FAILURE TO GET A PROFESSIONAL PRE-PURCHASE INSPECTION – If there is ONE THING you could do to save headaches, hassles, and lots of money and to be able to enjoy your project thoroughly, it is make sure you buy the right car! Get a professional pre-purchase inspection. We have seen many hidden defects and sloppy repairs over the years done by people to make a fast buck, and it adds 1,000’s of dollars to a job. Be warned!

UNDERSTANDING THE TASK AT HAND, WHAT THE RESTORATION WILL REALLY COST – If you have a Mustang with lots of rust, body damage, and extensive mechanical repairs it can get very expensive. Restoration costs are all about time and materials and a proper restoration can take a lot of time and a lot of materials.

PREPARING FOR THE RESTORATION, LACK OF REFERENCE MATERIALS – Purchase reference literature (sales brochures, shop manuals, assembly manuals, recognition guides). Without reference materials you are flying without a flight plan, a sure recipe to crash and burn.

NOT KEEPING TO A REALISTIC PLAN – Each restoration project must have a plan, an order of priorities and regular milestones of progress. If you don’t know where you are going, how do you know when you get there

NOT KEEPING TO YOUR BUDGET WITH A REALISTIC TIMELINE – If you are facing what ia a tight budget and limited resources, be ready for a long-term project where you can take things one phase at a time. Stay close to your budget by recording the price and revisiting your monetary outlay on a regular basis.

FORGETTING TO DOCUMENT WITH PICTURES – Developing a library of pictures before during and after restoration, having a photo gallery of your vehicle will make re-assembly easier and be of assistance in properly restoring your Mustang.

TRASHING OF PARTS YOU MAY NEED LATER – Parts that are taken  off should never be discarded or sold until the job is complete. Parts can be useful in determining how things go back together or to be rebuilt later when suitable replacement parts can not be located.

LOW GRADE PARTS THAT AREN’T UP TO JOB – Choose your Mustang parts, accessories dealers carefully. There are different grades of parts and it is tempting to buy low cost parts to save money, only to see them fail prematurely and have to spend again to replace them.

PURCHASING THE SAME PARTS TWICE – You must have strict organization in your restoration project. Parts should be cataloged, marked with date purchased, vendor and kept in their original cartons until the time comes to detail and/or install them.

BODY FITTING OF PANELS BEFORE PAINT – The best time to adjust or fit-check the body panels is after they are in primer. If you are using original fenders, doors, hood and trunk lid consider drilling 1/8″ holes through hinges and into the sheet metal to allow for ‘drift pin’ alignment when re-assembling the body.

FAILURE TO PREPERE RIGHT FOR PAINT REFINISHING – There is no such thing as a good low-priced paint job. Proper body preparation, high quality automotive paint materials, and skilled application are the elements of a quality paint job that will last. There is simply no way to get outstanding body paint results without spending the necessary money.

A Note

Resist the temptation to customize, retro fit and/or over restore. Non-original restorations will lessen the future value that of a factory original restorations. Making the car perfect, better than factory standards only hurts the finished product, after all these striking classics were not perfect when built. Not like standard of the cars of today.

Something Else To Think About

Restoring a classic, antique or collectable automobile can be a big overtaking with consuming & sometimes costly undertaking. The finished result is a unique combination of the restorer’s experience/vehicle knowledge, quality of the workmanship, management practices and the owner’s commitment to the project. A professionally restored Mustang is a thing to be driven, admired and to enjoy it beauty for many years to come. The experience of seeing a tired, worn out automobile come “back from the dead” will be long remembered as well as the time, along with the care and effort that went into it.