Paxtonshelby

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.

Paxtonshelby

And here she is after a quick pressure washing. She's still filthy, but should clean up pretty well.

Paxtonshelby

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.

Paxtonshelby

Here are some interior shots.

Paxtonshelby

....

Paxtonshelby

One of the tires was basically 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 something really close to that.

Edit - someone told me about Diamondback tire. They basically vulcanize new sidewalks onto modern tires ( by Michelin, Cooper, etc. ) with white walls of various sizes, redlines, etc. I heard the tires are a much higher quality than Coker, who has delamination and other issues. Sadly, I think a set of 4 will run me about a grand. No burnouts for me!!

Anyway...here's a close up of the tire.

oldcutlass

Once you look past the dirt there is a lot of potential. What about all the trim?

Paxtonshelby

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.

Paxtonshelby

Thanks Eric. I don't have the fender trim, but everything else is there. Stay tuned for the details!!

Paxtonshelby

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!

Paxtonshelby

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.

Paxtonshelby

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!! )

Paxtonshelby

I have all the stainless for the car except the fender moldings, 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...

Paxtonshelby

As the photos show...the wheels look pretty nasty right now. I love the look of the optional chrome wheels especially with redline tires...but it's hard to find the chrome wheels in really nice condition without paying a hefty price. I'm going to remove the tires ( they're all shot ) and beadblast the rims. Hopefully they'll come out nice enough so I'll be able to get them powdercoated. I was quoted $200 for all 4 rims...with a chrome-like finish ( probably would look more like polished aluminum or polished stainless) with a clear powdercoat on top. That seems like a STEAL to me. Plus...the shop is 15 minutes from my house - NO SHIPPING!!

If the rims come out a little too rough for the chrome-ish finish to look good, I may just go with a silver powdercoating to look like the factory painted wheels.

UPDATE - I have a lead on a set of factory chrome wheels. Hopefully the seller will send some photos in the next few days. They are local and if they're in nice enough shape I might try to make a deal.

Paxtonshelby

Some of you might be wondering what I'm doing for bumpers since they're not shown in the pictures. Well...I was really happy to see that, in the back seat/trunk area, there were brandy spanking new bumpers, still wrapped up and in the boxes. I peeked thru the corner of one box and it looked pretty darn nice...so I'm hoping they're in real nice shape.

I cleaned up the taillights the other night, and hopefully this weekend I'll toss a battery into the car and test the electrical goodies. If the taillights and brake lights work I'll remove the tailpipes, clean up and paint the rear bumper brackets, and install the rear bumper.

The rest of September will be some ugly work. I'm going to wire brush / wire wheel the entire undercarriage and paint it with black rustoleum or something similar. The exhaust system will go bye-bye. The exhaust manifolds will get beadblasted and powdercoated.

Ok - that's enough posting for tonight. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. I'll try to keep this thread updated as we make progress. May 1 is going to be a tough deadline...but hopefully we'll be able to make it happen.

One last pic - here's our '66 Mustang coupe - that I like to call the "Monster."

Paxtonshelby

Time has been limited lately but I have started removing the brakes and shocks. I need to have the drums checked to see if they have any meat left on them. Other than the drums, only the brake hardware will get re-used. In the next few weeks the plan is to clean and paint the backing plates and install the new wheel cylinders, and buy SS lines, flex lines, shocks, and shoes.

Does the axle nut need removed to get clearance to pull out the front wheel cylinder?

The ball joints look to be original, as they are riveted. Time for new ones. I guess I just need to drill them out and new ones will be bolted?

The tie rods and sleeves look pretty rough so I will be replacing them also.

I heard that Kanter sells a front end rebuild kit for a fair price. I need to look into that.

While I have everything apart I figure I should replace the CV boots. The one I've seen has a little tear. Time to research axle maintenance and boot replacement.

Hopefully by the end of October or November I will have all this stuff done so then I can pull the motor and get the rebuild started. Fingers crossed that work and home projects let it happen.

Swede64

Good reading, thanks for the updates.

Paxtonshelby

Wow - October was a blur - and none of it was in the garage. But today I finally scored some quality time with the big gal.

The taillight panel had a big gash and a dent where it looked like someone backed into the car. So I borrowed a dolly from a buddy down the street, grabbed a regular hammer, and started straightening some metal. It still needs welded, but I thought it came out pretty good all things considered. The repair will be completely hidden behind a huge panel that covers the entire rear and surrounds the tail lights.

...

....

.....

Paxtonshelby

Next on the list was the exhaust. Each resonator had a LOT of rust inside. See the last pic - that pile is from ONE resonator. The whole exhaust system is toast. Hopefully I can find a Borla muffler that will fit. Right now I'm not sure if I will replace the resonators or eliminate them altogether. I found a set of used 4" Borla tips that might just be perfect.

......

Paxtonshelby

The weather was so nice today that I slacked on the house chores ( who needs clean clothes anyway?!?! ) and after dinner, while my wife and Hannah went to pamper the horse, Lilly and I headed down to the garage to work on El Toro. I didn't feel like working underneath, so I figured we would work on the interior. The rear seat is out, so we took out all the nasty underlayment from back there. Lilly used the wire brush to scrub lots of crud off the floor, and then we vacuumed out the goodies.

