[Boidster]

Brand new user; be gentle.

I have a 67 coupe that literally was a little old lady's car (my grandmother) until she handed it down to me. The car has about 42K miles and I'm the second owner. It has been stored (indoors, not driven) for the last 3 years, but I've now got the budget for a restoration.

My question for the experts is, what questions should I ask of the restoration shop? What things should I definitely/definitely not have them do as part of the process? What things might they suggest that really aren't worth it?

I'm looking for a "driving restoration", not a show car. I want the car to stay all original with two exceptions: the AC is dead and probably needs to be replaced with an aftermarket system that uses modern refrigerant, and I'll be installing a hidden stereo system.

My main priorities (and I have conveyed this to the resto shop) are 1) mechanical soundness, 2) rust removal & prevention (the car was rust-free last I saw it) and 3) basic ding-and-dent repair, minor interior repairs/resto, and new (original color) paint. If I have budget after that, I'll look into a higher-level restoration.

I'm mechanically skilled, but brand new to classic restorations. Any advice on what to do and what to watch out for is appreciated.

[Boidster]

For example - the shop suggested I have the car completely disassembled and media blasted. They also gave me the price for that.

Does this fall under "always a good idea" or "waste of money except for special situations" or in between?

[coppah37]

Well if they want you to media blast it they are probably looking to hose you with bills it sound like. Unless the car is fairly rotted then its never a bad idea. If theres only a few minor spots here and there id pass on the media blasting. If you are mechanically inclined these are some of these most straight foward cars you will ever come by and id suggest to do most of the mechanical work yourself and pay a GOOD body man to make her rust free and shine like it was new. Doing the mechanical and interior work yourself will saves bundles so you could afford to pay the top body shop in your area to do what you want.

[Mustangscotty]

There are many books about Mustang restoration. Check out a good book store and check em' out. They'll save you $$$$ and hopefully keep you out of risky shops.

[dne']

Wow! I'm like really jealous! Congratulations! and welcome!
The sad part about a find like this, and asking for help, is difficult. WE can't acess the situation, the car, your finances, what you want out of this Mustang with sentimental feelings attached! What a wonderful story, a hand me down from grandma! cool! Whatever you do, shop! Ask friends for word of mouth, who they may use! Don't trust anyone with your new toy! Pop the hood, if you're mechanically inclined, you have the upper hand when going into a shop! if something sounds fishy, there are plenty of hungry people out there willing to do excellent and honest work.
Hope this helps.
post photos!
dne'

[Boidster]

Thanks for the info. Although I do much of my own repair & maintenance, for this project I won't have time to do very much of the work myself, and there is a major logistical hurdle in any case. I don't mind paying someone to do work that I would normally be able to do, in this case.

Regarding the media blasting, the guy hasn't seen the car yet, and he did say he wouldn't know for sure about what he'd recommend until he did see it. I suppose it might be helpful to know that I am in Nebraska and the car is in California. The shop is in California, is attached (but not directly affiliated) to a Mustang-specific parts store, and specializes in Mustang restorations. They might still suck, of course.

So, two follow-up questions:

1) Are there restoration books written for non-DIY owners? I've perused a couple of books that came up with a Google search, and they seem to be for people doing the work themselves. If you have any specific recommendations for a book, I'd appreciate it.

2) Does this forum allow specific shops to be discussed? I'd be happy to offer specifics and get recommendations about the shop in CA as well as one here in NE that was recommended to me, but I don't want to get on the wrong side of the forum host or sponsors.

And a bonus question: for any of you that have restored a classic, can you post up a ballpark for your costs (+/- a couple thousand is close enough) and the major things that were done? That'd give me some idea if the prices being quoted are reasonable or not. As an example, the media blasting was quoted at $4400, including all tear-down and reassembly labor.

Thanks to all.

[Boidster]

It appears we can attach pics directly to threads, so here are a couple:

[andrewmp6]

From what i seen on budget builds by my friends and myself most budgets get broke sometimes its maybe 2 grand mine i have doubled before but im anal about body work.One thing i would do to that car is replace the vinyl top and paint the roof before it goes back on.Reason being most vinyl top cars rust out under them they glued them on over primer at the factory.That and the cowl vent are most common rust spots on these cars.I would media blast it and start over its not cheap but you find all the rust and any shotty repairs done over the years.

[Big Steve]

Don't do media blasting. It's a waste of your money, if you're not looking into doing a show quality finish. Since you stated that you're looking for a daily driven type paint job, a frame off media blasting would be overkill.

I'd still have them remove all hardware and trim and check under your vinyl top. Is the top going back on the car? Are there any bubbles or rust swelling on the top? Along the edges where the hardware trim attach to the body? These would be the places of concerns as far as rust factors. From the pics you posted above the car looks fairly clean and well kept.

