Widebody Mustang Build Created By Cutting It In Half Is Absolute Madness

Cheap car builds could go either way: crazy or genius. Then again, we can't decide which this under-$1,000 build from Casey's Customs falls under. While grafting an original Ford Mustang onto an E39-generation BMW 5 Series chassis sounds bonkers, Casey had to split the Mustang in half for this widebody conversion, making it even crazier.

Casey bought the Mustang for $300 after discovering it sitting in a field somewhere, while the wrecked BMW from a salvage yard was acquired for $600. Having been left out in the open for quite a few decades, one could say that the Mustang is a little too far gone to spend money on for a complete restoration.

With a Sawzall and a grinder, Casey gutted all the unnecessary metal off the Mustang and kept just the exterior panels. The opposite was done to the BMW, with all the external panels shaved off it.

Casey sold all the salvageable parts from the BMW and all the scrap metal from the Mustang to make his $1,000 budget work. The first order of business was to repair the damage to the BMW's suspension. Casey only had to replace the lower control arm, a $32 part.

To fit the Mustang body onto the wider BMW chassis, Casey split the Mustang shell in half, straight down the middle from front to back, not side to side like this recent Honda Civic monstrosity. The windshield and rear window frames had to be sawed off the Mustang body before the actual body split, so custom glasswork would not be needed. Both frames were welded back on once the shell had been widened; the same goes for the trunk frame to keep the trunk lid the same size.

Casey initially welded the shell back together with an eight-inch gap across the whole way but eventually ended up having to keep the original width of the car on the rear and about a six-inch gap on the cowl.

He then married the two cars and ended up with something resembling a vintage 'Stang. Though far from finished, this Frankenstein's monster of a project makes us want to see it done already.

Casey spent $300 on the Mustang, $600 on the BMW, $32 on the BMW control arm, and $100 on Mustang doors and bumpers. A total of $1,032 was spent but was offset by the $500 he made by selling some BMW parts and $47.83 for scrap metal, totaling $484.13 as of September 12, 2023.

Casey still has many leftover parts from the BMW that are yet to be sold, so he might even be making money out of this build. This shows what some elbow grease and know-how can produce for little money. We can't wait to see how this one turns out.