Beating a dead horse.... My $500 66 Mustang coupe build.

[Blue70]

A little back story.. (or you can skip ahead to the photos)

Back in June I went to look at a 57 Chevy. The car was not what it appeared to be in photos, and at the cost of 57 Chevy parts, required more than I was willing to deal with at the time.

The guy had a few other vehicles in the yard and mentioned that he just listed a Mustang on Craigslist that morning. A 66 coupe, that ran (6cyl) with title for $500
My wife FORCED me to drive to the ATM right then and there before I could really look it over, but I figured for that price, why not.

We trailered it home, but I ended up picking up an old Chevy truck 2 weeks later.. it was pretty much a cab and bed sitting on a 95 S10 frame, held on with ratchet straps.
Anyway, that took priority.. I finally got that running/driving and on the road, and decided to pull the Mustang into the worlds smallest garage and get a good look at it.

Here it is at the previous owners house.





While working on the truck, My 7yr old came and asked if he could help, so I put him to work on the Mustang (that he has previously claimed as his)
He removed all the top fender bolts for me



I was able to find a pair of brand new fenders, backs still as delivered black electro primer stuff, front in regular primer for $125 for the pair.
Then out of the blue one day, I decided to see how much I spend on a set of wheels in the past, and they had the same wheels I had used for sale.. they are 18x9s and usually $179 each, on sale for $69 each with free delivery!! That made my choice in wheels for me, so I ordered up a set of 4.



I went and stripped out the engine, transmission and removed the front end sheetmetal that was there and sent it all to the scrap yard.

[Blue70]

This is what I found under the front fender..



little rough, but once I scraped away all the undercoating, it was actually not too horrible..



The whole time I had been trying to decide what to do for brakes.. I thought about just rebuilding the stock front end and adding a disk kit,
but the problem was most kits required the use of 65-66 V8 spindles, they seemed a bit hard to find, and expensive.. then I would still have the 6cyl tiny steering components etc.. and to top it all off, with the stock front end, it looked like most people said a 7" wide wheel was all that would fit, so I bit the bullet and went with a Mustang II style front end. I am on a tight budget, but I figured this was the cheapest way to get new suspension, rack and pinion steering, disk brakes, and hopefully make room for the wheels..

I went ahead and started piecing together the parts to get the front end in.. In the mean time, there was a few rust spots on the frame, big spot was where the bumper brackets bolted to the front of the frame rail, so I cut those sections out and replaced, then mounted the Mustang II cross member.. the cross member came with boxing plates for the frame, and I may have went overboard, but I decided to continue on with that theme and boxed the whole front "frame" in.
I also rough cut some shock tower fillers.. (I am working with basic hand tools here) and shot it all with fresh black undercoating.

Trial fit the new brakes, spindles, springs and arms



then couldn't help but stick a wheel on



and then rest the fender in place





And this brings us up to date..

I need to finish up a few things on the right side to get it to this point. Then I can mount the rack, and measure for tie rod ends.
I also need to get some tires and get them mounted to check for clearance.

Then I think it's on to the back end so I can get this thing on the ground..
In the back I think I am going with a cut down Explorer 8.8, with links instead of leafs, and a mini tub. I think based on cost, I will probably run a 275 in the rear.

No clue on engine or transmission yet, that is a long way off.

[Blue70]

If anyone is interested, here is the truck that took priority over the Mustang.. and No, it's not getting painted.. lol

[PonchoJohn]

Good start!
Where'd you get the wheels from?

[Blue70]

Originally Posted by PonchoJohn

Good start!
Where'd you get the wheels from?

Thanks.
They are AMR Charcoal Wheels from American Muscle

[papa6]

Do you have the part number you used to order the wheels? I'd buy a set today if they'd give me the same price.

[Payton King]

Love the truck and look forward to the progress on the stang

[waynieZ]

I'm with Payton !

[instro84]

with Payton also, digging the pickup. nice score on the mustang also.

[HPIcustoms]

Awesome score with the Mustang, wish I could find a salvageable one in that price range up here, one day. Also loving the truck and glad you're keeping the patina, I've got a '47 Ford F-100 I'm currently building so definitely looking forward to seeing progress on your truck.