If there is one thing that bothers me about living in the Midwest, it’s rust. Remember, my roots are further west than Kentucky…Colorado has plenty of good metal to work with, Arizona has great metal (just dusty and cooked interiors) and western Washington is a gold mine, so long as you don’t mind cleaning off plenty of algae and dealing with the occasional spot of mold in an interior. I’ll happily argue that it’s worth the effort to find the best body you can for the car project you want…but there are situations where you take what you can find and you just put the work in. A 1969 Dodge Charger falls into that case…you find one, and you can buy the car, you make the purchase and start picking up every “How-To” book you can, otherwise your wallet won’t know what hit it until someone is calling you about turning over your house in repayment.

Dylan McCool’s Charger project has been a focal point ever since he dragged it home. The engine runs, the car moves. But the trunk…well, it’s a late 1960s Mopar. The only thing we know that rusts faster is either a 1950s Mopar or the Titanic, and we aren’t sure which is the clear winner in that race. Overall, the Charger isn’t in bad shape, but the section of trunk above the fuel tank? Yep, rotted out. And that needs to be addressed before McCool does any kind of road trip fun in the car, so it’s time to roll up the sleeves and to get very familiar with the welder and the grinder!