Untouchable (The Lakeville Javelin)
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Category: The Lounge Area
Forum Name: Member Projects
Forum Description: Are you doing a restoration or in the middle of a major AMC project? Show and tell us about it (*AMC projects* only Please. Others may be moved)
URL: https://theamcforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=91622
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Topic: Untouchable (The Lakeville Javelin)
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Subject: Untouchable (The Lakeville Javelin)
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:22am
Finally getting around to sharing the story and pictures of my 1974 Javelin AMX. The car itself is very well know locally as the Untouchable Javelin because the car sat outside in Lakeville Ohio for 20+ years and the owner would not sell it. One day my girlfriend and i were out taking a ride on my motorcycle when a detour led me right to Lakeville and the car. I stopped and looked at the car as i had done several times before and just as i was leaving the owner pulled in. After an hour of talking to the guy he said he would be willing to sell it only to someone that would be willing to fix it rather than part it out. We agreed on a price and i was back the next day with cash and a trailer. This has been a very challenging 2 yrs so far, and there is a lot of work ahead but i am happy to share my progress and hope it inspires someone else to challenge themselves to save another one.
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Replies:
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:23am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:28am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:37am
| Within a few days i had the 360 in her running but unfortunately when i pulled the motor to re gasket it, i realized that the motor was shot, it had deep pitting in the cylinders that had already been bored 30 over so i just started building a new motor. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:41am
| Since the motor was shot started to remove the vinyl to to see what was left of the roof. I have to say it was the worst one i have ever seen. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:42am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:45am
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Posted By: AMoCoLite
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:23am
Does that actually classify still as a roof?  Note to self...never buy a classic car w/a vinyl covered roof...yikes! Best wishes and good luck on the restore! 
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:27am
| Thanks, it will not have a vinyl top when its done. |
Posted By: 232jav3sp
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:36am
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Best of luck with that roof! |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:40am
At this point i had no choice but to completely tear the car down to see how bad everything really was.
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:41am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:43am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:55am
| Thanks, as you will see in upcoming pictures its been a challenge. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 11:06am
Soon after i stripped the car down, i decided to put it on a rotisserie and get it blasted. I had one of the dustless blasting outfits come to my house. It took about 6 hrs for the guy to get it done but it was well worth the money.
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 11:12am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 11:16am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 11:18am
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Posted By: amxdreamer
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 11:25am
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Other than the roof, the rest looks really good. I personally like the look of the vinyl roofs and lets be honest, this car will probably not see weather again so I wouldn't worry about rust coming in underneath. ------------- Tony Vancouver, BC 1970 AMX 1972 Badassador AMO#10333 |
Posted By: Sonic Silver
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 12:46pm
| That roof should buff out, or is that what caused it? |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:35pm
| As they say you don"t know whats underneath her skirt until remove it, the blasting revealed a lot more rust issues. Most would have given up and parted it out or bought another and used her as a donor, but i made a promise to rebuild her so on continues my journey. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:38pm
| After blasting we found rust holes in almost every panel so let the metal work begin. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:46pm
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Posted By: kalve
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:48pm
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you could do like a colored bed liner color to make it look like a vinyl top. Good luck with the project. I got a 70 Rebel SST wagon from New Philadelphia Ohio was told the car spent its life around Lake Tappan Ohio. The rust dont look to bad on this one will know come spring. ------------- 1964 T bird Landau 2000 Mercedes Benz CLK 430 convertible 1970 AMC Rebel SST Wagon |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:49pm
| We started our metal work replacing the rusted inner and outer rocker panels. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:55pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:56pm
| Since no one makes the middle panel between the inner and outer rockers i made my own. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 1:58pm
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Posted By: CamJam
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 2:38pm
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Wow, brave man! But she'll be nice when you're done, and since you seem to have the skills to do this yourself it shouldn't break the bank. ------------- '73 Javelin 360 (current project) '72 Baja Bronze Javelin SST '69 Big Bad Orange AMX (2018 Teague Heritage Award) SOLD  |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 3:39pm
| thanks, stay tuned the best is yet to come lol. Honestly i have learned a lot on this project but i could not have done it without my body guy Karl Kuhns. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 4:50pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 4:54pm
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Posted By: LakesideRamblin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 5:32pm
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Beautiful work, very impressive. Please keep sharing. ------------- LakesideRamblin 69 Rambler 360 73 Javelin 360 "If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month." T. Roosevelt |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 6:04pm
| Thank You I appreciate the positive comments. |
Posted By: Scene One
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 7:02pm
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Looking great nice project
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Posted By: Mopar_guy
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 7:40pm
He hasn't gotten to the crazy pictures yet!  The work that him and Karl has done on this just blows me away. I've never seen a car apart like this before and even the most knowledgeable AMC, or body guy will be hard pressed to know that it's ever been apart and repaired.
