62 Comet detailed frame

[thatz4u]

Any direct fit for this car or do I have to modify one? Thanks for your help.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Full-detail early Mustang should work, as the Comet and Mustang are both on the "Falcon platform"...

The Mustang is on a 108" wheelbase, and the Comet is on 114".

AHA. The Fairlane is another possible BETTER donor, on a 115" wheelbase. Only 1" shorter for a Comet.

Much easier to shorten a Fairlane chassis 1" than to lengthen a Mustang.   

And though the Fairlane has a couple-inches wider track, it should be easy to fudge it on a model.   

Edited November 12, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[CometMan]

The up-coming Moebius '65 just might be your best bet, Al.

[ChrisBcritter]

Even an original can be dressed up a little bit:

[thatz4u]

Even an original can be dressed up a little bit:

Maybe so, I plan on opening the hood, & installing a V-8 

[Force]

Full-detail early Mustang should work, as the Comet and Mustang are both on the "Falcon platform"...

The Mustang is on a 108" wheelbase, and the Comet is on 114".

AHA. The Fairlane is another possible BETTER donor, on a 115" wheelbase. Only 1" shorter for a Comet.

Much easier to shorten a Fairlane chassis 1" than to lengthen a Mustang.   

And though the Fairlane has a couple-inches wider track, it should be easy to fudge it on a model.   

Just keep in mind that the early to mid 1960's Comet and the 1962-65 Farilane doesn't use the same chassis, the Comet was built on a Falcon based chassis same as the Mustang, Mercury Cougar, later 66 forward Fairlanes and Torinos.
The 1962-65 Fairlane only shares the chassis with the 1962-63 Mercury Meteor so no other FoMoCo car has the same chassis.
The upcoming 65 Comet are a better choice or modify one of the other Falcon based chassis to fit.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just keep in mind that the early to mid 1960's Comet and the 1962-65 Farilane doesn't use the same chassis, the Comet was built on a Falcon based chassis same as the Mustang, Mercury Cougar, later 66 forward Fairlanes and Torinos.The 1962-65 Fairlane only shares the chassis with the 1962-63 Mercury Meteor so no other FoMoCo car has the same chassis.
The upcoming 65 Comet are a better choice or modify one of the other Falcon based chassis to fit.

I believe you'll find the difference between the Fairlane and the Comet chassis to be primarily in the width, though there are others. Many of the chassis stampings are only slightly modified, and the similarities are enough that the Fairlane could easily pass for the Comet in 1/25, with a few modifications (to anyone who's not intimately familiar with the structures of the actual cars, anyway).

You'll see from these old crashbook drawings that the chassis of all these vehicles are based on the same unibody layout and general design, and share many similarities. That's what is meant by "platform sharing".

Though I'll agree that the Fairlane didn't share as much structure with the Falcon as the Comet did, the structural family resemblance is strong, and all the cars are considered to be developments of the "Falcon platform". Tooling an entirely new platform for the slightly larger Fairlane / Meteor would have been cost-prohibitive, and entirely unnecessary.

FAIRLANE:   

FALCON:    

MUSTANG:    

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[thatz4u]

Just compared AMT 69 Cougar frame with the 62 Comet, looks pretty close..

[RancheroSteve]

I should qualify this by saying that I'm one of those people who's "intimately familiar", i.e. a few bloody knuckles over the years. So I'd say it depends how much of a stickler for accuracy you want to be - if you're dropping a V8 in I suspect you're not going for factory stock. The Mustang is close, the new Comet should be closer, the Fairlane is acceptable, I'm not familiar with the Cougar kit so I can't really say. So perhaps go with what fits best and what you can get your hands on.

Here's a detailed history of the platform:

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-fords-falcon-platform-from-falcon-to-versailles-in-18-different-wheelbase-lengthtrack-width-variations/

[Force]

I owned a 1964 Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe for 12 years (it's sold now and replaced with a 1963½ Galaxie 500 XL) so I go by my own experience...the construction of the Fairlane/Meteor chassis is similar to the Falcon but definately not the same as almost everything looks different on the Fairlane and very few parts fits between the Fairlane and the Falcon based cars.
So it depends on how accurate you want your model to be, if you want to be accurate you should not use a 1962-65 Fairlane/62-63 Meteor chassis for the Comet.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Force

[Maindrian Pace]

I think the Cougar will be too narrow, but the wheelbase may be close. Suspension is close, may be a good choice with work. The Fairlane has a very different front suspension setup, the new '65 Comet may well be the closest if Moebius got it right, and they usually do.

[Mark]

Both are Ford products, so the design philosophy behind them was pretty much the same.  Leaf spring rear suspension, "shock tower" front with coil springs above the upper suspension arms.  If it looks close to you, use it; you can tweak individual parts to make them look "right".

That said, the 1:1 '62-'65 Fairlane (and '62-'63 Meteor) have a lot of unique parts.  Front suspension rebuild kits are available only sporadically.  The lower suspension arms on those cars were originally made as an assembly, with the ball joint riveted in.  I was lucky to get bolt-in ones a few years ago.  Those are seldom available, and were impossible to get for many years.  The front shock absorbers for those cars don't interchange with anything else I'm aware of. 

[von Zipper]

This is an AMT '62 Comet that I started a few years ago using an AMT '67 Mustang as a donor along with a Ken Kitchen 170 straight 6 - the Mustang parts fit pretty good but was about and inch to short over all I had to cut the chassis pan and still need another donor to fill the gap .

[ChrisBcritter]

VERY cool. Can you flip it and show the chassis?

I have got to get back to work on my '61 Comet... I'm using the '67 Mustang chassis under one of my '61 Rancheros; already adapted the engine compartment and the chassis is next (trans tunnel is way too tall, and it needs to be lengthened/widened).

Edited November 19, 2016 by ChrisBcritter

[von Zipper]

 Can you flip it and show the chassis?

 

Sorry-this project is back in the box and in storage at the minute , I'll take a look this weekend and If I can find it I'll take a few pictures and post them . I think these old AMT Comets might be off scale a bit much like the Johan Ramblers were-you'd think the '67 Mustang would be a tad bigger and as long or longer than the Falcon/Comet of this generation . I remember adding .020 flat stock around the fender edges to build it up and can be seen in the first picture . The Mustang inter fenders and fire wall are glued in permanently with the chassis cut just past the curve of the fire wall to the flat under floor-then when the rear part of the chassis and rear wheels are set in place there is about an inch gap-I need to find another Mustang donor to stretch the floor-but when I get the rear section done it will have to go in last so I can get the glass and interior tub into the body before the rear section of the chassis goes in . I've got to the point with this project and a few others That I'm not opening sealed mint kits to steal a few parts  anymore so until I find donor parts this one is on hold

Chris