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Thank you.

Thank you very much for the replies. 

I'm in the process of trying to finish the car, which has bare metal in the rear undercarriage and the rear wheel wells. 

I will read the PDF and figure out what needs to be done. 

The interior of the floor also needs to be finished, but I think that's fairly straightforward.  I've removed all the old cracking seam sealer, ground and sanded places back to metal, and I'll prime and paint so it's finished.

Information on this forum is invaluable, and I really appreciate the help.

I'm taping the car to sand/prime/paint the wheel wells and a part of the underbody.

Is this part outlined in bright green supposed to be matte black or Candy Apple Red?

If it's supposed to be red, where does the line between black and red occur?  There isn't an obvious point for the transition otherwise.

Thanks!

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I can't speak to the other areas you are puzzled about but can offer a explanation on the lower control arms . The upper control arm is what takes all the wear. The upper ball joint and or the inner shaft wears out frequently. The lower ball joint seldom wears out other then the ball joint protective boot getting  torn or the rubber bushing deteriorating . Sometimes restorers do not replace the lowers because the ball joint is still good. Consequently it is not odd that the lower was not replaced only that it was not cosmetically restored to match the other restored components. If not all other front suspension components are restored cosmetic or otherwise it my not be odd at all.
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I completely understand what you are saying - I just replaced one axle in my daughter's car because the other axle was fine (same with uppers and lowers for the control arms).

What I meant though is that the intention was to restore everything, but the lowers are a mess and the uppers are new.  I'll take them off to make sure the ball joints are good and clean and repaint them (same with the rest of the suspension that is a mess.)

I would be very concerned if I were you. Get someone with some experience to help you

Thank you for the suggestion - are you talking about someone with Shelby-specific experience?  That would be very helpful. 

I do have maybe better than average experience for someone who isn't a mechanic, although I know it could be better.  I've done minor body work, rebuilt suspensions, rebuilt motors, carbs and done okay trouble shooting electric in our newer cars. 

I definitely don't know a lot about Mustangs, but I did spend my youth in my uncle's garage where he built hot rods and picked up a lot there.  I think if I go slow and ask a lot of questions I might be able to get through it okay.

Pete, I went for a "more perfect" car when I did my car which I finished 20 years ago. I painted my outer aprons red and my under carriage all red. I didn't want it factory since a sprayer was clogged when my car went down the line and didn't want a large area to be bare metal. I cleared in the hood stripes also. These things can be "fixed" relatively easy by me other than removing sound deadener on the outer aprons(I swear it was there from factory but can't prove it now  ).

Did that affect the value of your car at all?

Not to be picky but those window stop bolts on your door should be  clear/silver plated and NOT painted. That is a pet peeve on "done" 69 and 70 Mustangs. Great start on your resto. When was your car built as it would determine your upper firewall color.
last 2 pics below are an April built original Boss 429.

That's good info, thank you.  I have the body specialist who did all the restoration work helping me with the reassembly of the body and the glass, and I think a detail like bolts can be taken care of with a little of his help after we break them loose from the current paint.

I appreciate everyone's efforts to help the new member. Keep in mind his experience level is self admittedly low and he is not going for a perfect car.

Just my opinion: overwhelming him with details and flooding the zone with examples may not be in his best interests.

As Mr. Gaines would say, I am sure others might feel differently.

I am definitely doing my best to come up with a battle plan and do appreciate everyone's help very much!

My antenna goes up when when you have s very nice body and a lot of unrestored parts.

The hardest thing to determine is if all the parts go together and the body is the real deal

In this case, we know the second owner of the car, who bought it from the original owner.  I think there are "unrestored" pieces which  I have no idea what the owner was doing with them.

Lots of possibility to how or why the car was built. Not everyone wants or can restore a car back to all original. The term is used loosely by many so you cannot simply some ones use of the word.  Some will keep a very close eye on the budget to maximize profits or just because they don't have the money, skills or interest in having a complete done car. Trying to figure out what happened can be an exercise but the important thing is not why but to evaluate IMHO what the current condition is and go from there. Reasons and motive are not the important thing at this point

I totally agree with this and it's the same advice I've given my kids on a lot of different topics.  That doesn't mean I don't wonder sometimes!

To help with that we would need to know when the car was build at Dearborn. This date is available from Kevin Marti in one of his reports. Projected/guess upon date from the door tag, build sheet or other places on the car will not help.


Understand that your not going "concours" but you have to refinish that area anyway so might as well try to replicate the factory finish since you will not be coming back to correct it later, if you change your mind.  Other items that bolt on an off can be corrected with a lot more ease if you change you mind later or choose to sell the car. But if your doing an all out modified or altered car anything goes

Good luck with your choices

Hope this helps

You make good points.  I'm currently trying to figure out what steps to take - I know there are restoration guides for these cars, but I'm not sure how to evaluate their quality.  Information like you provided is great, thank you.

The car is in an odd spot actually from what I can tell.  The majority of the body has been restored and is in excellent condition.  Then there are bare spots (rear fender wells, driver's footwell) and the floor was not restored.  Upper control arms are new, lowers are untouched original.  Why not do both while you're at it?  Some motor components are dirty and flaky, others are pristine.

It's a little confusing.

I would check out this article before I started painting anything...

https://concoursmustang.com/speegle/Articles/69/69%20Dearborn%20Under10-2017v12.pdf 

TOB

That's really amazing information, thank you.

Yes

That entire area forward and rearward of the wheels

Thank you!

I think we will reassemble it for sale, and the "look" will be that we want it to be as authentic as I can make it without getting into concours territory.  It's up in the air, honestly.

And do you mean the area indicated by the green arrow was painted black at the factory?

Thank you !

A 1969 should not have a Shelby tag on the apron.

I have so much to learn here.