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One day, Tony had to answer a great question. His son came to him and asked, “Could we build a car as a father-son project?” His answer was a resounding yes. The only challenge was finding the right sort of vehicle to do this formative moment justice. After months of searching the internet, Tony’s son eventually landed on this rust-free ‘73 AMX Javelin. He knew next to nothing about these cars, but he knew enough to realize how fortunate he was to have a son with an eye for classic cars.
They weren’t going to make it just a pretty picture, either. Soon after the car arrived, they ordered a Control Freaks front independent front suspension and 4-link rear independent suspension, Wilwood brakes at all four corners, and a Strange 9" rear end.
But before they mocked up the drivetrain and the suspension, they removed all the glass and trim, pulled the dash, cleaned up the door tracks, and put in custom window bushings. Then they media blasted the trim, powdercoated everything, cleaned up the seat tracks and pedals, and added a rebuilt a steering column from a Monte Carlo SS. When that was all done, they rolled this beauty off to paint jail for a makeover.
After the duo started putting together the front and rear suspension, they learned that with the independent front suspension and an LS motor above it, the crank sits much higher than the TKO 600 would accept without serious transmission tunnel modification. Keeping that gearbox would’ve forced them to cut the entire tunnel and raise it a few inches, and that didn’t sit well with them. A friend turned Tony on to a 4L60E because of this issue; claiming its fitment would work much better. With this gearbox, the tunnel would still have to be cut slightly, but nowhere near as severely as with the TKO. While this limits some of the potential of the car, Tony’s fine with this as he’s after more of a cruiser.
Then they mocked up the 4L60E gearbox, installed the Strange rear, and got the car media blasted. Currently, the two of them are working on getting mounts fabricated to get it in the rotisserie in order to complete the inside and underneath. They welded up the firewall along with the emblem holes and a hundred screw holes left by the previous owner. Fortunately, the metal was pretty solid and it wasn’t too hard to get it in primer.
A project that started this pretty, had some very choice upgrades aimed at it, and the enthusiasm of a father-son team propelling it forward is bound to turn into something truly special. Keep tabs on its development by following this thread.
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