To chop or not to chop? (future of extra '70 fastback to be decided)

[351pacecar]

I have two '70 fastbacks, one is the oddball grabber car that iam fixing, the other I bought just for the non original strange built 9" rear end in it, its basically a really rough parts car. I picked up the drivers door two weeks after the rest of the car if thats any idea of condition. It would need front frame rail repair, major repair or replacement of both torque boxes and attached front frame extentions, full floor pans up to the vertical part of the firewall, some cowl rust repairs, rear side trunk floors with dropoffs, both rear quarters with outer fenders and both rear portions of the rear frame rails. its original 302 2v/wide ratio toploader 4spd drivetrain didnt come with it, and the hood has a very dated (80's race style) snorkel scoop cut into it that wouldnt be street legal. both front and rear fender extentions are damaged but useable, and the seats and dash and the like are all there, but it was a drag car so the dash was hacked and the door panels dissapeared along with the contents of the driver door including glass, and the console was tossed and the floor hacked for a big ugly v gate shifter. it sat for at least 10 years so everything that could be is is moldy and generally unuseable for the most part.

Getting to the point, its a total basket case that technically could be restored, but I can't take on another project of that magnitude and I don't know of anyone else who could either, so i figured since i need both complete rocker panels both front fenders, the trunk, and many other parts for my other car, I would just hack it up and sell the extra. Is this a waste? When I say hack it up I mean cut and pitch the rusty parts and spotweld drill and cut around the useable metal. I even intend to sell the complete roof and pillars if I find someone in need of it from a rollover or some such thing. I intend to also very carfully remove both front upper frame panels with the stamped vins and remove the dash vin since the car was decently optioned with a blue on blue colors and a v8 with a 4 spd and a console, and i have a clear title for it, iam sure there is someone who would want to basically rebuild that car with a clean body from somewhere using that vin setup.

am I wasting this car to do this? or just making good use of its parts?

 

[Mustangmaker67]

Cut it up, Use it for just what you said. You will better serve the hobby by deleting one car to save others. Unless of course your like alot of hard core Mustangers that think putting $500 worth of used and aftermarket trash on a rusty classic Makes it a nice car. Lets face it alot of these old cars are just not worth it to restore. But your right some of the parts are. somewhere there is a nice car that's waiting for those parts to put her over the edge to being saved. I've found myself in the same shape, thinking to cut or not, every one that's cut makes all the rest worth alittle more. At some point all of these daily drivers will be drove to the point that it will either be parted out itself or must be properly restored hopefully someone will do right thing and properly restore. Well anyway, That's my 2 cents worth Thanks for asking the question.

 

[Route666]

I'd just sell the whole shell after taking bits off it. That way someone can restore it, or cut the roof off themselves if they want to.

 

[bnickel]

I'd just sell the whole shell after taking bits off it. That way someone can restore it, or cut the roof off themselves if they want to.

what he said. also another thing you can do is to take al the parts you aren't going to use from the grabber and sell them with the this car. i've had 2 parts cars for my car over the years and even though they were used up hen i got them i still felt bad about using their parts and then sending them to certain death, but i didn't chop them up personally, i let the new owners take care of that, my last one actually ended up as dirt track race car with a 351c. it had both quarters patched very badly at one time, rusty floors originally a 6 cyl-3 spd car with no engine or trans when i bought it. i gave it to the guy so he could turn it into the race car, i figured if someone could get just a bit more use out of it that the car would have fulfilled it's purpose.

 

['68StangGT]

I'd say the 70 model is probably the hardest to find parts for - so I vote for parting it out as well ...

 

[351pacecar]

Part it out it is then. I'll hafta do it myself because I need the rocker panels and rear frame rails off of it (mine need more than just the rear parts) and the car would fall apart and not be moveable with that much gone I would think. I may also likely take parts of the front lower frame rails too. Its not really getting wasted, everything useable will be used, and it not really dying because all its id tags (stamped tag, fenders and vin) and the title will be neatly filed away until a cleaner car with undesireable options shows up.

If anyone knows of a rolled '70 or maybe one with just severe roof damage within driving distance of MN/WI border give me a call, its the biggest part and iam practically gonna give it away. I'll have an extra windshield and rear window too I suppose.

 

[Ronstang]

Sometimes things just need to be layed to rest. I called a buddy today and we were talking when he told me he was going to haul the three Mustangs in his field off to the crusher...1 64 1/2 and 2 65 coupes. There isn't much worthwhile on these cars since thay have been sitting for many years in the elements but I am going to help him and get whatever is usable off of them and then they will be scrapped as they are too far gone to resurrect.