Matt Cooper’s Blog

So get to the garage today and this is what I see. I snapped a few photos and then Pete grabbed a few guys and showed me what my car would look like as a convertable.

Going…

Going…

Going…

Gone.

Jiminy Kristofferson look at my car! It’s like something you’d see on the side of the road in Falutia. I’m wondering if he plans to set it on fire or something just to give it that final touch. He actually asked me if it was ok to pull the carpet out. Ha, good one Pete.

This is George the other half of Doctor Car Clinic. He really knows about Mustangs. We spoke for about a half hour on the different parts and upgrades. I wanted to get a Flaming River rack and pinion set up to modernize the streering but he showed me what he did on his own car which was pretty damn crafty.

Check this out. He took the rack and pinion assembly off a Ford Taurus and modified it to fit on his 67 Mustang fastback, C code—cloned to a Shelby. It’s cheaper than the Flaming River set up which comes in at $1,400 for just the parts. But what he really likes is if anything ever breaks he can run to any parts store for a replacement. If something breaks on the Flaming River set-up you’re pretty boned while you wait for UPS to knock on your door. I like the “stock” look. Dope. George you rock!

Here’s the new parts car.

The roof is coming off the parts car to replace little problems like this. Also the rear quarter panel, and left rocker arm is getting pulled of the donor car and put on Betsy. Still looking for some doors and maybe a trunk.

Another glory shot of Betsy. I wonder if they found the change in the back seat?

Meet Pete the mechanic…

Meet Pete’s car! (he actually has 2 more that are just as nice)

Well I just got back from the shop and it looks like the roof is all rusted out. We knew we needed a new rear quarter already so it looks like I’ll have to buy a parts car. The rocker arm and the rear deck are pretty rough too. The good news is that under the car there’s no rust!

We also found out that Betsy’s had two trips to the body shop before this. The first trip was quality work. The second trip was more of a hack job. This stuff had to be done in the 70′s or maybe early 80′s.

Here’s a couple “before” shots. You can see where the soccer-mom took out my rear quater panel. She didn’t even look, just punched it out of an intersection.