1968 GT fastback or Porsche 911?

Brian68GT · Apr 9, 2005

I have an immaculate 1968 GT Fastback with a 302 V8 and factory highland green pain (re-sprayed), so all in all i'm pretty lucky to own such a beautiful car.

Lately though i've lost my enthusiasm for the car. Its beautiful, and great in a straight line but otherwise I dont find it a particularly engaging ride and it doesnt really handle. I know this is par for the course for classic mustangs but after owning it for a year and a half i have a serious urge to sell it and buy a 1991-92 Porsche 911, 996 model. I drove one the other day and my God does it handle. It also has a serious ammount of power and i found it to be a thrilling ride.

But despite this i have misgivings about letting the Mustang go, its just so beautiful, definitly top 5 most beautiful cars ever made and i've wanted one since i saw Bullit on TV when i was around 15 years of age. That was 18 years ago.

Bottom line though, do i want to look at my car or drive it?

I suppose i've put this post here to see if you fellow Mustang owners can understand my misgivings and my desire for a 911?

Brian68GT

BullittFB · Apr 9, 2005

Well, this is a mustang forum, guess what people are gonna say???
Why don´t you upgrade your car to handle better? There´s tons of products to make a mustang handle just like a new car.

BullittFB · Apr 9, 2005

By the way, aren´t mustangs considered exotic in Europe? My advice don´t sell, you´ll regret it for as long as you live. You just don´t find a fastback at the turn of every corner, not even in the U.S.

zookeeper · Apr 9, 2005

The bottom line is that we all have to decide for ourselves. I sold my '65 fastback in '94 to help pay for a new truck. In retrospect, I should have kept the mustang, the truck is gone and I lost over $10,000 in depreciation. The Mustang would've easily tripled in value by now. Wanna know the funny part? I sold the '65 for $4200 to get a down payment for my new truck. I sold the truck 7 years later for $12,500 in order to...anyone wanna guess?...buy another fastback! It's official, I'm an idiot...

69Rcode_Mach1 · Apr 9, 2005

Hang onto it. A car like that is going to be very hard to replace. Especially because of this eleanor craze that thing will appreciate a lot more if you hang onto it. You can make that sucker fly and carve the corners if you are willing to work for it. That's what we are here for. I will let you know, YOU WILL REGRET IT.

YellowMach69 · Apr 9, 2005

And i promise that if your car was at a interesection and the porshe was next to you ,There would be alot of people looking past the porshe and gazing at your car !!!

Max Power · Apr 9, 2005

You can make that Mustang handle very well for about the cost of a tune-up on that 911!

911's are amazing cars, but there are a LOT of them out there.

unluckyengineer · Apr 9, 2005

I definitely agree with these mustang boys hang onto that car for all it is worth... man I have a coupe and there is no car alive that I would replace for it.. and it is in like fifty pieces on my garage floor right now.. put an independent rear and coilovers in the front and some subframe connectors and a supercharger and you might feel differently about it.. But I think your thing is keeping a car in its original shape.. remembering that it is not its original paint, oil filter, air filter, tires, and probably a whole lot of other things never feel like if you touch it all of a sudden it will not be a classic anymore.. well anyhow that is just how I feel.. but hang on to it bro,. that is a seriously sick ride.

65fstbck289 · Apr 9, 2005

personally i would go with the 911...the 993 has been a favorite of mine, even over the 996 and 997

65fstbck289 · Apr 9, 2005

p.s. try www.rennlist.com

65ShelbyClone · Apr 10, 2005

zookeeper said:
I sold the '65 to get a down payment for my new truck. I sold the truck to buy another fastback...

Thats alright. I sold my '65 notch GT350 clone to get a 5.0 with A/C, PS, insulation, winshield washer, stereo, etc, but I dont use any of that and want to get away from smog. Now I'm selling the 5.0 to pay back on my '68 notch. WTF?

P.S.- the '68 has A/C, PS, windshield washer, stereo, and insulation. What was I thinking?

Brian, its going to be a tough choice. If you're like me, you have to find out for yourself and make your own mistakes. I'm not saying selling the '68 fastback is a mistake, just that you'll know if it was the right decision AFTER you sell it. You'll miss it, but ultimately you have to decide what features in a car mean more to you.

