Austang is in her prime (well. . . so to speak)

The Austang is starting to look more like a gorgeous beast again! Panels are being put in place and the bonnet scoop is getting the right shape.

The Shelby shape is starting to work wonders for Mustang's lines. Now I am wondering if I should put a chin scoop across the front.

Taking a look down the left side, it is easy to see the value of paying attention to the shape of the wheel arches!

The car looks sensational just in grey primer, am getting excited now about seeing it in glorious candy apple red.

Still got a fair way to go, may have paint on it in a couple of weeks.

Martin lent me a pile of swatch books, from which I have to somehow pick a red.
Man there are so many!

Sooo close!

Ooh baby! it's getting closer to being finished!
A bit of work to be done on a door and the guards.




The beaver panels are geting a good going over, removing the excess bog and repairing the old dents properly.







The bonnet will be getting some more atention too, lots of plastic required to build up the butchered scoop.

There are a few dips and uneven spots that need to come out.

Beneath the skin

The torture test was quite successful on restoring the door gaps and getting some of the bulge out of the rear left guard. Now it is a matter of shrink, hammer and file. It is getting straight but still needs a heap of work. Looking at how the car sits, I may have to get the springs reset again to level out the rear end.

The metal is a bit thin but it will be straight and have a much better finish than that which the previous panel-slapper provided (hey, triple alliteration).





A fair bit of work is going into this quarter.

Still a way to go!

On the rack of torture

Martin decided to whack the beast onto a big puller to see if we can straighten up the left rear quarter. The left door never sat properly and the gaps were not even.

The crease in the boot floor/ subframe and the unnatural flare in the wheel-well needed to be removed.

The procedure is pretty straightforward. Hook up a big chain to the subframe, bolt the car down to a level plate and give it a huge pull. Bit like torture on a rack I suppose!

After pulling the back, errr . . . back, he put a ram inside the wheel arch and applied pressure.

Then heating the metal, proceeded to belt and shrink the arch back into shape.