Hey, I really like that one-piece seat stand!

Thanks for sharing this, Rusty. I look forward to following the build. Now, to get to the elephant in the room, how do you plan on registering the car? Must you register it as a kit car? Or, in your state, can you use the VIN from a production Mustang?

That's interesting that your customer could not find a Dynacorn body. I assumed they were cranking them out right and left. But perhaps they had a short production run then stopped. (??)

 

It will not have a Vin from a Mustang. The only used Mustang parts he has are front seats and quarter louvers.

There were no 1967 or 1968 bodies available. He also thought about a 1965 Fastback but again they had no idea when they would be available.

 

You always do quality work so I'm anxious to see how you handle some of the nuances that a Dynacorn body presents. I'm sure it won't be anything less than spectacular once you're done with it.

 

We have not had the time to work on this yet but have an issue with the door gaps. This is what we found so far:

The hood bumper brackets are not straight

Dynacorn does not spot weld the quarters they are plug welded and than they ground the welds to much.

 

The hood bumper brackets are not straight

I recently replaced my core support with a dynacore one and my hood bumper brackets are not straight either. I need to drill them out and re-weld them on straight. Seriously, how hard is it to make this stuff correct? W T F... :thumbsdown:

 

Hi,
That's a weird occurrence with the hood bumper brackets?
I like many others, thought you you made a call, laid down your dough, placed and order and took possession soon there after. Do they build on-order? Anyone?

 

I always figured they made bodies in batches. Would imagine there is a bit of tooling involved to make them and they'd not want to re-setup things on a per order basis. I'd actually love to build a car up from one but roughly ran the numbers years ago and seemed the costs to do so far exceeded starting with something more complete and reworking that into what I'd want.

 

Subscribed!irate:

 

This could be the thread of the century. Your going to miss all the rust you usually deal with

Cheers Peter

 

The door and trunk bolts are metric

We thought at first they had metric threads but they are the same as all Mustangs so I changed them. Notice there is no ecoat under the fender brace. We will be sanding the complete body and spraying 2 coats of SPI epoxy.

 

Notice there is no ecoat under the fender brace. We will be sanding the complete body and spraying 2 coats of SPI epoxy.

If you take apart an untouched original Mustang you will find bare steel under these brackets, as well as the door and trunk lid hinge plates.

 

So they are metric or not? I confused!

 

Metric head standard threads

 

I would be interested after you finish to get your opinion to see if it was worth it to start with the rust free body or buy a good used one and repair the typical rust.

I know each original body is different, but I pretty much assumed that if the Dynacorn body was pretty much ready to go (with only minor stuff) it would be a much better way to proceed.

 

Rusty, I know this may be a bit out there, but after seeing the work that goes on in your shop and the speed with which it gets done, along with your attention to detail, have you considered contacting Dynacorn about possibly assembling the bodies in your shop?

If there are no bodies to be had it can mean two things, either they are selling faster than anticipated, and assembly can't keep up; or they are not, and the whole body program is going down the drain.

The biggest expenditure for a venture like this would be the body buck or jig, and subassembly jigs. Somehow, I think you'd do a better job of that than is presently being done.

Just a though.

 

Rusty,
For all of the hype that precluded these bodies, you'd a thunk, these issues would be non-existent. The worst of which, is those bumper brackets. Be nice to keep track of the "mysteries" as they unfold in your restoration.
Has anyone tried to contact them on this, do you know? That metric thing is crazy, as well as, the omitted e-coat.
Thanks for your comments!

 

Where are those bodies being manufactured.

 

Taiwan

 

I was under the impression that parts were from Taiwan, welded up in the states. Maybe that was the first few I saw the article written up on.
I'd love to have the time to add up all the parts needed and build a jig vs. what Rusty is dealing with.
But I agree, either they are slammed, or spinning the drain. And considering that we are on the premiere vintage forum, we would see more of these builds if they were selling out inventory this fast.
My gut feeling is spinning the drain.

 

With the number of mustangs that were built I don't think that many people want to tie up that kind of money in a car with a state issued vin.

 

I looked at a couple of the '67 bodies when they first came out, and the hood bumper bracket was an issue then, so no surprise, there. What did surprise me back then was the number of such issues because the workmanship out of Taiwan is much better than that out of mainland China.

