Armed with the cash from my insurance settlement and the loan I get from the bank, I set out to give my damaged beauty a makeover that would be worthy of her rebirth...but what exactly? Looking out in the market the only body kits that are available for the S197 v6 Mustangs are lip kits or body kits that necessarily aren't appealling to me. I also came to another realization that if I wanted to put a body kit on my Mustang, at the very least most would require the use of GT grille if not the entire GT front fascia. So I decided that I would do something that's a little outside the box...
I decided that I would go with a Shelby GT500 front end conversion. Parts for the front end conversion (included front fascia, headlamps w/cool SVT etching, foglamps, upper & lower grilles, bumper absorbers, etc) were all purchased from a cool guy named Kevin Casey at Clevenger Ford. Kevin was a real help in getting me all the parts I needed for a successful front end conversion. He also answered any question I had as I was going along in the conversion. For anyone who's considering doing this Shelby swap, I would recommend him as the go to guy for the stuff you need to make this conversion a success. In a minor cosmetic enhancement I replaced the standard v6 Mustang side tape with the side tape from the Mustang v6 "Pony Package" as I'm fond of the side tape and the "Pony Package" tape is a lot more appealing to the eye, in my opinion, than the standard v6 Mustang side tape.
To round out the rear, I had the dealership that was making repairs to my Mustang order the GT/CS rear fascia. It's a standard issue fascia on the GT/CS Mustang, Shelby GT Mustang and similiar to the rear fascia featured on the Shelby GT500. It also can be ordered as an aftermarket accessory which is the route that I took. Everything came together and fit like a glove. There were no problems and the car ended up looking like it came from the factory the way it currently is, which is a plus benefit as I didn't want the car to look too outrageous.
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So what do you think of the make over?