-------------  " http://theamcforum.com/forum/hemilina_topic95889.html" rel="nofollow - Hemilina " My 1973, 5.7 Hemi swapped Javelin |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 7:48pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 8:10pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 8:14pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 8:20pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 8:27pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 8:31pm
| Once we replaced the inner, middle and outer rockers on both sides it was time to address the troughs. Both troughs had severe issues and both sides needed patches at the firewall. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 8:35pm
| Thanks Keith. You have been one of the lucky few to see every step of this project. As i look back at everything that we have done i am still amazed at what we have been able to do. |
Posted By: Rebel Machine
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 8:42pm
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Fine work! -Steve- |
Posted By: PlazinJavelin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:07pm
| Awesome work. Kudos from one that has been doing similar work on a a 69 jav. Love the pics, keep them coming please. Did you find a donor roof yet? |
Posted By: kcsamc
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 9:57pm
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Great job! There are many talented hours spent there. I dont know if i would have gone for a project car that needed hand made full rockers. Brave men you are! ------------- Kevin Shope 1964 Classic 660 https://theamcforum.com/forum/rare-ragtop-rogue-refurb_topic112071.html" rel="nofollow - 67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY) |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/01/2018 at 10:36pm
| Yes the donor roof is already on Thanka for asking, stay tuned the best and most challenging part of this project it's yet to come. |
Posted By: Shannock
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 11:12am
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Man, fantastic work! I am so far out of your league, it's not even funny. And it's so cool that you are trying to keep your promise to the original owner. I can't wait to see more.
------------- Tom Davies Rhode Island 1971 Javelin SST |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:13pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:16pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:21pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:34pm
| After replacing the rockers on both sides, patching the floor pans, patching the firewall and replacing the troughs most would have given up, but onward we push. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:40pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:55pm
| Every piece of metal in the back half of the car had major rust issues so we decided to blow the whole back of the car apart and start rebuilding from the bottom up, the only part of the back end of this car that didn't need any repair was the rear frame rails. |
Posted By: mstrcrftr
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:58pm
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Awesome work. Thanks for posting the pictures. reminds me of when i did mine. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:58pm
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Posted By: amxmachine
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 4:59pm
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Keep up the good work |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 5:05pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 6:57pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 7:01pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 7:02pm
| We decided to replace the trunk pan at the factory seam behind the back seat, it was a lot more work but no one will ever know that it was done. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 7:05pm
| The rear panels between the frame rails that the gas tank straps attach to were Swiss cheese in spots so luckily i was able to get some new ones fabricated at work. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 7:08pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/02/2018 at 7:10pm
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Posted By: fhpdave
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 11:31am
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Holy crap, this is amazing!