XXBULLETSXX · Apr 10, 2005

I've got a few things to say on this subject.
First, when I bought my 66 Fastback the guy I bought it from was selling it to try and save his marriage. I good reason to sell a car, but he cried when I drove it off and I came back later in that week to give him some pictures of it because he tried to get some of it the day I bought it but he had no film. That was a bitter sweet experience for me.
Second, I bet on a Porche that old you'll be doing a lot of suspension restoration to get it back to handling like it did the way it did when it left the factory. I did a Mustangs Plus Grab-A-Trak suspension upgrade (620 coils, 5 Leafs, Urathane Bushings, Front 1 1/8" sway bar, Rear 3/4" sway bar) and I'll put my fastback up against that 911 in the cornering department. My stang corners like it's on rails now! I'm more into resto-mod stangs so it wasn't difficult for me to put on 17" wheels and low profile tires with the suspension I mentioned above where you might have some difficulties doing that to your baby.
With all that said I think it's true what was mentioned above by someone else, I dare you to pull that 911 up to a street light next to mine and see if ANYONE looks at that Porche. You'd have to pry their eyes off my Fastback to do so and they wouldn't be happy with you for doing so!
I personally think maybe you should do some work to your stang to make it handle more like the way you would like and if you still don't have any fire for it after all that then you've lost the love for your Mustang and you should sell it to some who would truely appreciate that car.

jerry S · Apr 10, 2005

Brian:

That Mustang will only go up in value whereas that Porsche will only decline in value. Although you might not ever be able to get a 40 year old Pony to outhandle a modern Porsche because of the weakenesses inherent to its unibody design, you will come damn close. If you were to put a new coil over front suspension from Global West with new uca and lcas, or better yet, our very own Dolfan, along with the Global West Cat. 5 rear suspension with the delalum bushings, GW jacking rails, sub-frame connectors, and the Mustang Plus chassis strengthening kit, and the Maier Racing new style panhard bar, you will have a car that will handle beyond your ability to drive it. I bet that if you were to go ballz-to-the-wall and invest in a Griggs suspension front and rear, you would a car that would outhandle a Porsche at the track. It might not be too fun to drive on the street, but you would really appreciate its true potential. I would also add a new Flaming River steering box or a TCP rack& pinion.

I have a complete GW suspension and a TCP manual R&P and my car corners like it is on rails.

slepe67 · Apr 10, 2005

SELL IT! To me. I live in NW Florida. I got first dibs, right! Dude, KEEP THAT CAR, I sold a 67 Fastback because of the same reasons, ( and military necessity) and am still kicking myself. I had to "settle" for a replacement 67 Coupe, which is about 10 times worse shape. DO NOT SELL IT!

Loup-garou · Apr 10, 2005

Brian:

I recently got to drive a '97 911 - I understand the craving, believe me. I think the brakes were the most impressive part of all - like tossing out a two-ton anchor.

Other factors to consider: I'm not sure how much attention your Mustang draws in Ireland, but my own '65 Fastback routinely elicits smiles, waves, and shouted offers to purchase. The Porsche, on the other hand, only gets recognized by other Porsche drivers. I'm not an attention-seeker, but it's a unique experience to drive a car that stirs other people like that.

In your other recent posts, you discussed wheel and tire size, rear shocks and front suspension rebuild kits. Have you freshed-up the suspension yet, as you seemed to be planning? What about the Shelby upper control arm relocation, or negative wedge kit? And of course, there are rack and pinion steering kits that would enhance your car's road feel. There's a European StangNet member who put together a kit based on a Saab rack, IIRC (can't recall his username right now, sorry). That's something to consider, especially since any such "restomod" upgrade part would be easy to sell if you decided to restore the car to "stock".

Brian68GT · Apr 11, 2005

I was actually going to replace the whole front and rear suspension this summer (financial issues stopped me doing it earlier) but my resent doubts have stopped me.

I totally agree about a 68 fastback having a greater 'WOW' factor than a 911, thats a no-brainer. Wherever I go people whip out thier camera phones and take pictures of my car, its a real head turner, especially in Ireland where any sort of Mustang is a rare as hen's teeth, especially a mint 68 Fastback. I recently went to a classic car show, I wasnt taking part, but I parked in the car park and before I even got out of the car a crowd had fromed around it. Its great fun getting that attention and there are very few cars, even a Ferrari, that would stop people in thier tracks.

I have been taking all of your comments on board and I'm now having my doubts. Part of the problem is getting someone in Ireland to do my suspension upgrades. I can get someone to service the car no problem, but no-one really wants to do the suspension rebuild. With this in mind, getting someone to fit a specialist suspension kit like mentioned above may be impossible.

