Calling all 69 Shelby owners or Maier Fiberglass users

[Pakrat]

I need some vs. reference points of trunk lid deck heights and I can't seem to get a reply from the suppliers so I am turning to the vast and diverse knowledge of Stangnet for help. I am still in a quandary about wether to go with the clean Maier Racing look as seen here:

Or the tried and true Classic Shelby look for my 69' convertible restoration.

It could just be an illusion without the recess as the Shelby, but the Maier unit just seems monsterous to me so if anyone out there has either piece and could tell me just how high they are from the bottom edge up in the back I would be very grateful.

 

[65fastback2+2]

i agree, with those small taillights it looks huge, i say only do either if you are gonna use the shelby thunderbird taillights, but thats me

 

[bnickel]

Pak, i'm going with the shelby style stuff because i think with the recess blacked out it will look real good with my blacked out tailpanel.

 

[70vert]

hey, didn't we do this on 69stang?

I need some vs. reference points of trunk lid deck heights and I can't seem to get a reply from the suppliers so I am turning to the vast and diverse knowledge of Stangnet for help. I am still in a quandary about wether to go with the clean Maier Racing look as seen here:

It could just be an illusion without the recess as the Shelby, but the Maier unit just seems monsterous to me so if anyone out there has either piece and could tell me just how high they are from the bottom edge up in the back I would be very grateful.

Pak,
Hey, I just thought of something. Here's the photo website I showed you on 69stang.com: http://homepage.mac.com/jbauder/PhotoAlbum61.html

and here's the lid:

Here's what you do - the links are kind of beside the point. Look at that grey coupe you put up there. Measure the height of your taillight. Then measure the height of the taillight as shown in the photo. That would be your scale. Then measure the height of the spoiler in the photo and you have your height. Use the photo I just put up above to figure out how much of that height is above deck height and how much below.

I told you my opinion, maier one is 2 xtreme. I wonder if there is a way to build more fiberglass into it and sweep it back like the Eleanor right here:

I don't know about you, but that's the look I really want, a swept-back trunk spoiler/fender extension.

Joe

 

[Pakrat]

Yeah we did kind of discuss this on the other forum 70' vert, but not in actual measurments. I could go thru the trouble of scaling things out but I thought if someone had it then it would be alot easier to just ask them how high it was first then go thru this.

In my most recent discussion with maier they now lead me to believe they have a secret option #3 as well so I don't know what the hell to think now. here you read it and tell me your take on it.

"The picture is not an illusion we make a larger version of our spoilered deck lid. It's roughly 3" larger than the Shelby trunk lid or our spoilered trunk lid. The Shelby has the recess for the honey comb insert which we do not sell try www.cobranda.com although our spoilered trunk lid is the same height as the Shelby and is flat like a 67 Shelby or California Special. All trunk lid kits sell for $398.50 and you can purchase by contacting us at 510-581-7600. Please allow 3-4 weeks before the part will arrive to you. Shipping is 4-5 business days unless you pay for faster shipping. Rough estimate on the shipping is $50.00 within the USA. For more information or to place an order please contact us at 510-581-7600."

Paying attention to the red and underklined sections does it not sound like the one on the gray car would be the 3" taller one and the Shelby one is obvious enough, so what the heck is the one that is the same height as the Shelby but is flat with no recess. Could it be the one on the gray car and the third one is the 3" higher one? I have to say that while it does look bigger in the pic it certainly does not look 3" bigger.

 

[Pakrat]

Just took another look thru their customer rides, and I'm thinking this must be the 3" taller monster piece, no?

That would mean despite how it looks or how they even appeared to you on your trip 70' vert that the one one the gray car would have to be the same height as the Shelby unit????

Bnickel did you decide on who you are buying it from yet? I totally agree about the black horizontal strip going nicer with a black out tail panel, as we discussed I am going this route too and particularly with the smaller Mustang tail lights as 65fastback mentioned, it helps look less obtrusive. Here's my thought though, if the one in the gray picture is the same height as Shelby and neither of us planned on using the Shelby insert anyway and just painted it in then you could still do that on the surface like you would a racing stripe, right? Then you don't have to fill in the second recess that holds the insert into the first recess. I know that sounds screwy but you follow, right?

