Topic: Beginning A Rotisserie Restoration

[67gtasanjose]

I will be beginning to take apart my 67 Luxury Coupe in a few weeks to do a full restoration. Experience is always the best teacher, so I am calling on all of you for suggestions.
What my goal is, is to completely detail all of the areas of the car, both inside and out to end up looking as nice as my pockets will allow, so without exactly pinching pennies, I want to be able to continue paying my mortgage and stay married and out of bankruptcy court.
Since this is no new topic really, what I am asking for is a good procedure list in the disassemble/reassembly process, advice on do's and don'ts as I go.
Also looking for procedures and or reccommendations for re-plating fasteners, hardware, hinges, latches and the likes.
Marti Report has this as a Scheduled build date of November 1, 1966, actual build date of Nov. 2nd at the San Jose plant.
This car has been painted twice over the paint so I'll be going at least down to the original paint on the stripping. The engine bay has been repainted twice, so basically most of any original markings will be covered up.
The goal in appearance is to have a stock factory look, concours in looks, but I am not going for numbers matching on all things, just looking for an authentic-looking GTA Luxury Coupe as the end product. Interior will be original Deluxe, 66 Mustang White (already finished with the interior and wrapped and stored in an extra bedroom in house) so this is already done and waiting. Exterior will probably go with Dark Moss Green and the white vinyl roof and the GTA badging & stripe.
Please point me towards previous posts and other literature that might give me a good outline to follow.
I would also like suggestions on where to take items for replating, somewhere close to Cleveland, Erie Pa., or Pittsburg. (chrome, zinc, phosphate oil etc.)
Any help appreciated! Thanks for reading!

[Sunlitgold68]

Qual Krom in PA does the best replating for chrome. They can also polish any stainless steel on the car. I used a place in CA called BrakeBoosters.com for all my other plating of fasteners and hood hinges. There are many more around but he did a good job. There are a few places in CA that can replate cadmium too.

[J_Speegle]

Wow what a request and subject     It would take a book to cover all the possibilities

As in the past I think my normal guidance/suggestions go as follows

1- Truefully evaluate your abilities to complete the job - both in time and money.   IF you have already figured what the project will cost - consider doubling it.

2- Evaluate if you have the room to work on the car and store all the parts once the car is disassembled. It will take three times as much space apart as together so make plans and plan ahead. Painted hood and fender may need to be stored in a well protected area - time to make sure your significant other understand the impact this project might have on the family.  Slept is a number of friends homes in the spare bedroom next to painted hoods and fenders over the years. Not uncommon for some to have nice fresh parts on the pool table in the family room or boxes of parts on the formal dinning table.   Doesn't work too well in my home  

Is the work area secure from little children? Not a great idea having them around cars, chemicals and allot of parts during the process especially when your not around.

3- During the evaluation figure out what you can do yourself and what has to be sent out. Start interviewing and getting to know those services and people - while finding back up if things change or fall through.

4- Do you have the tools to do all the jobs? Goes hand in hand with the idea of farming out some of the processes.

5- Take tons of picture - three or four of everything from all angles. Its a pain and tiring but it will pay off long term even if the detail is not 100% correct.
Even though you will think you'll never need a picture - you will guaranteed.

6- I normally start a binder, a sub file in my computer and a list (I use Publisher but Word or something similar will work) that I continue to up date through the project with detail pictures, notes, things I need, things I need to order, things I need to check on and so on.

As I figure those things out those items are not deleted just moved to another section, because I WILL need that info sometime in the future for something.  From there I simply print out the first or first two pages everything I go to work on the car adding those pages to the front of the binder.

6- Buy allot of cheap sealable Baggies. Big ones and small ones and a marker and use them. You'll still always be shuffling throughout bags looking for stuff but it beats digging through cans and buckets of parts looking for matching bolts   And raid the recyclable bins behind stores for a bunch of boxes - different size and shapes, Knock them down so that they store easier but have them handy.

7- I also buy and use plastic wrap - either the store stuff or the commercial stuff to wrap painted or plated parts while they wait to be installed. I often try to redo the small parts and sub assemblies while the car is being painted and or the body work is being done.  Makes it real nice to have something all ready to take off the shelf  that is ready to be installed right away.

Think that is enough for now - sure I missed allot and other will add it.

[svo2scj]

I want to be able to continue paying my mortgage and stay married and out of bankruptcy court.