I have emailed a company in the UK that specialise in modernising muscle car suspension http://www.motiv8vehicles.co.uk/muscle.html

So i'm waiting to see what they come back with and then we'll see. Thing is, if i spend 6k upgrading my suspension, steering and brakes I dont beleive i'll ever get it back if i decide to sell. You see in Ireland people are just happy to have a Mustang, the fact that I may have spent a fortune making handle wont really matter to most. No one races these cars here, they just like to cruise in them and put them in car shows. I like to drive my car.

ANyway, i really appreciate all your input, you've been very helpful and i have by no means made my decision. I've actually just got loan approval to cover buying a 911 if i see one i like so that i can keep the Mustang and make a proper, informed decision after a few months.

Anyway, i'll let you know how it all pans out, but i suspect that after 6 months of driving a 911, the Mustang will be difficult to go back to.

Brian

jerry S · Apr 11, 2005

Brian68GT said:
I was actually going to replace the whole front and rear suspension this summer (financial issues stopped me doing it earlier) but my resent doubts have stopped me.

Part of the problem is getting someone in Ireland to do my suspension upgrades. I can get someone to service the car no problem, but no-one really wants to do the suspension rebuild. With this in mind, getting someone to fit a specialist suspension kit like mentioned above may be impossible.

I have emailed a company in the UK that specialise in modernising muscle car suspension http://www.motiv8vehicles.co.uk/muscle.html

Brian

Brian:

before you decide on anything, get three or four different quotes. I have seen some guys selling ford racing hood pins for $69.00 and act like they are selling at a loss. My experience is that there is no shortage of good if not great mechanics in Europe. Some of the work local dutch guys do on their own cars here just blows my mind. But the shops might tend to take you for a ride as far as prices on parts go. When I wanted a new ignition, I was being quoted the USD MSRP in Euros plus vat when the Euro was so much higher than the dollar. The real price to me was 50% higher than in the US. For example, if a part listed in the US for $300 MSRP but really sold for $195, these places were selling for a base price of EUR 300 not including VAT. It was always 50% cheaper for me to order from Summit and have shipped to me here and that includes factoring in duty and airmail costs.

You might be better off ordering what you want, having it delivered either to you or a mechanic, and then having it installed. If you cannot find anyone in Eire or the UK to do it, you can always put your car on a ferry and have a good local tuning shop do the work for you: http://www.moritzracing.nl/ The labor rate is EUR 45 per hour, which is not bad, and they know what they are doing.

If before you make a decision to keep or sell, you happen to find yourself in Amsterdam and want to put my pony through its paces, I would be happy to let you see what she can do. Except for this week, as it goes in to Moritz to install my new Mezeire electric water pump, March serpentine conversion kit, and my new summit billet steel harmonic balancer, and a tune on the dyno. Any time after that, however, is just fine by me.

jerry S · Apr 11, 2005

Brian68GT said:
Thing is, if i spend 6k upgrading my suspension, steering and brakes I dont beleive i'll ever get it back if i decide to sell. Brian

I believe the same could be said about a 911. Those cars only go down in value, unlike your Mustang, which will only go up. You may recoup the investment in 5-10 years time just based on value of the body being intact. I saw a rolling shell 67 FB that had a killer paint job, no glass, interior, motor, instruments, nothing. Just a bare metal rolling shell with the crappy old suspension, crappy old wheels, but perfect condition for the body with an awesome paint job. It was going for $21.000 and it sold soon after it went on the market.

XXBULLETSXX · Apr 11, 2005

Hey I'm by no means a mechanic. But I was able to replace all my springs, Bushings and add giant sway bars. It wasn't very hard and it sure add a lot to the handling of my stang.
If no one there in Ireland will purchase your car after making the upgrades to the suspension, then put it on Ebay...that's what it's for. Besides, you don't customize your ride with intent on getting your money back, you customize your car to make it fit YOU. To heck with everyone else! Just MHO.
I say, swap out the springs and add some sway bars (about $650) and see if it's closer to what you want. If so, you can continue to modify the suspension and do the brakes. If not, you haven't put much into it and you'll be able to sell it pretty quick with it handling better because of the Eleanor boom.
Keep That Pony! And if you have any questions email me!

XXBULLETSXX · Apr 11, 2005

I might add that almost no one will notice those changes in suspension. They look stock.

1968 GT fastback or Porsche 911?

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