 

[70vert]

Purple haze clouds my brain

The Purple Haze car trunk lid is obviously for a sportsroof/mach, so how could they be referring to that one when they mentioned the third 3" one? At least that's how it seems from my conversations with them. IF they are talking about another 3" one, it would seem to be larger than the one I have pictured above and call the "extreme lid". I guess that 3" one would have to be the MORE EXTREME lid. But the extreme lid seems a little bit taller than Shelby, doesn't it? But not 3" taller. I could be wrong.
You should send them my pic of the "extreme lid" and ask them which one that is, that should clear it up. And make sure that they do indeed have 3 lids /extensions for coupe/convertible '69-70. In any case it doesn't seem like they would work for me personally because I want the swoop back like in the E-car above or a California Special. CS is actually a little tame, I want it to swoop a little more back and be a little bit taller.
I don't know, I'm real curious to see what you end up with. I have the bigger taillights so the spoiler won't overpower them, but I would be careful with the smaller taillights if it were my car. Just an opinion, I'd love to see what you end up with.
Here's the point where I whine about having a '69-70 and how the earlier guys have easier choices with all the e-kits and gt/cs and mustangs plus style kits and such out there.

Joe

 

[70vert]

Knight Rider

Hey Pak,
I'm going to just buy the Shelby one and put a Knight Rider thing in there and paint mine all black. what you think?



Joe

 

[Pakrat]

So you can see my dilema then? They show only one on their site but who knows what the hell is what. I know what you mean about the swoop back but I don't know where you are going to get it from.

I'll try to ask them one last time but I am afraid they may be tired of my emails as they suggest I call with further questions. I know purple haze is a sportsroof but doesn't it look taller? I only meant it as a reference, I guess I should just go shelby to be safe but theirs just seems a little smoother and more refinded with no hard edges. Life would be so much easier without choices, sigh.

 

[70vert]

yeah, purple haze looks taller

which is even more surprising b/c it's a sportsroof, so it should look shorter than a coupe/convertible because the rise isn't so dramatic. You know, I just measured it up against my screen with a piece of paper and the Purple Haze IS taller. So here's what I think they have:

1. Shelby, that ramps right up abruptly from the end of the rear qtr and is fairly short

2. The one I have pictured above when I visited, that is slightly more concave on the inside than the Shelby and is shorter than Steve Kleva's above and doesn't curve out.

3. The third option as pictured on Steve Kleva's Coupe that you show above. It's tall, and curves out but not out as much as the eleanor convertible I pictured. It's as close to what I would want as they have - I should photoshop some '70 taillights onto Steve Kleva's ride.

But yeah, calling them would be best. You know, I am probably having some custom subframe connectors done by them after my floor pans are in. They guy who is doing my pans knows the guys who work there, and his immediate reaction when he saw what Reenmachine is doing and that I wanted something similar was to have Maier do it. I can clear all this up with them but that isn't for at least a month.

decisions, decisions,
Joe

 

[Pakrat]

Well, here's some new info. Today I called up the guy at Maier that I had spoken to by email several times to order my unit, I decided on the Shelby style after all. Fortunate for me as somehow even though I mentioned it every time to him, he was unware it was for a vert somehow. Turns out that there must be some type of difference none of us know about between the coupe and the vert because they have had many fit issues (other than the regular fit issues we have all grown to accept) reported with their standard units when used on the verts from customers. So now the Shelby is all they will sell for verts. Weird hunh? I could swear I have seen a Shelby unit on a coupe before so I don't know why it wouldn't work in reverse but I guess as it turns out it doesn't?!?!?! So it would appear I have been stewing over this for nothing, I never had a choice form the start, lol.

So for those of you considering the Shelby unit for your coupe, you may be out of luck, it simply may not fit. You may not have a choice as well.