Back to Master plan 1!

First off, I would like to apologize for the length of the text of this post.  Like most people I usually come to these blogs and quickly read through the text to get to the pictures.

I had some great comments on the blog earlier this week by a fellow Mustang restoration enthusiast that I've been following for the last 10 months and it made me re-question the end result for my current plan (I've lost count how many times I've questioned it).
The thing I worry the most about this project is putting years of work into it and loads of cash only to have it considered either a conversion car or something that is not a true GT convertible. Or that people will think I'm trying to trick them by passing it off as a genuine car.  I thought about this the rest of the week and did some basic calculations and I think the best option that would hold true to the GT convertible is to rebuild the front end from aftermarket and donor car parts.

I looked into what it would take to just install a new front 'clip' on the original GT convertible and the sheet metal options today are much better than what they were 10 years ago.   I can actually replace the firewall, lower cowl and A-pillars that were almost completely rusted out when I started this project.  These are the major pieces I couldn't get before.  Those pieces plus the rusted out front frame rails are why I originally cut the front off of the first donor coupe to place on the convertible.

I've also found a few illustrations online that lead me to believe that there are some decent dimension of the frame in the back of the Mustang repair manual, so I can make sure everything is square and true when I put it together.

I know it sounds like I flip-flopped suddenly, but I've been on the fence about all of this for years. I just recently started pressing ahead trying to at least get some work done.  I figured it might help me figure out the best method as well.....hopefully it has.

Now that I've realized I need to replace more on the donor car than I thought, I'm not sure how much time I would be saving doing the conversion compared to restoring the convertible.

I also picked up enough steel tubing today from the local recycling place to build my own jig for the front end rebuild on the convertible.  I was amazed it only cost $80!  I priced this same amount out at the local steel tubing manufacturer and it would have cost about $250.   The extra parts I would like to get for the front end of the convertible that wouldn't be necessary for the coupe conversion are only about $800 (completely worth it).  I think I could get that number down significantly if I cut pieces off the coupe and patched things together, but in my experience this is sometimes more work than its worth for large parts.  The only pieces I'll probably use from the coupe are the front frame rails and shock towers since these are in good shape.

So without further ado.....here are some pictures of the car that will be the focus of my attention for the next few years.

I know this doesn't look like much, but this is the back end of my GT convertible.  

The trunk floor, trunk floor drop offs, rear quarters, wheel wells and most of the rear frame

rails need to be replaced, but so does the donor car.  The tail light panel and upper trunk frame is much better on this car than the donor car.

In between the original trunk lid and the rear quarter is the original windshield pillar 

and the dash.  The rest of the A pillars were rusted out so I chopped them.  I wasn't sure 

if I could ever buy an aftermarket convertible windshield frame so I luckily kept that.

Most of the stuff piled on top of the back end of the car are aftermarket and original parts

I've kept over the years.  I still have all of the original deluxe interior here. 

You can see where I chopped the inner/outer rocker panel, which is right next to the 

original transmission. 

Here's a shot of the B pillar and some of the other parts on the other side.  

You can also see the part of one of the original doors at the bottom of the picture.

Here are a bunch of the aftermarket sheet metal pieces that I dug out of boxes a couple days ago.

I wanted to get another tally of everything I had on hand and what I would need going forward.