Hey, we always heap praise and accolades on Tony, and well deserved, absolutely. But I gotta say, without Kathy, it wouldn't be the same. What a wonderful job she does. Just plain high quality, professional camera work. It doesn't go unnoticed, just unmentioned. Thank you so much Kathy, we all really appreciate it, even if we don't mention it much. You're a lucky guy Tony.
Uncle Kathy is awsome! She does so much behind the scenes for sure! Tony has shown pictures of Kathy in a fire suit when she used to warm up Tony's nitro gasser! What a badass lady! THANK YOU UNCLE KATHY!
An auto body buddy of mine just finished an early 90s dodge pickup for a customer who said : my father just passed and this was his truck. Restore it. 29k later and you can eat off any part of that truck. Nothing special, I think it was a 1500 but it's the memories 👌
Nope. You are thinking of a space frame, which thankfully isn't used much anymore. Except in truss bridges, where despite everything being theoretically in tension or compression, manage to flex all over the place anyway. The unibody (created by Budd, in the 30s , I think) is a cross between a monocoque (using the outer skin as structure) and a bunch of random sheet metal used as a bracket to hold everything else together. Hopefully its stiff enough that the flex isn't noticeable to the average Joe.
The body is stiffer than you think though! My friend parked his 71 Pontiac lemans with one wheel on the curb and nobody could open the doors my other friend on a bet did the same with a 73 dart and doors worked perfectly!
After my favorite truck rusted out completely, I now coat all my vehicles with fluid film and cosmoline. That stuff really works. Got a classic chevy that is rust free and it does get driven in the salt.
I'm in Ohio as well & the rust issue is just one of the reasons I much prefer a full frame car over a unibody constructed car. Once the rust gets so far, the structural integrity is gone. I also never cared for the unibody construction as it is the absolute cheapest way to build a car in a factory setting (that's why ALL passenger cars are unibody now & have been for some time) & to me, that says the manufacturer doesn't expect and/or doesn't care about the life expectancy of their vehicles.
@@iwalkalone1 Agreed. I want frame rails, and beefy ones. The only unibody vehicle I really like is the 90's and early 2000's Jeep Cherokees. And they "kinda" have a frame if you look at it right.
So I’ve always wanted a detailed explanation of (insert automotive topic here and in this case it’s unibody construction) and here is a masterclass from The Master. Thank you. The more I learn the more I realize I’ve got a lot to learn and, it’s the stuff you learn after you think you already know everything that counts.
Cars in the '60's, by the time they got 50,000 miles on them many owners were looking to sell or trade in. Many were looking for a new car every 3 years or so. By 100,000 miles a car was considered worn out. The manufacturers never thought about a car lasting until current times. They wanted to sell you a new car every few years. They wanted to sell you the newest thing off the designer's drawing board, which for the most part was a little more glitz on last year's model, or different sheet metal.
The front frame rots out right where the K frame bolts to the frame too I seen many Mopars here in Canada with rot on the drivers side front frame rail and of course the back frame rail too rots out because of water getting into the trunk and the salt and dirt road grime from the bottom of the rear frame rail in the wheel well and under the trunk floor
Lol: "You and I can talk about Chrysler products--- ---until people want to shoot us in the face..." 😄🤣 I think most car guys, including myself, can be huge windbags about what we know about cars, lol. Glad I watched until the 22 minute mark.
I dont agree....the unibody is highly superior to body on frame. We were crusing one night and my friend parked his 71 GTO with the passenger tire on the curb and they couldn't open the doors on a bet we parked a 70 satellite the same way and both doors opened and shut freely with 2 people in the car!
I enjoy rotisserie Chrysler much more than rotisserie chicken. Thanks for the awesome video, Tony, and all the others you've been pumping out. It's great getting to see one of these from such a unique angle. It'd be great to see a video at some point cleaning out these trouble areas on a fully assembled, on the ground car. Also, you should buy Kathy a '67- what a gorgeous car (I know this one is a Dodge and not a Plymouth, but still).
@@DanEBoyd Even the body-on-frame convertibles werent very stiff--I owned a couple, but the Lincolns of that era were among the most solid cars ever built. I had either ridden in or driven both the Mopars of that era and the Lincolns, and even the Imperial, though a solid car--didnt match up.
ROLL UP YOUR CIGARETTE!!! LOL That sure is a great lookin' body! I don't think they even used primer on the roofs with vinyl tops, I removed the one off my '76 Valliant and it was bare metal. I would like to more of the build on that car!
