New Mustang Bodies/Shells

[69gmachine]

There's a certain amount of risk when taking a car to a body shop needing structural repairs. I took a '69 M code fastback to a "Mustang" shop in Alvaredo, Texas back in '90. He took a car that needed work, and absolutely destroyed it. The only thing I could salvage from the shell was cutting the rear quarters off.

My current Mach 1 is in need of major re-freshening. The paint has started to fade, and although the rust is minimal in most places, both doors and trunk lid need to be replaced. I was quoted $8 K for the body work and paint.

Although you can still find a complete driver '67 fastback for $15 K or even less, you never really know what you're getting until you strip it down to bare metal. A great looking paint job can start bubbling up in less than a year if it's been shot over rust. But of course you get to start driving right away.

I'm glad someone took a risk with his own venture capital to start a company that provides our hobby with a new supply of toys. Even though the price seems high, I think they will stabilize the prices of the remaining builder bodies. The repop shells will never command the price of a restored original R-code, but that's not what they're trying to do either. I doubt I'll ever actually buy one because I already have a ton of money in my '69, but it's nice to know the option is there.

 

[BB1966]

i believe it is the same way in texas, at least that is what the guy that works with me said.

To my knowladge the EPA has backed off that.

 

[Pakrat]

Lets just say that worse case, if the bulk of their customers are those who want to build drag cars and non street legal machines or Carroll Shelby authorized six figure Eleanor clone rich boy toys and leave the solid (or not so solid) originals to us folk that have been the backbone of this hobby then by all means, Dynacorn I salute you!


The other plus side is by doing a full body then hard to come by parts like just the cowls for example suddenly become available too. If they follow thru with the 69' body as their next Mustang project then I know alot of folks with wet feet that are going to be veeeeery happy in the near future.

 

[danny clemens]

Lets just say that worse case, if the bulk of their customers are those who want to build drag cars and non street legal machines or Carroll Shelby authorized six figure Eleanor clone rich boy toys and leave the solid (or not so solid) originals to us folk that have been the backbone of this hobby then by all means, Dynacorn I salute you!

I agree 100%.

 

[zookeeper]

It's no different than the street rod stuff that's been churned out by various aftermarket suppliers for 30+ years. Did you know that Brookville Roadster sells a steel '32 roadster body that is identical in every single way to a "real" duece roadster body? Does it make the Ford-built bodies worth less? Nope. They're both still out of my price range, and there's room in the market for both. Also, at the rate Hollywood is going through '67 fastbacks, I'd think everyone would be thrilled to see a repro fastback body, regardless of price.

 

[washMO66]

Immoral? What are we talking about here......cars or what? Maybe unethical not to divulge to a buyer that it is a Dynacorn body and not an original.

Me personally if I was a buyer I would rather have the new metal. If you don't do your own bodywork that is where you will spend lots of coin on these rustbuckets in the midwest. If the car is not anything special, i.e. original Shelby GT or if talking other years, boss Mach etc.... Who cares if its a Dynacorn, it's still a Mustang that is going to get driven and why not start with a clean slate.

I just passed on this two owner 67 Fastback for $4K, I was all excited at first and then I realized that I really don't want a 67 Fastback like half the yuppies wanting to be like Nick Cage, and if I did I would do it with a new body as opposed to dropping a load of cash on body work.

View attachment 389277

As far as Dynacorn, I think they are doing a great service to the hobby and I for one am excited about them making 57 Chevy convertibles... How much fun would that be to build?

 

[danny clemens]

washMO66, is that 67 F/B still available? My brother would love to have it and would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[bigcat]

yeah, whats the problem with that car? looks straight and rust free from here.

 

[washMO66]

I am fairly sure it has already sold as I passed on the info to some other guys I know that really enjoy bodywork. From where you are standing I'm sure it looks straight and rust free. But the fact is that it has been sitting in the woods digging into the moist Missouri soil for 12 years.....

Cowl vents were gone (I tested them with a little water)

So if the cowl vents are gone guess what else is gone, floor pans.

Engine compartment had rust all over it

all the metal in the wheel wells was eaten up

the interior needed to be 100% gutted, I mean everything



the frame rails had some issues as well (not too bad but issues)

a family of mice was residing under the dash, in the back seat, in the truck (no trunk floors left btw)

The body panels were all fairly rust free and very straight, didn't ever appear to have been in a collision.

All that being said it wasn't too bad, a little worse than my car when I started it but like I said, I just am not a fan of the 67 and the profit I could have made re-selling the car was not worth the headache for me.

 

[BB1966]

Immoral? What are we talking about here......cars or what? Maybe unethical not to divulge to a buyer that it is a Dynacorn body and not an original.QUOTE]

How would you feel about it if you just bought a Boss 302/429 or a Shelby or SCJ and find out it is a Dynacorn
And sooner or later that WILL happen to someone..................

 

[washMO66]

Are you in politics because you took what I said out of context

or

you didn't read the rest of my post, I was gigging the use of the word Immoral and in the following paragraph (below) I stated the exception of specialty cars.

"If the car is not anything special, i.e. original Shelby GT or if talking other years, boss Mach etc.... Who cares if its a Dynacorn, it's still a Mustang that is going to get driven and why not start with a clean slate."



right back at ya

 

[BB1966]

I did read it all........................Just wanted to know how you would feel...