The package tray had some really horrible looking speakers on it, so they had to go. Once the package tray was clean I pulled both rear ashtrays and Lilly polished them. Next came the interior door chrome. It looks 50 years old but now it shines a little. After cleaning the interior quarters, door panels, and front seat with Aerospace 303 we called it a night. Hopefully tomorrow we will have time to clean the rear seat and install it ( and get it out of my way in the garage ).

Baby steps...

Paxtonshelby

Last night Lilly and I got a little work done. We cleaned and installed the back seat. The carpet is toast so we started taking it out. It pretty much disintegrated in my hands. The power front seat isn't working so I'm having a bit of trouble getting the rear bolts out. Once the seat is out we will clean the floorboards and probably brush on some Rustoleum.

Paxtonshelby

This afternoon I bead blasted one brake drum, 2 rear bumper brackets, and both of the MASSIVE front bumper brackets. Holy cow that's some heavy metal! This week I will blast the other 3 drums and get them turned. Then the drums and brackets will get primed and painted.

Paxtonshelby

Blasted goodies...

2blu442

Congrats on your Toro, it looks like your making good progress. About 10 years ago I had one with the same color interior, except mine didn't have the head rests. I knew the head rests were an option in 1967, I didn't realize they were also available in 1966. What other options are on your car? Yes, you were correct that you can swap the 1967 dual master in with the correct parts.

You may have already seen it, but another member here has done major work on a 1966 Toronado. If you've not read through it yet here's the link, it might help you with questions that may come up.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ld-begins.html


John

Paxtonshelby

Hey thanks 2blu. My Toro is a Deluxe model with A/C ( Climatron? ), PS, PB, and power front seat. I think that's about it other than the headrests.

Paxtonshelby

Last week I picked up 5 factory chrome wheels from a local seller. They are not perfect by any means, but they definitely look better than the painted wheels currently on my car. With a little polish - and some redline tires - I think they'll look pretty good.

stevengerard

nice find, and great work so far. These are really great cars. Good luck. Glad to see the girls into it as well.

Paxtonshelby

Thanks Steve - hopefully we can score some garage time Thanksgiving morning.

z11375ss

I have a 66. I like what you've done. Nice work. Mine will be ready to go on the 12th of never. You're right about the chrome wheels. I found a perfect set on epay. $1000 plus shipping. They are perfect though after having been rebuilt and rechromed. Had I not had a really good set I would have been tempted. These are really great cars. I would like to put a performance gear in mine. Looking into that this month. Something like a 3.08. I think that would be perfect. I haven't driven the car yet so I can't tell if it really needs it or not. I just don't want a complete pooch out of the hole. I just checked. It has a 3.21. We'll see.

Paxtonshelby

Thanks Z - I'd love some perfect chrome wheels but these will do the trick. I have to keep telling myself this car will be a driver. OCD is hard to handle sometimes.


This afternoon I pulled the front seat and the foot pan under the mat in the driver's footwell. I found some minor pinholes here and there, and the driver's toe board is the worst - in particular the area where the base of the gas pedal mounts. I thought the floors were solid - turns out a little work needs to be done. I will snap a few pics later.

Next order of business is to wire wheel the topside of the floors and assess the damage. Once some fresh metal is welded in I will probably use some type of rust converter prior to getting new sound/hear insulation and carpeting.

Paxtonshelby

The Toros were no slouch with the factory gear. I've heard 7.5 and 8.5 to 60, neither of which are bad for such a big car. Once you're moving I'd think they feel pretty quick. I haven't driven mine at all, so I'm just guessing...

Paxtonshelby

Some pics of my floors - a little worse than I first thought...

....

.....

2blu442

I've got a 1967 parts car. If you are interested in some metal to patch that with I can take some pictures of how mine looks.

John

Paxtonshelby

Thanks John - I hope I can fab up some small patches...with SMALL being the operative word! If not, I will give you a call. Wow - you're all the way out there in Oregon!

Paxtonshelby

Yesterday I finally had a little time to wrench on El Toro. It is time to pull the motor and get the rebuild going. The girls and I drained the oil and coolant, removed the fan shroud and radiator ( damn it is a HUGE rad ), and unbolted the power steering pump and A/C compressor. Everything on this car is heavy. Also started disconnecting and labeling lots of wiring. And damn - there are a LOT of vacuum lines on this baby. Looks like I will be buying a spool of hose.

Not it a ton of progress but hopefully the motor will be ready to pull tomorrow evening. If I could just find my engine stand...

bluecab

Good to see another Toro coming back to life!
My project is moving along at it's normal glacial pace as I am always pulled in other directions...
John is awesome when it comes to describing parts he is selling and in overall helpfulness.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can help with any questions, parts sources, etc.
Best of luck, you have a great looking project there!

Paxtonshelby

Thanks David! I hear ya about the glacial pace. The Toro gets back-burnered all too often. Hopefully the next two months will see some major progress as my house projects are almost winding down ( bathrooms, flooring, painting, ugh! ). One heck of a cool rendering in your sig there!