Let's start with some pictures.























I was given this car, and have no clue where to start. I've been on other Mustang forums, and never get the help I'm looking for honestly.

I was told that I should start my cleaning rust, but I don't want to cut off more than what has already been cut off, as I'd rather have someone look at it first and go from there.

As of right now, I'm currently looking for someone who takes cars like these, puts them on the side, and does work on them slowly while I pay them (or something along those lines). I'm not looking to finish this car within a few months or anything.

I've tried a place nearby called Big D's Muscle Cars, and they just told me to junk the car. They said I could get the car fully done for the money I'd put into it. I tried to explain to the guy that not everyone has $50,000+ laying around to just buy a completed car, but he just acted all high and mighty.

I'm looking to slowly put money into this, and turn it into an daily driver, so nothing fancy is needed.

If anyone can help, I'd greatly appreciate it. I live in South Florida, if that helps in any way.

 

I'm thinking that big D stands for dork! No way should that car be junked. Overall it looks like a set of full floor pans and a pair of quarters and a taillight panel is all that is needed for major body panels, maybe a doorskin, I can't tell how bad it is in the pics. The front frame rails look solid and the trunk floors do as well. It is not a bad starting point IMO. I have started with worse. The question is how much of the work can you do, or are willing to learn. If you are going to pay someone to do the work it will definately add up fast. Anything that you can do yourself will bring down the cost dramatically. Cutting out floors and welding in new ones is a great place to start because the welds are mostly hidden once the interior goes back in. I would check the rear wheelhouses, and if they are good just replace the trunk floor dropoffs and the quarters and taillight panel. At that point you would have a solid platform to proceed with. Also pour some water into the cowl in front of the windshield, if the cowl leaks now is the time to address it as well.

 

From what i see you need floor pans a quarter and tail light panel and skin that do its not that big of a job really.Take a look at https://mustangforums.com/forum/clas...f-despair.html He done a ton of rust repair just took his time done it in stages and the car is a nice rolling body now.I have seen cars far worse saved no clue on a price but its a mach1 the value of it won't ever drop.So shop around do it in stages of you have to and enjoy it when its done.

 

There is a ton of stuff missing. If you're serious about restoring this car, you need to get a donor car. Glass, trim, interior, drivetrain, all of the stuff from the front valence. Without one, you're looking at $10-$15k in new parts, easy; if they can even be bought. The '69 is a difficult year to get parts for.

You also need to decide what your goals are for the car. 100% stock restoration? Restoration with upgrades? Resto mod? Drag race car? Road race car? Show quality or concours restoration? Each of those options has a price. You could get a nice 10-20' car for about $10k + donor car. You could do a concours restoration for, well, who knows how much?

 

I had tried asking about donor cars on another Mustang site, and got no serious answers. I've been wondering if most of the '69 Coupe was able to be put onto a Mach 1 or not (obviously not the back area). I've tried looking around for other '69 Mach 1 donor cars, but never seem to have luck.

While I would love to do some of the body work myself, I really don't have the room to do something like that. I recently had to move, and only have a 1 car garage now, which this car takes up. As I said, I'm trying to find someone to do the body work slowly. I could probably install most of the interior stuff myself, but the body is another story.

 

I'm thinking "doofus". I have seen much worse get done. They are probably thinking you want to flip it. What's the VIN on that bad boy? Did you get any of the small parts?

This one was worse:
http://www.mustangbarn.com/king.html

Then there's all these:
http://www.mustangbarn.com/in_progress.html
http://www.mustangbarn.com/completed_restos.html

 

The car is restorable. Can't blame the shop for not wanting to help, though. Take the floors for instance: The shop has a guy free for a day, he cuts out the driver's side floor, installs the new floor and seat riser, maybe has to replace the rear torque box top. Owner shows up looks at his car, and doesn't see anything different except half the floor is replaced, and he is handed a bill for $700.00.
The body sub-assembly alone is going to cost about $3000.00, and the quarters haven't been replaced yet. The shop is probably worried that the customer (Coolrock) doesn't understand this. Coolrock probably does understand this, but the shop doesn't want to take the risk.
My advice is to order three Mustang parts supplier catalogs, then walk around the car with a notepad and see what you think the car needs. Add up the lowest cost from the 3 catalogs, and total it. You're looking at some serious jack, just in parts. Add in professional labor, and see what I mean.
Most shops won't take this kind of project on.
The owner winds up mad, the shop winds up with the car, or a mad customer bad mouthing them everywhere, and no one is happy. You've pretty much gotta prove your checkbook is big enough, and your desire is big enough to make this happen for a shop to take on the project.
Lastly, If you are good with the money part of the deal, I would make sure it's a Mach 1 before going for it. A vin check would help. Nothing in the pictures leads me to believe your car is a Mach 1, although very little leads me to believe it isn't, except for the "Mustang" badge on the fender. For the kinda money you're looking at, a genuine Mach 1 would really help.
Not trying to discourage you, just looking at it from the shops point of view.

 

It sounds to me by your post you were given the car and want someone else to do all the work for you (not a negative just an assumption). If this is the case I think you would be better buying a running car. I would assume paying the labor to other people for this project will kill you over time.

If you plan on doing the work yourself it appears to be a good project car. I saw a 69 Fastback sell for $18,000 on Mecume Auctions last week. Looking at your pics and having other people do the work I think you are in the multiple 10s of thousands.

If I misinterpreted your plans sorry and ignore this whole answer.

 

Also, do you have a drive train for it?

If not have you priced this out?

 

I mainly just need someone for the body work, because there's little chance that I can do most of the things myself. Again, I live in a small neighborhood, and I only have a 1 car garage that's filled up a lot right now (just moved in, so I don't really have any room in there).

I could buy all the metal needed for the car now, but I don't have a Tack Welder. Even if I did, I still would feel safer with someone else doing it who has experience.

Again, I'm not looking to throw $18,000 all at once for this car right now. I want to do it in stages, so I'm not going to buy a full car when I can make it the way I want it with this.