Installing a Package Tray

[greekz]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Branda is going to sell a bunch of these 66 rear panels real soon.

I won't be surprised at all that they are suddenly "discovered"? 

Is not funny how things happen that way out of the blue.

[shelbydoug]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Branda is going to sell a bunch of these 66 rear panels real soon.

I won't be surprised at all that they are suddenly "discovered"? 

Is not funny how things happen that way out of the blue.

Ironically yes BUT I did this like 35 years ago so where has everyone been 'til now? Huh? 

[S7MS427]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Branda is going to sell a bunch of these 66 rear panels real soon.

Ironically yes BUT I did this like 35 years ago so where has everyone been 'til now? Huh? 

Shelbydoug,

I put a '66 Branda try in my GT500 back in the eighties.  The secret is that the rear seat dimensions are the same from '65 through '69.  I fabricated brackets that bolts up in the same location that the aft fold down seat panel installs.  Holds everything nice and snug.

[shelbydoug]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Branda is going to sell a bunch of these 66 rear panels real soon.

Ironically yes BUT I did this like 35 years ago so where has everyone been 'til now? Huh? 

Shelbydoug,

I put a '66 Branda try in my GT500 back in the eighties.  The secret is that the rear seat dimensions are the same from '65 through '69.  I fabricated brackets that bolts up in the same location that the aft fold down seat panel installs.  Holds everything nice and snug.

I remembered someone else vaguely that had also done this but didn't remember the specifics. Perhaps it was you?

I think it is a really nice mod since hardly anyone seems to need the backseat. You can always keep the rear seat and include it when you sell the car?

The '80s is when I put in the 66 panel. I put in a '65 panel around 1976 or so. It was the only one available back then that I knew of. It is actually not a bad location for the spare but at the time I was autocrossing the car and the tech guys would make me take it out anyway so that really was a pain to do constantly.

[S7MS427]

I remembered someone else vaguely that had also done this but didn't remember the specifics. Perhaps it was you?

I think it is a really nice mod since hardly anyone seems to need the backseat. You can always keep the rear seat and include it when you sell the car?

The '80s is when I put in the 66 panel. I put in a '65 panel around 1976 or so. It was the only one available back then that I knew of. It is actually not a bad location for the spare but at the time I was autocrossing the car and the tech guys would make me take it out anyway so that really was a pain to do constantly.

Could have been me, not sure.  What forced me into doing this mod was the fact that when the back seat was occupied, I'd sometime catch the the rear fender lips with the back tires.  And with the exhaust pipes running directly below the rear floorpan, people could not ride in the back due to frying their butts off.  So I make it so no one could ride in the back...

[shelbydoug]

To me the Mustang rear seats are about as useful as the Porsche/Audi seats are which is really, not at all.

When I took the seat and all the carpeted panels out I weighed the lot. It came to 85 pounds. Taking that out is some serious weight reduction. The top carpeted panels are made out of 3/4" plywood.


I had found out early in ownership that putting someone in back made the car run on the bump stops with the nose in the air. Hitting any kind of bump in the road under that condition and you would feel it as if the car had bottomed into a pot hole. Hard and violently.

People would panic and ask "what's wrong with your car?"


At some point I had noticed that many of the '65 R models had added an extra top leaf to the rear springs. I wondered why and added one from a '69 Torino station wagon with the loops cut off to experiment with.

To my amazement the car rode better, didn't bottom out and allowed me to run 295-50-15 BFG T/A's on 10 spokes in the rear without rubbing (and within the fenders).


Those added rear springs also aid in steering control in the front, believe it or not. They add directional stability to it.

But I've done other development work as well. I found the rear Konis too harsh and instead found that the Comfort-ride shocks are the ones to run in the rear.

There is a size 27 battery in the trunk on a B9 tray and B9 cable running to the front. That's a relocation of about 60 pounds off the front to the rear. That's kind of obvious that it is part of the package as well and why the added spring and different shocks work I'm sure.

I had also tried rear anti-sway bars and couldn't make them work at all. Maybe that is because I run a 1-1/8" front bar?

I'm not sure why but R models ran no rear bar so I'm not sure how the '69 Boss' can?


I recently described my '68 GT350 as basically a Trans Am car in disguise. One person knowledgeable smiled suspiciously and nodded yes.  Another said, "how can you drive that on the street?" I said, "it rides like a Lincoln. It isn't harsh at all".


With all this "development" work that I have done, I found that the removal of the back seat is actually complimentary to it, or maybe better stated, part of the package?
I don't think anyone needs to go through my program to justify the installation of the panel though? It stands quite well all by itself. I would recommend it to anyone with the fastback.

The four hex head sheet metal screws that you see in the picture I posted are mounted into the original hidden seat brackets. I'll just make them less conspicuous in the future probably with black allen socket button head screws or the like? It will float around on you if you don't secure it down some how.