{"id":82499,"date":"2024-10-30T02:14:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T06:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=82499"},"modified":"2024-10-24T10:52:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T14:52:14","slug":"the-discreet-yellow-charger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2024\/10\/the-discreet-yellow-charger.html","title":{"rendered":"The Discreet Yellow Charger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally, Goran Simic was on the lookout for a Ford, but his finances put an end to that plan. Instead, he ended up with a 1972 Dodge Charger. Today, 15 years later, Goran has every reason to be satisfied with his financially driven choice. He owns a very fine and tough Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> vehicle, which is on its way to becoming even tougher. However, the journey has not been without problems, or particularly economical.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In V\u00e4rnamo, southern Sweden, is where Simic lives. A driven man with his own business. The entire region is brimming with energy, and the town where Simic resides is just 30 kilometers from Gnosj\u00f6, an area known throughout the Nordic countries for the “Gnosj\u00f6 Spirit”. That spirit is a concept deeply intertwined with entrepreneurship and a strong drive. It’s an area in southern Sweden marked by a distrust of authority and the need to take responsibility for oneself. A spirit that has existed for over 100 years.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Personal drive and responsibility are precisely what’s required to restore a car in the condition Simic’s was in when he bought it in 2009. Let’s rewind 15 years and take the story from the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How did I come across my Dodge? I was actually looking for a 1969 or 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1. However, the ones I found were very expensive. Most of them were also terribly repaired,” Simic says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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After a lot of searching, he finally found his 1972 Charger with a 440-cubic-inch V8. It wasn\u2019t free either, but at least it fit Simic’s budget. He quickly decided that he wanted to transform the car to match his own personality, something Simic says he is well on the way to achieving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Not long after I bought the Charger, I tore the car down to its bare bones. Everything was removed or taken apart \u2014 chrome lists, vinyl roof and so on. Then, the entire car was sand blasted, both inside and out,” Simic explains.<\/p>\n\n\n

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After removing the vinyl, Simic quickly realized that the roof was more of a fine mesh than solid sheet metal \u2014 a sight far from pleasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I decided to buy a used but good roof from the USA to replace the so-called ‘mesh.’ However, due to its bulky size and the resulting high shipping costs, I had to abandon that plan. Instead, a friend of mine offered to repair and tin the roof. He said it would turn out great, and it did,” Simic says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Simic himself welded all the rust holes in the floor, as well as around the lower edge of the windshield. He also replaced the metal between the rear window and the trunk with a custom-made sheet metal profile. The rest of the body had some damage that Simic had to fix too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the part about putting his personal touch on the Charger, so it would match its owner’s personality.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“When the body was blasted down to bare metal, many people dropped by with their opinions. They thought I should do ‘this or that.’ I was almost drawn into the argument of restoring the Charger strictly to its original condition. But\u2026 I disconnected from all the discussions and made my own decision. The Charger would be an extension of my personality, and that’s exactly what happened,” Simic says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this, Simic took a step back and started observing the Charger from a distance. What did he like, and what didn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n\n\n

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“It ended with the realization that there was only one thing I didn\u2019t like \u2014 the rear side windows. I wanted them to look like those on the 1971 Dodge Charger. It turned out to be relatively easy to fix,” Simic says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, almost. Except for one small detail: the roof drip rails, which ended up completely wrong after the window swap.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“With some persistence, my good friend \u2014 the same one who tinned the roof \u2014 managed to fix that,” Simic says with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now many of Simic’s old friends started showing up again, with even more opinions. There was a lot of talking, especially about how much value Simic would lose by deviating from the original design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“As you can imagine, I didn\u2019t care about what they had to say. I moved forward, in my own way. I started looking at new interiors and decided that I wanted to match the exterior of the car, which I chose to paint in a really warm, sharp yellow. I named the paint job ‘Discreet Yellow’\u2026 and that’s exactly what it\u2019s known as: ‘The Discreet Yellow Charger’,” Simic says with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A friend of Simic’s stitched the interior, using leather imported from Italy. Expensive, according to Simic, but of fantastic quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire front suspension has also been restored, and Simic has switched to a floor shifter instead of the original column shifter. He also modified the dashboard, which looks original but has new, modern instruments. All the bushings in both the front and rear have been replaced \u2014 they were completely worn out.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Everything underneath is painted, either with powder coating or by hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, on to the engine and the rest of the drivetrain.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“The Charger got a newly rebuilt transmission, as well as a newly built 440 cui V8 from the USA. I drove it for one season, but I wasn\u2019t satisfied with either the transmission or the V8. When you came here to photograph the car for the article and I was going to show how well it runs through a burnout, two rocker arms broke. Not a huge deal, but I had to tear apart my engine, and many problems came to light,” Simic says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He decided to build an entirely new engine, a new 440 cui, and that\u2019s where we are now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simic mentions that there are several reasons why he loves his giant yellow \u2014 excuse me, discreet yellow \u2014 Charger. Some of them are about bringing joy to other people.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“When eight- or nine-year-old boys and girls come up to the Charger with stars in their eyes, I feel like I\u2019ve succeeded. But also when I get compliments from 80-year-old ladies and gentlemen, of course,” Simic says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His thoughts say a lot about him as a person. Simic is both super kind and generous but can also be a real tough guy who can stand his ground when necessary. Like the comment Simic made during a phone conversation with an acquaintance during the photo shoot: “If his leg hurts, I can help move the pain up a bit. To his behind,” Simic says on the phone, and then laughs. He rarely goes long without smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Speaking of tough love, Simic has been able to invest a lot of money in his Dodge partly because he quit smoking. Perhaps it was his mother\u2019s words that finally got Simic to make the decision. Or maybe it was Simic\u2019s own willpower and determination. He remembers how he started smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That\u2019s the only time my mother ever hit me. A friend and I were sneaking a smoke in a barn, and when my mother caught us, we put the cigarette out inside the barn. The whole place could have burned down. Talk about a double fault. But for about four years now, I\u2019ve been smoke-free. I started when I was 11, and now I’m 63,” Simic says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Yea, he\u2019s an adult now, but there\u2019s still room for the kid inside. Because there’s one type of smoke Simic will never give up on: tire smoke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally, Goran Simic was on the lookout for a Ford, but his finances put an end to that plan. Instead, he ended up with a 1972 Dodge Charger. Today, 15 years later, Goran has every reason to be satisfied with his financially driven choice. He owns a very fine and tough Mopar\u00ae vehicle, which is on its way to becoming even tougher. However, the journey has not been without problems, or particularly economical. In V\u00e4rnamo, southern Sweden, is where Simic lives. A driven man with his own business. The entire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":82534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2624],"tags":[2948,3012],"class_list":["post-82499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-owners-clubs","tag-dodge-classics","tag-dodge-europe"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/TheDiscreetYellowCharger_Feature.jpg","social_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/TheDiscreetYellowCharger_Social.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82499"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82545,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82499\/revisions\/82545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}