Ratghia's 1969 Mustang Fastback

After finishing school I decided to start looking for something older and v8 powered (ideally a 65 2 door Fairlane) to enjoy as a rolling restoration of sorts. While looking for that I stumbled upon a 69 Mustang fastback and couldn't say no. I ended up spending more than I was planning on and got a car that required more work than I had originally intended, but I have always wanted a Mustang of this body style so I jumped on it. The first order of business for the car will be replacing the floors, rear torque boxes, and both rear quarter panels. The car certainly has some rust, but in all honesty it's not too bad. It came without a drivetrain so I plan on building a decent 302 and then putting a 5spd in it. Besides that everything else is still up in the air, and a decent amount of time away. My goal is to have a car thats fun to cruise and go to shows in, but also fun to autocross since my region seems to be getting a decent amount of people running cam.

The first 2 pictures are of it before I picked it up.

When I first got it home.

Bought myself a welder so I don't have to borrow my dads anymore.

This should be fun.

And don't look at opentracker Suspension parts. You'll hate me. (Arguably the best handling early mustang I've ever driven was equipped with most of their catalog )

This is gonna be neat.

I always hear to look out for rust in the torque boxes when buying Mustangs but it's never been very clear to me what they look like or how you fix the rust.

ratghia said: It came without a drivetrain so I plan on building a decent 302 and then putting a 5spd in it.

Aim higher

Damn.... its been OVER 20 years since I restored my 1970 428 SCJ Mach 1...... back then it would have been sacrilege to do anything but the original big block and large spline top loader....

I took it to Charlotte for the 30th anniversary.... IT drove so crappy...

I moved to imports!!!!

Opentracker Suspension parts yes this would be my first purchase. The full kit for $1495 would be a great start and easy on the wallet. Also a close ratio steering box is a must. Makes the car much easier to drive without power steering.

Had fun working on one of my friends 69 Mach I that was setup for road racing back in the early 80's. One of the most brutally fast cars I've ever driven but was fun as heck.

I owned two '65s, but I always liked the '69 tail lights.

I just looked at a 69 coupe for 500. Yours looks mint in comparison!

This is my favorite muscle car.

I doubled Keanu driving the one in John Wick. We had 3 and only one ran as good as it looked.

I was definitely planning on ordering a good amount of suspension parts from opentracker, so it's good to hear I was on the right track with that. Since I got the car home I haven't had much time to work on it, but I did manage to strip the interior. The car had been sitting for about 20 years, so it was nice to see that barn-fresh smell leave once the interior was out. Now that the flammable stuff is gone I hope to start making progress on rust repair. I had originally thought that only the rear torque boxes were bad, but it appears as if the full frame rail assemblies on both side will need replaced. My game plan is to start with them and then do the floors. Hopefully I can save any exterior repairs for last.

This is by far the worst floor pan section, but full length on both sides needs replaced.

This is pretty much the only exterior rust on the entire car.

Was just thinking of these as Wifee has always loved them. They still seem to be staying reasonably cheap and could fit the bill for a cool family cruiser.

84FSP wrote: Was just thinking of these as Wifee has always loved them. They still seem to be staying reasonably cheap and could fit the bill for a cool family cruiser.

The coupes are reasonably cheap A fastback/sports roof (like this one) is easily more than double the $$

The Guy I work for just brought home a 69 Mach 1 428 cobra jet.all of the body is Muy Bueno,and even with a Marti Report(what happened) it has 390 heads and a 1974 C-6 and a couple of other minor issues. Still he paid close to 50 large,THE ONLY REASON to use a Small block is so you can change plugs W/O raising the engine up.But I Like a Big Block and this one is getting ALL the Correct parts put back on.

ratghia wrote: I did manage to strip the interior. The car had been sitting for about 20 years, so it was nice to see that barn-fresh smell leave once the interior was out. Now that the flammable stuff is gone I hope to start making progress on rust repair.

Fun Fact:

Rust is the slowest form of fire.

ratghia wrote: I was definitely planning on ordering a good amount of suspension parts from opentracker, so it's good to hear I was on the right track with that. Since I got the car home I haven't had much time to work on it, but I did manage to strip the interior. The car had been sitting for about 20 years, so it was nice to see that barn-fresh smell leave once the interior was out. Now that the flammable stuff is gone I hope to start making progress on rust repair. I had originally thought that only the rear torque boxes were bad, but it appears as if the full frame rail assemblies on both side will need replaced. My game plan is to start with them and then do the floors. Hopefully I can save any exterior repairs for last. This is by far the worst floor pan section, but full length on both sides needs replaced. This is pretty much the only exterior rust on the entire car.

You are a man of much vision and not much fear.

MustangParts.AverageJoeRestoration.com they have the floor pan and rear quarter panels, front frame runners for under a grand for the whole lot. Plus the rubber seals and misc everything to bring this back to showroom quality.

Prices aren't all that bad either from what I see.

www.npdlink.com not bad either they seem to be a little more on some things but still not bad.

Over the past few weeks I've just picking at the car for an hour or two whenever I find time. I have the rear end out of the car and I'm getting ready to start doing metal work. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll get the first round of metal ordered. This coming weekend is spring Carlisle so with a little luck I'll find some parts that I need there. For now I think my game plan is to get the rear frame work done and then get the rear suspension taken care of so I can get the car back on the ground before I move on to other areas of the car.

NOHOME wrote: You are a man of much vision and not much fear.

from the man stitching two cars together....

My 70 Mach 1 only needed the battery section of the front sheet metal... the floors and the body itself was in fair enough shape....

Mine came with a 390... so I contact the Grubb brothers (yes those Grubb brothers) and purchased a proper SCJ... cool thing about the Mustangs (cept the "boss cars", - they didn't have the vin stamped in the engine/heads) Date codes is all that are needed....

Speaking about the whole Mustang date code argument/discussion... not sure about today, but back in the 90s, the MCA would only accept 8 weeks back from production as proper to fit a car....

My early produced 1970 Mustang, had the shoulder belt dated in March of 1969. Since the shoulder harness was not there in 69... my March dated belt was a manufactured a mere 5 months (20 weeks) before the car....

Cj Pony parts was where I got most of my stuff. They do free shipping, that will save you a ton when buying sheet metal.

Cj Pony parts was where I got most of my stuff. They do free shipping, that will save you a ton when buying sheet metal.