What a great video-so much good information! I'm lucky to own a 65 Dart that has near zero corrosion thanks to the original owner. Purchased by an elderly couple, the Dart was their first new car. Not long after they bought it, he passed away and she vowed that this would be her last car. She honored that by always garaging it, never driving it in the rain and laying the car up for winter. She drove it well into her 90s but. unfortunately her ner' do well grandson inherited it and abused it. The final insult was him getting drunk and driving it into a tree in his back yard where it sat for about a year before a neighbor rescued it. I bought it from him and during the restoration not one single fastener broke - truly amazing! Anyway, I'm heading out to the garage to pull those plugs and check the drains along the rocker panels, etc. Thanks, Uncle Tony!
@@seggzslimjimz1179 I am just not a fan of the torsion bar suspension. Drives like an old tractor. I haven't looked closely at it yet to see if anything is wrong. It was brought in for tuning and some interior work. I have a video up on it.
@@HotRodDave Drives like a old tractor LMAO!! Torsion bars was a more better ride then coil springs and they were easy to adjust to get a softer ride or stiffer ride something you could not do with coil springs unless you replace them
Tony et al are a TRUE resource. It would be great if we all learned about maintaining these drainage areas in all our cars like pulling up carpets, snaking drains with vacuum hoses and leaving those self-destructive rubber plugs out. I have seen late model, modern, ULTRA LOW MILE, no salt, no rain, Super Clean, always garaged, northern desert climate rides rusted from the inside out from just 10-20 car washes. So it's sad we don't know to paint and oil up to protect known design weaknesses like old farmers did. Turns out there's interviews on car execs saying how laughable corrosion protection was (still is) even despite advertising the exact opposite. Maybe there's a use for Mazola yet?
on my 65 dart I always power sprayed all those spots to make sure they could drain but I would also use a flash light and a strait edge screw driver and dig out the muck that might cause the frame ect to rot
Old hot rodder taught me to liberally spray wd-40 in the door drain holes to soak the pinch weld he would do it every spring it works! His 94 dodge pickup is rust free. always washed and garage kept but that's a statement in Michigan where there is salt and chloride on our roads all winter
@@DougsterWolverineGarage Used oil is cheaper and just as good although the newer oils don't cling to the metal like the old stuff so you have to touch up re-applying from time to time.
Over on Nicks Garage, they are doing an early Charger. They dipped the car to bare metal, then hand sprayed it. They refuse to realize that there will be lots of bare steel in hidden areas that can't be reached and the car should have been E coat dipped. Sure, the car will look fine on the outside but it will be a rusty mess in a few years.
True story. Mopar were less money new back in the day but the torsion bars/ leaf springs didn't ride as nice as the GM's with coils front and rear. I'm a fan of all of them though.
First off - BIG PROPS to the folks at Bennett's!! I'll give Tony credit on this one - this is one of the better explanations of Mopar uni-bodies I've ever watched. The man knows this stuff and when he presents it like this, it becomes good reference material for anyone in the hobby to go back to for years to come. The hobby, especially on RU-vid, has plenty of "personalities" - what is needed is more tangible, usable information (like this video) and less "entertainers" (looking at you, Worman). -Ed on the Ridge
Really enjoy your vids. I raced a 68 fastback Mustang with a 69 Boss 302 in it at Englishtown in early 70s. Bought it new , still have it ,but now has a 6-71 blower on it. Watching your videos makes it feel like you are a buddy talking to me personally. Keep up your great work!
I agree but I think Tony and Mark would strangle each other! 🤣. They both know a shit-ton about these cars but they have very different tastes and priorities.
