new member introduction, 1966 "Sprint" model 200 6cyl

[malodin]

My aunt recently passed away and in her basement was this little diamond in the rough.

















So my aunt bought this car in the mid 80's(cant remember the exact year) but 2yrs after she purchased it, she rearended someone and it sat in her basement ever since. i have begged her throughout my life to let me have it and restore it and she kept saying no....well she passed away and i wasnt about to let it go. My 4yr old son fell in love with the car when we pulled it out of the basement....it is now for him. you can see him running the winch and helping grandpa move it into place.

the interior in the car is in mint condition has the center console and other "sprint" stuff on it. it looks as if the car was at one point in time semi-restored.

however with the extent of the damage that is done i am trying to figure out my best route to go. i have a few different options.

1. find a 66 shell with good front structural and swap the interior and other pieces into it(then its not a sprint anymore)

2. have a body shop straiten it out, it appears from the shocktowers back that everything is still ok(not exactly sure going to go look at it this weekend again)

3. get the neccessary patch panels and rebuild it myself, while this would be a feasible option as i have a 40x40 garage i have alot of projects on my plate and do not want to see this one sit for very long in the weather where it is now.

would it be worth it keeping it stock and the "sprint" option?

would it ruin the value if i found a good donor shell?
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Caper50]

First off, my condolences to you and your family on your aunt's passing. First step is to strip off all the front sheet metal to see the extent of the damage...SAVE EVERYTHING for the time being. Have a body guy with frame experience come look at it. This is not a difficult fix. Worst case scenario you'll need another front clip. There are guys on this forum who either have salvage already or might be able to hook you up. Without getting too far into it consult a body guy first. If the car was being restored for my son I'd leave it with the original engine for the time being, he's young and that gives you plenty of time to decide if you want to put him behind the wheel of 300 + HP in a vehicle that is not really designed to sustain a high speed front end collision. Not trying to dampen your enthusiasm just being realistic. Welcome to the forum.

[MrRon1]

I just got finished redoing one in the exact same manner, not hard at all to replace the sheet metal. Great starting point and welcome the board lots of knowledge and some don't bite.

[tom991]

Welcome to VMF. Looking at the pictures it doesn't really look that bad. It doesn't look like the body was pushed back to hit the radiator supports which it where the frame rails end and that's a good thing. Today is CJ Pony Parts last day of a sheet metal sale (I think). You know you already need one, maybe two fenders, a hood, valance, and other misc trim, grille, etc. You could look for used originals on here, CL, and eBay. But by all means examine or have the frame looked at.

I'd keep it a 200 Sprint. There are plenty of V8 coupes available that you can toy with for the price of doing an I6 to V8 conversion.

[malodin]

guys, i think you might have miss understood the do i keep it a sprint etc...i meant only if i find a shell with the good front frame structure, but then it wouldnt be an original type car....

basically if it was to much body work to fix this shell.

if i ultimately end up having to swap engines for something else its going to be an Intech 4.0(bad *** motors)



however i would like to keep it as stock as possible and let my son decide as we go....

problem with body shop guys is they cant go to where its parked currently(grampa kind of a hermit). so i will have to pull the fenders and get more detailed pics. the radiator core support did bend back, its all jammed around the fan/front of the motor. But the core support i am not worried about fixing, its basically the side inner fenders that i think would be the hardest for me.


i even have a complete frame rack kargrabber 10u that all i would have to do is install it in my shop, unfortunately i only have some backyard frame straitening experience.

[malodin]

Originally Posted by MrRon1

I just got finished redoing one in the exact same manner, not hard at all to replace the sheet metal. Great starting point and welcome the board lots of knowledge and some don't bite.

do you have any pictures, i have been trying to find some detail pictures regarding steps neccesary to take.

[GT350R Klone]

If it is an economical decision, I would part the car out and find another coupe already done. If you can straighten the unibody correctly yourself, that may change the equation.

However, due to the emotional attachment, I would figure out a way to fix it and keep it in the family for you and in the future, your son to enjoy.

