29/12/2025
We originally had this 1966 Ford Mustang come into us for a carburettor tune up. The owner of the car had taken it to another Mustang “specialist” and they checked the car over and told him the issues he was having was down to it needing a carburettor tune. So he bought it over to us to check it out. Upon dropping the car off we noticed some things were not quite right, so stuck it up on the ramp to check it over properly.
What we found was absolutely shocking, this turned out to be one of the worst cars we had ever seen. There was a hole in the passenger side floor pan large enough to get your head through, there were patches poorly welded into every point of the car, the entire front of the vehicle from the bulkhead forward had almost broken away completely, the chassis where the steering box mounts to had been replaced and not fully welded into place, the passenger quarter panel was glued on and we were able to pull mostly the entire panel off by hand when we stripped the car down.
After coming to terms with what we were looking at we set up a meeting with the owner of the car and tried to work out a plan for the car, there were not many options at this stage, 1; scrap the car and loose every penny that the owner had in it, 2; sell it as it as a project and being honest about how bad it is and again loose money on the car with nothing to show for it, or 3; restore it properly, save the car and build the car that the owner had always dreamed off. Now we all know financially the 3rd option is also financial su***de, this isn’t a special or rare model mustang, it’s a 66 Coupe so a restoration is always going to out weigh the value of the car, but the owner of the car was fully aware of this and made a point that even if he bought another car, it still wouldn’t be the car of his dreams with his long term plans for the car and an end vision. So with that in mind we settled on option 3 and made a plan to restore the car and build it into a one off custom mustang that would be different from the average mustangs you see on the roads but more importantly, it would be the car he dreamed off owning and driving.
With a plan now made, we set about stripping the car down to a bare shell, logging all the parts along the way as to what needed replacing and what could be saved. Sadly more parts needed replacing than those that could be saved. The shell was in a terrible state but with replacement panels available readily we braced the shell, removed what was left of the quarter panels and sent it away for sand blasting. When the shell came back we could really see how bad it was. We got the shell back in the shop and levelled up and set about replacing all the rotten panels. I would say a good 75% of the original shell was replaced. We even found some of the original shell wasn’t even welded properly from the factory on some of the inner quarter panel structure areas, not welds that had failed or been messed with, just never welded together from day one, just showing how quickly and thrown together these cars were, which isn’t surprising when you consider that Ford produced just over one million Mustangs in 1965 along with the rest of the cars that the Ford motor company also produced in the same year, it was more about quantity not quality. Any areas that were not welded correctly from the factory, we welded properly and added extra welds in places were we saw fit.
Once all the welding to the shell was completed, we rolled the wheel arches to allow for the larger wheels and tyres that the owner had chosen and then primed the entire underside of the shell with acid etch primer, we then seam sealed every join and seam on the metal work and finished it off with a coating of raptor liner to protect it for many years to come.
With the shell all coated underneath we set about getting all the suspension and steering components back onto the car. We fitted 4.5 leaf mid eye mount rear leaf springs with polyurethane bushes, replaced the front upper and lower suspension arms and strut rod bushes, new inner and outter tie rod ends, idler arm and pitman arm, we installed lowered front coil springs, roller spring perches, a larger diameter front anti-roll bar and a Borgeson power steering conversion, with new shock absorbers to improve the car’s handling. Any parts that were not replaced were sent away for sand blasting and powder coating. The rear axle was stripped, the main housing was powder coated and the differential unit itself we replaced the seals and painted it in the correct red oxide paint. The rear brakes were all replaced with new components, new drums, shoes, wheel cylinders etc, the front we converted to factory style Kelsey Hayes disc brakes and then upgraded them further with a power brake booster and dual circuit master cylinder. We finished it off with a Monte Carlo bar and export brace.
With the shell now sat on its wheels we could get it off the lift and set about hanging all the panels back onto the shell. We added a functional Shelby bonnet scoop and bonnet pins, Shelby side scoops, shaved the door handles and locks, filled the cowl panel vents, removed the aerial, shaved the drip rails from the sides of the roof, removed the front bumper and fitted a Shelby GT350R front valance, fitted the Shelby boot lid and quarter panel extensions and re-shaped the rear bumper so that it fits the body tighter. With this lot complete, we masked up the outside of the body and primed the inside of the shell, seam sealed all the seams and coated the inside of the shell top to bottom in raptor liner. Once that had cured the shell was transported over to Smithy's Body N' Paint to have the bodywork and paintwork taken care of.
With the shell away we got to sorting the engine out, the engine didn’t run to bad when the car came in but obviously wanted tidying up and the owner had some plans for it too. We completely stripped the engine to inspect it. We found it had new pistons in it and had actually been recently rebuilt, unfortunately someone must have gotten the crankshaft bearing clearances wrong though because a few of the main bearings had started wearing through to the copper. The actual bores, pistons, heads and everything else were in great condition though, so we sent the crankshaft over to the guys at Ivor Searle to give it a grind. With the crankshaft away we cleaned and degreased the engine block and cylinder heads then removed all the old paint from them. We sent the sump, the new 4 barrel intake manifold, timing cover and all the rest of the ancillaries over to the guys at ALFA Powder Coating LTD to have them blasted and powder coated in satin black.
While these parts were all away we got the engine block and cylinder heads ready to paint, got everything masked up and gave them a coat of primer followed by a coat of black engine enamel. With the rest of the parts now returned we reassembled the engine with new crankshaft bearings after checking the bearings clearances were correct. The owner wanted to run a Holley Sniper fuel injection kit, so we fitted all that onto the engine and then got the engine bolted on our test stand. We managed to hook up enough of the wiring for the sniper kit so that we could actually run the engine out of the car on our test stand to iron out any issues so that the engine could go straight back into the body shell once it had returned from being painted.
With the body now back from paint and the engine overhauled we could start reassembling the car. We also took the time to go through the transmission and replace all the old dried out seals in it and also gave it a quick coat of fresh paint. We fitted a new stainless steel fuel tank to the body with a fuel injection fuel sender unit which has a return line built in it for the fuel injection system. We hid all the components of the fuel systems ignition system out of sight to keep the engine bay looking tidy then was the time to finally install the engine and transmission back into the car.
We installed an aluminium 4 core radiator but not before having it powder coated satin black first. We also had all of the body trim that was being kept powder coated in satin black, the owner wanted minimal chrome on the car. We installed smoked LED headlights courtesy of the guys over at Bangin' Headlights and then tinted the rest of the lights black with a smoked lens paint. Next up we fabricated a 2.5 inch stainless steel TIG welded exhaust system with black widow mufflers which we kept as close to the body as possible to retain the ground clearance needed for this car to ride low.
Next up we moved onto the interior, we sound deadened the complete interior with a dynamat style sound deadener, we did a full re-trim on the interior in house, installing a new headliner, new carpet, dash pad, door panels and re-upholstering the seats, the interior was finished off nicely with a new steering wheel, B&M ratchet gear shifter and to top it all off, power windows and a killer sound system.
With all the final touches completed we gave the car some shake down miles and some testing to iron out all the niggles and get the fuel injection system learning itself, then it was time to give it a final wash and polish, then the big moment to hand the keys back to the owner, needless to say it was an emotional moment and the owner drove away into the sunset with a smile on his face and the rumble of a V8 in his ears. What more can a man need!
