Mopar Muscle – October 2019

put a wing on it, and that has an origi-

nal Dana rear, don’t cut it up, don’t mess

the car up. He slid the title over and then

pulled it back and asked what color I was

going to paint the car? What kind of wheels

I was going to put on it?”

What Armando inherited was a car that

had been beat on for many years and then

used as a shed. Along the way, the B7 blue

paint had faded and an F3 Frost Green

fender, hood, and grille from another car

were hung. The body had been sprayed

with red primer and the rust holes in the

usual locations often found on dormant

older Mopars were visible. His ambitious

plan was to do the work on it himself. “I

wanted to make it custom,” he explains.

“I didn’t want to take it too far that if

something happened and I had to sell it,

the new owner couldn’t restore it back to

stock.” The other thing that was crystal

clear was Jimmy’s request to keep the car

unmolested. That really helped Armando

shape his vision for what he wanted to

build. Plans don’t often fall in place as

expected, and that was certainly the case

with his attempt to do the rebuild himself.

He was running against time because

Jimmy’s health had deteriorated. He states,

“I knew that he was ill and I wanted to

have it built so that he could have one last

ride in it, or at least drive it again.” That

sense of urgency prompted him to take the

car to Bent Metal Customs in Lansdale,

Pennsylvania. His initial discussions with

shop owner Justin Bruner involved just the

bodywork. The time factor quickly crept

in, and the desire to have Jimmy drive the

car were heavy on his mind, so he decided

they should just do all the work on the GTX

to move the goal forward. His discussions

with Justin revolved around keeping the

Plymouth’s body stock but giving it a

modern look. He wanted to be able to

drive it, so the upgrades were focused on

comfort, safety, and reliability. On the list

was an upgrade to disc brakes at all four

corners, suspension, a leather interior, air

conditioning, fuel injection, power steering,

and improved HID lighting.

Rebuilding the GTX kicked off with

a mediablasted bare shell as the start-

ing point, which led to some sheetmetal

replacement. For that, Justin cracked open

the AMD catalog and ordered new door-

skins, a hood, right fender, inner and outer

wheelhouses, trunk floor, interior floorpan,

FAMILY HEIRLOOM

48 moparmuscle.com