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FEATURE SEGMENT
This week’s guests on the podcast show are Adam and Kim Miller, a father/son team that restored a ’69 Charger together. Kim Miller grew up in the muscle car era, and having the chance to build one with his son was something he wanted to do. Adam always loved ’69 Chargers, and when this one came available it was a dream come true to own it….but like all dreams it came with a little work attached to make it all happen. Adam describes the car as “the biggest mutt Charger you’ll ever see,” and it likely starts with the fact that their ’69 Charger is wearing a ’68 Charger grille and front fenders, having been swapped over somewhere along to way. Before they could dig into anything mechanical they first had to deal with some major rust repair. The floors, a portion of the frame, and trunk floor all had to be replaced; in other words, the “typical” Midwestern car stuff. They also cosmetically restored the interior as well.
The Charger itself was born as a base model car, and the original 318 was still in it when the Kim’s bought it. They’ve (essentially) converted the car over to what it would have been like had it started out as an R/T model with a 440 big block and a 727 automatic transmission. They replaced most of the interior, some suspension components, etc., but it still has an open-rear-end with highway gears and drum brakes all the way around.
Future upgrades for the Charger will be done as money and time allow, but Adam would love to install a Hotchkiss suspension, disc brakes, and several speed parts under the hood. Adam has already autocrossed the Charger in it’s present form, and he’ll be the first to tell you that it was very fun….and that the Charger is good at leaning in the corners. The upgrades he has planned should correct that!
As most of you know, my dad and I restored my ’64 Chevelle together when I was high school age, so this story had a lot of parallels for me. The career track I am on today with The MuscleCar Place is very much influenced by the restoration work that my dad and I did together, and it would seem that the Miller’s have a similar story. As of the recording of this interview Adam had just graduated college and was heading to work at Nissan as an automotive engineer!
Adam and Kim, thanks for much or the interview. I look forward to seeing the Charger progress. I have no doubt that it will be a ton of fun for the both of you!
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BIG CHANGES COMING!
As you’ll hear in the show, I’ve given a lot of thought to some of the big changes that I need to make to create the next generation of The MuscleCar Place as you know it. Rest assured, those changes are being done to improve your listening and reading experience here, but they’re going to take some time to complete. Most specifically, it’s going to delay the launch of my new show, Cars For a Living, just a bit. On the flip side though, I’ll be creating an entire membership course for people to take that would like to make the automotive leap in the future….so it’ll be worth the wait!
The new podcast show itself will debut later in Feb, and I’d expect that the membership website will be available in mid May (if all goes as planned). My goal is to almost create an “Inc. Magazine” equivalent for the restoration and aftermarket automotive industry, starting with the muscle car crowd. I know that many of you would love to make the leap into building and restoring cars full time, and I want to help you make it happen. Others out there wish to develop speed parts, or sell classic cars for a living, or race them, even photograph the cars. I’ve personally met with people and companies out there making these very things happen, and it’s my goal to share the secrets of their success here. More so, it’s my goal to share the steps required to make them happen.
I shared a few other changes that will be coming to TMCP in the near future as well….but to get those you’ll just have to listen to the show!
-Robert Kibbe