Nash/American Motors pioneered domestic unibody construction in the early 1950s, long before Chrysler adopted it.. Ford also beat them to it with the unibody 1958 Thunderbird, which went back to body-on-frame in 1967 and remained so until the Fox body variants in 1980
From the B bodies I've restored, and I do mainly body and unibody I can tell you they rust really bad from their HORRIBLE lack of paint coverage. Especially under the package shelf from the trunk hinges back and in, inside the inner quarters, inside the cowl, inside the rear body etc. I don't think I ever saw one that didn't have bare metal (rusting bad) up under the rear shelf or inside the inner quarters. That's a huge reason a really nice MoPar is so much more than a cherry big block chevelle or GTO. It's a 3 year restoration and $120,000 to restore one. I have nearly $30,000 into just sheet metal in my 68 Charger. A lot of the original panels are useable. It cost you some money to love a MoPar, but back in the early 80's we bought them for $1500 and drove them into the ground because they were a third the price of a 69 Camaro because everyone wanted a 57 chevy or a Mustang. Odd. Now they are ten times as much. The explanation as to how the moisture and the dust flows ism spot on, Tony. People don't realize but leaves accumulate on and in a car and crumble, creating a fine dust which holds moisture. It becomes damp sludge and it lingers in crevices and rots the car out. Just washing a car with a hose, or dew is enough to keep this dust damp. I noticed some car collectors in the middle east just clean their cars with soft towels and squirt bottles for this reason. Keep the good videos coming, Mr Tony. You make sense with this stuff. This was a BEAUTIFUL car, too
The reason for not painting roof panels before vinyl top installation is paint related. Even though the paint is baked, it isn't capable of adhering to the car when the top is glued to it within hours of painting. The car will go outside into the freezing temps during the winter or bake in the sun for days or weeks during summer after production. The cold weather causes even brand new vinyl to shrink and pull. The heat causes the glue to become more "aggressive", risking material de-lamination from the primer. The paint wasn't fully cured for something close to 30 days so the risk of warranty repair was too high. You notice that with the advent of water born enamels and now water based paints over "no sanding needed" powder coat primers with a polyurethane clear coat, nothing larger than badging is glued to the paintwork. (Graphics not withstanding) Short term adhesion can be even more problematic with modern production coating systems. They work great after a few days, but no production environment can account for that.
I worked at Chrysler Canada on the Gate Line in 1964-65. We built everything from Valiant 2dr sedan to Chrysler convertible and everything in between including Barracuda and RHD vehicles for export. Amazing times ... !!
My first car!!!!! 1967 Dodge Coronet 440. I know exactly we're these rust, mine was just slightly worse on the rear lower quarters, and just started on the fender above the gold pentastar emblem, otherwise it was just as solid. Should have never let it go, I was 16, now I'm 44 and have regretted it to this day
I have a1969 Plymouth Barracuda which I bought in 1983 as well. I was 19 at the time. I still have it and am planning a restoration myself. It has been stored inside for over 20 years.
Something to watch out for with these cars: I noticed after washing my 68 Satellite, water would collect in the front frame rail in front of and in the frame under the shock towers (you can't even see it). It would be trapped there and probably stay there for weeks... this is where many of these cars rot out from the inside out.. I added a small drain hole... I think later cars had drain holes in this area... just a heads up.
So true! These beautiful classics should never be stored outdoors or damp environments because they'll rust in ways and places that are extremely difficult to repair. They were never meant to be kept this long.
Super informative video! Thanks for posting this car. That is one sweet 67 Dodge. I’m hoping to latch onto a late 60’s early 70’s Dart for my next project. Just in
The trunk side plugs should absolutely be a screened plug. Even 1/4 x 1/4, but with a heavy screen. Without it the rats would own your car and make it their home. It happens anyway over time, but mostly from a rot hole due to not allowing moisture to get out or dry out. Many people who understand old mopars park them in their garage with the trunk slightly open and those in the country tend to leave mouse traps in the trunks as well!! As nice as that body is, Mine is nicer and 2 years older...
Yes. Rodents can find ways in you wouldnt believe. Thats the reason the a/c drain tubes have that funny rubber turn down boot on them with the flat end. 😁
Those plugs are actually made to be removed so those areas can be flushed, there is usually a small slot that leads to the plug as a primary drain then the plug can be removed once the primary is clogged. Too bad people weren't aware back in the day.
Man I wish I could start with at least one vehicle that is rust free. Just for the experience, because I have a sawzall and a welder so rust doesn't scare me... rust checks under its bed and in its closet for me before rust goes to bed... and it never sleeps.
Uncle Tony, congratulations from Europe. I’ve become hooked on your videos and I’m not even a Mopar guy! It’s great to see your enthusiasm and knowledge. I have a few Mercedes of this era and I enjoy comparing the ways different companies came up with solutions when making cars. Keep up the good work!
When I was a kid I got a 69 GTX that had been seriously abused. The crossmember for the rear shock mounts had broken, so they bolted it all to the trunk floor right above it. That part of the trunk was slowly being ripped out of the car while I had it. I traded that car to my dad. He repaired that and many other issues.
