Like so many of today’s vintage Mustang owners, Larry Dobbs wanted classic Mustang looks combined with modern Mustang power, handling, and conveniences. As the founder of Mustang Monthly magazine (in 1978) and former owner, president, publisher, and all-around good-guy boss at Dobbs Publishing Group, which he sold to Petersen Publishing in 1998, Larry has held a long-time affinity for early Mustangs, all the way back to his first 1965 convertible in 1976. Back then, he was stuck with 1960s technology when driving his 1965. But when building the restomod Mustang on these pages, Larry had a wide range of upgrade modifications to choose from while still maintaining the car’s vintage appearance. And he took advantage of almost every one of them with his Ultimate Touring Mustang.
From a distance, or even close up, Larry’s silver and red-striped 1965 Mustang looks like a concours-ready GT convertible, right down to factory styled steel wheels and whitewall tires. And that was Larry’s intent. But underneath, all of the beautifully restored vintage sheetmetal wraps around a two-valve 4.6L/five-speed drivetrain combination from a 1996 Mustang GT. With a Ford Racing supercharger and performance heads, along with professional assembly by the modular 4.6 experts at Steeda Autosports, the modern powerplant pumps out a lot more grunt than it originally did in 1996. Other restomod highlights include leather Pony upholstery, a rollbar, a canvas top, rack-and-pinion steering, power windows and door locks, tilt steering, digital instrumenta-tion, and 15-inch styled steel wheels swiped from the 1967 Mustang option list.
Even with Larry’s experience and industry contacts, the Mustang didn’t come together easily. Originally, the project was assigned to Lakeland, Florida, technician and master-of-all-trades Dave LaForce at Velocity Engineering. But during the early stages of the buildup, LaForce and his partner closed the business and, shortly thereafter, LaForce relocated to New York, leaving Larry with a painted shell, a disassembled 4.6 engine, boxes of new parts and upholstery, and no one to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. That’s when Richard Brandl Sr. entered the pic-ture. As co-owner of Time Machines in Hudson, Florida, Brandl has been involved in numerous restomod-type projects, including a 1949 Mercury convertible with a Lincoln Mark VIII engine and a 1970 Challenger R/T with a Dodge V-10. With full-on restorations also part of Time Machines’ repertoire, Larry figured he had found the right shop to complete his Mustang. Brandl, intrigued by the Mustang’s combination of old and new, took on the project as a "personal challenge."
Basically, the Mustang’s buildup was treated as a full-on restoration of an original 1965 Mustang GT convertible, with restomod upgrades added as the car went back together. All of the Mustang’s restoration components--bumpers, carpet, instrument-panel knobs, doorsill plates, and so on--were obtained mail-order from CJ Pony Parts in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Reassembly was made easier--and better looking--with stainless steel fastener kits from Totally Stainless. When Brandl took delivery of the shell filled with boxes, the front end had already been prepared for a Rod & Custom Motorsports coilover front end, with the shock towers removed and the front crossmember installed. The body had been painted in Silver Frost, a 1967 Mustang color, by Michael Peremski at Michael’s Auto Body in Winter Haven, Florida. "It was a very nice car to begin with," Peremski says, "with just the usual parking-lot dings and minor rust."
While Brandl assembled the components needed to complete the car, Steve Chicasola at Steeda Autosports bolted together the 4.6L V-8 with Ford Racing's high-performance cylinder heads and Roots-style supercharger, which sits, stealth-like, beneath the intake runners. As you would expect, some fabrication was required to adapt the wide, modular powerplant to the engine compartment that was originally designed for a vintage 289. The eliminated shock towers took care of the width, while Brandl's son, Richard Brandl Jr., fabbed up motor mounts, oil pan (an altered original to help lower the engine into the chassis), and tubular headers. Looking back, Brandl says now that he should have used shorty-style headers because the long-tube versions created numerous clearance prob-lems with the steering and clutch linkages.
