Need knowledgable advice on my 1973 convertible project....
Hi Everyone, New member here saying "Hi"...as well as asking for some advice. In a nutshell, I'm a 37 yo stay at home mom that, in her teenage years, owned 2 mustangs. A 1971 Grande (351c) and a 1973 Coupe(302). Ever since, I've always wanted annother. Well, it's taken 20 years, but now I have 1...well 2...well 2 1/2. I always wanted a convertible 4spd. My wonderful hubby bought me one(I think because he felt bad that he had his 69 Chevelle SS,lol!). Initial cost for the 73 convertible, 351cj, 4spd was $2700. Went to Niagra Falls to pick it up, got it home and its pretty rough! Not too huge of a concearn since my hubby and I met eachother working at a garage/body shop...so we have plenty of friends in the trade. We decided to buy a front frame clip that was very solid, to repair the rotten front framerails and boxes. The clip was $500, delivered(to my friends body shop where the car is to be restored). Once we started to take her apart, we saw how rough she really is...doable...but LOTS of work. So I decided to keep my eyes open for a decent parts car(not neccesarily a convertible) to try to keep costs down with AM parts. Found one...a BEAUTIFUL Grande out of Arkansas. You could almost eat off the carpet its so clean...nice and tight too! Here comes my dilema...My convertible is Gold Glow with Ginger interior, the Grande is Gold Glow with Ginger interior. I feel it's almost a sin to cut up this sweet Grande to fix a rotten convertible, although the convertible is what I want to be driving. I have a bodyman with 30yrs under his belt, who seems to think we should cut the top off the grande, weld in the upper rear of the convertible into the grande and essentially turn the solid Grande into a convertible. Switch out the motor and trans and rear end etc. I have had many sleepless nights, wondering what this would do to the value of the car...can we switch out dash's etc. and still call it the 73Q code? I have gone over the measurements etc. with him and this is a possible route to go. The Grande, by the way, is original, no rust anywhere, cardboard in rockers, original felt trunk mat, original everything...hasnt even been repainted...sweet car (with 351 2v, auto). The convertible has been redone at least twice...one of which was a hack job. Help! Which way should I go... I'm supposed to bring the convertible over for surgery next week. Would this be the right way to go? All opinions welcome! I can't seem to find any reference to this anywhere online. Gene(my bodyman) says he can make it where you'd never know the difference, once put togeather. I don't want to do the wrong thing... Thanks for your responses. Heather
Hello.: It would really be a shame to do that to the Grande.It would actually be cheaper in the long run to find a pretty solid convertible and use the one that you have now as the parts car. The 71-73 convertibles are very reasonably priced in comparison to the earlier model convertibles. That would be another way to go that you might not have considered. Good luck.
Hi Veronica, thanks. My only problem is my hubby wont buy annother convertible, lol! I have 2 1/2 cars to work from. I suppose my question really is, will transplanting the top 1/4 of the convertible to the bottom 3/4 of the Grande give me a (excuse the looseness) "correct" car. I believe the only differences are obvious convert. top componants(top rear of car), windsheild, rocker framerails and rear interior. I have a budget with this project...hubby's a chevy man, so these are the cars I've got. So I have to use the Grande one way or the other (cost $1600 + shipping = $2350). Is it smarter to leave the Grande as whole as possible and transplant from the conv., or to take the Grande apart to peice into conv....
Thanks
If you hack the Grande and make it a convertible your value goes out the window. I'm what they call a ECI ( East Coast Idiot)in the midwest. I take the dilapidated ones and bring em back. For what it's worth, I'd sell your Grande and use the money to buy the sheet metal for the convertible. If you're replacing frame rails your already into the car pretty good anyway. Let me ask you this, " Can you open and close the doors without binding"? Yes- you still have something to work with. No- your going to have to do your homework. Almost any car can be brought back to life. Just some thoughts. Best of Luck
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65-2&2, 63 Falcon vert, 32 coupe, 76f-250 4&4,72 Ranchero GT-Some is good,more is better,and too much is just enough.
That has been the big question...why does the value go out the window? Please, explain this to me. I feel like an idiot but I don't understand why that would change it. Are the numbers different? Like I said before, I know there is a 'framerail' inside the rockers (and the floorpan is the SAME, not thicker at side by side comparison, sorry andrewmp6....unless you mean the boxed section under the car at the front seats...). The backseat support is different as well as all the conv. componants (pumps, motors, hydraulics, etc).
The reason I ask is there are a million people out there putting crazy stuff in their cars, but value doesn't deplete. My husband is 1 of them. For instance, he has a 69 Chevelle SS (originally 396 4spd, orange) that has a 454 bored out to 468 4spd he's painting it now, actually, midnight blue. It's not what it was but the value hasnt changed...people seem to like the 454 better....why, whats the difference?
Please forgive my lack of knowlege when it comes to the 'welding factor'. Seems to me, if you can patch in all kinds of crazy panels to restore a rotbox, why not 'patch' in a top?
In my case every inch of the convertible would need repair, but the grande is CLEAN. I would be cutting out the same peices from the grande to put in the vert but take me twice as long.
.......However, if someone could explain WHY I should repair and replace every inch of that car, verses weld the top onto the Grande....well, then thats what I'll do. I am just unsure of the reasoning behind all those extra busted knucles...lol
As for selling the Grande and getting something else, it isn't an option. Thats my parts car.