With all the gen3 hemi swaps and or higher hp. engines people are doing now days it would be nice to do a video on some options for reinforcements and or stiffening location options. Thank you.
I miss my 66 Coronet, I love seeing these treasures getting loved back to the streets alive again!!! You nailed it again Tony,that's exactly where mine was rusted out in the rear quarters,i had a New England car,where we salt roads to help rot our cars into the ground so much quicker than mother nature does! Lol!!! Most Mopars in the rust belt quarters and trunks are first and the worst to go!!!
Tony I can't believe how any videos you're making lately, you're killing it! Keep up the good work man. When I saw the clip I thought you bought a rotisserie.
those problem areas apply to pretty much every unibody car from that era. chrysler,chevy,ford,amc all rot out in the exact same places for the exact same reasons.
15:15 I remember a kid in high school ,as he rolled into the lot over the speed bump the right side of the car didn't rise back up🤔 Yep,the rust monster ripped the torsion bar mount all to heck😕
I have a 67 Charger and this video is extremely helpful. My Charger is still together so a lot of this is not visible. Luckily the only thing needed is the floor pans on the Charger. This will help me figure out how much to patch/replace.
Here is the 67 Coronet with it's owner before it was tore down with her story about the car. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HmCZ5ez7alw.html
My 69 Plymouth Satellite is in great shape The guy I bought mine from here in Florida keep it in the garage since it was new. My best friend has the Satellite on a rotisserie in his shop he was shocked to see how good of shape the cars in 6 to 8 months and ill have my car back completely restored can't wait always wanted a 383 4 speed Plymouth
@@tl5108 I looked for 10 years to find one that was all there and in decent shape got lucky when I found it by mistake just driving down the road not far from my house and happen to look over in there garbage and I stopped and asked if it was for sale and they said they would think about it well 6 months later they finally got back with me and I was as happy as a kid in a candy store. My dad had one when I was a kid and I loved that car
Excellent video. Experienced all the issues uncle tony hit upon. Had a 70 satellite station wagon where the torsion bar mount snapped just like tony described. Northern car with lots of salt damage. Sitting at a stop light and bam the car dropped 4 inches on the right side. Great video. Uncle tony is the man.
I'm curious, which car manufacturer was the first to use unit - body or "unibody" construction? Also; A body, B body, E body whatever, I just have a fat - body now! 😂😂
You could always Google it.😎 The first popular mass-produced unibody car came in 1928 from DKW (now Audi) with a fabric-covered wood frame. Today, Audi builds cars with an aluminum ' spaceframe '. The Chrysler Airflow and the Citroen Traction Avant of 1934 used stressed body panels, and the Opel Olympia of 1935 was General Motors ' first unibody car.
I was very fortunate that the 74 challenger I got from my dad about 2 1/2 years ago looks like this underneath. He left it outside in the grass for 20 years but fortunately, I am in California Valley where there is almost no moisture.
One thing to note is that in 1960 the C body was also unibody for the first time so Mopar released the unibody in both the C and A body the same year, with the A body being a totally new car from Mopar. It would be interesting to see the differences between the C body and A,B, and E bodies.
Now that was really good. Fantastic insight into the structure & problem areas. You guys could've gone on & on a lot longer & I would've sat here through it all. Thanks guys, I enjoyed that & really learnt something today. Cheers
I know that you previously talked about NOT using subframe connectors. So in a 67-up, originally slant-6 A-body, would you recommend any upgrades, like torque boxes, or non-standard bracing/gusseting of the unibody, when changing to a V8, 400-450hp application?
Ahh, YES!! UNC's gonna dissect a production line from the the end product. Reverse ENGINEERING is MY favorite hobby. It's a subconscious thing 90% of yall can't understand
1:34 Weren't the 1979-1981 R-body full sized cars (St. Regis, Newport and New Yorkers) a continuation of this platform? I've heard that they were a lot better built than the mid-sized cars from which they were derived and might have survived longer if their demise were not a condition for the bailout. Also, all of Chrysler's full-sized cars from 1960 to 1978, other than the pre-1967 Imperials, were also unibody; were they related to these to some extent?
I just wonder, you keep saying the bodies come from the A body. But my '61 plymouth (and all Mopar cars except the imperial ) used an (unamed) unibody construction. I know it's slightly different.. most I thought the c body came from those cars.
