'67 Gt500 Resto/Recreation

Hello all, I thought I'd throw up some pics of my '67 project that I purchased last year. It's on it's way home from paint this week and I'm excited to get started putting her all back together!

...I'm new to the group and by all means if you'd like to know more about me personally I composed a nice little write-up in the Introduction section regarding myself and my previous toys, etc.

It's great to meet you all and I look forward to getting to know everyone and sharing info and opinions, etc.

The car started out as a running, driving, basic '67 Fastback, Aqua C-code San Jose, CA car with minimal rust and a pretty straight shell. I stripped her down to metal the old fashioned way, no blasting, as I did not want to take the risk of warping the panels nor did I want to deal with the cleanup involved with media or sand blasting.

I purchased all of the Shelby repro fiberglass from a gentleman that makes them for a few different companies, the most well known supplier would be Sacramento Mustang Parts. Everything is hand-made, EXCELLENT quality, and the molds are all taken from Original Shelby panels and reinforced in the known trouble areas. Everyone involved in fitment including myself were very impressed with the fitment and quality of the parts. I opted for the upgraded tail panel with the integral light housings, as well as the upgraded front fascia with built-in headlamp buckets.

All of the fiberglass has been custom fit to each panel by the body-shop, and as with any fiberglass, some minor reshaping was done here and there to allow for tighter fitment.

After going through dozens of color options I decided on DSM 6U3 ("Lexus" Desert Sage Metallic) and the stripes and GT500 insignias are all painted and cleared, no decals.

I hope you all enjoy everything I've done so far and please stay-tuned for more as it all comes together!

 

Pics from last week in the paint booth....

 

Before and in-progress pics...

 

Paint's all done, wheels are on, time to put her back together!

 

Tail lamp bulbs, sockets, lenses, and frames are all fitted and installed. That was a pain in the azz and a messy job but it came out great.

I also installed the rear bumper. It fits excellent compared to the aftermarket ones, (67-68 are the worst for fitment) This is an original bumper that has been re-chromed and straightened. Almost a perfect fit! I'm not going to lie, I had to shim things a bit but not too bad.

The Repro Shelby tail panel I'm using is the upgraded panel that has the lamp bezels built-in. That made certain things easier and certain things harder. I had to cut out all the holes for the bulbs and sockets, and drill the 12 lens frame stud holes through fiberglass and through the original steel panel behind it, and then try to gain access to all the nuts on the back. The lens gaskets this stuff came with were nowhere close to fitting so I had to make my own. The lenses also had to be trimmed here and there so they fit properly into the fiberglass provisions. As well as the reflective silver backing I painted on prior, I unexpectedly had to paint a few visible things inside the light bezel orange (YES ORANGE) so it didn't show through the lenses. (I could write a whole book and that little issue so I'll just leave it alone for now). The important thing is they came out great.

Although there were issues everything fit better than I expected. There's just no easy way to do these tail lights.

 

Thanks Kenny, I like the subtle appearance of the stripes and the rocker stripes and GT500 logos as well.

 

Decisions, decisions.....

I've decided to give some needed attention to the engine.

What I really want for this car is a 408 stroked Windsor. The current engine is a stock 4V 351W that is a direct transplant from a 1969 Mach1. So in a sense it would be a great start for a stroker motor. The only problem (although it doesn't sound like a problem) is that it is complete and original down to every nut and bolt, and has very low mileage, is in great mechanical shape, and it runs great. I even have the documentation and BAR smog sticker from the engine swap which was done back in 1994. I really don't want to use it for just the block when everything is so intact.

So the problem was do I keep this engine and run it as-is, maybe add heads and a cam to it, or just use the block for a stroker-build, or do I sell this motor as a good runner and build another motor?

After some deep thought I've decided that since this motor is so complete, original, and rare, I would just clean up the exterior and sell it to someone looking for a good running original Mach1 engine. It actually seems as though I have it sold here locally for a good price so that's working out nicely.

Although its a great engine, a stock 351 is not what I want for this car. It looks like I will be able to sell it "as-is" for the same as my cost on a complete forged and stroked shortblock. I already have a set of aluminum heads so I figured what the heck.

Here's some pics of the current engine..


BEFORE...



AFTER A LITTLE CLEANUP (ok a lot of cleanup)...

 

Got a few more things done on the back of the car. Emblems and gas cap are on, tinted the rear glass. We will be finishing the installation of the windows tomorrow and installing the polished stainless window trim.

 

Windows are in and stainless trim is on!

 

I just ordered the new engine, I've decided to go with a fully forged 600 horsepower 424 Stroker from FPS with 225cc aluminum CNC heads.

I think I may just go with a toploader 4-speed to keep cost down. Gears are 3:55 so really no need for an overdrive.

Here's a few updated pics of the car safe at home, and a few shots of the interior sheetmetal in progress.

 

Reverse lights are on




Fun-filled evening.... I attacked the front-end on this thing. Come to find out the required headlamp buckets are the low-beam/outer adjusting buckets off of a '69 Mustang. What I didn't know is that a '69 Mustang doesn't have it's own part # for these buckets. It re-uses a '68 Cougar, Fairlane, or some other part # and the left and right are swapped for use on a Mustang. (true story) This made getting a used set difficult because they say L and R but are on the wrong sides of the '69. ....Gotta love Ford.


The front is starting to take shape!

 

Painted the radiator support and all the parts for the front-end. Getting everything ready to install.

 

<<<Thanks! If I had my way it would be finished by now, but life has its priorities. As with any car, this one has gone over budget and over schedule. I've worked on a few Shelbys over the years and have done a good percentage of cloning various parts, but never actually put one together all by myself from start to finish. I have my work cut out for me but so far it's gone well. The outboard high-beam bracketry is going to be tricky for sure. As soon as I'm done "biting all my nails off in preparation" I hope to tackle it and get it done right. Crossing my fingers the lights don't give me too much grief.

 

<<Thanks for the kind words and the "heads-up". I'll keep posting pics as I go.

 

Got back to working on the car last night. After a few hours of drilling and re-drilling, and elongating holes, etc, I was able to get the high beam buckets and bracketry fitted to the grill and bolted onto the radiator support. I still have a few things to do before that part is completed but I made some good progress.

 

<<Thanks!!


Grill, signals, and high beams are all done. This is not a show car or an original, but fit and finish doesn't get much better than this. I'm definitely proud!