Does anyone know this car or owner?

[slpr50ltd]

My guess is that he never joined last night:/

Yes, but at least now I know that SHO-PNY knows the buddy that helped build the car and may be able to get some insight from him. I'm sure I could have figured it all out and maybe I'll end up doing some things differently, but why not take advantage of someone elses experience and not reinvent the wheel?!? What's funny, is that it was a photo of a Fairmont wagon with an '83-'84 Mustang front end on it that started all of this. I figured if that could fit, maybe some of the other frontends would fit as well!

[Mr. Squirrel]

I always wonder what a fox tbird front end and tail lamps would look like on the futura. The bird im referring to is the 80-82 since many people say the look like mini tbirds because of the wind

[slpr50ltd]

I always wonder what a fox tbird front end and tail lamps would look like on the futura. The bird im referring to is the 80-82 since many people say the look like mini tbirds because of the wind

I like that idea as well!! That would make it more of an "aero" Bird with the sloped roofline rather than the formal roofline the Birds came with! Finding a good donor car would be the hard part.

[82 fairmont guy]

ok just found this thread . my car took me three years and many many many $'s but not being independently wealthy it tends to take a while. thank god for an understanding wife. i keep telling her project cars are alot cheaper than her letting me have a girlfriend. and she definately agree's. i have been talking via PM with the O P so hopefully he can do his car. i think a cougar or t-bird (80-82) square birds would probably be ugly since the futura body is very swoopy and the early 80's birds and f/z's are square and would be a waste of time

[slpr50ltd]

ok just found this thread . my car took me three years and many many many $'s but not being independently wealthy it tends to take a while. thank god for an understanding wife. i keep telling her project cars are alot cheaper than her letting me have a girlfriend. and she definately agree's. i have been talking via PM with the O P so hopefully he can do his car. i think a cougar or t-bird (80-82) square birds would probably be ugly since the futura body is very swoopy and the early 80's birds and f/z's are square and would be a waste of time

Hi Mike,

Thanks for posting. I also read your PM. In my case, it's going to be more of a time issue than $. I have been collecting parts to originally do this kind of conversion (minus the frontend change) on a LTD/Marquis wagon for some time now, so I have all of the mechanical parts (brakes, suspension, wheels, etc) already, along with the necessary wiring. The drivetrain ('90 5.0/5-spd/driveshaft) will come out of my red '85 LTD Squire. I also have a Mstg 8.8 rearend. I'll probably end up going with 3.55 gears. The necessary pieces for the frontend conversion will come from the Squire and an '86 LTD wagon I have, so LTD parts should not be an issue. Did you install the LTD rear bumper like on the Rooney car? If so, were there any issues to watch out for? It appears that you have the F/Z turbo scoop on your hood. Is that correct? That was one of the choices I had been considering, but if that is indeed the turbo scoop, I'll use something else. Another consideration was the '79 Indy type scoop, trimmed to fit the hood. On your cowl, did you remove the Fairmont cowl and put in the LTD cowl or did you just modify the ends of the Fairmont cowl to accomodate the LTD fenders? Because of the color of your car and the angle of the photos, it's hard to tell. My plan is to take a bunch of photos as I go through this project, which I will put some of up on FEP along with descriptions of what I did (or did not do, for that matter). I took photos when I did the V8 swap into my Squire and it was amazing how much seemed to get done one day and how little the next!! :-) My thought was to also use the wiring harness (dash and front) from my LTD Squire for the project as it is already modified to accomodate the EFI V8 and would mate up with the lights, etc on the LTD frontend. No sense redoing what already's been done!! Well, like I said, I probably won't have the Futura for around 4-6 weeks and will probably actually drive it for a while before tearing into it, so it may end up being 2-4 months before I get started. Also, I agree with you somewhat on the Bird or Cougar frontends, but the F/Z frontends are also square. These frontends also have hideaway headlights, which does give them a little sleeker look. All that said, I still think the LTD frontend is the better looking frontend for this. The slope of the frontend matches well with the slope of the roofline on the Futura! Ford should have actually built this car!! :-) But then we wouldn't have the fun of building something unusual!! :-)

[82 fairmont guy]

first yes it is a turbo zephyr scoop. had i known how expensive they were i would have done something else. and i just modified the cowl, way to much work to remove and replace them

[SHO-PNY]

I have another idea for my taillights, but I won't know if it'll work until I get the car. Unfortunately, that's probably about a month away! :-( Not enough time and too many obligations right this moment! I just changed my avatar to the car I'm getting.

what you wanting to do to the taillights?

