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New '65 project

10K views 65 replies 19 participants last post by  Rowdy 
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#1 ·
I have another project started. This is a '65 coupe that the owner has owned for a long time. It definitely needs some love. The floor was replaced previously, but needs some work still to look good and be sound. The right quarter I stripped today. It took 29 minutes with Norton Blue discs and there was a lot of filler, a lot. The quarter has been replaced in it's lifetime, probably early on. It looks like it is a factory quarter skin that was used. There has already been one small patch welded into this replaced quarter and some new rust has formed . . just to give you an idea of how long ago the quarter was done. But the quarter is salvageable. Some small patches will be needed and not nearly the amount of filler that was originally in the quarter, will go back :) There was even filler in the dished out area of the quarter . .why??? Couple other pics just shows the condition of the car. The major work will be in the front. All 4 inner panels will need to be replaced along with both front frame rails . . at the least. I will know more once that area is stripped. This car had a 351W in it and I believe a stroked version will be going back in.
 

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#2 ·
car looks mostly solid. maybe you wont dig up anything terrible while stripping. my car needed more body panels replaced than yours appears too. My frame rails were fine though. Also thats alot of work stripping one by hand. I have literally weeks into stripping. From here on out i will be paying to have them blasted!!
 
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#4 ·
I know there is a lot of panel repair and replacement, been doing this too long to be naive :) The owner knows it as well. But I always hope for the best. Like I said, that quarter isn't original and it has a patch and more rust :) The front is going to be the job. The rest of the car I can patch and fix.
 
#5 ·
Car owner checking in to say I am excited to follow along on this build!

Pete and I spoke a few times and I spoke with other past customers so I am confident he will do a great job and I'll be happy in the end.

I've owned the car since 92 when I was 14 years old. Without a bunch of boring stories, I'll leave it at the car has way more sentimental value than it does financial value. It is the classic case of "If you want that end product, start with a different car" but this one will be saved.

Ford says it started life as as a Prairie Bronze and saddle brown interior. Coupe (Hardtop for the picky among us) 200 I-6, 3 speed, manual steering, manual brakes. Am only. If ford had an option available in 1965, this car didnt have it.

When I bought the car it was Red and White (interior) as seen above. I have always been a historic preservation type and initially I planned on keeping it all original. As I learned that red wasnt the original color and that the car wasnt desireably rare...I decided around 96 to make it what I wanted. Working my way through college I scrimped up the cash to ditch the I6 in favor of a 351W and a C4.

As I matured just a tad I learned what rust was. LOL. Soon I realized the floor boards were completely gone and needed to be replaced. My brother in law and I set about that task. We drove the car into his garage in November 2004 intending to weld in 2 small toe board patches and drive it out by Monday. The more we cut, the more rust we found and toe board extensions turned in front and rear full pans. Torque boxes in the rear. New seat risers. and on and on. At the time a one piece floor wasnt offered. If it was it would have been used. I am an electrical contractor. And I'm pretty good with my hands, but I am not a welder. I was a bit at his mercy and work was busy for both of us and the car wasnt a daily driver. November turned to January then February. In early February My brother in law was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 25. As chemo stressed his body his ability and desire to work on the car wained. We left it in his garage until he could regain the strength to finish it. But "man plans and God laughs" as they say and in January of 2007 he lost the battle. His wife locked his garage up with a logging chain and heavy lock and the car sat. In 2009 she called and said the house was being sold and the car needed to be moved. I picked it up drug it down to my farm and parked it along a tree line under a tarp. And it sat. In 2011 I pulled it into my garage where it has sat since.

I have a 15 year old son and he is every bit a car guy..and a few months back he said "Dad its crazy that you owned that car when you were my age. I hope we get it finished in time for me to drive it to my highs school prom like you and mom did."

Decision time.

Its taken up space too long. Its time to either fix it and make it right or get rid of it.
Let's do it right.

