72 Convertible - Finishing the restoration

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Last year I bought my Mustang after wanting one for many years. It had been restored by the previous owner, however it soon became clear there were a few unfinished jobs. So I took the car to John at American Auto Services in Hayes near London, who got to work on it.

He said the first thing that was shot was the front suspension, so top arm, lower arm, anti roll bar kit, saddles and the front sway bar kit was fitted. Also welding was need on the suspension mounts. The camber, caster and tracking was also set up.. He also fitted new brakes, brake hoses, wheel bearings, master cylinder, petronix, new trans seal, new propshaft UJ and rebuilt the carb. He also spotted the steering coupling was missing a bolt and was beginning to tear and the C4 trans mounts were loose! He did a great job sorting the car out and it drives much better now.

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The paint on the car was quite good, however, there were a few rust bubbles on the rear deck filler panel and some rust on the leading edge of the hood, so I took the car to a body shop not to far away called Roadrash Paintwork, who specialise in classic cars. After looking over the car, they advised me it would be easier to get a full respray, as the Ford True Blue paint would be difficult to blend with the existing paint. They also said the rot in the filler panel was probably caused by the water drains down the rear hood and under the chrome lipping and sitting in a channel below the filler panel, which eventually rotted. Not the greatest design in the world.

After looking over the car for a day or so, they said it was in very good condition with all solid panels. They fitted new fender extension mouldings from CJs as the previous mouldings were just made of filler! The hood moulding was also just filler, so he fitted a new hood extension moulding from CJs. He also removed the 73 bumper and fitted an original NOS urethane 71/72 bumper (which was still in the original Ford box too).

Here are some pics. The car is still being worked on, so I'll update this thread with the work in progress:

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Hi Mark,

Congrats on all the resto work getting done, and thanks for sharing the project with us. It's amazing when you start really getting a close look at these cars, just how much work ends up needing to be done. I want to respray my '73 Vert sometime next year, and that will end up being a big job for me too.

A bold move indeed to go for the respray, but from what you say, a wise one at this stage as well. It must be costing you a small fortune to get it done. BTW - just out of interest, what brand of paint is your shop using on your car?

Do keep us posted on the progress,

Greg.:)

 
Looks great! I've always liked the look of your car and glad you didn't change it.

 
Looks like they are doing a great job. True Blue is a great color. When my son was shopping for his 2001 Mustang Bullitt he was looking for one of the True Blue ones. The Bullitts only came in Dark Highland Green, Black, or True Blue. The True Blue ones were the least common of the Bullitts. He ended up with the Dark Highland Green though.

 
Here are a few more pics from the body shop. All the True blue paint is on. New argent decals, 3 coats of lacquer over it, sorted the rear bumper, fitted and sprayed the correct sports mirrors and new Mach 1 grille.

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It seems my Ford NOS Urethane bumper isn't fitting well, it's too big! Not sprayed up yet. No wonder it hasn't been used for the last 43 years.

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The bumpers fit poorly. I spent two days trying different things. You almost need to pull the end caps out but I tried that on a spare and that didn't work out. I would love to hear if anyone else had better luck.

 
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