[SHO-PNY]

sent him a message to get signed up !!!

[TWR2003]

and i just modified the cowl, way to much work to remove and replace them

What did you do to modify? Can you share any details?

[slpr50ltd]

what you wanting to do to the taillights?

The final decision will have to wait until I get the car and can trial fit, but I'd like to use the '85-'86 Marquis taillights. The '83-'86 LTD/Marquis taillights slant forward like the sport coupe's do and, just by eyeball, they look pretty close to size and shape. If it takes a little body work, so be it, but I think they would smooth off the rear of the car.

[slpr50ltd]

first yes it is a turbo zephyr scoop. had i known how expensive they were i would have done something else. and i just modified the cowl, way to much work to remove and replace them

I was thinking the same thing, but I like the look of the LTD grille and cowl, so will take a good hard look at it when I finally get the car and make the decision then. This is also another way to make the conversion look a little different than the others! :-)

[Mr. Squirrel]

I love your idea on the tail lamps. It does make sense with the flow of the body lines. I love the tail lights on the monts and zephyrs but the kind of look out of place. Only you will know if it will work. Hope you get it started soon. Suspense is killing the squirrel

[TWR2003]

[R1979MV]

Hey guys... this is Ray here.. the co-developer of the 79 Black Futura 'Phantom' (with the LTD-front end grafted onto the nose - and the 'crystalline' reflector taillight panel at the rear) that appeared in the Mustangs & Fast Fords Magazine from a few years back. Brien, I am assuming you want to pick my brain on some items for this project. Are you on AOL or Yahoo? Let me know.

I saw a posting about what other cars could graft on the Fairmont/Futura-Zephyr/Z-7... I can tell everyone that anyone who knows these cars, (especially in four-door form) will know that the doors themselves are identical for the Fairmont-Futura-Zephyr (78-83), the Granada/Cougar (81-82) and the 83-86 LTD/Marquis. Note that the upper bodyside character line is in the same location for all the above models - making them an easy match-up for side-profile styling continuity. The much-discussed cowl issue on the Fairmont-Zephyr dropping about a 1/4" toward the end of the outer cowl panel, simply requires the use of a good body-filler material to build up area on both sides so that the surface will meet the 1/4" higher fender line of the LTD/Marquis. I saw someone mentioning the Thunderbird/Cougar (80-82) bodystyle, and these are two very different outer sheetmetal skins (no character line creasing, and totally 'wrong' wheel opening lips)...doing this, i think would be a nightmare.

In terms of equipping and 'gadget-freak'ing out the car, there are plenty of donor cars...
(from dashboards, power seat tracks, illuminated sun-visors, power trunk lid pull-down motors, keyless entry keypads, etc... who's to say your hot rods can't be nicely equipped? with modern technology from the later more luxurious cars?? haha)

78-83 Fairmont-Futura/Zephyr-Z7
79-93 Mustang/Capri
80-82 Thunderbird/Cougar XR7 (coupes)
81-82 Granada/Cougar (2-dr, 4-dr sedans, wagons)
82-87 Lincoln Continental (bustle-back sedans)
83-88 Thunderbird/Cougar (coupes)
84-92 Lincoln Mark VII
83-86 LTD/Marquis

[slpr50ltd]

TWR2003, I've seen this one as well, but don't really like the end result. I like the monochrome look of the other two examples. I'm also more of a road race type of guy, so I prefer the slightly lowered, almost flat stance with the nose slightly lower look and the wheels and tires up under the fenders

[Durango]

Hey guys... this is Ray here.. the co-developer of the 79 Black Futura 'Phantom' (with the LTD-front end grafted onto the nose - and the 'crystalline' reflector taillight panel at the rear) that appeared in the Mustangs & Fast Fords Magazine from a few years back. Brien, I am assuming you want to pick my brain on some items for this project. Are you on AOL or Yahoo? Let me know.

