Iunderstang!

I love your car. It's perfect. Mine is pretty much like yours, all original parts, slightly pitted rear view mirrors and all, but repainted. Unfortunately there's not much history to tell about it yet. I'm trying to track down the owner before the previous guy who sold it to me. My car was built in October 1966. That's pretty early for a '67.

Norm Peterson

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iunderstang!

My opinion is, as much as I like many restomods, I don't like to see a near-original Mustang in good shape (low rust, good original engine) get torn appart and restored as a restomod. But this is my personal opinion. Not to undermine the restomod movement in any way. Please remember this is the opinion of a person new to the hobby.

I honestly don't think I could restore a car without introducing some performance improvement along the way. Hell, I've never bought a new US domestic car without thinking about how I'd eventually be tweaking it away from originality before I even got my hands on it. I guess I'm too much of a traditional hotrodder. And any car that I own, I need to be able to use without restriction. Which to me means that it needs to have braking, cornering, acceleration, and durability comparable to anything current that I might otherwise consider. I know for absolute fact that I am going to drive any car with about the same level of - well, let's just call it "enthusiasm" for now. IOW, the car is going to have to be built up to suit me because I'm not the least bit likely to dumb-down my driving to suit it. Been driving long enough to know that ain't gonna happen.

There are a few "concessions" that have become necessary as I've gotten older (like seats that don't make my back act up, and A/C for the warmer days). But since I actively prefer to drive a "sleeper" with handling more toward "sports car", the original visual character of the car can still remain reasonably intact (and in fact I prefer it to the seriously "tucked-tire-and-wheel" look that seems to be the current pro-touring-wannabe fashion). Here's an example - though it (still) lacks A/C, it is mechanically quite un-original (5-speed manual vs 4-speed, EFI/hydraulic roller cam/aluminum heads vs carb/flat tappet/all iron, wheel width & tires, suspension tuning).



I can honestly say that if I was intending from the get-go to do up something more extreme, like . . .



. . . I'd start with something a lot rougher than "near-original in good shape". (FWIW, I understand that the above car did start from pretty rough raw material.)


Norm

tx65coupe

Eww...

It probably handles great, but man does it look bad.

Norm Peterson

I guess you have to appreciate road-race function.

For having 335 rear tires and at least 275's up front stuffed sort of under a '66, the overall result is actually pretty low-key and one of the nicer wide-body treatments. The splitter might be visually a bit out of place, but sitting inside mid-60's Mustang sheetmetal at 150 mph I think you'd get past any objection.

Handling-wise, let's just say it can hold its own, and that's with a driver who is relatively new to the corner-carving game. It's also pretty quick - he had it into the tens at the dragstrip earlier this year (I think Cecil in MD) just the way you see it sitting there. No suspension re-adjustments, not even a tire swap to drag radials.

It's really a racecar with plates and street tires, and gets the snot driven out of it.


Norm

tx65coupe

Well, there you go. I figured it all had to be very functional.

Norm Peterson

Yes, mechanically it's pretty hardcore even as restomods go, and to me that's a big part of the appeal. Lose the decals and add a little interior work and enough climate control to keep the windshield clear (and me out of heat exhaustion during the warmer months) and I'd be fine with something like that as a regularly driven car. Let's just say that I have access to a '66 coupe that's in rough enough shape to where that sort of build actually makes sense, and more than once I've thought about doing something quite similar.

Postscript to the above picture: that blue car has since been re-worked in the lower rear quarters giving the rear a slightly "lighter" appearance (this bodywork revision being occasioned by minor guardrail contact on the road course at NJMP a couple of hours after I took that picture).


Norm

phish

Just read this whole thread. I guess I understand both sides of the coin. I completely undersand the restoring to the original car. But to me, it seem like I have seen that way too much. I want to see something original. something that is unique. I have a 65 coupe A code. I have completely overhauled the engine and replace my 3 speed to a 5 speed. of course I got new full exhaust, heads, headers, air intake, carb, T-5 tranny, etc. Will be getting disc brakes and a new rear end....... But I have kept the interior completely original as my car only had 45k original miles..... but to me, I like to see others concepts and designs in their resto-mods...........and now its in the shop getting new paint. I am adding the shelby hood scoop and rear brake ducts....That it was what I want so, thats what I am gonna do........to each is own

Iunderstang!

Seven days to leave this dusty place in Iraq and 15 days to get home and hug my family and my 67' Coupe. Hopefully this is my last tour, then I can retire from the Reserves! I will definitely begin with the engine, electrical (need to get those 4 warning lights of the decor group console to work). Then I'll do the undercarriage; new shocks, maybe springs and most bushings (all look like vintage 67!). My son gave me the bad news that the cowl is leaking into the interior (under the dash). THis is bad. It will set me back some bucks to fix that. I was not expecting that since the car is in such a nice shape, at least on the outside!

Jonk67

Get a flashlight in a dark garage and start looking through the cowl slits, there may be another reason it's dripping when water goes throught the cowl. I had water getting on the floorboard, feared the cowl and found that when I took the heater/drivers vent out and the fenders off for suspension work that the cowl was almost perfect, it was coming through the windshield seal. I only had surface rust in the cowl which I brushed rust convertor on using a thin brush through the vent slats and air holes. It'll hold off the rust until I get it painted.

If the side drains from the cowl are clogged with leaves, etc. it won't take much rain/water to overflow the slight raised lip circle that allows air into the heater and vent. You can see the drain openings at the top left corner of this pic, without taking the fenders off you can take the splash shields off and get to them somewhat.



Thank you for your service and HAPPY FATHER's DAY!
Jon

PaulS

That road race car looks too original to me. Not that I don't appreciate the mods it takes to make the car handle, I do. It is just that you look at it and say - yep, another early Mustang. The body on my 66 is going a bit more radical... more streamlined, more down force, more power, better suspension, and better brakes.
The car will lose a total of 500 or more pounds and add 50 for the larger engine, 60 for the frame reinforcements and the curb weight should be around 2100 pounds.