Words: Tommy Parry
Anyone fond of retrofitting has dreamed of taking a completely new engine, driveline, suspension and electrics and fitting it discreetly under the sleek and elegant curves of a classic car. However, marrying old and new is always troublesome, and many prefer to go the route of installing an aftermarket rear end and subframe in the pro touring style before tacking on whatever other bits fit.
Some are more idealistic. Austin, with the assistance of his dad, decided to take two production cars, retain as much of them as possible and find a way to fit them together neatly. As we’ll come to learn, that is a Herculean challenge. It’s a good thing his father was around to lend a hand.
After seeing the Foose Imposter on SEMA Battle of the Builders, Austin got an idea. There seemed to be an easier way of mating a classic car with modern guts than injecting late model components into an older car, so he got to thinking. Being a Ford guy, a new Mustang was the only option to swap everything onto, but the measurements for a new Mustang and an old Mustang just would end up looking bulbous. So, in the interest of keeping a clean aesthetic and minimizing shop time, he had to find a new body to clothe a new Mustang in.
A few weeks later, Austin saw a ‘70 Ford Torino GT at a local meet. He loved the body lines and the fact that they are fairly uncommon. So, he did some research and found that its width was very close to that of the Mustang. After grabbing two Torinos – both in rough shape – he brought them home and discovered one had been wiped full of mud and the passenger side quarter was in about as bad of shape. Even worse, the door posts were seam sealed to hide the swiss cheese underneath. So he decided to build the parts car instead, since it was rough but untouched.
The next step was to get a donor car for the project’s innards. They ended up running across a wrecked 2011 GT convertible with most of the parts. Being a convertible, it was perfect for the body swap, since it required less cutting and offered the reinforced floor. As the code name for the 2005-2014 Mustang platform was the S-197 and this was a 1970 Torino, they decided to name the project the “S-1970.” Pretty catchy.
They started blending these two by turning the Torino shell into more of a hull. They left the fender aprons and cowl attached to get some more measurements and began a long series of frustrating trims and tweaks.
It took a lot of cutting wheels and sawzall blades to get the fat trimmed off of the car. In order for the Torino body to sit on the Mustang, the outer structural panels from the door post back to the wheel tubs had to be scrapped. This meant hundreds of spot welds had to get drilled out. Once they were removed, the Torino should have slid onto the Mustang’s unibody like a glove—but that wasn’t the case, naturally. Since it seemed neither of these cars were built the same on each side, minor trimming had to take place before the Torino could drop down on the unibody cleanly.
Then came a true head-scratching, gear-turning, wrench-throwing dilemma. They decided to try and use the factory Torino windshield and adapt it to the Mustang’s cowl section by fabbing up a cover panel that would mimic the original Torino’s cowl. Quickly, they realized this would have required trimming the back of the dash a few inches. It sounded like a minor issue, but they soon realized mounting the windshield this way would have the bottom running right into where the defroster vents are on the dash. Due to the way the system is built under the dash, rerouting the vents would’ve created a lot of other problems they were not prepared to fix.
After a lot of going back and forth, they finally decided upon moving the Torino a little farther forward to have it sit slightly higher on the unibody. This would allow them to slice into the Mustang’s cowl and add the new cowl in its place. However, this would require the Torino windshield to lay back with the A-pillars angled to match.
Fitting the new rockers relieved their frustration momentarily. They fabricated an extended rocker to bridge the new gap in the pans and the gap from the Torino’s inner rocker to the Mustang’s inner rocker; the outer had been trimmed off. Once everything was clamped in, the back half and Torino just slid like a drawer into the front half, making it easy to get the wheelbase exact and square.
After Austin sandblasted the Torino’s back half, he set it back down on the Mustang chassis to make sure everything was lined up nicely. Next, they started to tie the unibody back together. After quadruple-checking every inch of this build, they decided it was where it needed to be – and ready for the arduous welding phase.
Judging by Austin’s ingenuity and obvious metalworking skills, this Torino has a bright future ahead. Once it’s finished, he plans to make sure it’s properly used. “I plan to make a driver out of it – never liked the idea of building something that you couldn’t drive and enjoy,” he says. To keep tabs on this intriguing blend of old and new, you can witness it through Austin’s build thread here.
