Greetings,

I drove a 1969 Mustang in high school 20-30 years ago. My mother sold it for $300 right after I left for college. Now after raising a family, I want to work on a Mustang again. This time around I'm leaning towards finding a 65-71 fastback. Now I knew in order to be best equipped and save some money, I needed to learn some basics so I took some classes atg the community college in welding and sheet metal. So I feel slightly better prepared now.

As for finding the project car itself, it's harder than I thought it would be. Everything I've found is already restored or close to it. I've looked everywhere without success, and so I'm curious if you folks could recommend some places or online resources to monitor for me to find a cheap rolling chassis or better, just the chassis/frame and I'll build it up from there. I'd like to keep costs down at first since I want to drop most of my money into rebuilding the engine.

I'm a little frustrated because I just can't find anything that doesn't have the body already installed. Is this normal? I'm new to restoration so finding the right starting point is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions in advance!


Adam
Sacramento, CA  

Hi Greenhorn,
 Find another hobby-FAST, RUN LIKE THE WIND WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!  
Restoring an old Mustang is definately NOT for those short of any of the following.
1) A two-car garage, one side to work on, the other side for parts laid out, engine on a stand etc.
2) Enough time to dismantel a car, photo/IDing/labelling/cleaning & painting of each piece as they are removed from the car.  Replacing those that are too worn.
3) Enough patience to not get bored/sick of your project prior to seeing it to completion.
4) A budget that allows all of this to happen.
You mentioned about being frustrated because all of the Mustangs you find already have the bodies on?
The Mustang isn't a car that has a full frame under, it's a "unibody" car.
You can keep looking on E-Bay for project cars, but remember this- The amount of money it takes to restore a beater goes up DRAMATICALLY in proportion to its condition.  
 If you definately want to restore an old Mustang get yourself a few Catalogs from different parts suppliers BEFORE you go looking at cars.  This way you can get an idea of how much money you will need to spend on parts prior to buying the car.
I use Mustangs Unlimited, but there are alot of them all across the country.
 One last thing-don't dismiss restoring a Coupe (notch-back)they are MUCH more affordable.  I wish you luck with your project.  MB.  

Hey while MJB is right he my be overstating his case a little ,,lol. We all had to start somewhere. I personally spent many nights on the cold ground learning and fixing all sorts of cars ,,,some two or three times for the same thing ,,lol.
Seriously though greenhorn look around for car swap meets and watch ebay. At the larger swap meets there are always lots of projects cars that never get advertised. You can see what your getting and not getting and ask some good questions.You will have a tough time finding a fastback project car as the cost is going up so fast on those. I saw one last year at the Portland swap meet that was pretty much a rusty corpse and they still wanted $10K. I agree with MJB, start out with a 65-70 coupe. They are still pretty plentiful and there are some decent prices for project cars. Mustangs are great because nearly every part is in the aftermarket now. You cant say that about any other vintage car.  

Hi GreenHorn, & MG,
  OK,-I agree, I came across as a sceptic.  I didn't really mean to.  I'm in the process of restoring a 68 Coupe, and I'm enjoying it.  Every person restoring an old car will have a tale of how they accomplished it, and it's very rewarding seeing the car brought back to great shape.
 Just as (MG) stated; One of the best things about restoring a Mustang is that almost every part is available with a phone call, or a little time on the web.  And you are able to tailor the finished car in any way you can imagine, from it's origional factory specs, to an over-the-top restomod.  
 Talking to others who have done it is a good way to learn what to do.  A great book to read prior to getting a project car is Mustang Restoration Handbook
by Don Taylor & Tom Wilson.  It covers everything from how to pick a car to finishing it.
 Keep us posted.  MB