[bjfox1970]

Hello all new to the boards. Looking forward to learning alot here. I have a little problem here. Not up to date on the current values of the '69 Sportsroofs. I have a plain jane ivy green '69 Sportsroof 302 3-speed car. This thing is pretty rusty. It is also the first car ever I drove. My best friend's older brother owned it. It has been sitting since '89 and I finaly wound up with it. This is the car that got me started with old fords so it has a lot of sentimental value to me. My friend and I would sit up for hours looking at Mustang Monthly and dreaming of restoring this thing! I have the shop, the welder, I will have to brush up on my welding. This thing is going to need just about everything. The front clip is just shot! I got lucky and ran across a '69 coupe in a local boneyard with a perfect front clip. My question is this. Would it be possible to remove the floor pan, cut the Fastback and the coupe through the windshield posts and the rockers and piece the coupe frontend on the faskback body?
Is the coupe front end the same as the fastbacks? Has anyone tried this before? (I will remember to transfer the VIN!!)

 

[johnpro]

First, welcome to the VMF. Tread lightly with this subject, as this is what's called a re-body and is a bit touchy from ethical and legal standpoints.

That said, I understand that you're not really trying to make the car something it's not, just trying to restore a car for sentimental reasons.

You won't be able to use the quarter panels, the roof or the A pillars from the coupe, but all the rest is identical from the the backs of the doors, forward.

 

[bjfox1970]

I am definately not trying to anything unethical here. I would be replacing most of this metal even if I didn't cut the thing in two. I really don't want to cut out a billion spot welds and then re-weld the entire upper cowl panel just so I wouldn't have to "tamper" with two rivets! But I will if it means I am breaking the law.

 

[68RCodeConv]

If the car is really that rusty then you have to ask yourself how much of the original car you will have once you are done.

If you replace the front clip, floor pan, quarters, rear frame rails and trunk floor then aren't you just reusing the roof? Might as well get a complete coupe and graft the roof onto it.

I understand about the sentimental value but you might spend a lot of $$$$ and end up with George Washington's axe. You know the one with the head replaced 4 times and the handle replaced 8 times.

 

[manyc]

Ignoring and legal or ethical aspects of this, It can be done but its still a lot of work. The windshield pillars are at a different angle so you just can't clip them at the posts. You wil have to cut everything appart. Because the frame rails go so far back, you would be better off cutting the floor behind the seat platforms. Its kind of risky clipping a car this much because its very difficult getting the clip to be correctly aligned to the rest of the car. The car needs to be jigged to do it properly.

If your front frame rails are good, I would seriously consider not clipping the car. I would also consider buying the coupe as a source of sheetmetal because the repo stuff really isn't that good.

 

[DaveSanborn]

this is what's called a re-body and is a bit touchy from ethical and legal standpoints.

Who's ethical and legal standpoints?

It continues to amaze me that any shmuck can order every piece of sheetmetal out of the NPD/Dynacorn catalog, cut out and throw away his entire rusted car and replace it with this "new", made in Taiwan/Canada/Mexico/China sheetmetal... and no-one seems to have a problem with it... he's saving his car...

... but let one guy with a light bulb over his head talk about back halfing a car to save himself about 500 man-hours and $3000 in sheetmetal and the same people that have replaced all of their rusted/rotted car with low quality, ill-fitting metal in individual pieces start talking about "ethics" and "legalities".

Bull$h!t...

There is absolutely NO ethical or legal issue with "back-halving" or "front-halving" a car as long as the vehicle drives away with the same VIN that it started out with.

Drive around back of any large Auto Body shop and you'll see a few "Half" cars laying around. These half cars are what is leftover from an insurance authorized repair. As an example, my wife, bless her heart, isn't the greatest driver, 3 rear-end collisions in 18 months.... (yikes!). Her last accident (a few years ago, knock on wood)involved her 1999 Ford Explorer. After looking at her damaged SUV, I thought for sure it would be totaled. I remember reaching through the stuck shut passenger side door through the shattered window to open the glove box at the impound lot to get some documents and thinking to myself I could have changed the passenger side headlight from within the glovebox. The body shop "front-halved" the Explorer and we traded it in the week after getting it back.

Is there an "ethical" or "legal" issue when someone changes the VIN? 100% YES!!!! But any other repair is just that, a repair. It doesn't really matter how the repair gets done.

Dave



P.S. >>>> Please do not take this as a personal assault. You're just the latest one I've heard repeat these "ethical and legal issue" words. There are many out there who share your thinking, I'm talking to not just you, but everybody who shares these beliefs.... so, nothing personal....

 

[johnpro]

Dave, your repsonse is EXACTLY the type of post I was warning of.

I wasn't stating any of my opinions, one way or another. I mostly was trying to warn him that someone would get their panties in a bunch over the subject *LOL*.

 

[obsidianspider]

Yeah, but he's talking about cutting up a coupe, and we already know what Dave thinks about coupes

 

[willzee]

coupes = poor man's mustang

like myself, for example

 

[DaveSanborn]

Coupe = parts car....

Just as the original poster suggested...

I'm not saying this to demean Coupes. The 65-68 Coupe is the prolific Mustang of our hobby and has beautiful lines. However, due to the sheer volume of available Coupes, they're perfect candidates to cut up and use for parts. Just like the Granadas have all been robbed of their front brakes and Fox body Mustangs have been robbed for their 5.0/T5 combo's.

Dave

 

[Marc4d]

Coupe = Any old mustang i can afford! Ha!!!

 

[69 redruM]

here is my take on "ethics" as it relates to classic cars....

would you rather a car give someone enjoyment (where they fix them cheaply with aftermarket parts, junk parts cars etc.) or have a car rust away because the owner cant afford to fix "correctly"

that being said, if you own a rare car and cant afford to fix it, you may be better off selling it to someone who can afford to fix it correctly, and purchase a less rare car for your project.

I purchased my 1969 coupe 90% complete, it was almost exactlly what i wanted (within my budget)
see the 69 in my signature, the only things i want to change that the PO did is: convert to power brakes, power steering. pretty easy fixes considering i have only spent 7400$ so far. 9 figure i will have about 10K in it when complete

 

[manyc]

Don't let some of the other replies scare you away from the forum. Traditionally everyone is glad to help each other out.

P.S. I have you car's twin, but mine is in Dark Jade. Link