KISS principle baby.

I agree with everything you guys are saying, I am hopeful that it's not worse than it appears just because of the car's history. Somewhat of a long stoyr but if you want to read.

The car was purchased new by a couple I go to church with (John & Rita). They graduated from college, got married, and bought this car all the same month. It was a plain 289/3-speed manual everything. Being broke at that point in life, John said he went to by a 6 cyl car but they didn't have one and the dealer sold him the V8 for the same money. This was their everyday driver for years. as life goes years later John is able to retire from IBM/Lexmark. This is where I got involved, John and Rita new I constantly had an old Ford at church and came to me and asked me to restore their Mustang. The car hadn't been on the road for several years and was rough. I told them both that I could find them another one already done for far less money than it would cost to fix theirs. They had ZERO interest in a different car, they both wanted their car fixed, period. So I agreed to the project mainly because I didnt want them to get taken advatage of.

I completely broke the car down and I had to replace the front frame rail / fender apron assemblies and radiator support complete before I could put it on the rotisserrie. I stripped the car 100% using about every method known. SOme areas were sand blasted, some with chemical stripper, some with a DA and 80 grit. It got one quarter panel, and both floor side (should have just installed a complete floor). Tried to dig through my stash and use as much Ford stuff as possible to stay away from the repop stuff.

Finished the car, and it turned out well and John and Rita were very happy. They drove the tires off of it for about 3 years and unfortunately John passed away. Rita almost immediately asked me to swap the 3-speed to an automatic for her, so I did that and made sure it looked like it came that way. Rita went on to drive the car for a couple years and then called me one day and asked me to help her sell it as she wasn't driving it as much and didn't want it to set like it did before. I told my wife (Martha) that I just coulldnt let this one get away, I just had too much history with the car. So Rita (and her two daughters) agreed on a price and i brought the car home.

Now, I have added the Magnum Wheels and BFG tires, the GT exhaust, and will be going back to a manual with a T5. But with the history of the work, I did approximately 10 years ago I hope the spot on the roof isn't too bad.

Every time I do something to the car, Rita is the first person I show it too, and so far she has approved.



This was John with the Grandchild right after I got it back to them,

MS wrote:

The car is beautiful just as it is. I am thinking you are going to find a rusted corner if you pop those bubbles and that will really open up a huge can of worms. If the bubbles bother you real bad, I would do a minimal repair and just blend the clear within 2” of the repair. Buffed out, clear blends pretty good on a repair.
If you must fix it correctly, then plan for the worst.

As a guy who owns a 65FB that was off the road for waaay too long, I know the pain of "taking it too far apart". I'd strongly urge you to heed MS' words. He is a sage fellow, and every single piece of advice of his I've followed has worked out a treat. Wisdom is not to be considered lightly. Resist the temptation to take the car off the road. Even if you do pop those bubbles and find some rust, keep the repair small. Dremel wire wheel, OsPho it, primer, paint and clear. Then when the clear is ready to cut and buff, do that.  

Beautiful car and back story. 

Thanks for sharing your great story and the photos, those memories cannot be replaced. I am in a somewhat similar situation as my car was painted approximately 20 years ago. Naturally, the rock chips, parking lot scratches, and mistakes here and there have taken their toll. Never mind the parking lot dents. I generally repair the paint with the closest match I can find, which is Testor's model paint or nail polish, whichever I happen to have handy.

My decision not to repaint now or in the near future is driven by several factors. The cost: I just paid $3,800.00 for two gallons of PPG mid-range paint, one gallon of PPG mid-range clear and hardener and reducer. You have a nice paint job on that car, so you will be spending more for higher quality paint and clear. The time off the road: who knows? I thought I would rebuild a Model T in 6 months and a year later, I am close, but not finished. Your time: miles of smiles. If you are not driving the car, no miles of smiles; however, you do have quality garage time. Take your pick.

At my age, the sands of time are not in my favor, so I choose miles of smiles. The Model T will be the last car I build and probably the last I refurbish. For me, I would follow the above suggestions and attempt a spot repair first. If you find the repair unsatisfactory, you have lost little time and money and you can proceed with a complete paint job/restoration.
Good luck!

Here's an example of popping a rust bubble and then things getting out of hand. The reason I joined this group was that many years ago I bough what I thought was a nice 6 cyl 66 coupe. I was going to restore it with my son. One day I saw some bubbles above the right rear wheel lip, things escalated from there. 

When I got it



Started going after the bubbles



After stripping it down to bare metal and removing the 700 lbs of bondo I found. I never did finish it, sold the car to a buddy...

Nice story, thank you for sharing.