Can I save our 1966 Cyclone Convertible?

[Fastercat]

Our 1966 Cyclone has been with us since 1990 or so, and it was bought new for my wife's aunt - so, lots of sentimental value. Lots of things about it are stilll pretty nice, but being an east coast car, it has BAD rust.
So, I am reaching out to the "east coast rust repair experts" - can I save this Cyclone?

- I just finished restoring my '67 cougar - only metal repairs I had to do was foot well (floor pan) replacements. I am comfortable learning to do any kind of welding and fabrication, and/or farming all the major fab work out to an expert.

The good:





The bad:
Passenger side -






Driver side -

[Fastercat]

... Working on trying to resize images. ..

[lavron]

I would say it can be fixed, might not be the easiest or cheapest but it looks like a lot of good car there too me, maybe find a donor car, I think probably floorpans, etc from a Fairlane will work as well but a '66 guy can confirm that.

I am too sentimental myself and would save it, plus it is a Comet

See Ya,
Mike

[poboyjo65]

If it has that much sentimental value & you dont mind doing the work it could be saved,but it wont be a walk in the park . Hiring that work done would be expensive. If you are willing,able & ambitious & have a place to work & the time, you could do it . How are the frame rails? if they are bad you might look for a donor car. Makes it much easier. but then again if the donor is that good it might be easier to use it I bought a donor car for 500 bucks, & I think I sold enough of the parts to get my money back + the gas money it took to drive the 100 miles to get it. & still have a lot of spare parts.

If you use postimage as a pic host you can have it to resize them automatically as you upload them to that site. saves having to resize them individually.

[Fastercat]

Funny, with all that damage, the floor pans and "frame rails" look "ok" on both sides.

As you can see in the pics, the rocker panels are totally wasted on both sides.

The area of the rockers where the front leaf spring mount is are also completely wasted - missing most of the boxed "bracing" pieces on the pass side - on the driver side, the metal is still there - just somewhat rusted.
The only part of the front leaf spring mount area which is solid - is the "frame rail".

I guess my first questions are:
Can I completely replace the rockers with parts from a donor car? What donor cars? Comet? Cyclone? Convertible? Fairlane?
Similarly, can i replace the entire "boxed" area where the front leaf spring mount is with parts from a donor? again, what donors?
What body parts are unique to a 66 comet cyclone convertible? I thought I read somewhere that the front fenders are unique - meaning, to replace them, I would have to get them from another cyclone (convertible? )
What about the rear quarters?

[Lou's Comet]

Funny, with all that damage, the floor pans and "frame rails" look "ok" on both sides.

As you can see in the pics, the rocker panels are totally wasted on both sides.

The area of the rockers where the front leaf spring mount is are also completely wasted - missing most of the boxed "bracing" pieces on the pass side - on the driver side, the metal is still there - just somewhat rusted.
The only part of the front leaf spring mount area which is solid - is the "frame rail".

I guess my first questions are:
Can I completely replace the rockers with parts from a donor car? What donor cars? Comet? Cyclone? Convertible? Fairlane?
Similarly, can i replace the entire "boxed" area where the front leaf spring mount is with parts from a donor? again, what donors?
What body parts are unique to a 66 comet cyclone convertible? I thought I read somewhere that the front fenders are unique - meaning, to replace them, I would have to get them from another cyclone (convertible? )
What about the rear quarters?

The inner rockers are convertible only. the outer rockers should be the same as a 2 door hardtop, may even interchange with a fairlane. If you found a donor car it would have to be a convertible to get the inner rockers. and if the rockers(inner and outer) were good you would be better. off using the shell from the donor instead of cutting the good parts out and installing them onto you car. Replacing the inner rockers is a pretty big job, and structurally important!

Not sure about the fenders and quarters but someone here will know tho.

Anything can be saved. Not sure if you can get the rockers aftermarket, but someone that is good at fabrication could make them, and the boxes. Unless you have a good bit of experience with metal fabrication the inner rockers would probably be something you want to have a professional do.

[Groover]

I'd say it's savable, if you want to.

You might contact this guy about the inner rockers. He makes them for falcon/comet. Maybe they are similar or he knows somebody who makes the 66 (probably larger or longer or both)?

Kp Automotive Inc
216 Highland Ave
North Wales, PA 19454
(215) 699-2456
kpauto@aol.com

Torque boxes can be fixed with new metal.

Lot's of work, but it looks like a nice car otherwise and with the sentimental value, why not give it a go.

[Fastercat]

any chance that a 67 convertible shell can be "converted" to 66?
.... Can anyone tell me what is different between a 66 & a 67 comet?
Same question for 66 fairlane vs 66 comet cyclone?

[lavron]

Can anyone tell me what is different between a 66 & a 67 comet?

I know the front clip is different, but not sure there is any body difference, I think probably a trim is different as well, I don't think either of those would affect what you are wanting to do.

One of the Fairlane guys on here can tell you for sure what interchanges from the Fairlane, I know Mercury had a tendency in the '60s to just use the doors and glass (cab area) from the Ford sister model and changed all the rest of the body panels, by 1966 they may have been over that and just changing grills and trim.

BTW, '66 is one of my favorite Comets.

See Ya,
Mike

[Lip Ripper]

Part it out. Nobody gives a s*&^% about Merc's. There is no way to make that car equitable or even reasonable with what it would cost. There are plenty of better cars that need its organ's; sorry.

Stacey

[Groover]

Part it out. Nobody gives a s*&^% about Merc's. There is no way to make that car equitable or even reasonable with what it would cost. There are plenty of better cars that need its organ's; sorry.

Stacey

but he asked "can it be saved?" ... not "should it be saved?"

on the later, I agree with you, Stacey. If I wanted a 66 convertible, I'd probably find a better body and swap all the nice pieces off this one.

[comethead]

Who’s gives a @!&$ that nobody give a @&$& about Mercs?
Equitable and reasonable?!?
You are speaking the wrong language amigo!

To the OP -for the amount of work you’d have to do on that maybe a “rebody” would be easier. Transfer everything plus VIN panels to the donor body.

It can be saved! If it’s a sentimental family car then value and reason don’t necessarily apply.

Joe

[afx1964]

Who’s gives a @!&$ that nobody give a @&$& about Mercs?
Equitable and reasonable?!?
You are speaking the wrong language amigo!

To the OP -for the amount of work you’d have to do on that maybe a “rebody” would be easier. Transfer everything plus VIN panels to the donor body.

It can be saved! If it’s a sentimental family car then value and reason don’t necessarily apply.

Joe

Anything can be saved. Just takes time and money. Your skill level will determine which one is more costly. I have been in that position before where the cost far outweighed the value to anyone else. In the end I was still glad I built them. IMO if I were going to save this car I would start with having it dipped. That makes it much easier to work with the rust.

I believe transferring vins can cause you troubles you don’t want.

[comet guy]

HI: Another thing to consider is the rarity of the comet convertible

Robert

[Fastercat]

My paint/body guy says he can do it ... I've seen the kind of things he saves, and this one is similar to a 54 chev convertible that he just showed me which he has on a rotisserie right now ..

The biggest questions I have now, are:

how different is a comet convertible inner rockers from a standard (coupe) or 4-door comet ?
how different is a comet cyclone convertible inner rockers from a fairlane convertible, coupe, or 4-door rockers

The body guy thinks it may be possible to just cut down and stitch inner/outer rockers from a 4-door ?