Fantastic

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s246.photobucket.com/user/fantasticpinball/embed/slideshow/Cars/68%20GT350"></iframe> Please keep an eye out for this '68 Mustang Fastback (Shelby GT350) It was taken to Flying M trucking in London Ontario in 2009 but was stolen from that location. The owner of Flying M says he knows nothing about the car. This car was sold as salvage and does not have a vin tag. For this reason, police were not able to offer any assistance. Please look at the photos as this car and parts do have some very recognizable unique features. I have given up hope of recovery, but it would like to know the story of what happened to this car and/or the parts. http://s246.photobucket.com/user/fantasticpinball/library/Cars/68%20GT350?sort=6&page=1

Posting again to selfishly bump this thread and discuss project cost. The green 1969 Sportroof Mustang purchased at the beginning of the video cost me $5,000. I tore that body down to nothing and built the shell at a total cost of about $15,000 and was unable to resell that perfect shell for the $8,000 asking price. I traded the shell for about $5,000 worth of service for which I got ripped off, essentially losing the shell and the $15k invested. Hey, I had all the fun of building it and I still had all those parts that were taken off the car. Write off the $15k loss and start over. The second shell cost me $6000 and then I started collecting and refurbishing parts to build it. My drive train cost in excess of $10,000. Paint and body expense including fenders, doors, hood, trunk, and suspension have been estimated at over $20,000. Add up the wiring, chrome, exhaust, glass, interior upholstry, custom brakes, rims, tires, and the list goes on... and I am sure I have put in another $14,000. This brings me to the point of owning a car that I have invested an estimated $50,000 into. Again, writing off the $15,000 mistake of the first car. I would like to save you, the reader who is dreaming of doing this, the initial expense of a $15,000 lost of buying a crappy project car. I would also like to forewarn you that building a car of this caliper cost a serious amount of money. If you don't care about the expense, then fill your boots. I would like to tell the sellers of the rusted out project cars that their "restorable project" will cost money to restore. Even if the buyer loves restoring cars, his time has value too and your POS project car is not worth what that immaculate show car sold for at the Barrett Jackson auction. If my fellow forum users disagree with me, that is fine too. I am always interested in discussion. To support my argument, I am attaching a photo of a '66 coupe for sale locally. After the car was stripped down and mounted on a roticerrie, the owner claims he invested $8,000 on fixing the shell. After a few years he lost the drive train, many of the parts, and any papers including the registration. he was further discouraged when a large oak tree fell on the shell, so he has offered to sell it at a loss and is only asking $5,000 for what he has there. How is that for a great deal??

Posting again to selfishly bump this thread and discuss project cost. The green 1969 Sportroof Mustang purchased at the beginning of the video cost me $5,000. I tore that body down to nothing and built the shell at a total cost of about $15,000 and was unable to resell that perfect shell for the $8,000 asking price. I traded the shell for about $5,000 worth of service for which I got ripped off, essentially losing the shell and the $15k invested. Hey, I had all the fun of building it and I still had all those parts that were taken off the car. Write off the $15k loss and start over. The second shell cost me $6000 and then I started collecting and refurbishing parts to build it. My drive train cost in excess of $10,000. Paint and body expense including fenders, doors, hood, trunk, and suspension have been estimated at over $20,000. Add up the wiring, chrome, exhaust, glass, interior upholstry, custom brakes, rims, tires, and the list goes on... and I am sure I have put in another $14,000. This brings me to the point of owning a car that I have invested an estimated $50,000 into. Again, writing off the $15,000 mistake of the first car. I would like to save you, the reader who is dreaming of doing this, the initial expense of a $15,000 lost of buying a crappy project car. I would also like to forewarn you that building a car of this caliper cost a serious amount of money. If you don't care about the expense, then fill your boots. I would like to tell the sellers of the rusted out project cars that their "restorable project" will cost money to restore. Even if the buyer loves restoring cars, his time has value too and your POS project car is not worth what that immaculate show car sold for at the Barrett Jackson auction. If my fellow forum users disagree with me, that is fine too. I am always interested in discussion. To support my argument, I am attaching a photo of a '66 coupe for sale locally. After the car was stripped down and mounted on a roticerrie, the owner claims he invested $8,000 on fixing the shell. After a few years he lost the drive train, many of the parts, and any papers including the registration. he was further discouraged when a large oak tree fell on the shell, so he has offered to sell it at a loss and is only asking $5,000 for what he has there. How is that for a great deal??

