Richard Petty 's

1972 STP Dodge Charger.

The Project has taken a quite a while to get going but now is the time. We just picked up a 1971 Body from Rudy in Ridgecrest. This body is going to be perfect donor for the project. It was a 318 auto that had been sitting for 25 years in the high desert of California so there is no rust to speak of.

The other car we picked up had been sitting just below San Francisco that is why there was rust in the car. The car has a lot of good parts on it including the buldge hood, the bumpers and grill section and lower valance. Thanks to Brian for selling us this car for the project he met us half way in Fresno to pick up the car. Notice the 77 Dodge Truck.

We started tearing down the Magnum body. This was hard to do but I believe the end result will be worth it. Lets get to it. Day 1.

During the teardown we found this little treasure. It verifies the research done on the car. It is the rear spring hanger on the car identifying it as DODGE #43 the part was chromed. The picture was taken at 90 deg. so you can read it more easily.

Her are some pictures from the rest of the teardown.

Here the body is loose and ready to come off. we used the cherry picker to find the parts that were hanging up.

This is the car with one of the charger fenders installed. The original mounting points for the 71 fenders were still in place. The windshield frame is also vintage 1971 and original to the car.

Here is the car a shell of its former self, but it will live again in it former glory. On the right lets call it a night for week 2.

Week 3 the work of removing the old body and prepping the frame for the installation. Below you can see the obvious signs of the red and white under the petty blue.

Its starting to look like a Charger. This was just a trial fit to see how it would look.

Here is week 4 we mounted some tires, and then fitted the body. The front fenders will get trimmed out.

This is what is left of the Charger.

Everything is going together perfectly. We will take it apart one more time to paint then it will be put together permanently.

The body comes back off and now some serious sanding is taking place. Red White and Blue everywhere.

Richie Barsz from Petty Enterprises is arranging for us to receive some blue paint for the car.

5/9/2007 We have received the paint from Petty Enterprises. Thanks to the paint shop there and to Richie. I haven't posted any new pictures in a while because we are still sanding. Four layers of paint on the inside!! We unbolted the dash. It should look great when its done.

The car and the body have been painted Petty Blue and are ready to go together after weeks of sanding.

The body is going on for the last time.

It is all coming together now 6-10-07

Randy  Anderson from Walker Racing is going to be making the interior sheetmetal soon.

Randy now has the car and has started fitting the pieces for the trunk. 7-27-07

The Picture on the right shows the panels with the bead rolls in them. Looking good. 9-4-07

The car is now back and we will be working on the front clip getting it painted then we can mount the doors.

The quarter panel interior door panels are roughed in and allmost ready for installation.

The front clip is primed and ready for paint 11-2-07.

The suspension is finally going back on. The picture on the right show the DODGE #43 stamped in the steering box.

Here is some pictures of the front suspension being put together

The one on the right says BIG BAR 72 DODGE on the torsion bar mount 1-12-08.

Trunk area is painted and the rear quarter panels are installed.

As of 1-27-2008. The doors are getting mounted.

We radiused and rolled the front fender opening it took quite a while but they came out great.

We got the filler neck installed and the body primed. It needs to be blocked out. Then it will be ready for paint.

The bottom of the car is now painted and the car is nearly ready for paint. The rear end is out for paint now also.

Above you can see the Dodge #43 in the spring hanger and the U bolt shock plate. Below are the whole parts.

The Chrome spring hangers are still in good shape. Updated 4-08-08.

Below is the rear end installed and everything painted. 4-20-08.

We have been racing the Factory Stock Division at the local dirt track and have not been getting anything done. There is a break inthe season and we will be getting some more work done on it. We fit the body on for final adjustments. 8-1-08.

The Blue is all fininshed now. 9/17/2008. We will be painting the Dayglo in a couple of weeks.

The car below going back together for the last time.

10-17-08 The car's paint is finally done it looks great.

Next is the white border, decals, and the bumpers.

Buddy Baker 1972 Daytona 500. One of the few races with blue numbers and stars on the C pillars.

Below right you can see the chrome hood hinges our car still has them. This is a different race then the one above you can tell by the STP on the hood.