sigtauenus
Active Member
My first car was a '67 coupe that I bought when I was 16. I made a lot of mistakes on that car, the least of which was going to buy it in the rain, where the faded paint looked shiny, and I didn't get down on the wet ground to look at the frame. I got it home and cleaned it up and found bondo filled quarters, hood, doors, etc, rust bubbles everywhere, cowl leaks on both sides, and a host of other issues. I fixed it up and drove it in high school, but the tired 302 (think it was a 72 or so), the drum brakes, the hacked wiring, all made for more trouble than I really knew what to do with at the time. It was parked when I went to college in the fall of '93.
While home for Thanksgiving, my dad and I went by Carolina Mustang in Cary and saw a 68 fastback. It was grey primer, no engine or transmission, and the interior was in a pile. Since the car was basically all tore apart, it was easy to crawl inside, around, underneath, and see all the key areas. It was a very solid car, minimal rust. We went and looked at it again over Christmas break, and it still looked like a good deal, but at $2000, I didn't have the cash.
I went back to college for spring semester, and unbenownst to me, my dad bought that fastback for me about a week after I left and it was sitting at the house when I got home for spring break. That was spring of '94, and its been a fantastic ride ever since. I'll tell more of that restoration story later, but fast forward to the fact that by spring break '95, I had the car painted, rebuilt engine, interior assembled, and drove the car to Penn State. It was awesome. I drove that car as my daily driver until I came back from combat in '03 and bought a new '03 Mach 1. I parked the fastback and other than moving it around the driveway or up and down off a trailer, it hasn't been driven since.
In '05 we moved to Virginia Beach and for the first time in 7 or 8 years, had a two car garage. SWMBO encouraged me to start the project again. She has been very encouraging the past few years (although I think I may be pushing her patience lately). The car was completely disassembled and my dad and I built a rotisserie from scratch. I blasted the unibody myself, did some minor sheet metal repair on the floors and radiator support, and primed and painted the underside and the engine compartment.
The suspension is all new ORP parts, the steering is a completely rebuilt system from stanger53, I put on factory power disc brakes, had the mustang steve roller bearings on the pedals put in and a cable clutch, the engine is a carbed 5.0 with all the 68 accessories, I put in a rebuilt T-5 and a rebuilt 9" traction lok. All of this effort took about 3 years, and by summer of '08 the car was hauled off for paint. Surprisingly, the entire back end of the car ended up needing rebuilt from collision damage I didn't realize was as severe as it was. In addition to full quarters, it got everything in between, taillight panel, trunk floors, wheelhouses, transition pan and frame rails. I know there is likely some disagreement on how much really needed to be replaced, but with all of the overlapping seams, it was easier (and cheaper) to just cut it all out and replace it than to splice piececs in or remove and clean up original pieces. Both doors are original, as is the driver fender, and the passenger fender and hood are Ford tooling parts. Everything lined up nicely once assembled. As of now, the car is still at the body shop getting finished, and the last pictures I have are of the car in primer about a month ago.
I'll try to load earlier pictures later. Here is what I have handy now.
Starting the blasting
Blasting on the rotisserie
Blasting done. Will never do that again inside the garage, most likely never do that again period. Did not bother blasting rear areas I knew would be cut out.
Minor repair up front, had some more on on the outside of the radiator support too.
Minor floor repair. Rest of the floor is original.
Underside painted
Suspension and brakes going on. Love this picture everytime I see it, don't care whose car it is. Everybody takes this picture, don't they?
Engine going in
Underdash going in. Unconventional perhaps, but I painted the back side of dash and underside of cowl pure white. Easy to see up there, and pretty bright and clean.
This was the car the last day I saw it, taking it to the bodyshop. Realize something like the coil won't stay there, it was a temporary deal to get the engine running to drive it on the trailer. Obviously a lot of work will be done in the engine compartment once I get it back to finish out the a/c, wiring, etc.
