Growing up around cars and soaking up the passion for tech & mechanics from your family leaves no chance to remain indifferent to cars and creating stuff. It’s hard not to fall in love with the deep-sounding exhausts, and gorgeous silhouettes of the old school sports cars, even if they simply sit in the garage.
Being a car guy in the 3rd generation, it was just a question of time for KAZ from British Columbia, Canada to start his first big resto-mod project. Despite the young age, he already formed his own vision of a perfect 1966 Mustang build that would combine sporty pro-touring styling with clean and minimalistic design key of the modern-day custom cars.
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Custom Build
Such an ambitious goal would be extremely hard to achieve without professional tips and support from family and friends, who helped Kaz to build the car and turn his concept into reality.
Thanks to the great dedication and countless hours spent in the garage, he managed to bring the car to where it is right now and proudly state that it’s “Built, not bought”. Look up the full spec list and find out more about the background of his build in the interview section below!
Interview with the owner
How did you get into the muscle car scene?
– My family has always surrounded me with classic cars, my grandpa was a mechanic by trade and has owned countless cool cars. He is the main reason I fell in love with cars as well he taught me how to work on cars with tips and tricks from the old days.
Why did you choose a Ford Mustang?
– The Mustang has always held a special place in my heart, especially the first generation, my mom has a 1966 Mustang i6 3-speed. I saw how awesome my mom was cruising around in her Mustang hearing all the stories she had with her car I had to have one. We decided I should get a project car to learn more and have “matching” cars, but that quickly snowballed into a full-blown build and a V8 of course.
What inspired you to choose this modification style?
– For exterior, I have always loved the pro-touring style so I tried to make the car low and aggressive in that sense, taking styling cues from modern cars for the bumper design with more streamline and cleaner body lines. I ditched the chrome for black to bring it further into the modern world. The interior I wanted to keep feeling classic with less modern touches and flashy bits everywhere.
“For exterior, I have always loved the pro-touring style so I tried to make the car low and aggressive in that sense, taking styling cues from modern cars for the bumper design with more streamline and cleaner body lines”
What challenges did you face while putting it together?
– When building and restoring a car, challenges will find you every step of the way without failure. One of the more notable challenges had to of been getting the body and body lines dialed in. The car went through many stages of metal work then through many stages of priming and blocking to make sure it was as straight as possible.
I am a bit of a perfectionist so letting some things go was tough but after priming it 5 times I felt it was ready for paint. The biggest challenge was trying to not go overboard and actually get the car to a state where I can enjoy the car without it being a 10 year build.
“When building and restoring a car, challenges will find you every step of the way without failure”
What do you love about your car?
– I love a lot about my car but the main things I’d say are the modern styling, the fact that its 1 of 1 and that I was able to learn so much while building this car. I can take a step back and see what I have accomplished. Nothing can beat the experience and memories from building a Mustang with your friends and family.
Is it your daily or a weekend ride?
– Currently it is a weekend car since where I live it gets hot and the Mustang doesn’t always take kindly to heat.
Do you take it to local car shows or a race track?
– I have only been able to take the car to 2 local car shows, since the pandemic we all missed out on a year of car shows.
List of modifications
Performance
- 5.0 with aluminum intake
- Long tube headers
- Holley 4 barrel
- MSD ignition system
- Triple core aluminum radiator
Suspension
- Swapped 8.8 differential
- Front coilovers
- T5 transmission swap
- Full suspension refresh
Wheels
- American Racing Torq Thrust 2
- Front: 17×8 with 5.25″ backspacing wrapped in 225/45 g-Force sport COMP 2s
- Rear: 17×9.5 with 5.55″ backspacing wrapped in 245/45 g-Force sport COMP 2s
Exterior
- Custom sheet metal front bumper,
- Tucked and paint matched rear bumper
- Shaved drip rails
- Custom side mirror
Interior
- Retrosound head unit
- New speakers
- Custom door cards
- Autometer Phantom gauges
- Full interior refresh
Other
- Sequential LED turn signals
- LED brake and headlights
- Shaved brake light housings
- LED reverse light
What are your future plans for this car?
– The future for this car looks sporadic and exciting! I am hoping to build a hopped-up 302 that revs to the moon with the help of my grandpa. A good project car is never done so I don’t think it will ever not have an exciting future.
Anything else you would like to share about your car or about modifying cars in general?
– Build everything for yourself because the people on the internet can have a lot of unwanted opinions.
Conclusion
Tallying up the mods, the Performance category leads the charge at 8 points with that sweet 5.0 V8 and T5 trans combo doing the heavy lifting. The suspension setup brings home 8 points thanks to those coilovers, while the custom exterior work earns a solid 6 points, and the refreshed interior wraps it up with 4 points.
| Parts Category | Difficulty Rating* |
|---|---|
| Suspension Mods: | 8/10 |
| Performance Mods: | 8/10 |
| Exterior Mods: | 6/10 |
| Interior Mods: | 4/10 |
* Based on our build difficulty evaluation system ⓘ
This ’66 Mustang is a perfect example of blending old-school muscle car DNA with modern touches. The owner managed to keep that iconic 1966 aesthetic intact while sneaking in just enough contemporary upgrades to make it more enjoyable to drive. It’s the kind of build that shows how you can modernize a classic without losing its soul.
Related Parts & Mods🛒
– Inspired by this 1966 build and looking to modify your own Mustang in a similar way? You may want to check out the following parts selected by our team:
Suspension
- Southwest Speed Front Coilovers/Rear Shocks for 64-73 Mustang
Headlights
- 7″ LED Headlights Sealed Beam H6024 Conversion for 65-73 Mustang
Parts
- MSD 8202 Blaster 2 Hi-Performance Coil
- Richmond 69-0179-1 Ring and Pinion Ford 9″ 4.11 Gears
- Hurst 3838500 Pro-Matic 2 Automatic Gear Shift Lever Kit
Stay tuned for more project reviews on Specs&Mods.com – Follow us on social media, and share this write-up if you enjoyed reading it!
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