Welcome Home, Midlife!
It's good to be back home after five long weeks at the body shop.

Midlife came home under the proud driving of Midlife to a surprise reception.  The neighbors came out in force, and were obviously pink with envy!  One even thought that it might be time for Christmas!  I'm very impressed with the paint job: it really shines and sparkles!  Here are some details obtained from Manassas Quality Auto Body: Paint was all PPG; two gallons of epoxy primer, followed by a base coat of acrylic urethane CandyApple Red and sufficient clearcoats to handle future buffing for the next ten years.  The interior took two days to mask off, so that all the paint could be applied in single passes across the exterior and door jambs: not a single paint line anywhere!  Even the underside of the decklid and hood received ample clearcoating!  The repro chrome trim from the A-pillar on back was replaced with the exception of the drip rails and vent trim.  I should have replaced the latter, as it looks really crummy against the new paint.  The new Ford bumper has a very tiny ding in it on the middle right top, and there is a small shallow dent on the passenger door that they missed.  Also, the driver's side windshield wiper is set too low, so it must be removed and put back on.  To be picky, a few pin-pricks of paint have raised and there are a few pin-pricks of depression, but you have to look closely for them.  Oh well, I have to take it back for the windshield wiper stuff anyway, so I'll see what they can do.  

Click here for costing information.

Let's look at some nifty pictures:


Oooh! Aaah!

Boy, it's good to back to my
normal garage!

Doesn't my exterior coat just shine?
Must be that good gas you've been
feeding me.

I'm ready for any nasty fog that
might appear.

I now have a genuine 1966 radio
antenna, and original Ford windshield
moulding pulled from a junkyard.  Gee,
thanks, daddy!

Note the driver windshield wiper is
set too low onto the moulding.  Also
note the new, shiney remote control
mirror.

One of my proudest mechanical
achievements: installing a coolant
recovery system without drilling any
holes in the fenders!

Look at the quality of the paint line
between the fender and inner fender.
The fender was never removed, and
the inner fender was painted with
Black Satin Marhyde (sp?) paint.

For those of you who do not have a
Metuchen-built Mustang, here is an
example bucktag, correct for 1966 GT.

I had to replace the door vin tag, as the
rivets had fallen out.  This new one,
which reads the same as the old one, is
courtesy of Marti Auto Works.  Good
job, Kevin!  Thanks!


Uh oh!  A true Midlife crisis!  Which one is the true Midlife?