the bonnet up heads down and talking about the engine how much gas it used etc ...boys and their toys ..they never booked me , I think they just wanted to rubber neck the car. 8) same thing happened at a military check point way out in the north of Luzon. Pulled me over just to check out a car they probably never seen pass that way before ..