------------- Old enough to know better - young enough not to care |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 3:32pm
| Thank You i really appreciate the compliments. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 3:38pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 3:40pm
| after removing a nice trunk pan from a donor car, having it blasted and epoxy primed it was time to get it put back in. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 3:44pm
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Posted By: 401MATCOUPE
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 5:55pm
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What a great thread, you have gone way above and beyond on this "resurrection", It is very impressive to see this kind of talent! Please keep posting. ------------- Ross K. Peterson 68X,GoPac,343,AT,52A(1stCar) 68X,GoPac,390,4sp,52A 69X,GoPac,390,4sp,64A 70X,GoPac,390,4sp,87A,8 70X,GoPac,390,4sp,BBO,8 70 Jav SST,390,AT,BSO 74MatX,401,AT,Prototype 74MatX,401,AT |
Posted By: 232jav3sp
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 8:33pm
| Spectacular! Makes me all the more anxious to grind and weld on my Javelin... |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 8:40pm
| That's my whole motivation behind this thread, if I can encourage one person to challenge themselves to do their car, then it is all worth it. |
Posted By: Shannock
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 8:53pm
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Hey Kevin, fantastic job. I'm restoring my old Javelin and if it wasn't for this bitter cold, I'd be out in the garage working on it tomorrow. But I have to say that my parts car was in better shape than the basket case that you are bring back from the dead. I can't wait to see the outcome! .
------------- Tom Davies Rhode Island 1971 Javelin SST |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/03/2018 at 9:08pm
| thanks Tom, honestly I think one of the parts cars I used parts from was better too. But I know what I have done and what I have. And yes this weather sucks. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/04/2018 at 7:39pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/04/2018 at 7:41pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/04/2018 at 7:46pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/04/2018 at 8:07pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/05/2018 at 2:16pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/05/2018 at 2:22pm
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/05/2018 at 2:33pm
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Posted By: Scene One
Date Posted: Jan/05/2018 at 9:01pm
Some of what you are doing looks very familiar.  keep up the good work. Glad to see another car saved!!Buster |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/05/2018 at 9:10pm
| Thanks Buster |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:43am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:45am
| to repair the well lips, i used arches cut off of damaged front fenders. They take a little massaging but work very well for this repair. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:46am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:48am
| now that both wheel wells are repaired its time to address the original roof problem. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:49am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:51am
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Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:52am
| we decided to remove the cowl and the rest of the roof structure at the factory welds so we can replace the roof structure in one piece. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 8:53am
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Posted By: pit crew
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 9:07am
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Hey, that looks like an easy conversion to a cloth sliding sun roof. One of a kind.....
-------------  73 Hornet - 401EFI - THM400 - Twin Grip 20 |
Posted By: scott
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 9:51am
| How was the AMX originally optioned out??? |
Posted By: turbo
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 9:57am
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Just for the sake of fun you "could" have transitioned this car into a 71/72 style by using the earlier roof and taillight panel and .......viola! Very incredible in any case....... ------------- they call me Capt RETIRED! |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 10:11am
| The AMX is a 360 4speed car with go package. |
Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 10:12am
| I thought of that since I had the parts, but I have a 71 SST to do after this project is done. |
Posted By: farna
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 11:57am
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I briefly went through everything here. You've changed or repaired just about every panel on that car! You're right, most would have given up on it as too costly to save.. and been right. I salute you for honoring your word that the car would be saved, even though it's pretty obvious it is a labor of love. I couldn't have justified the effort unless it was sentimental to me... and in a very important way! ------------- Frank Swygert |
Posted By: one bad rambler
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 12:27pm
-------------  68 AMX 390 4 Speed,68 American,64 American 2 Door Wagon Altered Wheelbase,78 Concord Build 360,727,8.8
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fhpdave wrote:Posted By: Woosterkevin
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 1:51pm
| I know if I added up all the hours that I have into it the car would never be worth my time. For me its one of the most challenging projects that I have every done and the fact that I have done it makes it priceless. |
Posted By: Mostly last.
Date Posted: Jan/06/2018 at 3:29pm
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Thanks for sharing. Your pics and story have helped me out big time. Half way round the world in Northern Australia I saw your early post about getting a mobile blaster in. Prompted me to check out if we had something like that here. Turns out we do and I'm booked in for Tuesday. Dents and rust I was worried about on my 69AMX look like a walk in the park now I have seen what you are doing. ------------- 69 AMX. Aussie AMX#14 68 AMX 390 ex USA. |