1966 Mustang Coupe 

1. Intro                                                           6. Assembly Begins
2. The Beginning                                             7. Assembly Continues
3. Strip Down                                                 8. Final Touches
4. Paint Booth                                                 9. The money pit
5. Finally Red                                                 10. The Grand Finale

3. Strip Down:

I was planning to paint the car with the doors and windows still on it, but after the intitial sanding and re-primering, I decided to take it one step closer to a full restoration. To repaint under the windshield and rear window glass, I removed both and sanded it down to bare metal.

1966 mustang rear window out..........1966 mustang front window out
The hood was in pretty bad shape. I sanded it down to bare metal on the outside and the inside. The picture on the left is before I sanded the inside. The picture in the middle is the top already sanded. You can see some bondo spots all along the front where the hood begins to drop down. Removing the bondo to bare metal revealed the holes for the FORD letters that go right on the front edge of the hood, just above the leading edge. I basically sanded the trunk lid in the same manner.
1966 mustang hood bottom..........1966 mustang hood top..........1966 mustang trunk lid bottom
I also took the doors off so it would be easier to paint the door jambs and rocker panel. There was a little rust on the bottom of each door, but not enough to warrent replacing them. I ground the rust off until there wasn't any left, which didn't take much off. I repainted the inside panels semi-gloss black before the rest was painted.
1966 mustang left door bottom..........1966 mustang left door front..........1966 mustang left door rear

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