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Restoring a '68 Coupe - Page 1 |
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65-73 and 79-06 |
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FAX 404-305-9437 |
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METRO |
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| About this Project | ||
| At Metro we get lots of emails and phone calls from all over the world. The global popularity of the Mustang never fails to amaze us. We hear commonly from people in Australia, Canada, England, Japan, all over South America as well as the United States. We've had folks from Denmark, Sweden, France and Mexico fly in to Atlanta to visit with us. They all have one thing in common: a love for the original pony car. | ||
| Doug's Dream | ||
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| In January of 2004 I received an email that was curiously titled: "68 Coupe from( soldier in Baghdad". Upon opening the communication it turned out we had a 26 year old soldier serving in Baghdad, Iraq who had inherited a 1968 Coupe back home in the U.S.A. He had fond memories of the car, having ridden in it since infancy. He also had dreams of restoring the pony to its original state. His purpose in contacting us was to try and get a feel for how much would that take? I replied that we would need far more info but would be happy to work through it with him. Doug seemed thrilled: one, that we even responded and two, that we were interested in working with him even though he was so far away. We just saw it as a way to help one of the many special guys and gals that take such extraordinary risks, on behalf of us all, everyday. Especially one who was saving his combat pay to put into a pony that held such personal emotional ties. | ||
Doug's bike |
We also felt that when you're in a far away place facing constant danger the ability to focus on a dream is a way to make the time go by just a little easier and this might be our way to help at least one guy transform his dream to reality. Doug indicated he would be back from overseas in October of 2004, the Mustang would be his only car (he has a very fast motorbike, that really wouldn't be ideal for winter transportation in Chattanooga) and his objective was to have the car predominantly restored and driving by the time he got home. | |
| What followed was a slew of back and forth emails and even a couple of phone calls from Baghdad to the USA trying to establish what we would be dealing with and what Doug wanted at the end of the process. Our first concern was that the car had evidently been sitting a while. We were up for the project but since it was a coupe we knew that any serious rust damage would probably make the cost of restoration prohibitive versus it's finished value. We wanted to help Doug but not mislead him on what it would take. He thought that the car was pretty solid and sent us, from Baghdad, his personal photos of the car for evaluation. We went through them and it looked like it could be a promising project, but you never know for sure until you see and touch it. He also sent us a photo or two of his motorbike along with some Baghdad souvenirs we were tickled to receive. At this point Tim and I thought it would be best to go get a good look at the car up in Hixson, Tennessee (just north of Chattanooga). The arrangement we made with Doug is that we would take the trailer with us and go look at the car. If it looked like the car was a lost cause we would advise him of that and return empty handed. If it looked like we could achieve his goals without excessive sheet metal work (which would blow his budget to pieces) then we would bring it back with us, get it up on the rack and give him detailed recommendations, estimates and a guide for moving forward.………. | ||
Daved's Deli |
We spent a pleasant day making the trip and meeting Doug's relatives Daved and Wanda, who run a local Deli (appropriately draped in a BIG yellow ribbon) and were close to both Doug and the car. In fact many of Doug's memories were riding around in that same car with Wanda at the wheel. Meeting Daved and Wanda was fun. We had arrived after their lunch rush and they had time to sit and visit over a glass of iced tea. After hearing their stories about Doug we were even more pleased to be a part of this special project. | |
Wanda with the Coupe |
We followed Wanda to the car's location a few miles away, halfway up a mountain under a lean-to. Tim and I crawled all over the car while Wanda watched and reminisced about the weathered coupe. We were optimistic. A basically straight and solid '68 coupe, bucket seats, C-4 automatic, 289, and air-conditioning. Originally an Acapulco Blue car with blue interior. It had seen better days, but this little coupe wasn't yet ready to go to the great Mustang corral in the sky! It needed work but we had seen far worse. | |
Mike loads the Coupe to take back |
I carefully backed the 18 foot open car trailer up the hill. The pure muscle and torque provided by the Ford 2003 F250 Powerstroke Turbo Diesel made that little task a no-brainer, I love that truck as much as my Mustangs! We winched the '68 onto the trailer, picked up the parts Wanda had stored away, said our goodbyes and headed south for Atlanta. We had a new and special project that Tim would need to work into our restoration schedule but first he would go to work doing an in-depth assessment of the patient. After that step we'll have a better idea of how to realistically achieve Doug's timeline and goals while conforming to his budgetary constraints. | |
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Now the 68 coupe is at our shop in Atlanta ready for disassembly and evaluation to determine the repairs needed to bring it back to Doug's Dream. In the following pages we will document that dream for you and for Doug. | |
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By: Mike
Nunn and Tim Quill
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Classic & Late Model Many of our used and NOS Mustang parts are available in our eBay Store. Both Classic and Late Model parts are being added daily. Check back often for new listings. |
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