Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

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paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:18 pm

Hi folks,

Ron from Pittsburgh here. Thanks for having me! I'm a long-time Ford guy. I have a 1966 resto-modded Mustang coupe that I bought in 1992 and have had a lot of fun with. Everything we have owned until now has pretty much been a Ford / Lincoln product. Don't get me wrong - I like just about everything - but Fords are in my blood. But recently I did something that made a bunch of my buddies say... "You bought WHAT????"

I had been eyeing this car for a few years. It was sitting outside at the shop where my Dad's cars ('63 R2 Studebaker Avanti & '57 T-Bird) and my In-Laws' cars ('63 Studebaker GT Hawk & '48 Studebaker Commander convertible) were restored. The PO lives in New York and realized he wasn't going to get around to having it restored, so I was able to work out a deal.

Here she is ( if I can get the pic to post )....our newly adopted 1966 Toronado.
Attachments
Lilly & Toro.JPG
Lilly was working the winch for me :-)
Lilly & Toro.JPG (148.2 KiB) Viewed 17769 times

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:27 pm

And here she is after a quick pressure washing. She's still filthy, but should clean up pretty well.
Attachments
Toro trailer at house.JPG
Toro trailer at house.JPG (95.44 KiB) Viewed 17769 times

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:35 pm

She has 53k original miles and still has all her original sheet metal. One pretty bad repaint was done but it was never buffed. The original color was Dubonnett ( wow that's a gorgeous color ), but the respray is some sort of "Maserati Maroon" that, while nice, isn't nearly as rich-looking as the Dubonnett. The car has sat outside for the last 3-4 years. Filthy is not the word. The paint is incredibly dirty. It has a LOT of imperfections but the car is really straight and is almost completely rust-free. The motor has a rod knock so I will have it rebuilt this winter. The interior needs lots of love but I think it will clean up pretty well other than the large tear in the driver's side bolster.

The Mustangs will be on the back burner while this one gets done. I want it to be my 3-season DD. May 1st is my optimistic deadline for having her back on the road. I think this car can be an awesome daily driver from May thru October. I'm pretty OCD about all my cars so it'll be tough to drive it in the rain...but I figure if I take good care of her she'll continue to appreciate in value. Not many DD's can say that!

Hopefully my girls will prove to be great detailers. I'm going to need their help! We have a TON of work to do.

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:41 pm

Here are some interior shots. Please excuse the iPhone spin...can't say I'm a fan of my phone...
Attachments
door.JPG
door.JPG (95.7 KiB) Viewed 17768 times
seats.JPG
seats.JPG (109.76 KiB) Viewed 17768 times

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:47 pm

One of the tires was destroyed so I had to grab the spare out of the trunk. When I got it out I was really excited. It was a triple redline tire. GORGEOUS!!!! I know it is old...but if I could find this style redline on a modern tire I'd be a really happy guy. I think it looks great - gives the car a really vintage look. Totally different than whitewalls, blackwalls, or raised white letter tires would give. Anyone out there know where I can get a similar tire other than Coker tire? Sizes are pretty limited from Coker. I'd love to find some 255/70/15's or something really close to that.

Anyway...here's a close up of the tire.
Attachments
redline spare.JPG
redline spare.JPG (137.47 KiB) Viewed 17768 times

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:54 pm

Since this car is going to be my DD. And since my wife may drive it from time to time...the single-bowl master cylinder simply HAS to go. I want to keep the 4-wheel drums ( this will be a cruiser...my '66 Mustang is the hot rod in the garage with 480+HP to the wheels ), so I just want to convert to the dual-bowl master cylinder like the '67 Toronados had. I'm hoping that I can just swap in the dual-bowl MC and the '67 brake booster...and probably the related distribution block pieces from '67. Am I on the right track here? I'll be researching this very soon, but if any of you know or have done this swap yourselves I'd appreciate any help you can offer.

