Resurrecting a 1966 Satellite
11-04-2013, 12:15 AM
#1
New Member
Thread Starter
Resurrecting a 1966 Satellite
Well I decided that it's time for me to get to work on my old Satellite. I figure you guys might wanna hear a brief(ish) history of my project, so here she goes.
Almost 2 years ago, I picked up a 1966 Plymouth Satellite for $600. It was in a guys yard in South Carolina, and it had been sitting since the late 70's or early 80's. The story the guy I bought it from told me was that the car was bought by a lady new in 1966, and was on DD duty until it was parked. Then someone bought the car off her (this guy's neighbor), and it sat for a long time in this guy's yard. He (my previous owner) had tried to buy the car off of the guy several times, but the man refused to let it go. One day, he saw the guy and his son trying to move the car with a bobcat, resulting in a mangled grille, mangled front bumper, dented hood, and dented trunk lid. About a week later, the guy offered to sell the car to who I bought it from, and he bought it. Then he had an injury, and wasn't able to restore the car, which is where I come in. At this time, I was finishing up my senior year of high school, I paid for the car on a minimum wage job cooking pizza at Chuck E. Cheese. It was originally a 318 poly 2 barrel car, with a 3 speed automatic. I bought it. After looking over (and excitedly almost completely disassembling) the car once I brought it home, I spoke to a friend of mine who owns a restoration shop mostly dealing in Mopars, and after talking to him about a power plant, I decided that a 360 is what I wanted. About a month later, I had bought a 360 off another guy who restores Mopars, who had said it came out of a Dodge truck. I got the motor for $300. After discussing more and more what was going to be required to get this car back on the road, it became apparent that I needed to find something else to drive. Since I refused to sell the Satellite, I sold my POS 1984 S10 and picked up a 2001 Cherokee for what I sold the S10 for. The Cherokee is now my daily driver. As I got further into my freshman year of college, I got strapped for
, and decided to look at some of the rotted parts and the drivetrain of the Satellite. I pulled the distributor for the 318, which broke in half, and being strapped for , I scrapped the 318, along with the locked up transmission (4 speed plans in the works). The car has since sat in my field, taken apart, which beings us to this past week.
Earlier this school year, I met a guy who has a Cherokee like mine, so naturally, we ended up making a wheeling trip out to Uwharrie together, which is where he told me about his 1967 Coronet 500. This past week, he brought it down from Delaware and gave me the full tour and history of the car since he owned it. This is when I decided the Jeep build is getting a couple more mods to get it to where I can leave it for awhile, and the Satellite is coming out of the weeds. The plan is to have all the rust and body work done by the end of this summer, and hopefully to be driving it by the end of next summer. I know it won't be completed by that point, hell it'll probably still be under primer, but I'll be driving and enjoying it.
So with that being said, construction/restoration on the Satellite will begin at the latest after tax time
Almost 2 years ago, I picked up a 1966 Plymouth Satellite for $600. It was in a guys yard in South Carolina, and it had been sitting since the late 70's or early 80's. The story the guy I bought it from told me was that the car was bought by a lady new in 1966, and was on DD duty until it was parked. Then someone bought the car off her (this guy's neighbor), and it sat for a long time in this guy's yard. He (my previous owner) had tried to buy the car off of the guy several times, but the man refused to let it go. One day, he saw the guy and his son trying to move the car with a bobcat, resulting in a mangled grille, mangled front bumper, dented hood, and dented trunk lid. About a week later, the guy offered to sell the car to who I bought it from, and he bought it. Then he had an injury, and wasn't able to restore the car, which is where I come in. At this time, I was finishing up my senior year of high school, I paid for the car on a minimum wage job cooking pizza at Chuck E. Cheese. It was originally a 318 poly 2 barrel car, with a 3 speed automatic. I bought it. After looking over (and excitedly almost completely disassembling) the car once I brought it home, I spoke to a friend of mine who owns a restoration shop mostly dealing in Mopars, and after talking to him about a power plant, I decided that a 360 is what I wanted. About a month later, I had bought a 360 off another guy who restores Mopars, who had said it came out of a Dodge truck. I got the motor for $300. After discussing more and more what was going to be required to get this car back on the road, it became apparent that I needed to find something else to drive. Since I refused to sell the Satellite, I sold my POS 1984 S10 and picked up a 2001 Cherokee for what I sold the S10 for. The Cherokee is now my daily driver. As I got further into my freshman year of college, I got strapped for
, and decided to look at some of the rotted parts and the drivetrain of the Satellite. I pulled the distributor for the 318, which broke in half, and being strapped for , I scrapped the 318, along with the locked up transmission (4 speed plans in the works). The car has since sat in my field, taken apart, which beings us to this past week.Earlier this school year, I met a guy who has a Cherokee like mine, so naturally, we ended up making a wheeling trip out to Uwharrie together, which is where he told me about his 1967 Coronet 500. This past week, he brought it down from Delaware and gave me the full tour and history of the car since he owned it. This is when I decided the Jeep build is getting a couple more mods to get it to where I can leave it for awhile, and the Satellite is coming out of the weeds. The plan is to have all the rust and body work done by the end of this summer, and hopefully to be driving it by the end of next summer. I know it won't be completed by that point, hell it'll probably still be under primer, but I'll be driving and enjoying it.
So with that being said, construction/restoration on the Satellite will begin at the latest after tax time
11-04-2013, 08:50 AM
#4
New Member
Thread Starter
Thanks! I'll keep updating as I get more done to the car. I'm already putting feelers out for a hood, grille, and bumper, possibly doors too. Mine have significant rot, but since they're pretty much shot anyway, I figure it's worth a shot to save a few bucks and try to fix them myself
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