I think I understand quite well. I built a '69 fastback body that started off in as bad condition as this and I did it so that I could build one rather than buy one. Perhaps YOU don't understand. This site is often read by people who have not done this and are thinking about it. I would like those people to know more about what they are getting into. I think if I had know how much it was going to cost I might have reconsidered. I think if I had known what to look for, I might have started with a different car for the project. Too many people think they can buy a cheap car and invest some sweat equity which will pay off in a beautiful car at the end. Those days are over. So... the very relevant questions to assist the readers of this forum. What did you (the reader) estimate the value of the car at the beginning of the project based on those photos posted? $5k? $10k? How many hours do you think have been invested in this project to get a top quality body like this? Do you have those skills? If not, how much will it cost to hire someone who does? What do you think the value of the parts and materials has been so far to get this car to this point? If you add up all of those estimates, I suspect you are far off the actual price tag. Now... regardless of why you do this, your time and effort and skill is still worth money. Sure you love it. I am not saying you don't. What I am saying is that the base car that was used to start the project may have been overvalued because buyers and sellers of project cars undervalue the cost of that time and effort, and certainly the cost of the parts and materials. This is a great hobby. Is it only for the rich guys? I hope not. I had a chat with a friend last night. He was disheartened because he bought a project car that turned out to be beyond his skills and he ended up loosing a lot of money. He bought another project car and is sinking everything he has into his dream of owning a '69 Mustang. In support of that dream he reads build threads like this one. He thinks he can do it. I hope he can. I think it would be socially concious to support him and readers like him by divulging and discussing the cost of a project like this. If you say the cost doesn't matter, then you are wrong. Cost always matters and should be part of the discussion. If you think that I 'obviously' don't understand, then read this all again and think about it.

I think I understand quite well. I built a '69 fastback body that started off in as bad condition as this and I did it so that I could build one rather than buy one. Perhaps YOU don't understand. This site is often read by people who have not done this and are thinking about it. I would like those people to know more about what they are getting into. I think if I had know how much it was going to cost I might have reconsidered. I think if I had known what to look for, I might have started with a different car for the project. Too many people think they can buy a cheap car and invest some sweat equity which will pay off in a beautiful car at the end. Those days are over. So... the very relevant questions to assist the readers of this forum. What did you (the reader) estimate the value of the car at the beginning of the project based on those photos posted? $5k? $10k? How many hours do you think have been invested in this project to get a top quality body like this? Do you have those skills? If not, how much will it cost to hire someone who does? What do you think the value of the parts and materials has been so far to get this car to this point? If you add up all of those estimates, I suspect you are far off the actual price tag. Now... regardless of why you do this, your time and effort and skill is still worth money. Sure you love it. I am not saying you don't. What I am saying is that the base car that was used to start the project may have been overvalued because buyers and sellers of project cars undervalue the cost of that time and effort, and certainly the cost of the parts and materials. This is a great hobby. Is it only for the rich guys? I hope not. I had a chat with a friend last night. He was disheartened because he bought a project car that turned out to be beyond his skills and he ended up loosing a lot of money. He bought another project car and is sinking everything he has into his dream of owning a '69 Mustang. In support of that dream he reads build threads like this one. He thinks he can do it. I hope he can. I think it would be socially concious to support him and readers like him by divulging and discussing the cost of a project like this. If you say the cost doesn't matter, then you are wrong. Cost always matters and should be part of the discussion. If you think that I 'obviously' don't understand, then read this all again and think about it.

This is a beautiful build. I wonder about the economics of the built though. I see more than $17k of parts and labor that was conducted with considerable project risk. I quote $17k as the cost of a Dynacorn replacement body which would get you to the same point. Can you break down the value fo the car prior to starting the project, the cost of parts used, materials used, and the number of hours invested in labour and the skill set of that labour? I would like to see an indication of these such that some random person finding this online would consider what they are getting into before they buy a "cheap" car and they think they can restore it. There is a car advertised near me which would require at least this level of repair. The owner thinks the car is worth $10k and that the restoration would only cost a few grand. He thinks the car would be worth $20k if $5k was invested, thus justifying his $10k asking price. I think he is delusional and that the work would cost $40k with the car being worth $20k at the end, making it now worth... less.

Is there anybody that restores the original rear side panels? I have a reproduction set that seem to be thin abs. I have an original set that are fibreglass, but in very bad shape and the wrong color. Is there a how-to site on restoring these, or someone who does them very well?

Well, the company that built my engine is Competition Automotive http://www.competitionautomotive.com/en/ They balanced the turning assembly so I was hesitant to mess with it. However, I have learned a bit more about harmonic balancers due to this experience and I now know that I can remove the 4 bolt and install a 3 bolt with no concern. The pulleys for the car will get sorted out once I have the balancer in place. I was able to buy the correct balancer for next to nothing. This story is not over...

