[topless 64.5]

I am working on a 64 1/2 convertible and am thorouhly confused. I ordered a set of reproduction convertible sill plates and they looked like the first picture. What i need looks like the second picture but that one is listed for a coupe. Looking online i see mostly what looks like the first photo listed as coupe and convertible. I need the one that is kind of L shaped. When it enters into the interior of the car it drops straight down about four inches and is screwed into what would be the inner rocker area. The kind i recieved goes straight into the interior area, and sits about four inches off the bottom of the floor and screws would run straight down into the floor. I called the vendor and thought maybe what i recieved was a coupe part mislabeled.They sent another set and its the same as i had gotten before. The old pair i have looks like picture #2. I saw a NOS set of convertible plates on Ebay and they lookded like the first photo.Can someone explain what up here? What do i need to order?! Thanks

 

[Veronica]

Hello.That's odd.The one's in the first picture are correct for a convertible. The one's in the second picture are for a coupe/fastback.The inner rockers and the floor pans on a convertible are different from a coupe.I think that I would start from square #1 on this one.Check the 3rd and 4th digits of the vin.They should be 08, not 07. Sometimes people chop the roof off of a coupe and turn it into a convertible and 40 years is a long time.Who could really say what all might have happened to your car over all those years.If the vin is ok, it is possible that someone replaced the entire undercarriage of your car with that of a coupe.From firewall to gas tank and rocker molding to rocker molding they measure the same and that isn't nearly as difficult to do as is it might sound.Here are some pictures.The first is a coupe. The next one is my car, a 64 1/2 convertible with original floors and rockers.Excuse the less than perfect appearance.It's also original paint, carpet,seats and scuff plates.

 

[topless 64.5]

Hmm.. My floor is much lower than the sill like in your first pic. Thats how coupes are? My car does not have a tag on the door. Where else could i find the VIN? Where else might i look to see if it was converted? It had quarters put on at one time and they are indeed convertible quarters. Is the car sound structurally if this was done? Isn't the windshiled frame different?

 

[topless 64.5]

Here is a shot of the floor.
http://www.geauxtownmuscle.com/carimages/64 Stang 15.jpg

 

[Veronica]

Hi again. That's a coupe floor and inner rocker. The vin is stamped in three places.The only visible without removing a fender is on the front D/S inner fender apron.If you pop the hood and look at lip of the fender, where the six bolts are holding the fender to the car, you will see a little cutout, about four inches long.The vin should be stamped there.I'm assuming that this one is missing or you would have noticed it at some point.If you look on that same lip about 18 inches closer to the windshield,near the hood hinge,you will see a date code stamped on the inner fender.Underneath the lip of fender you will see the vin stamped, and in that same area over on the P/S, but you have to get the fender out of the way to see it.I'll snatch the back seat out of mine in morning and take some pictures of that area for you.Yes, the windshields are different in the convertibles.I'll also go ahead and measure a bunch of stuff.As far as the structural integrity goes, that would depend on how well the job was done.I'd have to look at the car before I could say any more about that.With the work that I see you doing to the car, you can look at it just as effectively as anyone else could as far as strength and allignment go.Hope that helps.

 

[Veronica]

Hi again.I suppose I could save you a little bit of emotional wear and tear.The vin stampings and windshield on your car are probably ok.What has obviously happened here is that someone cut the floor and rockers out of a coupe in one piece and put it in your car, probably as a rust repair.If you'll look in that last picture that you posted you'll see a weld line going along the firewall and continuing across the area covered by the kick panel.You can't see the P/S in the picture, but I'm sure that this line goes across there also.You will also see a pretty ugly seam going across the area covered by the back seat.Any further back and it would have gone into the top well area, causing the guy more problems than it would have solved.This leaves you basically two ways that you could gne would be to remove all of that stuff and go back with correct, which would not be cheap, or two, get coupe carpet, scuff plates and kick panels and go with what you've got there.Which one to choose would depend on what your intentions for the car are.If you want a show car, go with option one.If you want a pretty car to ride around in on nice week-ends with your wife/girlfriend,whichever your case might be, for fun cruises,dates and such then go with option two.There really aren't very many of us that would notice that you have the wrong scuff plates,carpet and kick panels in your car and then deduce how that came to be, so if you don't tell her, she'll probably never figure it out for herself.

 

[topless 64.5]

Thanks for the help. I have the fenders off so i will check the VIN. I saw the seam across the front but assumed that was from when they put the floor pan in. You can see the replacement pan doesn't go all the way to the rockers. It must have been 'clipped' at some point previous. I dont see any seam across the back so i will have to poke around and see what exactly was done.Also the windshield fram is not hacked up. Thanks for the advice. I have been doing restoration collision work for sixteen years but never would have figured this one out because i am not familar enough with early Mustangs to realize what i was looking at.

 

[Veronica]

Hi again. Here's what that rear area is supposed to look like from both sides.Hope this helps.

 

[Veronica]

And more.

 

[Veronica]

Still more.

 

[Veronica]

And still more.

 

[Veronica]

You might want to just snag all of those and save them on your hard drive.That way you can enlarge them to look at something a little more closely.But, that should give you an idea of what that area is supposed to look like.BTW,there are a couple of spots in those pictures that look like surface rust.That's just dirt.There isn't a speck of rust anywhere on my car.You might also notice that optional Rotunda 10-disc CD changer in the trunk.Very rare.