Body

Unlike many cars, Donna’s body Sheet Metal cannot be removed from her Frame. Donna is a unibody because her body sheet metal acts as part of the frame. This makes it a little more difficult to work on Donna’s body and paint or treat the body panels separate from the frame. Luckily, most of the major body panels on Donna are straight and in good shape. George Fina is doing the body work and paint. We are shaving (removing) the drip channel over the side windows which will require reshaping of the area, but the rest of the body will be stock.

Donna was and still is Wimbledon White. We will keep her original Paint color, which is Ford color code M1619, as the base coat. Then add 2-2.5 grams of White Sparkle Ghost Pearls in an inter-coat, to add just a hint of shimmer to the paint. Then finish with 2-3 coats of high gloss clear. We think that from a distance it would look like really nice factory paint (only glossier), but up close along curves and lines it will have some glimmer to it. The interior metal surfaces were Ford Charcoal Black Poly. We are going to paint the engine compartment and the trunk this color too. The underside of Donna will be black with undercoating or bed liner in places where rocks and dirt get thrown up by the tires.

Donna originally had woven jute material for Sound Deadening & Heat Shielding. This was more or less state of the art in 1969. Today we have much better materials for reducing noise and heat infiltration. We will be adding both a 80 mil butyl sound deadening mat and a 170 mil closed cell PE foam sound and heat barrier. The butyl mat will be placed on large panels to reduce vibration generated noise, while the PE foam will blanket the entire passenger space to reduce transmitted noise and heat.

Donna came from the factory with “Tinted Glass-Complete” which just means all the Window Glass was tinted. Over the years the tinting may have faded some, but it appears to have been a blue-green color. We have the option of re-using the original glass (since none of it is broken or chipped), getting new old stock glass that will exactly match the original (expensive option), or getting new glass that is tinted like original or smoked.

One of the unique things about Donna is her Grill. Donna has an aggressive front end that is enhanced by the grill and the placement of her lights and badging. Donna’s grill is 50 years old and will be replaced with a new reproduction grill, trim and badging.

50 years ago the only option for headlights were sealed incandescent bulbs (H5001 high beams and H5006 low beams). These bulbs had the lens, reflector, and filament made into a single complete unit that was sealed when manufactured. This bulb was then held in place by a “bowl” that surrounded the back of the light and was connected to the car using screw mounts that could be adjusted to aim the headlight. Modern headlights are more complex units that include the ability to replace the bulb without changing out the lens and mount. We want to upgrade Donna’s Headlights to replaceable halogen bulbs. There is a ton of options but unfortunately, most of them are junk. We spoke to Daniel Stern and after reading a lot of info and having him answer many questions we decided to go with Koito headlamps and Tungsram bulbs. Founded by Genrokuro Koito in 1912, Koito has been at the forefront of auto lighting and lens design since 1936. We also got a kit to add relays into the wiring system to direct 12v to the lights from the battery without all the power going through the light switch:

One of the things that makes Mustangs iconic is the three lens Taillights. While these are very cool, they are not very bright. The original tail lights had a single 1157 incandescent bulb, which we will replace with LEDs that are 5 times brighter.

Marker Lights

Chrome

Badging

Locks and Handles