[/b]

Congratulations, good luck and take lots of photos!    (as Jeff said)

Mark
P.S.  The photos I meant were of your house and wife!   That way you have a reminder of what is "outside the garage" the next 6 years!   LOL

[67gtasanjose]

  As I mentioned about keeping the wife and house which is probably more important (notice I said probably, ...utt-oh) than the cost of the project, I already planned on taking pictures of everything (especially of the wife and house    ) to try and stay organized and keep things gathered in groups (like suggested)  I have a really large garage that will easily accommodate the task, once I get the clutter cleaned out (no doubt the first task). I have also worked on many early 'Stangs since I was a teenager and have pretty much every mechanic and body tool I should need since I am a professional mechanic by trade and have also been doing body work and painting since I was 16 also. Skills should not be an issue. Getting OLDER is my larger concern as I realize some of these skills (patience in particular) are not as good as they were when I was in my prime. Ticktock, ticktock...get-er done before I am done! This was my first car bought when I was 16 in April/May 1978. I wanted a car I could enjoy in my youth, yet keep indefinitely to restore again later in life. My step father and I opened a wrecking yard in Fontana Ca. in late 1977 so old Mustangs from insurance company salvage pools was where I would be buying my first car. I/we had bid on many other cars that initially I wanted more than this one (f.e. a 68 California Special) but I ended up with this 67 Luxury.

[J_Speegle]

Sidebar Question: This Luxury coupe had Styled Steel Wheels on it when I bought it, my initial Deluxe Marti Report says it had wheel covers (still waiting on the full report after 2-1/2 months) yet it had all 5 wheels and the correct storage hardware for the styled steel wheel. It didn't look to me that this car was extremely well cared for or what I would have considered well-loved for the roughly 10 years before I first got it, so I was wondering if maybe the dealer had installed them? Another note, this car seems to have sat on the lot for almost a year before it sold. (Dee Motors, Barstow Ca.) Did maybe the dealer install these wheels? This would be on Old Rte 66, at or around about the time the freeways were all opening up through these larger, remote towns like Barstow. Just curious.

The dealer might have added them to the car to generate interest after sitting on the lot for a while or might have gotten used by the owner, owners wife or kid during that first year. Generally dealers would have rather added to the car after they got a buyer interested since adding before just jacked up the price making it less attractive to a potential buyer

Just a thought

[67gtasanjose]

I always wondered if it might have been a dealer Demo, even before the Marti report. The town it was originally sold in would have been a very high traffic area in the mid-60's as a desert junction town along rte 66 and highway between Lost Wages Nv. & L.A. It seems unlikely a high-end Mustang would have sat long along the road home from Vegas out in the middle of the desert, so adding the wheels to a Demo made the most sense to me too (Dealer's owner, wife or kid) I asked DMV of California about title history several years ago, but they didn't even have all of the history of my ownership on file then. How else might somebody research previous ownership? I emailed the dealership that now owns the old Dee Motors Inc. and didn't get a reply. I've thought about calling them but feel most information would also be long-gone by now.

[J_Speegle]

Got to look at area of the 60's rather than today. Not allot of people way out there and not many would stop to purchase a car out there. Sure the dealer (like most dealerships outside the half dozen major urban areas) sold many more station wagons and trucks. That's why I think it is likely it was sometime the dealer wanted to use or have at the dealership for other reasons rather than a straight sale

[roddster]

  Funny thing about this.  I must have it's brother.  I bought a 67 GTA coupe back in 2011.  It was sold through Bixby Motors in Oklahoma.  It has so many upgrade options I'd guess you would call it "Luxury".  Items include deluxe interior, A/C, S code engine, C6 trans, tilt steering column, Upper/lower consoles, vinyl top, styled steel wheels, GTA package, Power brakes and steering, tach, safety convenience panel.  The Matri report has been digested down to this as a one of one.  And, the Marti report shows it being built as a Demonstrator.

  Follow Jeff's suggestions.  And,  its OK for the car to sit and nothing get done due to home and family.

[67gtasanjose]

A walk down memory lane....It's been over 9-years now since this post!

I have now won MCA GOLD in Concours Driven, 2-years consecutively.
Multiple local awards also (so far, every judged event

Thanks again to all who contributed to my project!

[mtinkham]

I really like the Dark Moss Green...I can't wait to see mine done...