 

[washMO66]

I would feel dirty.

 

[BlackGMC]

let me ask this question. What if you bought a Shelby GT.. when later you found out that they put a repro fender on it. Would it make the car less special?

 

[BB1966]

The car itself...not really but I would start to question the quality of the restoration of so expensive car. That goes along with everthing I have been saying.Adding repo parts to build a car does not make the car a repo. If you build one of the repo cars it is NOT a Mustang it will just LOOK like one. Building one and swaping the VIN from a junk car without going through DMV is not legal. If the buyer knows it is a repo and is ok with it then all is well.
People will do good with this body but think more will try to do wrong with it.
no more ranting about this from me......................

 

[Hack]

I did read it all........................Just wanted to know how you would feel...

Nothing personal to you, but I would never buy a car to put in a garage and look at it. So, I have no worries about reproduction versus original. I don't care at all. I like reproduction parts because they enable people like me to use the cars - a lot - and then fix them again. The hypothetical situation of being horrified about buying a fake Shelby, etc. is something that happens to other people who have extra money to spend on cars they won't drive.

Also, if I'm looking at a restored car at a show - unlikely, but I'll look at the first one some times and then skip the rest of the identical, boring restos - I don't care if the parts are repo or NOS. I'm glad that some people restore cars and preserve history, but I really don't understand why NOS is cherished by some. I just don't get it.

I want a car that works well. Fun to drive is key. I have no desire to buy a car just because Ford didn't make many of them originally. Most people can do a better job making the cars go faster, handle and stop better than Ford did originally. What's special about a 250 straight 6 and 4 wheel drums? I sure as heck wouldn't build a car like that!

 

[washMO66]

Nothing personal to you, but I would never buy a car to put in a garage and look at it. So, I have no worries about reproduction versus original. I don't care at all. I like reproduction parts because they enable people like me to use the cars - a lot - and then fix them again. The hypothetical situation of being horrified about buying a fake Shelby, etc. is something that happens to other people who have extra money to spend on cars they won't drive.

Also, if I'm looking at a restored car at a show - unlikely, but I'll look at the first one some times and then skip the rest of the identical, boring restos - I don't care if the parts are repo or NOS. I'm glad that some people restore cars and preserve history, but I really don't understand why NOS is cherished by some. I just don't get it.

I want a car that works well. Fun to drive is key. I have no desire to buy a car just because Ford didn't make many of them originally. Most people can do a better job making the cars go faster, handle and stop better than Ford did originally. What's special about a 250 straight 6 and 4 wheel drums? I sure as heck wouldn't build a car like that!

Bingo. My mindset as well...to each their own.

If Dynacorn 67 bodies aren't Mustangs as has been stated above then I would have no problem building myself a brand new 67/07 Dynacorn Fastback....

 

[zookeeper]

I picked up a copy of Hot Rod magazine that had the article on the new fastback bodies and I thought it was pretty interesting. The thing is being sold as a "Ford licensed replacement body". Maybe that's important to you, maybe not. As far as everyone being all up in arms over the world now being filled to capacity with fake GT500's, I say relax, it ain't going to happen, not now, not ever. Why? Look at it this way: when building a clone, regardless of intent, the body is the least of your worries. Trust me one this one. There are sooooo many '67 Shelby parts that simply are not available in repro form. Also, if the prospective buyer is even semi-intellegent, he knows about SAAC and wouldn't think of dropping $200,000+ on a car without at least consulting the registry to see if his prospective car is the real thing. That's why you never hear of someone buying a fake Shelby today. The base cars are out there, but how are you going to fake all the date codes on the body panels? How are you going to come up with the correct vin on the title? How are you going to explain the fact that the SAAC registry says your particular car was totaled in '69? Give buyers a little credit, for Pete's sake. Watch B-J auctions sometime and you'll see that while these guys may drive the price for the roof, they research (or have someone research) a particular car long before they write the check. A muscle car without documentation is always suspect and always sells for much, much less money.
As a side note, most casual "car guys" really don't know the difference in Shelby's and clones. How do I know? There's a decent '66 fastback in my area that is always at local car events. The guy did a good job of building a driver-quality GT350 clone, but it has some glaring "mistakes" that differentiate it from a real Shelby. One of the errors is the repro Shelby vin tag that goes on the fenderwell, he never even hand-stamped a number on it. But I have had more people than I can count claim its a genuine Shelby, and that's from people who should know better. Why is this not a big deal? Because these people aren't buying Shelbys. Same as me not knowing the difference between a real LS6 Chevelle and a Malibu with SS stuff on it. I'm not buying it, so why bother getting all excited with knowing how to spot a clone?

 

[jikelly]

Zoo makes some good points there.

Honestly, I would perfer that those new Elenor Shelbys be built using the reproduction bodys. Lots of fastbacks going that way and eventually people will realive that those cars aren't the end all be all of the mustang universe.

New metal is great too. I'd love it if they made a 73 shell so I would know that there's a replacement out there for my old "big" girl.

 

[68rustang]

Honestly, I would perfer that those new Elenor Shelbys be built using the reproduction bodys.

I would be surprised if that wasn't a driving force behind bringing these to market.