I'll also be replacing every hard and flex brake line, as well as the shoes and brake hardware. Hopefully the drums can be saved - those babies are a little pricey! Still...to stop nearly 5000 lbs (with me in it ), I'm not cutting any corners on the braking system.

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:01 pm

My 9-year-old Lilly is a big-time gearhead. She hurries up and gets her homework done so we can go work in the garage. A few weeks ago I started trying to revive the paint. First I buffed the car twice with 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound. To be honest, it didn't help much. So I reached out to a buddy who is a great detailer and got some advice from him on how to proceed given the horribly dirty state of the paint, as well as the relatively poor quality of the paint.

He recommended that I start by using a clay bar. I hadn't ever used clay before, but I quickly became a believer. I did the whole car and then taught Lilly how to look at / feel the paint and find spots that needed more attention. She went over every panel and spent a whole night catching all the spots that I missed. :lol:

Here she is working on the bottom of the passenger door. Way to go Lilly!
Attachments
lilly clay.JPG
lilly clay.JPG (72.18 KiB) Viewed 17768 times

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:04 pm

Here's a shot of the car after the 3M Compound and the clay bar. A lot better than when she came home...but a long way from where she needs to be.
Attachments
after 3M and clay.JPG
after 3M and clay.JPG (109.28 KiB) Viewed 17768 times

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:11 pm

Next, using a new dual action random orbital buffer from Harbor Freight ( at $57 how can you go wrong?!?! ), I used HD Cut. It did a pretty nice job of getting crud and haze out of the paint. Some areas required 2-3 applications, but overall it did a nice job. Next came HD Polish, which removed a lot of the swirls and scratches. The car is still a 10-footer...but she's a SHINY 10-footer! Soon I'll put a sealer / hydrophobic coating on her and that'll be the end of the paint work.

The jambs will still need a lot of love...but at least she's looking good in the garage every time the wifey walks past her!

Here's a pic after the HD Cut ( can't find one after the HD Polish - dang!! )
Attachments
HD Cut.JPG
HD Cut.JPG (88.51 KiB) Viewed 17768 times

paxtonshelby1966
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:26 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado
1966 Mustang
2014 Mustang GT

Re: Ford Family Adopts a 1966 Toronado

Postby paxtonshelby1966 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:24 pm

I have all the stainless for the car, but wow it needs a lot of love. So I gave Lilly all 4 trim rings to polish. She did a pretty nice job considering we just had some #0000 steel wool and some Blue Coral metal polish. Once that was done we started working on the rocker moldings - first with the #0000 steel wool & polish, and then with a Mother's polishing cone on the cordless drill. Lilly is always begging to use power tools...so I finally showed her how to use the drill on the rockers. I think I said "Be really careful!!!" about 1000 times. So far so good! The rockers have a few dents and dings in them, but they cleaned up ok. Not great...not even good...but just ok. There are just so many tiny nicks from rocks & road grit that the moldings don't want to shine. I think I'm going to pick up some polishing rouge and a cotton wheel for my drill, put some real elbow grease into it, and see how nice everything will clean up.

The front and rear window moldings are actually pretty nice. They'll get the drill / rouge treatment as well.

The grille is in ok shape. It isn't perfectly straight - but it should clean up pretty well. I keep having to tell myself..."it's ok Ron...the car is going to be a daily driver..." but this slippery slope is inevitable with me. My OCD gets the best of me more often than not.

The taillight panel...well it is on the rough side. The shiny bits are pretty lumpy & pitted. I'm wondering if I want to sand it smooth and spray the "chrome" areas with some sort of aluminum paint. Also - after looking at a lot of online photos, it seems that the area above the taillights should be body color? My panel is black - so I'm wondering if it isn't original to the car. I don't have access to the paint code used for the respray...so I will probably spray the top portion black - maybe semi-gloss? Not sure yet. Maybe I'll powdercoat the whole piece in a near-chrome finish. Oh well - there's time to figure that out...


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