1966 Coupe Build Thread: Military Tribute Car

[jevchance]

Hey everyone,

I began work on my 1966 Mustang Coupe February of 2011. I'm starting this thread to track progress and share photos and videos for anyone who cares to follow the thread.

This coupe was my first car. I got it in the spring of 1991, I was 15 at the time. Over the next 9 months my dad and I freshened up the car and had it painted. I drove it daily (as weather allowed) during my high school years, and put it away during college as it was suffering from some really bad paint bubbling (I suspect a reaction with the product).

I've driven it now and then in the past 10 years on sunny days, but the car was starting to look rat-rodish. Some rust had started and I didn't want it to get any worse, so I took it off the road fall of 2010.

At that time, the car looked pretty much like this:


It was a pretty decent 10 footer, but the rust had started:


And the paint looked like hell:


But, most of the body was solid:


Like I said, I wanted to get at it before it got any worse.

So I've been pecking away at it ever since. I have two toddlers so my free time is at a premium, but the car is progressing and I'm hoping to lay down paint next summer.

The plan is to:

• paint the car ingot silver (a newer Mustang color)
• lower it as much as I can get away with
• 16" 2005-2009 Mustang V-6 rims (with spinners) painted flat black
• carbureted roller 5.0/AOD
• custom, mostly hidden audio system

And most importantly, the car will have a military tribute theme. I'm not a veteran, but I am a free man and because of that I feel deeply grateful to the veterans and current active servicemen and women. I haven't yet decided on the final details, but some or all of the following will be incorporated:

• olive drab hood, a reference to USAAF
• custom military center caps
• a custom airbrushed mural on the glove box door
• custom markings on the car
• signage to accompany the car and discuss the influences, and my personal gratitude to vets and active military

Lastly, I'm chronicling the entire restoration on Youtube. I have a LOT of videos related to the restoration, but I'll be posting some key progress indicating videos on here.

Anywho, thats the gist of whats going on. I welcome your feedback, and thanks for looking!

Note: I'll be posting links to a bunch of videos in the next few posts.

[jevchance]

Before taking it off the road:

You Tube

You Tube

First video of restoration:

You Tube

You Tube

Walkaround:

You Tube

You Tube

Engine Assessment:

You Tube

You Tube

Interior Assessment:

You Tube

You Tube

Pressure Washing:

You Tube

You Tube

Etch and Prime Hoods and Trunk Lid:

You Tube

You Tube

Discussing the Tribute Mustang Idea:

You Tube

You Tube

Preview of the body work:

You Tube

You Tube

[mustang6]

Check this out, their son is in the military

[jevchance]

Wow that is really slick! Thanks for sharing that.

[Israel]

Not on my car

But if you wanna,.....go for it

[jevchance]

Originally Posted by Israel

Not on my car

But if you wanna,.....go for it

Thanks for your service!

[Boom]

I think to do this and have it look nice if you want to stick with silver; Go with an Air Force theme, of course theres is the vintage fighter plane the P51 Mustang. Maybe stick to that style for custom logos/paint.

OD Green on a bright metallic silver car is gonna look bad IMHO, tribute or not.

[67WCoupe]

Very cool! Keep the pics comin.

[jevchance]

Originally Posted by Boom

I think to do this and have it look nice if you want to stick with silver; Go with an Air Force theme, of course theres is the vintage fighter plane the P51 Mustang. Maybe stick to that style for custom logos/paint.

OD Green on a bright metallic silver car is gonna look bad IMHO, tribute or not.

The thought had crossed my mind. I've got a couple renderings I did, now's probably a good time to share them.

This is about as close as I could get with Photoshop, using a picture of someone else's car I swiped off the Internet as a basis.

Here's a clean slate. I probably won't go with the fiberglass wing, but I like the blacked out tail panel.



Here's a drawing I did as a mockup originally.



And here is what I Photochopped:



To be clear, I'm not happy with this rendering. Its too much. So I decided to step back to the silver without graphics and do more subtle touches, like the glovebox door and center caps.

Right now, I'm undecided but I have a lot of time to work it out.

Constructive criticism is always welcomed.

[Fullbasement]

With those graphics I think the car would look a lot tougher completely OD. Kind of like the "F Bomb" car Hot Rod Magazine did.

[jevchance]

Holy hell that is hot!

I'll definitely throw that into the consideration bag. Thank you. Keep em coming guys!

[jevchance]

For what its worth, here are some of the images I was using for inspiration.

[datac]

Old airplanes are cool, so are vets and old Mustangs.
That doesn't mean making a salad out of them is a good idea.
Making something a billboard isn't much of a tribute IMHO.

I love Jimi Hendrix, but I sure as heck don't want him plastered on my car.

[jevchance]

Some other photos I found on the web that are related.

This is cool but too much IMO.



Same thing here:

[jevchance]