Ray - can you share a little about the construction of the taillights? How did you get them looking so good? Did you start with really nice or NOS lenses?

[Durango]

The final decision will have to wait until I get the car and can trial fit, but I'd like to use the '85-'86 Marquis taillights. The '83-'86 LTD/Marquis taillights slant forward like the sport coupe's do and, just by eyeball, they look pretty close to size and shape. If it takes a little body work, so be it, but I think they would smooth off the rear of the car.

I've really wanted to try this for a long time now, but I haven't wanted to buy a set of Marquis/LTD tails and be stuck with them if they won't work and wouldnt you know it, I can never find a F/Z coupe *and* a LTD/Marquis in the same yard at the same time so I can do a little trial fit.

I really think they're close.




Edit: Someone's already done it - sort of. Stumbled across this while googling for the pics above...




The angle seems to work okay, but not a fan of the license plate relocation. I think I'd try to retain the LTD plate bucket.

[slpr50ltd]

Ray, glad to make your acquaintance! I'm Brien and an ol' fart of 64. My avatar is the Futura I'm getting. I expect this project will be my last just due to age and time and I want it to be something special and I want to be able to enjoy what I build! I really like the looks of the "Phantom", but I would also want to build mine so that it would be unique from yours. Yes, I want to build one of these cars and as you so aptly stated, "who's to say your hot rods can't be nicely equipped?"!! :-) I want to have a comfortable, but powerful street machine with AC, power windows, seats, locks and mirrors and who knows what else and that handles and goes like stink! I've got Turbo Coupe seats with a console from an '87-'88 Turbo Coupe that accomodates the power seat, windows and mirror switches. I have even been considering putting in a Mustang IRS. Not so much because I think it's far superior to the solid axle, but because of the uniqueness it would be. Those are just some of the ideas floating around in my head. On Yahoo, I can be reached at "fouridfox@yahoo.com". Again, thank you very much for responding! Truthfully, I did not think this would go anywhere, but looks like I've stirred up a bit of a hornet' nest! Gotta add a little excitement to this site once in a while!! :-)

Hey guys... this is Ray here.. the co-developer of the 79 Black Futura 'Phantom' (with the LTD-front end grafted onto the nose - and the 'crystalline' reflector taillight panel at the rear) that appeared in the Mustangs & Fast Fords Magazine from a few years back. Brien, I am assuming you want to pick my brain on some items for this project. Are you on AOL or Yahoo? Let me know.

I saw a posting about what other cars could graft on the Fairmont/Futura-Zephyr/Z-7... I can tell everyone that anyone who knows these cars, (especially in four-door form) will know that the doors themselves are identical for the Fairmont-Futura-Zephyr (78-83), the Granada/Cougar (81-82) and the 83-86 LTD/Marquis. Note that the upper bodyside character line is in the same location for all the above models - making them an easy match-up for side-profile styling continuity. The much-discussed cowl issue on the Fairmont-Zephyr dropping about a 1/4" toward the end of the outer cowl panel, simply requires the use of a good body-filler material to build up area on both sides so that the surface will meet the 1/4" higher fender line of the LTD/Marquis. I saw someone mentioning the Thunderbird/Cougar (80-82) bodystyle, and these are two very different outer sheetmetal skins (no character line creasing, and totally 'wrong' wheel opening lips)...doing this, i think would be a nightmare.

