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Hi everybody, Rustang here, I'm a long-time lurker, first-time poster. And after many years, today I'm finally able to accomplish my goal of starting my 1969 Fastback Mustang... ...build thread. I have wanted to build one of these since I was a teenager, and now here I am (an undisclosed number of years later), and I've finally got one. This is my newly-purchased base-model 69 fastback. It was last registered in the mid 80's, and has spent most of the decades since then sitting in the desert. It's got a 302, C4, an open rear diff (which I haven't tried to identify yet), 4 wheel manual drums, and power steering. I don't know if it's the original engine or not, but I suspect it is not. As you would expect for a car that has been sitting for probably 30+ years, it does not run. The tranny leaks, and the brakes do absolutely nothing at all. There is no fluid in the power steering unit, but the car does roll, and it does steer. The interior looks pretty good, but at least some of it is repro. It has new carpets, some chrome trim, and probably a new headliner. But other than a few trim pieces, cracked dash, and some upholstery tears, the interior is basically fine. Structurally, it seems fairly sound, by which I mean that the framerails, torque boxes, a-pillars, rocker panels, etc, all look good to me (but I'm no expert). There's no rust-through in any these areas, and I can't see any cracks or obvious significant damage. I've never actually seen shock-tower cracks before, so I don't really know what to look for, but I don't see anything wrong with them. It has definitely been hit at least once, with a dented and bondo'ed left quarter, and some ripples on that sail panel. The car hasn't been driven, and the paint still matches perfectly, so I assume this was done back in the day. There's a few dings on the front end as well, but that looks like the extent of it that I can see. However, I'm fully expecting more surprises as I take it down to bare metal. It has some rust damage in the usual spots, but not especially bad. The battery tray and fender apron are rusted through (but the frame rail looks OK). There's also a few holes in the floor, both door panels, and the trunk lid. I don't know if the cowl leaks or not. There is at least some sort of damage to most of the exterior body panels, either rust, dents, dings, or deep scratches, but at this point I plan/hope to salvage at least 75% of the sheet metal. And that's pretty much where I'm at to start this project. My build concept is quite ambitious, with engine, tranny, and brake swaps, and probably some suspension upgrades as well, but I'll go into that in later posts. For now, I just wanted to introduce myself and my car, get this thread started, and say "Hi" to everybody. So... Hi everybody!