Restomod Ideas

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Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
187
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1
Location
Maryland
My Car
'73 Mach1, motorcycle, Ford Ranger
I had a couple of decent restomodding ideas this afternoon.

One is about that antenna. I never liked the antenna on our cars. It stands out. I was thinking about a motorized telescoping antenna, but that adds weight. So as I'm driving home tonight, I'm following a new GT that has an impressive rear wing. It's got four pads holding it to the car, and I think, "That wing would look pretty good on the Mach," and then I notice the antenna right next to the wing. "Ford sure missed an opportunity," I think. "It'd be cool if that antenna were inside the wing, and the wiring could go through one of those four pads." And then I realize that I could build an antenna into my wing.

My second idea is for the rear turn signals. I like amber turn signals. I'm also not a fan of brake lights that are also turn signals. It happens that my back-up lights aren't connected, as I installed a manual trans and never hooked them up. So it would be super-easy to swap the clear bulbs for amber, and move the turn signal wires to the back-up light slots. I'll give it a try this weekend and see if it works as easily as I hope.

 
I've seen some with the antenna on the back quarter it looks a little better.

Antenna%20Rear%20Mount.jpg


Here's the article it's at the very bottom.

http://429mustangcougarinfo.50megs.com/mustang_exterior.htm

Just an idea

 
I've seen some with the antenna on the back quarter it looks a little better.

Just an idea
My old '70 fastback had the antenna in the rear quarter and it looked much better there. I replaced it with an electric one so when the radio wasn't on it was all but invisible except for the base.

If i was to ever do this then I think using a flush mount power antenna in the rear quarter like this one on ebay would be a good option:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LOW-PROFILE-Car-Truck-Flush-Flat-Mount-POWER-ANTENNA-/220809289940

 
I like the rear mounted antenna, but I think it would look a little too "busy" with the rear spoiler too. I was thinking about this a bit more last night, and I suddenly realized that I have a fiberglass front bumper, which is easy to get into as the back isn't closed, so instead of cutting & drilling my rear wing and then having to patch the holes, I'm just going to move the antenna into my front bumper where it will be hidden from sight, and I'll patch the factory holes in my fender.

 
I´ve had my antenna welded up too. Looks much better without. I glued one inside the car on the windshield. It doesn´t work that well, though. It only catches one or two stations. Gotta find another idea for that.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had a couple of decent restomodding ideas this afternoon.

One is about that antenna. I never liked the antenna on our cars. It stands out. I was thinking about a motorized telescoping antenna, but that adds weight. So as I'm driving home tonight, I'm following a new GT that has an impressive rear wing. It's got four pads holding it to the car, and I think, "That wing would look pretty good on the Mach," and then I notice the antenna right next to the wing. "Ford sure missed an opportunity," I think. "It'd be cool if that antenna were inside the wing, and the wiring could go through one of those four pads." And then I realize that I could build an antenna into my wing.

My second idea is for the rear turn signals. I like amber turn signals. I'm also not a fan of brake lights that are also turn signals. It happens that my back-up lights aren't connected, as I installed a manual trans and never hooked them up. So it would be super-easy to swap the clear bulbs for amber, and move the turn signal wires to the back-up light slots. I'll give it a try this weekend and see if it works as easily as I hope.
I'm not sure about Maryland inspection laws, but you may want to check into it before getting rid of the backup lights. I think in Virginia you have to have them for safety purposes. Otherwise, sounds like a neat idea.

 
I never listen to the radio either (CD-changer in the Ram), so I might consider getting rid of the stock antenna as well. I'm planning on getting the USA-630 head unit and just run a USB thumb-drive loaded up with tunes.

I wonder how tough it would be to install an 'A-pillar' antenna like on a lot of the imports from the '80s-'90s - my '95 Civic Hatch had one that I could retract into the "A-pillar" when not in use, then extract if I actually did want to listen to the radio.

 
I'm not sure about Maryland inspection laws, but you may want to check into it before getting rid of the backup lights. I think in Virginia you have to have them for safety purposes. Otherwise, sounds like a neat idea.
MD only inspects cars the first time you get tags, and never again after that. And with MD's "Street Rod" tags (like "Historic," but for modified older cars) you don't even need an inspection to get tags. So, I don't need to worry about inspection. I haven't had working backup lights for several years. My plan eventually was to mount an LED on the rear with a console switch, so if I need a backup light I can just hit the switch. If I go to sidepipes, I might put my backup light(s) in the exhaust cutouts on the valance. But I don't know what the point of a backup light on these cars is - you can't see what you're backing into anyway.

 
I'm not sure about Maryland inspection laws, but you may want to check into it before getting rid of the backup lights. I think in Virginia you have to have them for safety purposes. Otherwise, sounds like a neat idea.
MD only inspects cars the first time you get tags, and never again after that. And with MD's "Street Rod" tags (like "Historic," but for modified older cars) you don't even need an inspection to get tags. So, I don't need to worry about inspection. I haven't had working backup lights for several years. My plan eventually was to mount an LED on the rear with a console switch, so if I need a backup light I can just hit the switch. If I go to sidepipes, I might put my backup light(s) in the exhaust cutouts on the valance. But I don't know what the point of a backup light on these cars is - you can't see what you're backing into anyway.
;) You may as well throw in a back-up camera too!

 
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