[malodin]

alright got more pictures
















this wrinkled inner fender is the spot im most worried about.














you can see in this picture it doesnt appear to have messed the frame rail up

[malodin]

please have a look let me know what you think, i know to get a better example i have to pull fenders but i am not in that position yet.

[buflash]

Looks pretty solid. Perhaps the collision damage is the only major issue.

My condolences on your loss.

[22GT]

I would have the car pulled to shape on a frame jig first. This won't fix the trashed crossmember at the front, but you'll likely end up with a perfect car from the shock towers back. Replacing everything forward of that is relatively simple. Those parts are readily available, inexpensive, and if you can MIG weld, easy to install.

A Candyapple Red Sprint is unusual, and worth doing. I saw one at Glazier/Nolan, and it's really outstanding.

The 66 Sprint included:
• 200 cid I6 engine
• Unique Sprint chrome air cleaner
• Wire wheelcovers
• Tiffany accent stripe/quarter trim delete. (this was a painted 3/32" stripe following the body side line)
• Center console

Available in all three body styles, they are most commonly seen as coupes. I have seen Sprints with the 2.77 3-speed (my first Mustang was a 2.77 coupe) the C4 auto (my second Sprint was a C4 convertible) and even the Dagenham 4-speed. For some reason, a LOT of Sprints were Nightmist Blue- All of mine were.

And it's true, never throw anything away until the job is done. Your fenders are junk, but until the car is painted, you'll need them as templates for drilling the emblem holes. Nothing screws up the job like emblems in the wrong place. I have seen body shops make that mistake. Or some little part disappears when damaged parts are removed, and you end up calling all over the country to replace it.

[malodin]

buflash, thanks for the condolences, it certainly was a surprise to us all. massive heart attack with no known precursers.

22gt, yes the candy apple red was surprising when i looked up the vin tag. i think this has had some body work done before because the back rear passenger side of the roof has a bubble of some sort in it(either due to the impact or other reasons?) its not noticible unless you run your hands over it.

i do still have the wire wheel covers for it also. also it has the receipt from the lot she bought it from back in 86

im not affraid of fixing the crossmember or most of the sheetmetal just was mainly concerned with the unibody aspect of the car and how much damage there is.

[KarlJay]

1st off, sorry for your family's loss.

I too have a Sprint 200, most people don't have a clue what a Sprint 200 is. They know fastback, convert, V8, GT, Pony, etc... But few know what the Sprint is.

Mine is all original and I have plans to switch over to a 92 5.0/AOD Granada disks, etc...

The Sprint is a nice looking car, the lack of chrome 1/4 panel accents, spoke hubcaps, etc... make it a nice clean classy looking car, but the Sprint doesn't really add much value. Mine is a salvaged title - repaired car so that hurts the value a bit too.

Not to offend anyone, but the reality of these cars are that they look great, but have crappy brakes, suspension, steering, handling, crash safety, etc...

Right now, being all original, is not a great car, just a great looking car.

If your looking for big value in the Sprint package, I just don't see that ever happening. Every other option is worth more: GT/Pony/Disc brakes/V8...

Just saying what I've seen, some eBay ads act like the Sprint is some rare valuable package, in reality, it was Fords answer to a shortage of V8 engines, so they tried to make the 6 package cool.

[2manyhobbies]

Sorry for your loss. Good to see the kiddo take up an interest in it. What do you mean by it was in the basement? Was there an underground basement that large to put a car in? I have not seen one with a ramp or drive before.

That front end damage is nothing to a good frame shop. You should have seen my car after some raghead decided to run a light. I would definitely try and keep that car and not use it as a parts car. It looks very solid. The shell of these mustangs is from the firewall to the rear axle area and side to side. As long as that bubble is good, you can always rebuild these. My friends car had nothing in front of the firewall when he got it, literally nothing. Good luck, don't rush yourself and regret not keeping your Aunt's actual car.

[22GT]

Originally Posted by malodin

guys, i think you might have miss understood the do i keep it a sprint etc...i meant only if i find a shell with the good front frame structure, but then it wouldnt be an original type car....

Using used parts for that repair would double the work, and when finished, not be any better.

This is a 68, but the aprons and front frame rails were trashed by rust, and had to be replaced.

1968 GT350