New to Site (1965 Mercury Comet)

[Krashyman]

Hi all,

I'm new to the Pro-Touring website and think it's really great! After wanting to do a resto-mod project for a long time, I've finally started one. I've hired a shop to do all the work . . . I'm pretty ignorant about cars in general, but I love to learn about them and have been doing all my homework since the project started.

I bought a 1965 Mercury Comet and the project is just getting underway. So far, we've decided on the following: (1) New Ford crate Mach 1 4.6L DOHC engine; (2) Art Morrison Max G chassis (with all related suspension, brake, and steering components); (3) Intro Ram 5 wheels (18's all around); (4) BF Goodrich g-Force KDW tires (225/45/18 in front and 255/45/18 in rear); and (5) black exterior and all new interior (details still being decided).

Pics of the car in its current (unaltered) state can be found on the new projects page of the shop's website (scroll down to the bottom right and then click on the photo of the 1965 Comet):

http://www.woodyshotrodz.com/current_projects.htm

New pics of the car will be added to the website as the project progresses.

Anyway, any thoughts/comments/advice on the project would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

Regards,
Josh

[Bill Howell]

Welcome Josh,
Your project looks and sounds like fun. We look forward to following the build. It sounds like you are using top shelf parts.

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome aboard, Josh.

[00fxd]

Looks like you've gotit at the right shop. Great projects!:kewlpics:

[phonedude_mln]

welcome! the 65 Comet/Cyclone platform is pretty unique -- you're definitely going
to stand out.

I'm interested in your experiences w/ the AM chassis. The price seems to be competitive
with ordering, say, TCP "everything".

Some (modified) 65 Cyclone pix for people who are unfamiliar. One of these is more PS
than PT, but I think they look great:

http://www.cometeastcarclub.org/BG2005/20.jpg

http://www.cometeastcarclub.org/BG2005/14.jpg

http://www.cometeastcarclub.org/BG2005/19.jpg

[fast Ed]

Excellent choice!! Nice to see another 60s Mercury owner on the forums here.


cheers
Ed N.

[Krashyman]

Thanks for all of the posts!

As for the AM chassis, I'll let everyone know how it turns out . . . I plan to start a thread on the Pro-Touring projects message board once the build gets underway. Everything I've heard and read seems to say that it's a great way to go -- especially if you are using a shop and would need to pay labor costs to try to restore an old chassis (and related components) or put together a new one from scratch.

The photos of the Comets that were posted are great! The Comet East club and the Yahoo Comet group have been great internet resources. While its an abandoned old site, there also are some great photos and information regarding Comets on:

http://www.jumpthegun.com/cyclone

One final thought for any Comet people out there: I wanted to do a 65 Comet Cyclone, but found that they were pretty difficult to find (and more expensive than Comet Caliente's in similar conditions). Because we will be completely replacing the chassis, engine, etc. as well as modifying the exterior, we thought that getting a great Caliente for less money was a good way to go (allowing for more effort to go into the actual build). So, that's why we decided on a Caliente 2D HT. In any event, you probably won't be able to tell the model once we're done with it anyway. It will be a hybrid between a Caliente (we're leaving the lower trim), Cyclone (we'll be using a modified Cyclone hood), and some type of new-fangled Comet model (we'll be adding some trim and other goodies to the exterior). It seems like if we had started with an actual Cyclone, the only difference in the end would have been the VIN coding.

So, while Comet purists might not like the end product, I hope it will be a great car that is unique (and, most importantly, fun to drive)!

Finally, I've attached two more photos of the car in its current (unaltered) state. Won't look like this for much longer!!!

Thanks,
Josh