What is interesting is the size of some of the subassemblies listed in the catalog. A whole side from "A" pillar back, door opening, rear inner structure, etc.. One piece floor pan with rear frame rails, crossmembers, front frame extensions, etc..

Like Rusty, I wasn't impressed with the rear quarter mounting and think a good sheetmetal person with a good spot welder could duplicate Ford's 1967 efforts.

Might be worth pursuing if you built them in 5 body lots, and Dynacorn was willing to cooperate. Cheaper and easier for them to ship stacks of subassemblies, than a large volume body.

Some information on how Ford did the subassemblies, then married them into a unit body would go a long way to helping, too.

 

Unfortunately, I think their margins are way too tight for them to share any cheese!!

The best option for us, would be for them to make sub assemblies available based on need.

Just think if they offered a coupe-to-fastback conversion kit for $5k ? Its not to har to find a decent coupe on the cheap, with a legit vin#. A nice clean roof/deck swap could get you into a nice fastback platform for far less than a $16k dynacorn body that doesn't quite line up all the way.

 

Presently, The internal structural parts needed to convert to a sports roof are only available as a complete side panel from "A" pillar back. I agree, a package such as you mention would be quite attractive, but I believe it's a bit more involved than a roof and rear deck swap.

 

but I believe it's a bit more involved than a roof and rear deck swap.

No doubt.

...But I bet its a lot less involved that building an entire body from scratch. It soulds like Dynacorn needs a lesson in the benifits of fast nickles vs slow dimes. Unless I am wrong, those Dynacorn bodies were selling in the $16,000 range. Very few folks are going to jump out there with 16k all at once. Especially when the word is out that these bodies require tweaking to get them right.

A cost effective way to get from a coupe into a fastback would probably sell and be more attractive to many. Also might be easier to sell to SWMBO.

 

Th
There is alot more that goes into the conversion. The roof rails are totally different, and the inner structure is way different too. So pretty much would have to be a pretty big piece or so. I just got done doing one on a 65.

 

This will be a great thread!
Tom

 

Both the new body and the old ones come with their set of issues. I don't know if new is always better.

This will be an interesting thread to follow. A cost on the body, parts and labor would be interesting to see at the end of the project.

To start, the body is about $15K.....delivery costs$ ?
Body repairs that are not correct.....$?

Needed parts: interior, suspension, engine, transmission, brakes, electrical, wheels and tires, heating system, doors, fenders, hood, deck lid, bodywork and paint, steering, and the list goes on..............oh and labor if you don't do it yourself.........ouch!

Maybe buying a restored car is the way to go lol unless you have the money to build it like you want it and you want a new body? Still going to be cool to watch!

 

From what I remember when I was looking into these the freight costs from most everyone is around $500. Basically could cost $15-16k to get the body, the difference being in what some places had the bodies listed for. I think that cost was to a freight terminal but I never investigated that since getting to a freight terminal is fine with me. If going to use the bodies then the better way of tackling it would of course do what this owner appears to have down and buy it second hand where the original owner more than likely is loosing money. I recall seeing one of these bodies on eBay a couple years ago and was I think $14-15k but it was a "roller" and had a fair amount of money already sunk into it.

 

There has been a few questions about how to title a Dynacorn body and the owner sent me this link:

Registering A Roadster Replica, FFR FAQ

 

I'm reasonably sure the FFR products come with a MCO (Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin) just like any other new automobile. Since the Dynacorn shell is sold not as a kit, but as a replacement part, it does not come with an MCO, hence you need to either affix the VIN of the vehicle you are "repairing" or have the appropriate State DMV assign a number to it.

 

Dynacorn makes a lot of different replacement body shells. Surely people have documented online how they got their builds titled. I never have had the money to throw at such a thing though, so never looked into how to make one legal to put on a public road.

 

I looked at a 67 fastback GT about a year ago and it was the rustiest pile I have ever seen. two of the three vins were rusted out of the inner fenders. One of these bodies would have been great for doing that job.

Is the owner of this car going to find a donor car for all the other parts?

 

No donor car. He has a set of used front seats and quarter louvers the rest will be new.