Progress Thread Project Fix This Thing Already!

Does anyone have any advice on how to restore the moldings on these cars? All the stainless, I'm assuming its stainless, around the windshield is scratched up and needs to be addressed. I'm guessing this would be a common issue. Is it difficult to polish it back out? Is there a coating or anything else to be aware of that can be damaged if you're not careful? Also, what about the chrome on the brake lights and other plastic bits? As far as I know they are all original, but they are starting to look ruff.
 
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I bought a cheap borescope off of Amazon a few months back and was messing around in the shop the other night. I was curious how the pistons in the the old 289 looked so I popped the camera in there for a peek. Looks good to me! I just hope the other 7 look the same.

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65 window stainless wil polish up nice haven't seen one with a coating yet
brake light bezels are reproduced now

And look at those sealed power flat tops all shiney and new
NICE!
 
I made it back up to my dads over the weekend and picked up the rest of the car parts.

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There was a lot more stuff, but I didn't take pics of everything. A fried of my dads gave him an extra center console for the car. The original one is the all black one that has been cut. It was cut to fit the aftermarket AC in decades ago. I plan to put AC back in the car but I'll be using one of the new all in one things that goes where the heater box currently is.

The fox is almost back together. Once it's done I'll be digging into this project.
 
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I've always wanted to strip this car all the way down and have it painted. I've come to the conclusion that if I wait for that to happen it wont run again as long as it is mine. So I've decided to start trying to do small stuff to it as I can and spread to pain out. The trunk gasket is from either the 70s or 80s. I dont think it is original, but it has dry rotted and mostly fell off. This is a cheap fix and as good as any place to start. The problem for me is it is glued onto the trunk. That's the correct way of doing it as far as I can tell. CJ Pony parts recommends a 3M adhesive when buying a new gasket. The paint on the car is in decent shape with no rush. I dont want to accidentally strip any off though. Can anyone recommend a good method or product for doing this? I'm sure this will be the first of many areas that will need this. All the gaskets are shot and will need to be replaced. I'm guessing using a heat gun to soften the material up and some kind of thinner to strip it? I tried to do a search and couldn't find anything relevant to what I was looking for. I'm sure there is something on the site. I just dont know how to find it.
 
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Just rip it off and sacrificial finger skin to rub it off mostly,

Yeah I don’t know, but excited to see a fresh post in this thread
 
I like your convertible project and your thread. I like Mustang stories that go decades back. I'm in the north part of the state just 3 miles south of Tennessee state line.
The mirror on the drivers door is an original fancy or "deluxe" mirror that came on pony interior Mustangs for sure. If you don't see the control cable for it, it should be laying down inside the door. The short "AC" console was cut and capped at the factory for Mustangs that had a factory installed (in most cases) and sometimes at the dealer. The under-dash unit that in 1965 Mustangs look just like 1964 Fairlane under-dash units. Do you have all of the under hood engine parts for the air conditioning? AC working on the old vehicles adds ~$4000- to their value when you are putting classic car insurance like Hagerty on it. Hagerty is really friendly about insuring unfinished projects.
Me and my younger brother have been working on the 1960's Mustang since the early 1970s when we were young teenagers. This past Tuesday, we started back on the restoration of a 1966 Mustang coupe, C code 289, auto transmission, power steering, air conditioning, pony interior with a vinyl top. It is going back near original. The junky, leaking hydraulic assist power steering is coming off. Electric assist steering is going on. Upgrading the AC to all new components with a restored under-dash evaporator unit. Under the hood it will have an upgraded compressor much like the one on your foxbody, a Sanden SD-7 dual belt. I'm not intending to step on your thread, just give you ideas and info about the mirror and console. Keep putting your convertible back together and address the couple of paint issues at the end of your project. There are some little tricks, for the lack of a better word, that you can do to fix the chips.
If you go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010788463239 , you can see a few pictures of the Tan (Sahara Beige) 1966. The AC units in the 1966 were narrower than the 1965 units. It is in a picture or two. On our long FB page, there is also a 1965 coupe that we are in the middle of a restoration. Also for any 1967-68 people reading this, we just finished installing aftermarket AC on a gold 1967 Fastback Mustang.
If you want to see how I polished some ss trim on a 1970 convertible that we restored, on our Facebook page, scroll down to July 26th 2019 and there is a short video of me polishing some old stainless steel windshield trim. I made a buffer out of a "thrift store" electric motor. Online I purchased a mandrel to attach to the motor shaft and also purchased a buffing wheel and several different grades of buffing rouge. Start with the coarsest rouge and work your way up. One piece of trim hade some scratches, so I used 1500 wet sand paper and water sanded it first. I'm not a trim restoration guy but our set-up worked ok.
If you have the under-dash AC unit and the AC engine brackets, I can walk you through installing and upgrading the air conditioning. It would be nice to have on the sweltering summer Enterprise days.
If you want to follow our Facebook page, click add friend and send a message that you are the red convertible guy down in Enterprise.
Keep up the good work!
 
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The AC is an aftermarket unit. Probably installed in the 70s, maybe... Unfortunately most of it was stolen years ago. I didn't realize that until I got the car to my house and noticed stuff missing. I asked my dad about it and found out it was stored in a barn he has along with other stuff. Somebody broke in several years back and made off with a lot of stuff. Mostly junk, but most of the AC was in their haul.
 
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