66 Fastback Restoration

BarnStang · Apr 25, 2005

OK, I finally got the car I have wanted for a very long time, but it seems way more than I can handle. It is in basket case condition. Nearly the entire unibody is rusted through including the frame rails and inner and outer rockers. Not sure whats holding the car up...

I would like to keep it and fix it, but I have one friend who I worked with to restore a 68 coupe that needed a lot of extensive work and he said he wouldn't touch it. I'm going to find some more people to look at it.

I know most people will need pictures, they will come soon. For now, I would say the whole front of the car is not salvagable. The entire floor pan and firewall will need replaced. The rear frame rails look intact, but am not sure if there is enough material to weld new ones to. The doors are useless. Fenders not fixable. Glass is all intact and the roof is straight.

I can order nearly the entire underside of the car in parts, but my delemma is how to get one part off to replace it without the car falling apart on me. I need to know where I can start or how to brace the car up to start cutting out frame rails and floorpans to start getting the thing to a point where its stable.

I would be interested in what people have found to be the best books that would help in this regard and any suggestions of advice you can think of. I am closing on the sale of my home Friday and the purchase of another the same day. This week is a wreck to say the least. I will try to get some pictures next week if it stops raining long enough. Thanks!

stang66myway2 · Apr 25, 2005

hey there give me a holler if you decide its to much for you..............

monk302 · Apr 25, 2005

Sounds like you have alot of work ahead of you. I really like fastbacks but is this the one you should be working on?? It sounds like you will have to spend countless hours and thousands of dollars on bodywork. For the amount of money that you will be pouring into the frame and body restoration of this car you could probably put together an amazing coupe.

As for cutting up your car without it falling apart you will have to brace the doors between where the front of the door mounts and then connect that to the striker plate. Besides that you should just do one panel at a time.

Best of luck, definitely would like to see some pictures.

84convertablegt · Apr 26, 2005

obviously its too late since u have the car, but i looked for a long time for the right one which ended up being a coupe for cost reasons. i passed up many rust buckets and ended up paying 2000 dollars more for a partially restored 65 instead of a rust bucket. sometimes its much more cost effective to start at a better place when u consider all the money involved and LABOR in totally restoring every piece of sheet metal on a car. my car needed no floor pans, no frame work, only a rear valance. i restored the paint, a little rust, the whole interior, the whole drivetrain and my reciepts totalled over 17000 dollars. good luck!

66moneypit · Apr 26, 2005

84convertablegt said:
obviously its too late since u have the car, but i looked for a long time for the right one which ended up being a coupe for cost reasons. i passed up many rust buckets and ended up paying 2000 dollars more for a partially restored 65 instead of a rust bucket. sometimes its much more cost effective to start at a better place when u consider all the money involved and LABOR in totally restoring every piece of sheet metal on a car. my car needed no floor pans, no frame work, only a rear valance. i restored the paint, a little rust, the whole interior, the whole drivetrain and my reciepts totalled over 17000 dollars. good luck!

He's totally right. I bought a 66 convertible before I really knew what I was getting into. Thus my screen name. I estimate that I poured at least 26K into this car and it's just getting painted this weekend. If I had it to do all over again, I'd bought a car in better shape. I didn't know what to look for and I paid the price. If knew what to look for then I would have walked away from that car. Once you get so deep into a restoration you can't turn back...and that's what happened to me.

My advice....if you already own the car, get some estimates by people who really know what they are doing and compare them. Then make your decision.

If you didn't pay too much then you can always use the car as a parts car when you find another one. The other option is to part out what you can on ebay and get some or all of your money back. Hell you can probably sell the whole thing on ebay and get your money back.

If you didn't buy it but are just looking at it, then my advice would be to wait and find one in a little better condition. You will be driving it alot sooner that way. Restorations take time and money...

BarnStang · Apr 26, 2005

Thanks for all the great replies. I own it. Trying to decide if I should try and get rid of it. I restored a 68 Firebird vert. That ran $13k over 5 years and I sold it for $6k and considered myself lucky.

I had planned on doing the work myself. What I need to figure out is where to start. I guess I really need someone to come look at it.

Any recomendations for shops in my area? I'm in Hagerstown, MD.
Frederick, MD , Chambersburg, PA and Martinsburg, WV are close.

It may not be as bad as it looks, but it probably is.

eleanor_350 · Apr 26, 2005

If the car is so rusty that the firewall needs replaced, I might suggest an alternate route to fixing it. I've never done it before, but it seems like you have a lot of factory tolerances to duplicate when replacing multiple frame rails, floor pans, rockers, firewall, etc all at the same time.

Instead of reconstructing the entire undercarriage of the car, how about getting a good solid coupe body and swap roofs? It's still a lot of work, but I can't imagine it would be anymore than what you are already looking at.

It's just another option to kick around.

84convertablegt · Apr 26, 2005

eleanor_350 said:
If the car is so rusty that the firewall needs replaced, I might suggest an alternate route to fixing it. I've never done it before, but it seems like you have a lot of factory tolerances to duplicate when replacing multiple frame rails, floor pans, rockers, firewall, etc all at the same time.

Instead of reconstructing the entire undercarriage of the car, how about getting a good solid coupe body and swap roofs? It's still a lot of work, but I can't imagine it would be anymore than what you are already looking at.

It's just another option to kick around.

thats definately an option. i doubt it would be any more work. probably less, especially if you really know what you are doing, unlike me.

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