foothilltom 33 Report post Posted March 1, 2008 Gents, Ok, so remember that junker, rust-bucket I bought from Santa Cruz, CA (beach town) as a donor car for my son's project? The one that had no roof due to the incredible rust under the vinyl top? Well, as you probably recall, I took it under my wing mostly to learn all the hard-lessons of doing fiberglass, body work, paint, and all that jazz to reduce the chances of ruining my son's car. Here's the result. It's garish, and just a bit over the top, but I wanted you all to see my Frankenstein Mustang with all the life I could breathe into it. The roof is fiberglass, molded from my son's car. The trunk lid is also fiberglass as it has rusted completely through. It's most definitely a 15' car. Get too close and it's like seeing that girl at the bar stone sober. A few beers? Not too shabby. I could fill a book with my mistakes, but I won't make them again. Now, to put it all back together! Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
d.reese 13 Report post Posted March 2, 2008 Hell of a lot of patients and seems to be a lot better than I could with fiber glass! I can do a lot with metal, but would never attemp what you did! By the way beauty is only skin deep anyway, good job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
69grandecj 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2008 The decklid doesn't look bad. The roof you can still see some issues. Good luck on the real project. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pakrat 1,043 Report post Posted March 3, 2008 You can definitely see ripples in the roof but for what it is it's not too bad. Did you paint it yourself? If not then I hope it was a budget job like under $200 because the main reason people don't do repairs this way is they don't last. Within a year or so the roof will likely start to peel off like a scab (sooner if you pick at it), same for the trunk lid. If the rust wasn't 100% removed and treated then expect it to bubble even sooner. I can't quite tell from the angles but did you follow the Shelby taper on the LeMan's stripes? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
foothilltom 33 Report post Posted March 4, 2008 Yeah, I painted it myself with some stuff I found online for under $150 in materials. I followed the official Shelby Striping measurements, complete with the tapering. Like I said, this was all first-time stuff and there's a zillion little problems, but I'm hoping to have learned a bunch to apply to the "real" project coming up. If the roof stays on, I'll drive this thing around when I feel like I need a lift to my spirits. Now I just have to figure out how to remove the engine on my boy's car. TD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
R4K 10 Report post Posted March 4, 2008 It's a lot better than it was when you got it, right? You learned a lot doing it, even if some of what you learned was 'what not to do', right? You got hands-on experience, right? You've got tools, you've got better skills, and you STILL have this project car to work on again and give a better, more educated try at it, right? Even if it's not perfect, it looks like a success to me. Good job, I say. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bnickel 10,004 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 i'd say it's not bad for a kick around car, slap another vinyl top on it and it will hide a lot of the wavy-ness of the roof and help keep the 'glass top from coming off at speed and actually make the car look fairly respectable. do a white top to make the waves disappear even more and look at home with the white stripes too. i'll soon be trying my hand at painting again pretty soon myself, since the cougar came with the paint to put it back the original color and i realy only "need" to do the passenger side. the original paint on the driver side is good enough to leave as is and since i'll eventually be changing the color anyway this will make the car look a little more respectable for time being. i hope to have some pics of the cougar for you guys tomorrow, we just got it home today but i'm beat up and still have a lot of surface rust to sand off before i can shoot any primer and i need to shoot the primer ASAP since the car's new home is the backyard for the moment Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAD IN NC 21 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 It's a lot better than it was when you got it, right? You learned a lot doing it, even if some of what you learned was 'what not to do', right? You got hands-on experience, right? You've got tools, you've got better skills, and you STILL have this project car to work on again and give a better, more educated try at it, right? Even if it's not perfect, it looks like a success to me. Good job, I say. TFrom what I know the feeling of self satisfaction overwhelms what others think!... Have fun - keep it going.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
