68 Shelby convertible clone

[mdriggers9662]

Hey everyone, im new to the site as well as forum discussions. Just to give you a rundown of what I have going on, I will start with my car. I bought this 68 coupe to build for my sons first car on his 16th bday. After getting started and realizing what I had in store for myself I ended up building him an already running 69 camaro and kept the mustang for myself. Jump ahead 7 years and not touching the car since, I have been in and out of hospitals for a year and a half and am now in Memphis going through therapy learning to walk again. Not looking for sympathy but letting you know that when I do get to go back home to Arkansas it is looking like I will have a little time on my hands to finally start back on the car.

I am going restomod style instead of restoration mainly because of what I found out about the car when I originally started on it. After sandblasting the under side of the car to begin replacing the flooring I noticed a seam where this was actually two different cars welded together. The floor was cut all the way across center of the doors and the roof was cut off at the windsheild pillars.The front end has gt lights but dont know if they were added or if the front end was a gt. It did have gt hubcaps but dont know if they were original or even whether they went with the front donar or the rear. It has a flip open gas cap which i like alot. The engine according to the vin # on the block is the original to either front or rear. I had already purchased granada spindles for disc brakes on front and a 8.8 rear end from a 98 ford explorer which gives me rear discs. Same wheelbase as the mustang and is beefier than the 8" and all I have to do is reposition the spring perches. I plan on beefing up the 289 to at least 300 hp for a little umph.

Now!! Heres where I could use some thoughts,help,advice and info. After removing the old vinyl roof and seeing the rust and pitting I have decided to turn my coupe into a Shelby Gt-500 convertible clone. I know the convertible has several extra support pillars and such and would like some info on what all they are. Any info on people that have converted a coupe to a vert would be great. I dont plan on adding a top. I am going to add a padded fake boot on the back and keeping it covered in my shop when not driving. Have found a few sites on rotisserie plans but trying to get as many details on that before I build mine. I plan on using a 68 shelby short style hood, scoops, shelby tail lights and padded shelby convert roolbar. have a huge project on my hands and would love any help I can get. I will post pics as I work on it once I get back home but that is still several months away.

Any way, thanks for listening and I look forward to chatting with everyone

Mike

 

[shelby69]

Sounds like a huge project. I did a 69 hardtop with my father about 20yrs ago. We didn't get nearly as involved as your are talking and it was a big project. I'd like to see some picutures of the project as it progresses.

Best of luck

 

[mdriggers9662]

Thanks for the come back. i know i have some pics of the car when i bought it but just have to find them. regretfully i dont have any as i tore it down so the next ones will come when i have it on the rotisserie.

 

[Calponycarsmike]

There are a few companies making a kit to convert a coupe to a hard top convertible, but if I were you I would be a replica of the Green Hornet with a 68 Coupe.

 

[mdriggers9662]

There are a few companies making a kit to convert a coupe to a hard top convertible, but if I were you I would be a replica of the Green Hornet with a 68 Coupe.

Thanks for the suggestions Mike. I havnt really decided what to do for sure yet. My original plans were to do a Cal Special Clone because my best friend and next door neighbor back in highschool had one. He still has it now and I will get him to send me some pics of it. It is a 68, black on black with shelby tail section and 68 shelby hood with louvers and side scoops. Very sharp. I plan on doing mine in red and never thought about a convertible till I saw Reenmachines and 68EFIverts. Very cool cars. Till I make up my mind for good though, do you know any of the companies doing the hardtop vert kit. I know mustangs plus has the Ronster kit and used to carry a retractable coupe to vert kit but the supplying co. went out of business.

 

[Calponycarsmike]

There was a guy at SEMA with the hard to convertible kit. If you want to build a Cal-Special or a 68 Shelby let me know. Check out the green hornet or the 67 version called little red. They were Shelby Coupes and they looked great.

 

[mdriggers9662]

There was a guy at SEMA with the hard to convertible kit. If you want to build a Cal-Special or a 68 Shelby let me know. Check out the green hornet or the 67 version called little red. They were Shelby Coupes and they looked great.

Did a search to check out the Green Hornet and Little Red and found out there was a Black Hornet. That is what my friends car looks like and what got me started down this path. His story is funny. When we were in high school in the late 70's, his dad was friends with the guy that built this car and was selling it. Ken was excited cause he thought his dad was buying the car for him but he bought it for his younger sister instead. Pissed him off. Fast forward 5 years and his sister traded the car to a guy for a Monte Carlo without giving him a chance to buy it. Pissed him off again. Fast forward 15 more years and the guy that built it saw it at a car show, bought it and sold it to my friend. Took a while but he finally ended up with it.

 

[68EFIvert]

Thanks for the compliments about my car. I am glad it is motivating you to work on your Mustang. Well I can tell you there is nothing like having your hair blowing in a vert. It is a feeling of freedom and helps me release the tension of a stressful job.

I have heard people that did the conversion of a coupe to fastback or convertible say that is is much more money in the long run than to sell the coupe and buy what you really want. To keep the costs equal you may have more to fix but the end result may be easier to achieve to your satisfaction. If you don't care about a top that is functional then that is a different story.

If you really want to cut the top off your car I would buy the chassis stiffening kit from Mustangs Plus and install it before you cut the top. I would even put on sub-frame connectors before you make the cut. I would hate to see the body flex and screw up your project before you even get rolling.

I know there is a guy over on Vintage Mustang that has a coupe he turned into a convertible. He even went as far as putting on a custom soft top so that he can drive it in the rain. It is a pretty cool car. IIRC correctly it was yellow with black stripes.

I have always thought that a removable hard top would be neat. If you could fasten it down with a few bolts on the back and the stock mounting points up front you could retain the use of it in bad weather. You would surely have the only one around.