I called and spoke to 4 or 5 resto shops along the east coast. Pete made me feel comfortable and he and I share a lot of philosophical similarities on the cars and work ethics in general. That he was also a fellow Clemson Tiger didnt hurt. I graduated with a EE in '00 Pete beat me by a few years.

So last Tuesday (Election day!) my son and I set out on a simple trip that turned into an epic adventure. Pete lives about 2 hours from me, and we left home around 10AM bringing the car to him. Sometime around 6pm I pulled into Pete's beautiful retreat.

So that brings us to today. I look forward to following along as Pete fixes her rusty shell and I'll chime in with a few drivetrain posts as it comes together simultaneously.

Now back to work to pay for all this fun!

Ron
 
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#14 ·
OK, rocker molding stays. Left quarter looks great. Once I stripped it, I went into a funk that evidently ,lasted hours. I didn't know what to do. I've never seen a quarter look like this, I was confused . . . . . :) Door is good too. However, there was a repair already done. To me, a strange place to put in a patch panel. But it looks good and there certainly will not be as much filler used this time as there was in there.All in all, great left side.,
 

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#16 ·
Yeah, most of the work on this car is going to be more of the "unseen" or "unnoticed" variety. Although the exterior paint was terrible and therefore the car looked bad . . . . . the most dramatic ,actual, changes will be the engine compartment, cleaning up the floor work, maybe cowl work, etc.
 
#17 ·
I think the first time I contact Pete I said, "This car looks solid, until you dig in."

I'm pleasantly surprised the quarters are as solid as I thought, if that makes sense.

He hasn't started with detail pictures yet of the front frame rails, shock towers, firewall and inner fenders, That's where the worst is.

I'm excited to follow along.
 
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#18 ·
I'm going to get the rear quarters and doors in epoxy. Since they are relatively easy fixes, I'm going to finish them. I also will strip the left fender and see if it's a keeper or not, we know the right is not. Once the body is in primer and all work is finished, I'll dig into the front :)
 
#20 ·
man, i paid $1200 for a 65 coupe that didnt look bad at all, till i went to digging around and pulled the carpet, floor pans was crap, rear trunk had thin metal covering holes that i didnt see while it was dark before i bought the car, so later on i found i was in for a mess, and after getting upset and cutting all the floor pans rear trunk and both rear quarters completely out, i seen i had made a mistake and should have done bits at a time,, lol so now im left with a car from the front end to the rear windows with complete rear of car gone and no floor pans, *sigh* but i do have all the sheet metal to replace that, i need a new firewall but can add that after i do the floor pans and rear quarters, is there any way to do this with out a frame jig or do i need to spend $300 in metal to build one?
 
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#21 ·
You shouldn't need anything to put a couple together. You cut the tunnel out as well? if so, make sure the rockers don't spread when welding in a full floor.Other than that, it's all just putting a puzzle together.
 
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#23 ·
Just did a bit of weld sealing today. The right quarter was replaced at some time, probably a long time ago. It appears to have been gas welded. The weld looks good, but the weld was not treated and sealed. Filler was applied over the weld , which split and cracked. Rust formed which made the filler split even more. I cleaned up the weld and sealed it with Master Series silver.I did the same with the welds on the left door and fender.
 

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#24 ·
Left fender is off, PITA because of the valance damage and fasteners installed backwards, leaving little room to get at them :( Much rust here, from the cowl dissection previously done and not reinstalled even close to correct, to the frame rust around the steering box and to the "vented" shock towers. Yes, as I said, the front is going to be where the work is. Looking at pictures like this doesn't fully show the rust IMO. It's always worse than it looks in pics.
 

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#27 ·
I'm back on the '65. I epoxied the left side, including the front fender. You can see the weld on the door from a previous patch panel installation. All seem well with it. Now I'm ready to "hack" the front end off of the body. Here's some pics showing the extent of the rust and why replacing entire sides is the way to go. The frame rail is gone at the tower, as well as the tower and aprons around it. Both sides are about the same, keeping each other company in the rust department :) There was even rust at one of the steering box mounting holes. The suspension is removed, so not too far from cutting.
 

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