67 fastback GTA

Unless I'm mistaken, the GTA was a big block car. Did you get a Marti report on your car yet? Or run the vin and data plate through a decoder? I would start there and make sure you know what you have before planning the resto.
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jcode68 said:

Unless I'm mistaken, the GTA was a big block car. Did you get a Marti report on your car yet? Or run the vin and data plate through a decoder? I would start there and make sure you know what you have before planning the resto.
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the GTA was just a GT with an auto tranmission, the A being for automatic. it's still a GT but for some stupid reason ford decided they wanted to differentiate automatic and standard trans GT's. it's rare but not exceedingly so, however, i would still consider restoring it back to stock if it's a numbers matching car in decent shape. that said doing some bolt on shelby peices isn't going to drastically lower the value of the car so long as you aren't cutting the car up. these days you can add just about all the shelby peices to a 67/68 fastback without cutting into the sheetmetal at all. the biggest hurdle has always been the taillight panel which required cutting huge holes in it for the shelby taillights but since Mustang Project - Discount Mustang Restoration Parts LED Tail Lights 2005 2006 2007 Mustang Parts has come out with their new bolt kits utilizing their LED light kits you no longer have to cut the crap out of the tail panel anymore.

everything else can be added with bonding adhesives that don't require even drilling any holes at all in the sheetmetal for stuff like side scoops, etc.

if it were me, though, i'd probably do a combination of stock GTA with a few shelby glass parts like just the lower side scoops, trunk lid, 67 shelby style hood for use with stock fenders and light buckets, and maybe the mustang project tail panel and lights with some California Special foglights or something and some 17" shelby 10 spokes or a set of the 17" billet "magstar" style wheels from wheel vintiques called the "Marodder".

make it different, make it yours and make it unique. heck you could even combine a shelby, a california special (yes i know it's a coupe and you have a fastback) and the Bullit car to come with something truly cool and creative and all your own.

mlager8 said:

I just bought a 67 fastback GTA, I wanted to do a Shelby conversion but I seem to be catching a lot of flack from people saying it's too rare to do a conversion on. Just how rare is it? btw its a 289 4v A code. Not hipo 289 or 390.

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I don't know so much if it is being rare, as much as many people are tired of all the clones.

I know when I bring my car to a show, my car gets more looks than a clone. Maybe because it has been rather well restored, back to factory. It really gets a lot of attention when I open the hood. Even though it is an A code car, people look amazingly at the engine bay, like that long forgotten forgotten friend, how she looked the day they drove their first Mustang off the showroom floor.

But that's just me. I prefer the original.

RedGTvert said:

I don't know so much if it is being rare, as much as many people are tired of all the clones.

I know when I bring my car to a show, my car gets more looks than a clone. Maybe because it has been rather well restored, back to factory. It really gets a lot of attention when I open the hood. Even though it is an A code car, people look amazingly at the engine bay, like that long forgotten forgotten friend, how she looked the day they drove their first Mustang off the showroom floor.

But that's just me. I prefer the original.

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i like mine to "look" original or at least period correct, even though my GT coupe has shelby side scoops and 17" edelbrock wheels, take those off and it would again look stock

If I had a GTA, I would not turn it into a Shelby clone- probably add the side scoops and drop it on some nice wheels though....

RedGTvert said:

I don't know so much if it is being rare, as much as many people are tired of all the clones.

I know when I bring my car to a show, my car gets more looks than a clone. Maybe because it has been rather well restored, back to factory. It really gets a lot of attention when I open the hood. Even though it is an A code car, people look amazingly at the engine bay, like that long forgotten forgotten friend, how she looked the day they drove their first Mustang off the showroom floor.

But that's just me. I prefer the original.

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I know what you mean...

mlager8 said:

I just bought a 67 fastback GTA, I wanted to do a Shelby conversion but I seem to be catching a lot of flack from people saying it's too rare to do a conversion on. Just how rare is it? btw its a 289 4v A code. Not hipo 289 or 390.

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Here's the my opinion: did you buy the car to please yourself, or to please everyone else? While a GT Mustang is a little uncommon, there isn't one part that can't be reversed in the future. It's not like you're cutting up an original Shelby, so tell all the people offering opinons thanks, and do what makes YOU happy. BTW, I recently finished my clone, and I can tell you that it's by far the most fun car I've ever owned. I love the way it looks, I love the way it drives and I have yet to hear even one negative thing said, well to my face anyway. I built it because I always wanted a real Shelby, but will never be able to own one. So what? I don't want one because it might make me feel superior to "regular" Mustang guys, or because it's proof of my financial success, or because it would be a sound investment (BTW, I HATE people who treat cars as investment porfolios) but because they look neat. My opinion, my money, my car. Here's a fun story that I'd like to share: last weekend my wife and son and I took my Mustang out for Sunday lunch at Applebees. On the way home, there was a pack of about 10 or so Harley badasses going the other way on the freeway. I can tell you from my streetbike days that Harley guys act like they don't see anything other than other Harley badasses. But one by one, they nearly fell off their bikes pointing at my car. Would they have done the same had I left it stock? No way in hell. I drove that car stock for about a year, and out of the 3,000 miles I put on it, I got exactly one compliment. I didn't build it so I could feel like a rockstar, but it illustrates my point that good clones are NOT on every street corner, and they ARE a ton of fun to own and drive.

Nice car, but still prefer the original.

Like others have said, it's your car, so make it the way you want it. I would recommend putting together a thorough game plan with parts lists, pricing, and a roughly reasonable timetable before embarking on a radical makeover.

I decided to shelve some of my more ambitious plans in favor of driving my car sooner rather than later, and now I'm pretty happy -- stock power steering still stinks, but otherwise happy.