 

[mdriggers9662]

Thanks for the compliments about my car. I am glad it is motivating you to work on your Mustang. Well I can tell you there is nothing like having your hair blowing in a vert. It is a feeling of freedom and helps me release the tension of a stressful job.

I have heard people that did the conversion of a coupe to fastback or convertible say that is is much more money in the long run than to sell the coupe and buy what you really want. To keep the costs equal you may have more to fix but the end result may be easier to achieve to your satisfaction. If you don't care about a top that is functional then that is a different story.

If you really want to cut the top off your car I would buy the chassis stiffening kit from Mustangs Plus and install it before you cut the top. I would even put on sub-frame connectors before you make the cut. I would hate to see the body flex and screw up your project before you even get rolling.

I know there is a guy over on Vintage Mustang that has a coupe he turned into a convertible. He even went as far as putting on a custom soft top so that he can drive it in the rain. It is a pretty cool car. IIRC correctly it was yellow with black stripes.

I have always thought that a removable hard top would be neat. If you could fasten it down with a few bolts on the back and the stock mounting points up front you could retain the use of it in bad weather. You would surely have the only one around.

Thanks Darreld, you have once again me things to think about. If I do the vert I have read about the supports and stiffeners. I actually found a site that had someone doing a coupe to vert for a customer but they had a vert donar car for the rear section w/top. they explained installing all convertible supports before cutting. I never thought of reinstalling my original top for cold weather. could be interesting.

 

[bnickel]

you could always install a power sunroof from a newer car as well, lot's of 68-69-70 cougars came with power sunroofs, they are quite hard to find now though, but the sunroof from a newer car would be much easier to find in a wrecking yard. i've been investgating the possibility of doing the exact same thing to my 69 cougar. you could use either metal roof sunroof or a glass roof moonroof as well. i have seen a couple of cars that have had newer sun/moon roofs installed. autoworks intl. has a pretty cool they've been working on.

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[mdriggers9662]

you could always install a power sunroof from a newer car as well, lot's of 68-69-70 cougars came with power sunroofs, they are quite hard to find now though, but the sunroof from a newer car would be much easier to find in a wrecking yard. i've been investgating the possibility of doing the exact same thing to my 69 cougar. you could use either metal roof sunroof or a glass roof moonroof as well. i have seen a couple of cars that have had newer sun/moon roofs installed. autoworks intl. has a pretty cool they've been working on.

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thanks for the idea. i never thought of a sun roof but i have about decided against cutting the top. but everytime i see reenmachines or 68efiverts cars i just get all tingly inside. i went to your site and checked out your pics. looks sharp. when do you plan on starting on the cougar. ive always liked them.

 

[bnickel]

thanks for the idea. i never thought of a sun roof but i have about decided against cutting the top. but everytime i see reenmachines or 68efiverts cars i just get all tingly inside. i went to your site and checked out your pics. looks sharp. when do you plan on starting on the cougar. ive always liked them.

thanks for the complements , i won't get started, in earnest, until the stang is sold. we're trying to buy a house and need the money from the sale of the stang for a down payment and also to finance the resto on the cougar. i will be doing stuff to the cougar between now and the sale of the stang but nothing really big. i will do as much of the bodywork as i can, general cleanup of the engine bay and undercarriage and just generally getting it running again since it's been off the road since like 1995.

i have a lot of plans for the cougar and it should be an even nicer car than the GT once it's done and will hopefully cost a lot less too, since it's such a nice car to start with, it only has 64,000 original miles and other than a bit of work to take out the dents on the passenger 1/4, fixing the rust in the corner of both doors and one small rust spot on the passenger 1/4 the body is almost perfect. the interior is pretty much immaculate other than the headliner which go ripped when the PO was disassembling the passenger side of the car to start on the bodywork. this car is amazingly original, still has the orginal Am radio, belts and hoses too. it will make a great platform a restomod, especially since it's just a base model cougar and nothing really special. it does have a fairly rare paint conbination, though, it is a factory 2-tone car with the light aqua main color and the white painted roof but it will end up acapulco blue with a black painted roof most likely or with no 2-tone at all and solid acapulco blue. the car should end up being my perfect idea of what i would have ordered if i'd bought the car new and then continually upgraded it over the years.



i'm planning on doing a TCP G-Bar rear suspension, custom Opentracker roller front suspension with coilovers and TCP rack and pinion conversion. it will get a long rod 351w with roller cam and alluminum heads and hopefully a holley pro-jection system. the drivetrain will consist of the stock FMX trans and 9" rear with a vintage Hone-O-Drive overdrive. the interior will get an XR7 tach dash, 86 mustang GT buckets recovered with black/blue houndstooth inserts, custom Decor style door panels with molded-in armrest based on 69 mustang deluxe door panels and custom 69 mach 1 carpet in black with the vinyl insterts done in blue. the exterior will be basically stock but with an eliminator hood scoop and front spoiler, GT badges on the front fenders and gas door and possibly a repro luggage rack out back to help promote the sleeper look. wheels and tires will consist of 15" 68-69 12 slot wheels with GT center caps (68-69 mustang gt style) and BFG T/A's, i also have a vintage 80's set of Riken mesh wheels (BBS style) that will be used as well, depending on my mood. the car will also have power windows, locks and trunk release, remote keyless entry, cd stereo with 8 speakers and subwoofer and a lot's of other goodies i've collected over the years like headlight on buzzer, rear defogger, overhead console from a 68 mustang and much, much more. when it's all done it should be a nice semi pro-touring/sleeper style restomod with all the creature comforts of a modern car plus decent fuel economy as well as that all important 60's musclecar style.