Had another ambitious day in mind today. It took a bit of analyzing from my cousin and I to determine how to remove the bumper and grille housing.
We were able to successfully remove the headlights, front bumper, and front valance. Also removed the parking lights in the front. I thought they were the fog lights, but apparently they didn't make fog lights in 1967. Removal takes hours. It really takes a lot of muscle to remove they old bolts. And some are just so hard to get to, you have take off other things you weren't planning to first. I can took care of bagging and labeling every screw, nut, and bolt. I'm trying to take exhaustive pictures, so I can remember how to put everything back together. I am very nervous though. It may be harder to put everything back on.
Also, started removing some of the trim from the front of the car. The piece on the driver fender extension and 'Mercury' emblem would have to wait another day. The Grille, which includes the hideaway headlights, was a puzzle. Each bolt taken out seemed to not loosen the housing at all.
My cousin took a walk around the car with a screw driver to find the body rot. Only need a few patch panels for small parts of the quarter panels and fenders.
Then I opened the trunk to clean it out. I labeled and organized all the parts with the ones we removed. Then, I removed the plaid patterned original trunk liner. It was old and musty, and ripped in some areas. Underneath, I noticed that the middle of the trunk was very rusty, but all around seemed in great shape and still painted the body color. My cousin came around and said it was the gas tank. It was rotted through, but with all the rust on the top, I'll be adding a new gas tank to the list.
