Nick's "lvndpst" Restoration (and Slight Modification) Thread

95BlueStallion said:

Let me start by saying I am no story writer like our pal, @madmike1157 . But I have a story to tell about the past month of my life.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about dumb visual stuff lately. It all spawns from the fact the right front corner of my front bumper is a hack job by guy that owned this car before me. Never really exposed that to you guys, but here it is.



Now that you know about that, let me say I have never particularly liked the front or rear bumpers on the GT's (I bought this GT instead of an LX because of my past, as you know). I have been kicking around cutting and installing a Cervini's Saleen style front valance in conjunction with the GT front bumper extensions. Even though I cant find any pics of people that have done it, I was wanting a different front bumper than the traditional GT. However, now I am leaning toward something a little more over the top that will be a one off hate it / love it look. I have a gentleman about an hour from me with a really awesome parts warehouse for higher end Mustangs (03-04 Cobras, GT500s, Boss', etc). He also has a BAD ass procharged, coyote swapped notch... Anyway, I bought the new (to me) rear axle for my 2011 from him to swap with the one I ruined when I had wrecked it. He says he has an 03-04 Cobra bumper that is too F'ed to sell, but should work for my endeavor. Lets start with this talking point.



That ^ is obviously a hack job. I am thinking about more like grafting the very bottom over the top of (kind of) my GT lower bumper section. Keeping it slightly recessed up under the trim line. Obviously if I pulled that off, the scoops on the front GT fender extensions are gonna look goofy mated up to the new lower front bumper. Here I think I will use Cobra fender extensions to help allow the transition to be smoother.


For the time being, I would leave the GT side kit as is. I HATE the Saleen side skirts and rear bumper. They look thin and flimsy to me, and I hate the rear bumper in between the tail pipes...

That brings us to the rear. I am not a fan of the Cobra rear bumper in front of the GT side scoops. Hard to explain, but I dont like the buldges on the sides behind the smooth GT scoops. I randomly stumbled on this next talking point just today...

A trimmed GT rear bumper to mimic a Saleen. (Dont even talk about the front LX bumper / GT fender extension. Lets pretend that isnt even there, put your hand over the front end and look at the rest)



That ^ I think I can easily mimic, along with a set of Cobra tails, and pull it off. It looks very similar to a Saleen rear from the side, and is just smooth across the back like an LX bumper... The best part about all of this? I would start with the Cobra front bumper hack job, and if it doesnt turn out, I need a new front bumper anyway. If I do like how it turns out, then I would buy some Cobra extensions, and go town on the rear bumper.

And then the car will be so far from stock, that I wont feel bad about the ruining a bone stock car by swapping a 408W in the course of the next 1-2 years... I mean, if you take things slow and do a decent job, hacks can look ok. Had this guy smoothed the sides of the fronnt bumper, I think this looks pretty nice.




WAIT, I found a guy who did it, kinda. Save for the ricer headlights, wonky new edge grill delete area, the fact he made it flush with the front trim of the bumper, (I would attach under and set back an inch, more like the stock bumper), and there is no body kit on the rest of the car, I like it.




I think I am going to give it a go, just for ****s and giggles. Maybe, just maybe, I can pull something off that surprises the purists. Anyone care to discuss?

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