Thanks again
Yes the floor pan under the seats.If your saying cut the roof off a coupe and make it a convertible would lower its value the vin shows if its a fastback coupe or convertible so if you sold it they look at the vin see its a coupe they won't pay the convertible value or walk away.If your thinking of changing the vin its illegal.There was a 65 coupe here for sell someone made it in to a fastback was a good rolling body he could only get 4 grand for it.If he would have fixed the fastback he cut the roof off it would been worth 8 grand up.The fastback and convertible are worth the most of the early mustangs.
Hi again. Fords are not Chevrolets. With Chevrolets, any change is probably an improvement. Chevy guys don't even like Chevrolets. That's why the first things they do to it is lose that stupid 2 speed transmission, the Rochester Leakmeister carb, put a Ford 9 inch rear end in it and start chroming everything out. I don't know about the Chevelles, but with a 60s Camaro, there is no way to know what motor the car came with originally from the vin or the body tags. I believe that this is also true with chevelles, but I'm not certain about that one. I do know that Chevrolet didn't build any Chevelles that weren't 396/ 4-speed cars in 69/70. At least, that's the impression one would get from talking to the owners, because everybody's car was a 396/ 4-speed car. This tells me that there can't be any way to know for sure what they came with. Ford, on the other, told you what motor/carb set-up the car came with in the fifth digit of the vin. That's why you don't hack up the good ones, like a K code or a Cobrajet car. They are still rare, unlike the big block Chevelles. If the Grande had been a 6cyl car originally, then it would be hard to hurt the value, as long as you kept the Grande vin. Modding a newer car helps the value because they were built as disposable cars to begin with, so any change, again, would almost have to be an improvement. There are two real big problems with what you are thinking about doing.
One, if you cut the Grande up and turn it into a convertible, that's one thing, but if you try to title it as the convertible, that is a felony. A rebody is legally considered an altered vin, and that is something that people go to jail for.
Two, there is a reason that convertibles are heavier than their hardtop counterparts. They have additional bracing and stuff to compensate for the absence of the roof. If you cut out all of the bracing between the back seat and the trunk, the car will be far less rigid and, consequently, far less safe to drive.
I guess the short version would be that on Fords, original matters, and what you are contemplating is both unsafe and illegal.
Hi, Thanks for your answers guys, think I'm starting to get it...
However, to clear up a couple things....Having the convertible and grande, as well as both titles, I would be putting ALL the convertible componants into the 'chopped' grande-or wording it differently- putting a new bottom on my convertible, so all of the convertible specific stuff would be there. The 351cj, the 4spd hurst, the 9"posi, the competition suspension componants, etc. that my convertible vin has. I am just trying to not unbolt parts from eachother to rebolt them back togeather in the convertible...am I making any sense? LOL
So structurally, the resulting car would have all the right parts, wouldn't it? Put in before the tops are switched and properly braced, nothing should move.
Let me see if I understand....the shell is what the vin belongs to, right...so if your shell was rotten and you cut major peices from annother shell to patch into the rotten 1, you wouldn't have to change the vin, right? Or would you? Does it depend on how much you patch in? Because, in essence, thats what I'm doing.
Better yet, does anyone know where to find a listing of all part numbers. That would tell me which ones I can use...or not use. That would give me convertible only #s, right?
Still confused....but starting to get it....
Changing a vin on a car is illegal if the car was built with a vin that has has to stay on the car.Also a mustang has the vin in more then one place.But theres a loop hole in the law the dynacorn bodys you see for sell those you can take a vin off a car and put on it it.
In the vin number is the type of body along with other things like engine,unit #, etc. To do what you want to do would require as much surgery as patching the conv. Not only would you need the rear section you would also need the windshield frame and once done you'd have a vin # for a coupe body sporting a convertible conversion. Now if you take the complete floor ( rocker to rocker) you will still need the remaining convertible bracing under the seats, inner framerails and the torque boxes Then you'll have to trim the floorpans down for the inner frame rails. Either way you got alot of work ahead.Hope this helps.
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65-2&2, 63 Falcon vert, 32 coupe, 76f-250 4&4,72 Ranchero GT-Some is good,more is better,and too much is just enough.
Need knowledgable advice on my 1973 convertible project.... 
Heather
: It would really be a shame to do that to the Grande.It would actually be cheaper in the long run to find a pretty solid convertible and use the one that you have now as the parts car. The 71-73 convertibles are very reasonably priced in comparison to the earlier model convertibles. That would be another way to go that you might not have considered. Good luck.
That's why the first things they do to it is lose that stupid 2 speed transmission, the Rochester Leakmeister carb, put a Ford 9 inch rear end in it and start chroming everything out. I don't know about the Chevelles, but with a 60s Camaro, there is no way to know what motor the car came with originally from the vin or the body tags. I believe that this is also true with chevelles, but I'm not certain about that one. I do know that Chevrolet didn't build any Chevelles that weren't 396/ 4-speed cars in 69/70. At least, that's the impression one would get from talking to the owners, because everybody's car was a 396/ 4-speed car.
This tells me that there can't be any way to know for sure what they came with. Ford, on the other, told you what motor/carb set-up the car came with in the fifth digit of the vin. That's why you don't hack up the good ones, like a K code or a Cobrajet car. They are still rare, unlike the big block Chevelles. If the Grande had been a 6cyl car originally, then it would be hard to hurt the value, as long as you kept the Grande vin. Modding a newer car helps the value because they were built as disposable cars to begin with, so any change, again, would almost have to be an improvement. There are two real big problems with what you are thinking about doing.
