New Member has a question

[olbob]

:lol: I am interested in rerstoring a 1980-81 Ghia Model with a 3.3 straight six. It of course needs alot of work. What I need to know is, I have noticed that there are not alot of parts out there like for my 87. Would any of you guys undertake a restoration knowing the scaresity of parts????
Thank you for answering, I am going to look at one tomorrow....
Thanks Guys, I welcome you opinion...
Bob in Maine

[negusm]

That totally depends on how you value the car.

There are cars out there with FAR less parts available that people still restore. Between the current reproduced stuff, ebay, junkyards, this site and your own elbo grease, I think you can restore pretty much any year of these cars to show quality. Will it be worth it? Almost never if $$ is all your counting.

IMHO, 79-86 Mustangs are pretty darn easy to restore compared to other cars my family has run into. Many cars have no "catalog" you can pop open, order what you need and in 2 weeks you have a restored car.

When we did our classic Mustangs it was exactly that way. I think we had to locate 3-4 parts in junkyards for each car and the rest we just ordered en mass from a catalog. Chrome, bumpers, trim, interior, weatherstripping, bushings, welts, etc etc.

When we did the 1930 Buick Marquette and 1931 Howe Fire Engine we went everywhere from Texas to Canada looking for parts. We are still looking for a few pieces. Some of the trim we had to have manufactured from scratch from a local machine shop using just pictures. Other pieces we cross referenced from other cars and worked them over to be correct. The chrome and trim all had to be straightened, the holes welded, and everything rechromed.

So, I kind of get a chuckle when people rant about the price of this or that. At least the parts are easily AVAILABLE for these cars.

-Mike

[Koenigderloewen]

I have an unrestored original 81 ghia mustang with the same engine. The hardest problem i have had fixing it up is that you can find parts for the car, but for the right engine... thats tougher. A lot of places I called for a few engine parts said they didnt have it for the I6 engine, but a 5.0, of course... I eventually dug the parts out at a junkyard. This was all before I found this wonderful haven though, so i am sure you won't have such a hard time as that.

[olbob]

Hey Mike,
Thanks for the answer, you mentioned that parts are readily available, the catologs I have list alot for the 87-93's but very little for the 79-86's. Is there any catologs for those years??
Welll at least he is driving it to a central location for me, at least it goes.....
Bob

[negusm]

Hey Mike,
Thanks for the answer, you mentioned that parts are readily available, the catologs I have list alot for the 87-93's but very little for the 79-86's. Is there any catologs for those years??
Welll at least he is driving it to a central location for me, at least it goes.....
Bob

When I say parts are readily available, you're confusing that term with what's "available" in a catalog. Look on ebay there is a ton of stuff that flows through there every week. Check the classifieds here. There are tons of parts coming through here too. I post what I need and often I get a response in 48hours.

For catalog stuff:
www.50resto.com
www.texasmustang.com

You're simply going to have to work with what USED stuff you can find. THAT'S called restoration. Luckily the really easily worn stuff is sold through 50resto like dash pads, console pads, etc etc.

-Mike