In terms of equipping and 'gadget-freak'ing out the car, there are plenty of donor cars...
(from dashboards, power seat tracks, illuminated sun-visors, power trunk lid pull-down motors, keyless entry keypads, etc... who's to say your hot rods can't be nicely equipped? with modern technology from the later more luxurious cars?? haha)

78-83 Fairmont-Futura/Zephyr-Z7
79-93 Mustang/Capri
80-82 Thunderbird/Cougar XR7 (coupes)
81-82 Granada/Cougar (2-dr, 4-dr sedans, wagons)
82-87 Lincoln Continental (bustle-back sedans)
83-88 Thunderbird/Cougar (coupes)
84-92 Lincoln Mark VII
83-86 LTD/Marquis

[slpr50ltd]

Durango, Thanks man!! That let's me know that they are close enough that with some effort, they'll look like they came that way. I would definitely do what it took to use the LTD/Marquis license plate housing. It would be much cleaner that way. That setup would really look good on your Durango! Thanks again!!

I've really wanted to try this for a long time now, but I haven't wanted to buy a set of Marquis/LTD tails and be stuck with them if they won't work and wouldnt you know it, I can never find a F/Z coupe *and* a LTD/Marquis in the same yard at the same time so I can do a little trial fit.

I really think they're close.




Edit: Someone's already done it - sort of. Stumbled across this while googling for the pics above...




The angle seems to work okay, but not a fan of the license plate relocation. I think I'd try to retain the LTD plate bucket.

[R1979MV]

The taillights lenses were actually in really great shape to begin with, my buddy Jim (the owner of the car) actually just hit them with plastic polish and a foam polishing pad on the variable speed buffer.
The preparation: I gently twisted each of the red lenses (similar as you would an ice cube tray) to loosen the clear 'reflex' reflectors that are inside the red lenses. I then took standard parchment-colored masking tape and literally taped up the inside coves of each of the six taillight housings....and each back-up lamp housing... where the bulbs enter from the rear. Once I covered them with tape, I took a black Sharpie marker and carefully drew 6 horizontal and 6 vertical lines within each lamp housing cove.. creating a pattern similar to graph paper. Then drew a circle slightly larger than the socket opening, and then from left to right within each housing started to number each square created (the top row would be 1A, 2A, 3A, etc... second row would be 2A, 3A, 4A, etc, and so on) the sides and tops and bottoms would be crescent-like shapes...

Once all numbered, i carefully peeled off the masking tape to keep the cove intact.. and the tape would now be like a concave-shaped "mold" if you want to call it that. Then you can choose either a vertical or horizontal cut... by scissoring the lines (or columns or rows of numbers).

The 'chrome' pieces themselves are from the large 'plastic' mirror rectangles that are often seen in places like AutoZone, PepBoys, WalMart,etc.. that stick on to broken or cracked mirrors as a temporary fix. This usually comes 1-per pk...and comes with a clear protective film on it. LEAVE the film on. Then take each of your cut numbered strips of rows/columns and place it on the mirror face. Each strip will be slightly curved since you're laying the former concave cove now on a flat surface .. Then with some nice sharp scissors/shears, carefully cut each strip, then cut each line to create small squares/rectangles. Once this is completed for each strip, get yourself some VERY STRONG glue/adhesive that will hold up to temperature extremes (winter cold/summer heat) then proceed to place a daub of glue on the backside of each square and then place it within the tail lamp housing. Once glue has dried, with a sharp narrow exacto knife, carefully begin to peel each numbered square of masking tape off of the plastic mirror square.. and in turn, the protective plastic covering will be stuck to the masking tape and leave behind a brilliant mirrored square.. keep peeling square after square off and you will soon begin to see a dazzling modern-looking 'complex reflector' tail light housing... The TOUGH part is that once you've gotten ONE done... you'll realize that you've got FIVE more to do... Be patient though... Take your time - don't rush.. if you get frustrated - STOP... take a break and go back to it later.

[slpr50ltd]

Hey Ray, did you get paid by the hour on that job?!? Whew!! But, as my dad used to say, "Any job doing is worth doing well!!" I'm sure he picked that up somewhere along the way!