These pics were sent from the body man. Note the dates in the pics. Hopefully some more progress has been made in the past month.
Doors are still hanging on the car but will be painted off. Doors, fenders, and hood were all installed and aligned before anything got cut off the back of the car. With the doors aligned, new quarters can be installed aligned to the doors, and then once everything is welded, the doors come back off again for paint.
While home for Thanksgiving, my dad and I went by Carolina Mustang in Cary and saw a 68 fastback. It was grey primer, no engine or transmission, and the interior was in a pile. Since the car was basically all tore apart, it was easy to crawl inside, around, underneath, and see all the key areas. It was a very solid car, minimal rust. We went and looked at it again over Christmas break, and it still looked like a good deal, but at $2000, I didn't have the cash.
I went back to college for spring semester, and unbenownst to me, my dad bought that fastback for me about a week after I left and it was sitting at the house when I got home for spring break. That was spring of '94, and its been a fantastic ride ever since. I'll tell more of that restoration story later, but fast forward to the fact that by spring break '95, I had the car painted, rebuilt engine, interior assembled, and drove the car to Penn State. It was awesome. I drove that car as my daily driver until I came back from combat in '03 and bought a new '03 Mach 1. I parked the fastback and other than moving it around the driveway or up and down off a trailer, it hasn't been driven since.
In '05 we moved to Virginia Beach and for the first time in 7 or 8 years, had a two car garage. SWMBO encouraged me to start the project again. She has been very encouraging the past few years (although I think I may be pushing her patience lately). The car was completely disassembled and my dad and I built a rotisserie from scratch. I blasted the unibody myself, did some minor sheet metal repair on the floors and radiator support, and primed and painted the underside and the engine compartment.
The suspension is all new ORP parts, the steering is a completely rebuilt system from stanger53, I put on factory power disc brakes, had the mustang steve roller bearings on the pedals put in and a cable clutch, the engine is a carbed 5.0 with all the 68 accessories, I put in a rebuilt T-5 and a rebuilt 9" traction lok. All of this effort took about 3 years, and by summer of '08 the car was hauled off for paint. Surprisingly, the entire back end of the car ended up needing rebuilt from collision damage I didn't realize was as severe as it was. In addition to full quarters, it got everything in between, taillight panel, trunk floors, wheelhouses, transition pan and frame rails. I know there is likely some disagreement on how much really needed to be replaced, but with all of the overlapping seams, it was easier (and cheaper) to just cut it all out and replace it than to splice piececs in or remove and clean up original pieces. Both doors are original, as is the driver fender, and the passenger fender and hood are Ford tooling parts. Everything lined up nicely once assembled. As of now, the car is still at the body shop getting finished, and the last pictures I have are of the car in primer about a month ago.
I'll try to load earlier pictures later. Here is what I have handy now.
Starting the blasting
Blasting on the rotisserie
Blasting done. Will never do that again inside the garage, most likely never do that again period. Did not bother blasting rear areas I knew would be cut out.
Minor repair up front, had some more on on the outside of the radiator support too.
Minor floor repair. Rest of the floor is original.
Underside painted
Suspension and brakes going on. Love this picture everytime I see it, don't care whose car it is. Everybody takes this picture, don't they?
Engine going in
Underdash going in. Unconventional perhaps, but I painted the back side of dash and underside of cowl pure white. Easy to see up there, and pretty bright and clean.
This was the car the last day I saw it, taking it to the bodyshop. Realize something like the coil won't stay there, it was a temporary deal to get the engine running to drive it on the trailer. Obviously a lot of work will be done in the engine compartment once I get it back to finish out the a/c, wiring, etc.
These pics were sent from the body man. Note the dates in the pics. Hopefully some more progress has been made in the past month.
Doors are still hanging on the car but will be painted off. Doors, fenders, and hood were all installed and aligned before anything got cut off the back of the car. With the doors aligned, new quarters can be installed aligned to the doors, and then once everything is welded, the doors come back off again for paint.
