Project: Return Of Sally

Just joined here. Here's my story- I got my first 65 Mustang in 2007. My then girlfriend, now wife, bought it for me as a gift. We did the cliche thing and named her Sally.





Unfortunately at the end of 07 I was involved in a pretty bad accident. Here is what she looked like after the wreck....





I was young and didn't have the funds or knowledge to fix the car, so I sold it. My wife and I had always talked about trying to get it back. We always had a really special connection with that car. We even have a painting of it in the garage that my wife painted from when we took the car the its first car show.



About a month ago, I put up an ad on Craigslist looking for the guy who bought my Mustang. A few hours after posting it, he called me and he actually still had it! Turns out he had been saving it for me all these years in case I ever came back for it. So 9 years later I'm finally getting my car back!







It hasn't really been touched in that time other than the wheels are now gone, engine is gone and all the damaged panels have been removed. Other than that, the car was untouched. Even the date of the crash was still written on the windshield from the tow yard that picked it up.



He was nice enough to hold onto it for another month while I finished redoing the floors in my garage in preparation for the return of Sally. I finally brought her home last weekend!







I did a little clean up on the interior and I was surprised that it really doesn't look much different than it did nearly a decade ago.





But after the clean up, it was time to start stripping the interior out. (The whole car will be going down to bare shell, but I figured the interior was a good place to start). I did discover some rust in the front floor boards, but the floors would need to be replaced anyway even if there was no rust. The impact was so hard that it bent both framerails and the floor buckled in a couple places. The floor and everything from the firewall forward will need to be replaced.





I have a very long project ahead of me, but I'm so happy to have my car back!

Haha, I figured that was what you meant. Kind of a similar situation. It wasn't my first car but it was MY first car (meaning actually owned by me and not my parents). The car has actually been in my name all these years. I handed him the cash and he handed me my old title back, haha.

It will be a very long road, but I will update as often as I can. I am planning on going with a modern drivetrain and modern suspension. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but the car isn't original anyway. It was previously restored about 20 years ago. Exterior and interior colors were changed then. Engine was still matching numbers up till the wreck, but the block was damaged in all the carnage.

Thanks, I'm in Florida.

dimex3 said:

What type of seat belt are those??


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They're Schroth 4 point racing harnesses. They use the factory bolt points for the floor and the top bolts into the roll bar. They were installed in the car when we originally bought it. I won't be using them this time around. I'll just be going with a standard 3 point shoulder harness.

Been working at getting the car stripped down to a bare shell, got most of the interior out, as well as the roll bar (which is for sale).



So far, no other hidden surprises have popped up.

I'll need to build a cart soon for the car, as it will shortly have no suspension at all- and therefore, no way to mount wheels. I want a build a cart that I can weld the body onto that will have enough access for me to replace the floor. I also want it to have enough bracing to keep the body stiff while everything is getting replaced. The entire floor pan and everything from the dash forward will be cut out at some point.


On another note- can anyone identify these brakes? They're cast iron 4 piston fixed calipers, rotors are 11.2" in diameter. There does not appear to be any brand markings on them anywhere.

More progress today, got all the glass out as well as most of the trim. I was happy to find that the areas that I was expecting rust had none to be found and the areas that I KNEW had rust, were less severe than I had anticipated.







I may have made a sizable mess as well. Looks like I may need to make a scrap run soon.



Pulled the C4 out today too. That will be up for sale, I won't be needing that with my future plans.





In all of the stripping down, I found the original color of the car, which I'll admit I like quite a bit.

Progress continues. I've got the car down to nearly a bare shell now. And when I say bare shell, I mean nothing left on the car that doesn't need to be cut off. No wiring, no brake lines, nothing. I'll be sending it off to media blasting soon.

Started cutting off what was left of the aprons.




Got the rear end out today


Also picked up a parts car from the same guy I got mine back from. It's been wrecked in the rear quarter, but the front frame rails are goon and will be used to save mine. The parts car was only $250 and came with the trailer!



Now that I've spent some time with the car, I've decided what direction that I will be going with this project. I plan on using an aluminum Teksid 32v 4.6 out of a Lincoln Mark VIII with Cobra heads. I also plan on using the complete IRS out of an 04-05 Cobra.

Well, it's been a while. Not much has changed, but I'm starting to pick back up on the project. Got the frame rails off, still haven't sent it to sand blasting yet, but that will probably be next month.


I did find some great seats for her though. Very modern support and bolsters, but a very 60's looking upholstery pattern. Full power, with lumber support. I just need to have an upholstery shop delete the headrest holes for me.


Seat rails are perfectly flat, so mounting is pretty straight forward. The seat risers need to be removed (yes, I will add in additional support). Building a support out of 1"box tubing which puts the seats in a perfect position.