The taillights lenses were actually in really great shape to begin with, my buddy Jim (the owner of the car) actually just hit them with plastic polish and a foam polishing pad on the variable speed buffer.
The preparation: I gently twisted each of the red lenses (similar as you would an ice cube tray) to loosen the clear 'reflex' reflectors that are inside the red lenses. I then took standard parchment-colored masking tape and literally taped up the inside coves of each of the six taillight housings....and each back-up lamp housing... where the bulbs enter from the rear. Once I covered them with tape, I took a black Sharpie marker and carefully drew 6 horizontal and 6 vertical lines within each lamp housing cove.. creating a pattern similar to graph paper. Then drew a circle slightly larger than the socket opening, and then from left to right within each housing started to number each square created (the top row would be 1A, 2A, 3A, etc... second row would be 2A, 3A, 4A, etc, and so on) the sides and tops and bottoms would be crescent-like shapes...

Once all numbered, i carefully peeled off the masking tape to keep the cove intact.. and the tape would now be like a concave-shaped "mold" if you want to call it that. Then you can choose either a vertical or horizontal cut... by scissoring the lines (or columns or rows of numbers).

The 'chrome' pieces themselves are from the large 'plastic' mirror rectangles that are often seen in places like AutoZone, PepBoys, WalMart,etc.. that stick on to broken or cracked mirrors as a temporary fix. This usually comes 1-per pk...and comes with a clear protective film on it. LEAVE the film on. Then take each of your cut numbered strips of rows/columns and place it on the mirror face. Each strip will be slightly curved since you're laying the former concave cove now on a flat surface .. Then with some nice sharp scissors/shears, carefully cut each strip, then cut each line to create small squares/rectangles. Once this is completed for each strip, get yourself some VERY STRONG glue/adhesive that will hold up to temperature extremes (winter cold/summer heat) then proceed to place a daub of glue on the backside of each square and then place it within the tail lamp housing. Once glue has dried, with a sharp narrow exacto knife, carefully begin to peel each numbered square of masking tape off of the plastic mirror square.. and in turn, the protective plastic covering will be stuck to the masking tape and leave behind a brilliant mirrored square.. keep peeling square after square off and you will soon begin to see a dazzling modern-looking 'complex reflector' tail light housing... The TOUGH part is that once you've gotten ONE done... you'll realize that you've got FIVE more to do... Be patient though... Take your time - don't rush.. if you get frustrated - STOP... take a break and go back to it later.

[Mr. Squirrel]

Awsome he answered. Thanks for telling us the secrets. I always wondered how you did that. I was going to ask where did that car go or if its around still?

[R1979MV]

As I remember, the tail light project took me a good WEEK or so to complete ( I remember even being off of work for that period of time, I believe vacation) - but was younger and more 'into' this car during the development phase TWO... as this car was originally a basic Futura coupe (non-conversion of any sheet metal for the first phase)..

For that, the car was painted Oxford White with a Dark Titanium Metallic lower bodyside tu-tone & factory-style wrapover 'Turbo stripe' (painted on in this case, not a decal) with Dark Titanium-painted bumpers (standard version - sans the guards and rub strips version for a cleaner look).... etc etc..

***
On a side-note...
For you gadget freaks, if anyone is ever interested in a power seat track installation, note the FRONT bolt location of the front bucket seats on the F/Z....the bolts install generally install VERTICALLY (on at least the 1978-82-83's)...any 'FOX'-platformed seat tracks (from 83'ish on...for both 2-or 4-way manual, 4-or-6-way power tracks) will more than likely have a bolt angle that is more like a 30-degree (forward-facing angle) to it, because as these cars progressed, slight engineering/design changes were made to this, and then got applied to the other same-platformed car lines....

But....as you all know.......there is ALWAYS a "but" ......