Brandl credits Ed Marsh at Windsor-Fox Performance Engineering for assistance in adapting the new engine to the old car. Marsh helped to map-out the EFI 4.6’s fuel system, and the clutch cable is actually a modified Windsor-Fox unit for a 5.0/five-speed swap. To get the engine running to its potential, Brandl utilized a Speed Pro engine management computer, which is programmable from a laptop or PC. Craig Railsbeck from Blower Drive Service was consulted for the correct calibrations. A thoroughly modern 1965 Mustang mandates an updated front suspension for better steering and handling. As mentioned previously, Larry went with the Mustang II-style front suspension from Rod & Custom Motorsports, a system that replaces the vintage A-arm componentry with coilover shocks, rack-and-pinion steering, and front disc brakes. As a bonus for engine swaps, especially with the wide 4.6, the Rod & Custom kit also eliminates the factory shock towers. Other than cutting out the shock towers and welding in flat sheetmetal covers, the installation is a bolt-in (see Nov. 1999, "New Dimension for Vintage Suspension").
At the rear, a Currie Enterprises' 9-inch rearend, with 3.73:1 gears, TSD limited-slip, and rear disc brakes, mounts conventionally to leaf springs and Monroe shocks. However, instead of steel springs, Larry selected mono-leaf fiberglass springs from Vette Brakes for reduced weight and a more compliant ride. Inside, the almost-radiant red interior shines with modern upgrades. Time Machines' David Ward covered the seats with Distinctive Industries' leather upholstery, available from CJ Pony Parts and manufactured in the Deluxe Interior (Pony) style for a direct fit over the factory frames and replacement foam. An Ididit tilt-steering column mounts a LeCarra woodgrain steering wheel in front of Dakota Digital instruments, which mount in the factory woodgrain bezel. (A Rally-Pak with Dakota Digital boost and fuel-pressure gauges was in the works but not completed in time for our photo shoot). Custom Autosound's USA-5 sound system with remote, trunk-mounted CD changer, power antenna, and kick-panel speakers add modernized music, while a Classic Auto Air "Daily Driver" air-conditioning system, with the vintage-look underdash condenser, works in conjunction with the 4.6's compressor. Switches for the Haneline power windows and door locks are mounted in a restored factory console. To maintain the vintage interior look, Brandl fabricated the straight, chrome shifter handle.
With all of the power upgrades, the factory wiring harness was tossed in favor of a street rod-like harness from Ron Francis Wire Works, which comes with its own junction/fuse box. For easy access to the fuses, Brandl mounted the box under the driver side of the instrument panel, actually over the now-inoperable vent opening, then routed the wiring to all of the Mustang’s lights and electrical components. Obviously, the rollbar is not a factory item. Initially fabricated by Dave LaForce with steel tube and fiberglass, the final construction and installation took place at Time Machines. The bar ends slip neatly through the rear quarter-panels, in place of the original rear-seat ashtrays, and mount securely to the frame, so the bar serves to enhance both roll-over protection and structural integrity. Like the aftermarket bars available for new Mustangs, a third brake light is incorporated, only this one is switched so the light won’t illuminate when the Robbins’ canvas top is up. Maintaining the Mustang’s original exterior appearance was extremely important to Larry, who has always loved the classic lines of the early GT convertibles. Sticking with the theme, he filled the wheel openings with factory-styled steels, only instead of the 1965-66 14-inchers, he ordered the larger 15-inch versions, a 1967 Mustang option, from CJ Pony Parts. For "touring" comfort, Larry specified Michelin 205/70x15 All Season radial tires, with white sidewalls, of course, for all-stock continuity.
When we photographed the Ultimate Touring Mustang at Lakeland's Grasslands Country Club for this feature article, Brandl was actually on his way to deliver the car to Larry. In fact, Brandl drove the car at speed for the first time for our road-action photography. Judging by the way the car zipped up behind our photo car, the supercharged 4.6 is putting plenty of power to the pavement, something we'll learn for sure when Larry delivers the car to Steeda Autosports for a dyno session. We'll report the numbers in a future issue. In the meantime, Larry will be "touring" the central Florida countryside in his "Ultimate Touring Mustang," a car that sets the pace for the future of vintage Mustang restomodding.