"Note: 3 bolt for PS WP exit and a 4 bolt for a DS WP exit." Can you expand on this? I bought a '69 block because it was a '69 block. I sent it in for rebuild and noticed later that it had a 4 bolt dampener and the water pump outlet on the driver side. I believe the engine was pulled from a '69 Torino. I changed the water pump to passenger side. Can I just swap in a 3 bolt Balancer without other considerations?? I'd rather not harm this engine after the money invested into it...

Thanks for your help on this. Those photos seem to be a good start. I will try to get this set up duplicated.

Thanks for your help on this. Those photos seem to be a good start. I will try to get this set up duplicated.

So... Nobody has a 351w with power steering and A/C? Am I in the wrong forum? If so, where should I be looking/asking?

I am looking for photos and details/advice to help install factory air conditioning and power steering for a 351w in a 1969 Mach I. My pulleys did not line up and I may not have the correct brackets. The engine has an Edelbrock power package, but the intention is to look original.

And nobody can break into the car because the doors are strapped shut.

Yeah. I remember a '69 project I bought that was "99% complete". Should have said 99% complete POS. Sure the parts were there, they just all needed replacing. lol.

Yeah. I remember a '69 project I bought that was "99% complete". Should have said 99% complete POS. Sure the parts were there, they just all needed replacing. lol.

Hey all. I wanted to comment to nightmare that I've been there. When I bought my car I was so excited to find something I could afford and I wanted to learn. I didn't want to own a '69 Mustang, I wanted to build one! I ended up replacing every single piece of metal on the car until it was brand new, minus the roof. In my case it actually worked out...sort of. One huge difference was that I avoided welding anything. I used self tapping screws and replaced each piece one at a time rather than cutting the entire car away. When I was done, I took it to a shop that checked it on the frame machine. They made minor adjustments and then they brought in a welder to weld the entire car. I did a lot of it, but I was there to learn. The shop thought the self tapping screws were awesome. There were times in the process that I had to step back and undo a lot of screws, but that was much easier than undoing welds. In the end, I was offered another body to continue my project with. The new body was a Mach with better options and the body that I built became the basis of a whole different project. I have some uTube videos about the whole adventure that I will post later. Been there, done that. I can't say I would do it again, but I am glad to say that I did it once. Fantastic!

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/summerside-pei/1969-mustang-convertible/1029285519 Saw this and had a good laugh. I suspect this will sit on the lot for long long time...

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/summerside-pei/1969-mustang-convertible/1029285519 Saw this and had a good laugh. I suspect this will sit on the lot for long long time...

This is my '69 Mach I, with 18's to clear the Vintage Venom Cobra brake setup. It runs 10.5" deeps in the rear and 8" in the front with no body or suspension mods. I'll be tinkering to get the stance correct once the car is fully assembled.

In this latest case, I need the lower pivots for the quarter windows. Dii sells them as part of the entire window assembly, but not as a separate item. So what do the parts dealers want for them? Just less than the entire Dii assembly of course. I will wait patiently. Not paying ransom.

There is nothing that pisses me off more than people who want ridiculous prices for used parts. These are the guys that made owning a classic car unaffordable to the average guy. I am always so happy when I see reproduction parts made because they usually sell for significantly less than what the vultures are asking. The worst ones are the guys on eBay that sell the parts for a "reasonable" price, but then hide their scam by charging outrageous shipping fees. I am tired of paying stupid prices for used parts. I won't do it any more. I will deal with people I know and trust and I will wait to find reasonably prices items. No more ransom payments! Rant complete..

I am already part way down this road. I have '70 bolt in glass to be put into my '69 Mach I. I am pretty sure the regulators are '70 if I can trust the used parts seller. I've been collecting parts since the parts I took off the car went missing (long story). I wish there was a good video about building (populating) a door shell and doing this upgrade. I am wondering if I need to put the chrome strip on the back edge of the window like the '69 had, or if the '70 glass does not require that strip any more. Someone mentioned an offset in the regulators. What other differences do I need to keep my eyes out for?? How can one spot the differences between parts like the regulators?? Isn't this fun??

Yeah, the lesson here is don't buy a POS car thinking you can throw money at it and make it worth more than you throw at it. You will loose the money. There are three options to owning a car like this. ONE -Pay up front for a top notch car. TWO - Buy something that has a solid base with high potential and do all the work yourself in your own shop with low overhead. THREE - Buy someone else's broken dream to take advantage of the massive amounts of money that person has already lost. If you think you are going to buy a cheaper car that needs fixing, and pay someone else to fix it, you are. Better off just buying a finished product.

I purchased the original car out of London Ontario, although that car ended up as a parts car (the green one) with the body rebuilt and resold. The replacement body (Mach I) that I ended up building came out of NY. I have not had good luck with body/restoration shops. In fact, I have heard horror stories from so many shops that I wonder how anybody can do it. There are good ones out there, but it has to be clear from the beginning what the price, job scope, quality expectations, and timeline expectations are going to be.