1968 Mustang Fastback Build - Project Generation Gap

It's getting late on our first day at Drake Customs, but everyone knows how much work we have in front of us and agrees to stay, making 15 hour days for most of the project. Ray has done dozens of these conversions and barely has to measure anymore, as he knew right where to cut the coupe's rear roof section away for his conversion.

Once the rear portion of the roof was cut away Ray continued on with the metal removal required for the fastback conversion.

This included the top of the quarter panels, the coupe's seat divider panel, and package tray metal.

Our trunk floor was not only tweaked from accident damage, but the trunk drop off panels were rotted away as well, leaving us no choice but to replace the complete trunk floor with one of Dynacorn's new one-piece trunk pan assemblies. Ray also felt it would be easier from a time constraint standpoint to replace the inner wheelhouses as well, as they would have needed some small patches and simply dropping new ones in would be better use of our time and about a wash price wise when you consider the labor and materials to make the patches.

It was closing in on 10:00 p.m. and we'd started at 7:00 a.m.--a 15 hour day of cutting, grinding, welding, and more. We were filthy to say the least. Ray dressed the edges of the coupe rear structure that were still in place with a hand grinder and then we called it a night. These coupe inner structure panels will be utilized in the Drake Customs conversion, which will add a lot of strength to the car that a real fastback never had from the factory. You'll see what we mean when we start on the inner structure upgrades later in the project's build up.

Bright and early the next morning, the Drake Customs crew got started on hanging our rear framerails. Since the rear of our Mustang had been involved in a flat-towing altercation that tweaked the back of the car, there weren't any good points to take measurements from. An original or reproduction shop manual will give you major chassis measurements to ensure the framerails are square. While Ramon measured and double checked the rail fitment, Jesse used several locking clamps to hold it all in place.

While you can purchase assembled wheelhouses, Ray keeps the individual inner and outer wheelhouses in stock so they can simply replace what is needed. In our case, even though the outer wheelhouses had been replaced before we bought the car, it was easier to install the inner and outer wheelhouse together. Ray simply took the two sections and tacked them together on the bench before installation.

The Dynacorn one-piece trunk floor was laid into place on the framerails and the freshly welded wheelhouses were first clamped to the coupe structure and then the trunk floor and inner wheelhouses were screwed together for test-fitment. Ray likes to use self tapping screws, as they allow easier repositioning of the panels than having to deal with grinding away a tack weld. A few strategic welds are placed once everything is checked for fitment.

At this point, the rear of the body has been built back up to the point where Drake Customs usually can start its fastback conversion process, but we still have the front to deal with. First, the framerail extensions are test-fit, measured, and welded into place, and then the main framerails themselves are placed into the extensions, measured, and leveled.

Once Ramon is happy with the framerail position on each side, they are tacked into place. Full welding will not happen until later when measurements are checked again.

Our rusty and tweaked coupe body shell is now straight as an arrow and solid once again. Now the Drake Customs guys can move forward with their typical coupe to fastback conversion steps. Ramon started by utilizing an air chisel to strip away the very edges of the roof skin, leaving only the remaining coupe roof structure in place, as well as cutting away the driprail metal, as new fastback driprails will be welded in their place.

In our body shell's current state, it was still quite flexible, so more reinforcement was added to the project in order for Drake Customs to transport the body to the media blaster. Once everyone was happy that the body shell was sufficiently reinforced, the body was transferred to one of the company's wheeled body carts. Luckily the media blaster is just a few doors down.

Normally, Drake Customs sends its modified body shells to the media blaster once, but since our current body was so rusty the guys felt it would be a good idea to blast it now to see if we find any surprises and to ensure the remaining roof structure was clean and ready for the new fastback skin. Ray explained our project to the guys at AR Custom Fab, the media blaster, and they were great to work with.

This photo of the remaining coupe roof structure shows just how clean the metal comes back after AR Custom Fab is through blasting it. Once blasted and wiped clean, Jesse puts a coat of DP40 epoxy primer on the bare metal to prepare it for the addition of the fastback roof skin. Tune in next month as we continue our sheetmetal repairs and begin the actual fastback conversion process with new quarters, roof skin, and more.