While I have been away, Randy has been fitting replacement sheet metal. With so much being replaced, he needs to set it into a good starting point before he welds. I think he is going to need more clamps for this project.

This project is a great example of good money after bad. Every corner is ending up revealing yet more rust and structural weakness. I see people asking why someone doesn’t just start with a full Dynacorn shell rather than build up something like this. The answer is that it starts with a simple cowl replacement and grows into “I think we can save the dash”.

The good news is that Randy has done extensive sheet metal work on Mustangs over the years. He mentioned having a good condition 65 in the shop years ago and he took the opportunity to measure everything so he has the data points to make sure it gets assembled as close to original as possible.

With the floor, firewall, and cowl, you have a good shape of the front of the car already. Add in the driver side shock tower/frame rail assembly and rocker panels and things are nearly complete. Just need the other shock tower and the radiator assembly. Those are on the way, unfortunately.

In the rear, the inner wheel wells also fit in pretty well.

I am looking forward to seeing how he is going to attach the main structural assembly to the floor. I am certain some or all of the quarter panels are going as well, so I expect the cutting to start there. The original rocker panels need to go also, which will take out a key structural part while its in progress. Maybe I should have gotten a donor coupe to replace the top on. That looks like what is happening after all anyhow, but with reproduction metal.

More parts are on the way, so maybe welding will start soon. I hope I am past the point of buying parts at least. There’s not much left to buy. Well, at least for sheet metal.