As more time passes by an ever-increasing number of classic Mustang owners are hanging onto their cars. This makes cars for cool build projects and restorations even more difficult to find. Unless the car has been contained in a wrapper for the last 50 years, chances are anything you buy in the market will need work to some degree.

Very often unseen gremlins lurk just beneath the surface of the paint, and what seemed like a quickie project to get a cool looking ride, turns into a major battle with rust and age. Somewhere in this mix is where Thoroughbred comes in. This Canfield, Ohio startup set out to solve the problem of the availability of solid, square, high quality Mustang bodies.

Thoroughbred is building new bodies for 65-66 fastback Mustangs right here in the USA, out of better materials than the factory used, and to tighter tolerances than even the blue oval held back in those days. “Everything we have is designed, engineered, and manufactured in Youngstown, Ohio. Everything except the Fenders, hood, and deck lid is our own tooling that we have done for us. We use 18-gauge steel on all the exterior parts, it’s a little thicker than the 20 or 22 gauge that was used in the originals,” says Thoroughbred Sales Associate Carson Colley.

According to Colley the entire car is built 1/16 of an inch out of 100 inches out of square, which is tighter than the original Ford tolerance of 1/8 of an inch. Just like the originals 3/8-inch factory spot welds are used throughout the car, there’s no MIG welding anywhere.

To ensure repeatability Thoroughbred also builds everything in fixtures. “We have fixtures for the floors, the trunk-pan, the sides, and when we put it all together there’s a fixture that goes in the center to make sure it’s all square and level,” says Cooley.

For now Thoroughbred is offering the 65-66 fastback bodies, with plans to offer the 65-66 convertibles in the very near future. They’re also looking into offering the 67 model, as well as classic Bronco and other muscle cars. The 65-66 fastback is available in a variety of configurations at various pricing levels that reflect the completion level of the body. For more information check out the Thoroughbred web-site or give them a call.