We had the pleasure of spending some time with a very rare 427 powered 7-Litre on Muscle Car Of The Week. This is one of 2 427-powered convertibles ever built:
At first glance, it is a pretty clean car. There is some rust bubbling in the quarter panels, and it is sitting low because the trunk was full of extra parts at this point.
One of the most unique features of these cars is the interior. The bucket seats are similar to what you would see in a Thunderbird, but it has a full backseat with plenty of room. The wood rimmed steering wheel is spoked with racy-looking holes, and it has a full length automatic console on the floor.
This is a true hardtop, meeting there is no pillar when the windows are rolled down.
Looking forward to the progress. Mine is a 66 500XL with the 289....and like this one, has been in my family since new. I will be very interested to see the work done.
Found your website, love the step by step process, too many places do the before and after shots...real car lovers want to see the complete process!
Keep up the great work.
I hate to question, but is it true that only 2 427 convertibles were built, because if so, a car show buddy of mine has one. I've heard all sorts of numbers like 1 of 2 and 1 of 6 - is there an exact number somewhere put out by Ford?
From what I know, there were 2 R-Code 427 7-Liter convertibles built. I've seen several others, but they were not born with the R-Code 427. However, I don't claim to be the world's expert on anything.
We were impressed by the fit of this car, the door gaps, deck lid, and even the hood fit very well. The hood was interesting, because there were no hinges installed when we picked it up. The engine have been removed and rebuilt several years ago, and we did not bring it in with the car. We will freshen up and install the engine later.
There are many unique parts to the 7-Litre model, one of which is the grille. Time will tell if we restore this one or find a different piece, but most of these parts are not reproduced.
Underneath, the car demonstrated typical Midwestern rust, but the floors appear pretty solid.
Thanks for posting the pictures, looks like a nice candidate for restoration.
I recently purchased a 7 litre 4 speed from a friend, who also has a 7 litre R code.
Nice looking car and can't wait to watch the build. My Dad's cousin has a 66 R code convertible. Haven't seen it in years. It's sitting in a box van on his farm. It's red on red 427 2x4 4 spd. Bought it new in 1966. -Matt
All the parts were photographed, tagged, and bagged or wrapped for safe storage.
Once we removed all the parts from the trunk, we spied some rust in the seams where the wheel tubs attach to the trunk floor, but we’ll get the whole picture after the paint is removed.
And the body was mounted on the rotisserie for paint removal.
The chassis was disassembled for media blasting.
We elected to use a dustless media blasting technique for paint removal. In this process, crushed recycled glass bead is the cutting media, and it is blasted at the subject with high-pressure water. The water contains a rust inhibitor, so the clean panels do not immediately start corroding. The benefit is that the water keeps the temperature down to prevent the friction of the glass bead impact from heating and warping the panels. The other benefit is that the glass bead does not harm the environment, as the dust simply integrates with the gravel in our lot.
Go Green Dustless Blasting brought their mobile unit to our shop to do the work.
The first sheetmetal panels stripped clean, without significant damage or warping.
We had mechanical parts stripped like the rear axle housing and pieces. The parts retained all their stamping details and appeared nearly new when cleaned.
Emberglow is probably the best color for a '66 7 Litre.
Guess I should have bought a '66 7 Litre in emberglow! Oh well.
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