The Yankee Express restomod build thread.

[Ghostrider 67]

I had noticed that the Road Runner rear bumper from 1970 had the same outer end curve as the tail extensions on the Coronet and that they would flow together. The proposed changes to the rear face to install the T Bird lights would change the vertical proportions and the addition of the vertically wide RR bumper would even out the proportional appearance. Also I saw, during that time, a 70 Runner from Road Kill Custom Cars that had the exhaust exiting out of the bumper back up light holes and liked the look. So THAT mod went on the list. To facilitate that, the spare tire well had to go. So THAT went on the list. Doing that meant the fuel tank had no protection around it hanging under there so THAT had to go as well. This meant a fuel cell was in order, so....you guessed it....
Then the manner of putting fuel into the cell inside the trunk cropped up. At that time I had just watched Kindig's boys hide a pop up filler cap behind the medallion on 1953 Pontiac rear fender. Very trick and so it to went on the list. Later in the project timeline I decided that having a single pop up on one side of the trunk lid, atop the quarter panel looked wrong, and a second one was added on the other side for symmetry and a second filler neck installed in the fuel cell. A fuel cell meant a barrier between cab and trunk had to be made.
I removed the 500 side trim & grill elements and sold them. I wanted a 67 Charger rotating headlights and grill instead. This meant different wiring and trim and a lower grill support bar.
The beat up dented front fender corners allowed me to feel okay about sweeping the nose angles back to 90* with the front of the car. Much like a 70 Road Runner front end. This cut out the majority of the damaged metal. Bonus. I had always disliked the way they angled forward with the hood lines on a 45* angle anyway.
The tired 318 V8 came out and was sold off. The 727 was also sold off. The V8 K frame was kept for later when a 440 big block would rest on it.
Here's a photo showing the amount that the nose was cut back to reduce the angle. The gas filler door shaved off. The 67 Charger front end. The rear bumper end rebent to hug the quarter and the quarter cutout modified to match the bumper end curvature where they meet.