*Uncle Tony* The guys over at the *Hagerty* RU-vid channel have a 1937 ford "flat track dirt racer" with a 440, and a 4 speed they're asking for help on. It has a set of mismatched (One Early, One Late) heads, and they need a matching set, with advice and guidance on rebuilding them. They do a great stop motion of the actual rebuild of things like the heads, after any cleaning, maching, and or porting, of course. Please reach out to them, they're nearby in TN as well. I'm sure it would be mutually beneficial. Thanks, have a great day.
Mopar guys are absolutely crazy about Mopar. They love everything about those cars to fanaticism. Even the bad and ugly. It's awesome and amazing and kinda cute and endearing.
we should have had youtube back in the mid 1970s and U.T.G. around 1985 I Bought my 1974 Cuda, it leaked on hevvy rain days so my friend said Pop all the Body Plugs becauuse i did not have a garage. it lasted 25 plus years without rusting around areas, But it already had started in quarter panels. i also used Rust back brand of some kind that stopped aready rusted spots on Door under the lock and on back where the vinyl top was
I once bought a '65 Barracuda with the low-compression 2-barrel 283 cheap back then, because the seller thought that it had a bent frame. It used to pull quite a bit to one side and the top of the right wheel would camber inwards. Had I known that it was only that Achilles Heel problem, where that part mentioned of which held the lower control arm sheared off, I would have attempted fixing it, saving quite a few tires, instead of getting rid of it, because I thought that it would need an expensive frame-straightening. I loved that car, as well as the Valiants and Dart of which I used to get dirt cheap back then. Funny thing though, I hated my boring '66 Coronet 2-door hardtop, despite it being a good car
In 1985 or so I found a 1968 Dodge Charger sitting in the yard of an abandoned mobile home in the desert east of El Paso, TX. It was in great shape, body was straight, all the window glass was there and the interior was completely intact. It had no wheels, was sitting up on cinder blocks, and the 383 was missing the carb and intake but everything else was there. This was just after The Dukes of Hazard made the car famous and I really wanted it, but I was only 16 and had no way to retrieve the car, and even so it probably belonged to someone and you can’t just take a car because you found it. I should add, it was inside a yard with a 6’ chain link fence and a lock on the gate. In 2008 I was back in El Paso and thought about going back to see if it was still there. It occurred to me that even if it was (doubtful) it would have been sitting in the sun rotting for longer than it had been a car back in 1985.
The thing about these old cars, their mechanicals generally were bulletproof such as the engine and transmission. However the bodies and frames were not designed for durability. Fords from 67 to 77 were the worst for corrosion at it would rust on the suspension and brake components as well. Those model years, many of the Fords were heaping piles of rust within 2 to 3 years. Ford had a secret warranty which covered these premature rusting issues starting in the mid 70's. It was called "J67", secret rust warranty. Fortunately for Ford, due to serious consumer complaints with regards to their severe rusting issues, Ford greatly improved their bodies, beginning in 1978 and they have the best fit and finish, both for the exterior and interior , amongst all the domestic automakers. While many automakers have greatly increased their rust resistance, over the past 40 years, imo, domestic automakers have declined markedly when it comes to mechanical durability and reliability. They are also a heckuva lot more expensive to repair, due to their complexity and insure. Anyhow, UTG, really is technically knowledgeable when it comes to Mopars and the older domestic cars.
Thank you Uncle Tony ? I’m trying to save the 1967 coronet my Dad bought new in early 1967 but it’s seen a lot of New York Winters . It’s still a very solid car . The torsion bar mount tore out of my 1974 Dart .
Tony do you have a torsion bar crossmember you would sell for an a-body? 1975 dodge dart swinger my driver side torsion bar just ripped away from frame rot exactly how you described. Thanks
Planned obsolescence and lack of rust prevention. A car that was 5 years or older were hardly coveted back in the 60’s. It really began with the collectibility of old cars, and now with the great variety of semi exotic and luxury cars in the market place and the general durability of cars since the 70s, an old car holds hardly any social stigma. Unless it’s a poverty Corolla...IMO haha.
it is why the 3 automakers lost the market, sloppy designs and production leasyness.( minding was and sitll is to save a few bucks for each car instead of producing quality ) The chrysler unitbody was a very sound design at the base but if you remember well, that was not rare to see a car of 3 years showing rust bubbling and in less than 10 years, extensive structutal damage. I quit american production 40 years ago and I'm not tempted to try it again very good video and clear explanation
