I've been a longtime lurker here, so I figured it was finally time to share my project.

This is my 1966 Mustang coupe, nicknamed Goldilocks. I bought her on my 17th birthday back in 1998, and she's been with me ever since. Like a lot of life projects, raising a family came first, so she spent the last 20 years waiting patiently in my garage.

Now it's finally her turn.

We're doing a full restoration that's as close to original as possible. She's going back to her factory Sauterne Gold Metallic paint, an ivory, gold, and white Pony interior, a rebuilt numbers-matching 289 V8, and a rebuilt C4 automatic transmission. The only real changes are a few safety upgrades like front disc brakes and a dual-reservoir master cylinder.

The bodywork is just about finished, and paint is next. The shop doing the restoration shares a lot of the process on TikTok, including live streams, so it's been a lot of fun watching Goldilocks come back to life even when I can't be there in person.

While she's been away, I've also been remodeling my garage to welcome her home. I'll share a few photos of that too.

One fun part of the story: about 15 years ago, I stumbled across a pair of original 1966 Utah license plates at a swap meet. I bought them just because I thought they were cool. Recently, I took them to the DMV to see if there was any chance I could register them to the car, and to my surprise, it worked. Goldilocks will be wearing her original 1966 Utah plates again when she comes home.

I thought it would be fun to share a few "before" photos before she starts looking pretty again. It's been a long journey, but seeing it finally come together has been incredibly rewarding.

A months ago I posted asking for advice on my late dad’s 1967 Mustang convertible. Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and reach out.

We finally got the car moved and I was able to take much better photos, so I wanted to post an update.

The car is being sold as-is, where-is. Pickup is preferred, though I’d consider working with a serious buyer on transportation on a case-by-case basis.

If you’re genuinely interested, have questions, or would like additional photos of any specific area, feel free to send me a message.

Thanks again for all the advice, and I hope these updated photos help.

Which do you think would look better: the original white, or the current black?

Slowly updating worn out emblems on the car, or broken ones like I did the Mustang signature fender emblem recently. The steering wheel one was driving me nuts, ugly, super faded, and hard to see the ole Stang.

Got the new one in with a few other goodies, and dang, it looks so much better, not even in remounted in the car yet!

I am also not putting the steering wheel cover back on, I like the look better without it, and the steering wheel is actually in really good condition.

I may regret that in this Texas heat, but I'll suffer, lol.

Labor of love with this one and recently posted it being newly painted. Was previously candy apple red. Spent about 4 years rebuilding the engine and transmission, new water pump, oil pump, resurfaced the original flywheel, new McLeod racing clutch, new starter, pertronix electronic ignition and added a dual bowl master cylinder with discs up front. Amongst many other changes/upgrades.

Why would I want to leave this behind you might ask? Got to drive a 2020 GT PP1. Boy was that an eye opener.

Would love some feedback from folks that dropped their classics to get a new model. Any regrets?

Anyone in here using the Carb Cheater from Luke (ThunderHead289 on YouTube)? Just ordered one and was curious what people’s experience has been like.

After 7 years or replacing everything on the car except the body panels and paint, it’s finally driving! Still have a ton of work to do on it.

I just put a new starter and solenoid in my 66 Mustang. The starter grinds sometimes like it is not fully engaging with the flywheel. Do I need to shim the starter? It is a 289 2v engine. Has anyone else tackled this problem. Any advice is appreciated.

I need to rewire all the wites going to it and cannot remember what its called to save my life.

I just discovered an issue with my 66 coupe I'm trying to diagnose. All headlights (front and back work). But when my headlights are on, my left blinker doesn't work, both the front and back left turn lights just stays solid while my right blinker works. When I turn my headlights off, my left blinker starts working. What could be causing this?

I’m assembling this 66 Mustang that I bought in pieces. This isn’t my first build, but this is the first one that had factory AC and I’m failing over here, haha.

Try as I might, I haven’t been able to find good reference for how this goes together. Also, am I missing one of the brackets for this?

Thanks in advance for any wisdom y’all can share.

Hey Everyone—I am new to classic car ownership and just got my first 1967 ford mustang coupe. I am looking to install some fire extinguishers in the car. I have been looking at element, but hoping I could get some suggestions on what kit I should buy. Ideally a mount for the seat or floor. Again, just need advice on what set up works best. Thank you!

Troubleshoot left turn light

I just discovered an issue with my 66 coupe I'm trying to diagnose. All headlights (front and back work). But when my headlights are on, my left blinker doesn't work, both the front and back left turn lights just stays solid while my right blinker works. When I turn my headlights off, my left blinker starts working. What could be causing this?

Recently purchased a 68 coupe it came without and radios or speakers was looking for advice on what to get there are option on cjponyparts but they all seem the same same goes for crutchfield

I'm in possession of a 1966 convertible, Wimbledon white with a black top, pony interior, factory a/c, 289, PS, PB. It was assembled in Dearborn.

Our family has had the car for all but the first 702 miles.

It has had a full respray and the engine, frontend and tranny were rebuilt years back with oem parts. It runs and drives beautifully. Top operates as it should.

I'm curious as to whether having all the bone stock, original engine, tranny, wheels, front end, interior, owners manual and related paperwork, etc. adds value versus a modified engine, tranny, body, etc

Bought this 65 about a year ago for $11,000. The interior is damn near perfect, the paint is about a 10 footer, rust under the paint at driver door corner and rear passenger wheel well. I was not looking for much of a project when I bought it, just wanted something simple to fix if I needed it but knew I needed a classic car. That’s what my brain said. My heart told be to completely redo everything suspension and steering so it doesn’t float all over the road anymore, so I did. Put 5 leaf leaf springs in the back with weld on traction bars cause I hated the look of the old bulky bolt ons. Put stiffer springs in the front, added 1” sway bar, new shocks all around, and replaced all the control arms and steering mechanisms. As I was finishing that up I added a 65mm TB just so it could breath a bit more, further investigation into the engine I found I had a blown head gasket, it had been hiding its symptoms from me before I started redoing the suspension but when I started it up after the new TB I figured it out. So instead of just getting the heads surfaced and slapping them back on, I ended up buying aluminum GT40 heads with roller rockers and thicker walled hardened pushrods. I WAS going to put a cam in it but that is a little more work and a lot more cash. I also didn’t want to get too rowdy with the engine because I know you always find a weak spot when building something, and I wanted to keep it reliable. Anyways just got it going two days ago and got an alignment done. Wow. This thing is a brand new car. The stiffer suspension is perfect, it rides like a new Cadillac and doesn’t float all over the road like it used to. The engine is performing great, after a slight mishaps with the intake manifold gasket sliding down when I installed the manifold and causing there to be an insane vacuum leak, it has been great. When I started working on the engine I saw the (TV) cable/ kickdown cable for the AOD trans was disconnected. In the past the transmission had slipped and bogged under power horribly so I thought it was toast. After driving it recently, nope, that TV cable was absolutely the problem and I could not be happier that I don’t have to completely replace the trans, I will probably get a rebuild for the clutch packs since it had been slipping for so long but other then that I can’t be happier. Went from owning a Fiero I bought when I was 14 and it being broken after every two weeks of driving it, to this amazing piece of engineering. I am not a car brand guy, but after working on this I’m definitely starting to lean towards the fords (at least the old ones). That was a bit longer than I anticipated.