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67' Coupe First Project

when I redid my car, I chose the cheap repop stuff when money was tight and NOS or good stuff when I could find/afford it. My front fenders easily could be the worst quality. I would have patched up the originals if I had known how much work it was going to take to get the repops to fit. Even wheel tubs and trunk floor repop stuff I ended up cutting up and using only peices to patch the original stuff. I learned over time that the repop stuff doesn't save you money in the long run... I try to use original when ever possible, I found a good used door, some NOS panels and cut up some parts cars for things like trunk corners. Sometimes I would would buy a whole car just for one part I needed and sell off the rest.
 
Alright guys, having a decent place to work is almost a reality now! this coming weekend a friend of mine is helping me run power out to the building, with a 60 amp disconnect I'll have enough power to run my welder and lights, or whatever else I need, and in two weeks I have a load of gravel coming as well so everything should be much more workable. I also confirmed my 40 hr a week summer job here at the college so I'll have funds for parts! I'm looking forward to actually making some progress. I don't want this to be a project that takes me till I'm an old man, I gotta get going!

-just thought I'd update
 
Just an update: This week is exam week then I get to go home! I will finally get to actually work on the car and I can't wait
 
"JCH67" said:
I don't want this to be a project that takes me till I'm an old man
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, how old does one have to be to be considered an "old man" in a college student's mind these days?
 
If you have to ask, you are "old". My grandkids keep me informed as to the age thing. :ep
 
Just an update to let you all know I haven't dropped off the map haha, the not so great news is not much has changed on the car at this point, however I have access to power, and gravel under the car port that is my work space now (gravel is slightly better than dirt). About the car.. now everything that wasn't dissolved by rust (both original fenders, both doors) as well as wiring and a few other components are now stored away in our old smoke house. I left the suspension together and wheels on so i can move the car for now. I hoped to have time to get actual work done over the summer, turns out working everyday, playing American Legion baseball after work, and having a girlfriend managed to consume all of my time. I did accomplish one goal though which was save up money for parts, which is painstakingly slow when you make $7.50 an hour, cause that that money disappears fast. I do have things reasonably set up to work on the car now, and at this point about $1000 that is available to spend on parts. This seems like a reasonable place to start, of course i'm interested in hearing what you all think! I didn't mean to not post anything for so long! time has really flown since I started college. Oh and about the old comments, haha I just have the typical impatient 19 year old thing going on("I Want it now!"). I would love to have a running driving car right now, but that's not in the cards obviously. Anyway, hope everyone's doing well
 
The fastback in my signature was originally restored when I was 19 and in college! It can be done. I think my budget at the time was about $3000 or so, after borrowing the cost of the car from my parents. My dad did the welding for me on the minor sheetmetal replacement we did, battery apron, taillight panel, etc. The quarters needed replaced but we smoothed them with bondo knowing the goal was to get me through college and then I'd do them again later when I had more cash. A friend of my dad's did paint work on the side and painted my car for the cost of the paint. BTW I was only making about $6 an hour in college myself at the time. I did stuff like reuse the original control arms and just replaced the ball joints. I rebuilt the original 4-wheel drum brakes. Engine was machined and we rebuilt it at home ourselves.

This is counter to the mindset of doing it right and do it once, as the reality is you don't always have the expense for that. Just realize if you do some of that, you end up spending more money. Example, if you replace ball joints now to save the expense of a completely new control arm, eventually when you do buy a new control arm you are out the cost of the ball joint. If you bondo the quarter panels and then go back later, you are out the cost of the bondo and the first paint job because it all gets done again. If you know that going in, and are ok with that, you can build a very nice driver and have fun with it on a pretty tight budget. My car was always a "20 footer" due to the quality of the paint work, etc, but I had a blast with it, it got a lot of attention, and I ended up putting 100,000 miles on it before I tore it down again to "do it right."

BTW, as for the old age thing, I bought my car when I was 18, started driving it when I was 19 (got it to school over spring break sophomore year), and then tore it apart again when I was 30. I'm now 35 and hope to be driving it regularly any time now.
 
I bought my first Mustang when I was 15 (a 67 coupe). It's hard but like Sam said, don't think you have to build best show car right out of the gate. My current Mustang took almost 18 years before it got painted. I still had fun with it and got lots of looks. Good Luck man!
 
Thanks guys, I realize I don't have the funds to make it a show car, but heck really all I'm interested in is having one that runs and drives! I plan to start work on the front end first like Craig suggested long ago. I'm going to look into getting the sheet metal for the front end soon, my only concern with sheet metal work is making sure the car stays square, its entirely possible it isn't square to begin with, but next trip I make home I'll take down some measurements.
 
I can't help but see the desire and determination you have in restoring this '67 coupe. I owned my first '67 coupe when I was 17 and in high school. That was in March of 1970! In the early 70's I too was in college in Connecticut; graduated in 1974. I was 20 when I bought the Shelby you see below (that's my eldest son Mike in the car-- he just turned 30!). I worked as a mechanic and owned and traded mostly muscle cars to put myself through college and the Shelby was my daily driver (I am the third owner and knew the original and second owners having an excellent history of this car)... As others have indicated here on your thread... I too can't help but reflect upon your idealism and desire to get yourself underway. You see for me, once I graduated from college the Shelby needed a repaint (body was fine, rust free, not driven in winters, etc.) so I gutted the car in Nov. of 1975 and then after dating my girlfriend for 5 years she became my bride in 1976! After raising 4 kids and getting them all through college (last one just graduated in May) I began a 5 year restoration of the Shelby and I'm now just waiting to have a fabricator finalize my exhaust system. So it took 35 years for me to complete my dream. I have been successful in my career but with other priorites of running my own business and meeting the needs of family you make other sacrifices. I know others my age here can relate their own sacrifices and challenges too!

I can also tell you that your body has CONSIDERABLE challenges to get it to square one. I have owned many Mustangs over the years and still own three others as of this writing besides the Shelby. I had to scrap a '67 coupe this past Spring after stripping it and finding the rust so extensive (I hate to say this but it reminded me of this after reviewing your pictures) that my cost just for parts alone to get to a basic, completed shell was over $2,200.00. Over the years I became a reasonably experienced welder/fabricator as a hobby and I became friends with many talented people far more experienced than me to help me along the way.

You should press on with your Mustang as this is your first and hopefully you will own many if you love these things. I too will be restoring another '67 coupe (an S code I bought completely in pieces whose home was in the California desert country) that I will post progress on this great website because I too (as old as I am!) am learning much from others here. So I hope you do your best to press on keeping in mind the scale of your project and time associated with "gittin' her done" against the backdrop of life's other activities. Best wishes to you in school and may you remain focused in doing what's most important to you.
 
Good luck!

I am trying to get my first car a 67 Coupe back on the road. I had to do things that weren't quite right to get it on the road the first time. The thing I tell myself now is, it is paid for and not going anywhere so take your time. Even if you get it on the road and it isn't a show car, you can always readdress things later in life.
 
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