[JohnSlack]

Let me give you one piece of advice that most car guys get wrong... make sure that your wife enjoys this process as much as possible. Total transparency in all costs and side projects. I can not tell you how many "car guys" have had the gimble tumble out of control because they just don't communicate.

Every once in a while we have a get together where myself and my car friends talk, drink, talk, eat, talk work, talk and our wives have wine of the colors of their choice and make fun of us behind our backs.

I asked my wife before purchasing what I truly believe is the single most expensive intake manifold for the BOSS 302 ever....it was so high I won't share the number, but on the day I bought it my 50/50 partner and I were both happy and nothing has been said about it ever again. I have had friends that hide the numbers ( the wife always finds out) they hear about it for life. Just be honest, it's only right.

Plastic bags, Sterilite lock top containers that you number and index on an Excel spreadsheet by part number and engineering number. (control + F is your search engine friend) the last big push on organizing our 1969 1/2 BOSS 302 my daughter and I spent several weeks organizing and indexing 90 percent of the parts....yes at the time we thought it was 100 percent of the parts, however there are always going to be more parts. Rent a secure storage unit in a secure storage building. You can hide your really cool stuff in a nice location that is indexed on your spreadsheet.... great non-descript place for rare parts. Unless you are lucky enough to own a weapon bungay on an airport in the California desert. My dad had that.

Come up with a plan of attack so that you are completing items as they are needed for assembly. Don't fall in love with your engine project and have it sit for eight years as you get the car assembled.

Did I mention bags and stackable Sterilite containers? Those go on sale in late August and early September as kids go to college. Put prices next to the parts on the spreadsheet, and also values. When you step off of a curb in a Washington D.C. suburb and are hit by a bus your family will know that you paid 4 times more than your best friend that is also trying to steal your tools is offering to be a good guy.

Send Drew your carburetor and send me your distributor, you want those items to work well, right?

Enjoy your project and have fun. If your not enjoying it, why are you doing it.


Wives very important, I started the ball rolling on the 2019 West Coast BOSS reunion and my wife made all the arrangements and people told ME that "I" did a great job....she has a blast and did a great job. Including she planned a 47 mile drive to a lakeside restaurant and return that only one person didn't drive. (He had health issues) two of the cars were trailer queens that prior to that event had not gone farther than 20 miles at a time......ever. but when asked what the group that wasn't going on the drive was going to do she just said, sit in an empty parking lot or watch cable in your room.

Make sure you have a reasonable idea of what this is going to cost. A 6 cylinder convertible will cost the same to paint, chrome, and detail as a "K" code fastback, however the special parts are the difference. Five years from now if you don't have great experiences and stories it will get harder to deal with those that make fun of you for your project not being finished. I get a lot of people that think it's quite fun to pick on me for my cars not being finished. They rarely concede the number of people that have found success from my labor. However I have found some fairly cool and rare parts as I toil along.

Oh, BTW a couple of years ago when I was fed up and decided that I would entertain 70K for my 1969 BOSS 302 no engine, no trans, my 50/50 partner exercised her prerogative and somehow transferred her stake in our cars to 51/49 and vetoed any thoughts of selling cars that I thought she would have enjoyed seeing leave. Make sure you have a good partnership it will benefit you when you need the support.

Have fun.


John

[ruppstang]

 I am blessed with a wife that is almost as much into the cars as I am. When we met, she was driving a 72 Mach 1 that she used to thrash most of the local boys with. Over the years we have over 30 Mustangs new and old. Her daily driver is a 2013 MCA special addition which is perfect for her as she is the National Show Secretary for the MCA. Her other hobby is quilting, that she enjoys on the trips to the MCA national shows.

I am a luck man to share a life with her.

BTY Richard it was great to see you guys' last weekend. You have a beautiful car you should be proud of what you have done.

[Motang]

Yeah, got that good wife thing here as well. Taken 13 years so far. She just said "do it right". Still working on that!
Congrats on a great restoration. The car looks top notch. You "did it right".
Pictures of the process?

[67gta289]

Yeah, got that good wife thing here as well. Taken 13 years so far. She just said "do it right". Still working on that!
Congrats on a great restoration. The car looks top notch. You "did it right".
Pictures of the process?

In the "Member Restorations/Builds" area there is a lengthy post that shows much of the process and progress that Richard made.  He was brave enough to share the one step forward and occasional two steps back moments.  https://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=16578.0