- The DRIVER's seat track (for a 6-way power function) was used on the 1980-82 Thunderbird/Cougar XR7.. and that should bolt up fine without any issue at all. But, if anyone remembers, Ford/Mercury had a practice of offering a power seat track (4-way or 6-way) ONLY for the Driver's side on any of their then-compact and mid-size platforms...and this tradition carried over into the freshly downsized for 1980 Thunderbird /XR7...and stayed the same thru the last 1982 run.. (so a 80-82 donor track should be good for anyone who wants a direct-bolt-on driver 6-way power seat track)...

- But, for those (= me at the time) who want the PASSENGER 6-way power seat track to install exactly the same, (using the existing VERTICAL threaded floor rail holes), the 1982 Lincoln Continental is the ONLY Fox-seat track that used this style - as from 1983-87, the lateral (left-to-right) floor rails design changed to the 30-deg forward-facing threaded bolt location..and all seat tracks (manual or power) on any Fox-based platform changed over to this more-forward-facing design.

Crazy?? Perhaps..haha - but this just goes to show how deep and intense you can go in terms of the level of the finest details. A simple bolt angle - for a seat track! This is only one example - and it is then, you can fully appreciate knowledge and determine what and how engineering changes are made - and for what reasons they were made - in the seat track's case, I am sure that someone at FoMoCo decided it was easier to take a socket and ratchet to remove a front seat bolt from an angle - without any intrusion of letting a socket extension rub against the seat cushion and fabric.

[Durango]

The taillights lenses were actually in really great shape to begin with, my buddy Jim (the owner of the car) actually just hit them with plastic polish and a foam polishing pad on the variable speed buffer.
The preparation: I gently twisted each of the red lenses (similar as you would an ice cube tray) to loosen the clear 'reflex' reflectors that are inside the red lenses. I then took standard parchment-colored masking tape and literally taped up the inside coves of each of the six taillight housings....and each back-up lamp housing... where the bulbs enter from the rear. Once I covered them with tape, I took a black Sharpie marker and carefully drew 6 horizontal and 6 vertical lines within each lamp housing cove.. creating a pattern similar to graph paper. Then drew a circle slightly larger than the socket opening, and then from left to right within each housing started to number each square created (the top row would be 1A, 2A, 3A, etc... second row would be 2A, 3A, 4A, etc, and so on) the sides and tops and bottoms would be crescent-like shapes...

Once all numbered, i carefully peeled off the masking tape to keep the cove intact.. and the tape would now be like a concave-shaped "mold" if you want to call it that. Then you can choose either a vertical or horizontal cut... by scissoring the lines (or columns or rows of numbers).

The 'chrome' pieces themselves are from the large 'plastic' mirror rectangles that are often seen in places like AutoZone, PepBoys, WalMart,etc.. that stick on to broken or cracked mirrors as a temporary fix. This usually comes 1-per pk...and comes with a clear protective film on it. LEAVE the film on. Then take each of your cut numbered strips of rows/columns and place it on the mirror face. Each strip will be slightly curved since you're laying the former concave cove now on a flat surface .. Then with some nice sharp scissors/shears, carefully cut each strip, then cut each line to create small squares/rectangles. Once this is completed for each strip, get yourself some VERY STRONG glue/adhesive that will hold up to temperature extremes (winter cold/summer heat) then proceed to place a daub of glue on the backside of each square and then place it within the tail lamp housing. Once glue has dried, with a sharp narrow exacto knife, carefully begin to peel each numbered square of masking tape off of the plastic mirror square.. and in turn, the protective plastic covering will be stuck to the masking tape and leave behind a brilliant mirrored square.. keep peeling square after square off and you will soon begin to see a dazzling modern-looking 'complex reflector' tail light housing... The TOUGH part is that once you've gotten ONE done... you'll realize that you've got FIVE more to do... Be patient though... Take your time - don't rush.. if you get frustrated - STOP... take a break and go back to it later.

Holy crap. That's amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Edit: I think if I stick an LTD nose *and* tails on the Durango - I am gonna have to call it the LTDurango...

[Mr. Squirrel]

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CAR? IS IT STILL AROUND OR LONG GONE!!!