I paint cars for a living.

[dne']

OMG, it looks great! at least in the photo it looks great! Well, sounds like you have things under control, I feel you'll make sound decisions!
dne'

Originally Posted by Boidster

It appears we can attach pics directly to threads, so here are a couple:

[Boidster]

Thanks for the continuing comments!

Although I do have a budget, it is north of $10K, and the car actually won't be a daily driver, even though I used the term "driving restoration" (probably incorrectly). It will probably be my "California car" for at least a couple of years, being driven a couple of times a year for very few miles. After that I will either move out west again or bring the car out here to flyover country and drive it somewhat more often (but never during winter, as they salt the roads out here). If the car can be restored to, say, almost-show-quality within my budget (so I can take it to the local weekly classic car meet and get approving nods and murmurs of appreciation), then I'm more than willing to do that.

As far as I am aware, the car is rust-free. The vinyl top has no bumps or bulges. The only spots where there might be some rust is a crease on the left rear QP (I think you can see it in the side view pic) and under the rear bumper where Nana probably backed over something back in the 70's.

Of course that may have changed over the last three years in storage. Sacramento (where the car is) is pretty dry, so my guess is it's mostly rubber stuff that has deteriorated.

[1965stang]

For what appears to be and sound like a relatively rust-free car that's been stored indoors, a quote of $4400 for the teardown, blasting, and re-assembly seems kind of high to me. Granted, you are cross country from it, but I was able to take mine apart myself and have it blasted for $550. I get the feeling with a cross country restoration, they're kind of taking advantage of the fact that you can't pop in and check on it, and they can charge what they want on a whim.

I'd really fly out and check it out in person - the usual places like the rails/floors/trunk corners (by no means is that a complete list) and the roof. Then I'd have a shop fix the stuff you want like the a/c and other mechanical things you mentioned, and spend the money on freshening up the paint job and fixing the little dings and things. Like coppah37 said, don't get hosed by one shop trying to do this across the country. Shop around.

[rpmcarter]

Hey welcome and what a great handmedown. Congrats! I'll have to say folks are on target with the idea of "resto" shop. Someone on here said a few weeks ago...."crazy people with crazy money get charged crazy prices". Of course when you walk in the door they can talk the game and charge you crazy prices too. I've made plenty of "professional" guys mad (not intensional)when they've tried to "hook" me due to the fact I gather a lot of info first before I shop just as you are doing here. Good move!!

The vinyl top is a MUST as mentioned above but outside that your car is awesome so any "honest quality shop" will suffice. If the circumstance permitted, doing the mechancial would be first on my list because you will know all about it after crawling all over it.
Good luck a 42k mile car is hard to find.

[Boidster]

Thanks for the input. I guess my next stop is going to have to be one of the Sacramento mustang clubs as well as the Nebraska club. I'm flying out to CA in June, with the idea of getting the process started, but I've only got 3-1/2 days on this trip (one occupied by a wedding), so I suppose I'll just have this first shop give me an estimate then put the car back into storage until I can fly out again, probably in July, to have another shop take a look. I wanted the car to stay in California so I can use it when I'm out there, but maybe I just have to truck it out here to get the work done and then truck it back.

It's clear from the responses that this is a forum of hard-core experts! "I took it apart myself" is just not an option, fun though it might be! I can see myself being all jazzed about it for the first month and then ending up with a half-disassembled car languishing in my garage for years.

I sent the shop a detailed list of my priorities and the guy is supposed to get back to me today with some ballparks. I'll post them up here to get some reactions.

If anybody in the Sacramento area (or even the general NoCal region) has any recommendations for shops to visit, I'd greatly appreciate it! Maybe I can squeeze one shop in on Thursday and another on Friday.

Thanks.

[Wode]

I stopped into different shops and looked at projects that they were working on. I went to shows and grabbed cards of body shops that had cars in the shows. I talked to everyone I ran across and asked lots of questions. Out where I live there are a few classic Mustang parts dealers, I asked them who they would recommend also.

I joined a local Mustang car club and that is where I got the recommendation on the shop that I ended up finally using.

The guy had a '65 fastback that he had just finished when I walked in that I was able to look at to get an idea of the quality of the work. An added bonus he was 1/2 the price of all the other quotes.

After talking to lots of shops it sounded like I was going to end up blasting it. I had totally tore apart my car except for what was absolutely necessary to roll and steer it. When I finally ran across the guy that is doing the car he said that he would have actually preferred to tear the car apart himself to see how everything fit. The body guy ended up hand sanding the entire car, we ended up not blasting it after all. I was pretty fortunate to have a car that didn't have any rust though.