G-Dub

Thanks, I'm excited to share what/when I can and learn/do as much as I can myself!

Thanks! No shade thrown but, I hope it doesn't take me that long! I'll probably always tinker and improve but I'd like to be behind the wheel again sooner than later!

rmarks, Thanks for the lead...I'll reach out to him to see if he learned anything else. The "TOP" you see is actually "OPB" if that help...

Thanks TexasEd, Blows folks minds when you say your first car was a convertible Mustang AND you still have it...used to hearing the sob story from folks who talk about the car they used to have as a kid AND wish they still had it...

Danno, thanks for the info and support. I'm not really a social media kind of person so I dunno how active I'll be here but, for technical advice or to share experiences, I'd like to think I'll be asking folks here if I can't figure it out myself! I'm still leaning heavily towards the restomod depending on what I find out about the history of this car. If my old sentiments towards my mother's wishes reappears or if it turned out it's actually a T5 or some impossible-to-exist prototype as I was told it was (not happening...I'm convinced), I might keep it original. Otherwise, I want something I can enjoy and trust taking to meets, drive-ins or small, local shows without fear of some 50+ year old, production line value built car not getting me there. In my forget-the-budget dreams, a fuel injected Coyote powerplant (maybe supercharged, maybe not...dunno yet) pushing an optimized AOD tranny and sitting on top of a TCP suspension system with 4 wheel Wilwood disc brakes is where I'd like to see this going...front clip is getting replaced regardless so, if I'm gonna do it, now's the time!

Marks, Until I get the Marti report, the buck tag is all I have left. Door tag and build sheets are long gone...thought I kept them but I've moved around so much in my earlier life (I'm also a vet..Navy), they could be anywhere but where I can find them now...or they were circular filed at some point.

Hello all, Name's Gregg and I live in NH with my wife, 2 kids at home still and 3 - 4 legged kids, a backyard full of poultry and 2 goats. I'm here because I still own my first car, a '69 Mustang convertible. Seen better days at this point but it's been in dry storage for nearly 20 years and it's finally time to start the restoration. Not too sure what I'm going to do with it yet but my tastes have changed since my youth where I always wanted to keep it original. Nowadays, the appeal of a restomod is in the front of my mind but I'm still deciding whether or not I'm going to do that, mainly because I'm not sure what I've got exactly... Strange question from someone who's owned the car for 36 of its 51 years you say? Well, I've never really done my homework with it and went with everything I'd been told from when I was a kid. See, the long story is that I inherited it from my mother when she passed away in 1984 so it's actually been in the family for another 7 or so years before I got it and I "thought" I knew most of it's history. But, as with anything you get used, it had a history before us/me that I'm only beginning to learn the truth about as I disassemble it for restoration. I've always heard that this car was special and it wasn't until I got it from my mother's estate that folks started to explain what they knew about it being "special". The rumor that I grew up with was that it was a Grande convertible prototype, built in '68 as a '69 model. I've read about everything I can read and google online and there's absolutely no reference to any Grande convertibles being designed, prototyped, built, etc. In fact, everything I've read states that Grandes were ONLY hardtop coupes. In inspecting the car best I could over the years, there were no Grande fender scripts, no interior badges or anything else that swayed my suspicion. The skepticism in me has grown ever since I questioned the rumor and started looking into it so now, as I pull it apart to restore, I'm looking for whatever prompted ANYONE to think this car is anything but a base convertible. Door tag and paperwork are long gone but I did find the buck tag on the passenger side shock tower under the fender and it's interesting decipher so, now I think I might have something else... When decoding the buck tag, everything jives with what I thought I had but, I noticed that on the bottom of the tag there's a line that says "EX S VIETNAM". So, I started doing more digging about FoMoCo's export programs in the 60's and learned that they exported Mustangs under the program code name, "T5", mainly through the military PX where personnel could buy cars and trucks and have them sent overseas. From everything I've read so far, T5's were sent to Europe because Ford didn't own the rights to the Mustang moniker there but I've read nothing about exporting Mustangs or T5s to Asia and what they were called. I'm waiting on a Marti report that hopefully clears up some of this history but, has anyone here heard more about this and what you may know about Mustang, or T5 exports to Asia in '69, namely South Vietnam for the soldiers there?

Good afternoon all, First post on the forum and chiming in on today's work...disassembly! Dropped exhaust, drive shaft. Front off, fenders off, gas tank out, rear panel disassembled, interior mostly out...need to pull lower dash and steering column yet. After that, drivetrain and about ready to leave on a flatbed for sandblast...be a few months yet before that happens but it'll be ready!