Fact Finding - Day 1

First off - My first customization to the car. I doubt this will actually work....


Not sure what sort of insect did this, but I first noticed this when I was under the car before I purchased it. Neat stuff. There was another wasp nest lodged in the engine compartment between the voltage regulator and the starter solenoid.

So what other things do you find in a 40 year old car that hasn't been on the road in a long time? By my count - Cassette tapes - Carpenters greatest hits, Starship, The Oakridge Boys, and WHAM!... Along with that, a 1968 Mustang owners manual, and a dry cleaning note from Geneva, Alabama. Oh - and two old screw drivers, a Taiwan-ese socket wrench, and a pepsi bottle cap from what looked like the later 80's.

Trying to get the car running. First question. Are we pumping gas? My nicely engineered soda can and gas filled Windex bottle ahead of the fuel pump say no. HOWEVER... I wondered if the engine would pop off if I gave it a squirt of starter fluid. Low and behold... It started right up. A very good sign. This car probably stopped driving because the fuel pump went south.

The story behind this picture is funny at least to me. I know the torque boxes are subject to quite a bit of rusting and debris. I did find a little bit of rust on them and figured there was probably some junk inside them. There was. I tried sucking out the stuff and only got so far... so I changed my tactic from sucking to blowing the boxes out with compressed air. The picture above shows the amount of junk I blew out of the drivers side torque box. I got a little less on the passenger side, but did get some mouse nest material on the passenger's side. The whole garage was covered with a thin film of dust from this exercise. (Note to self -next time do this outside)

Got the carpets pulled out and hauled to the dumpster. Ahh - some cancer that I knew had to be there has shown itself. There are some small holes up near the where your toes would go if you were sitting in the front seats of the car. The left picture is the drivers side and the left shows some rivet patch jobs by a previous owner. When I peeled these back a bit there weren't any holes above dime/penny size which is good. Nonetheless, patches will be the name of the game.

The picture is a little whacky here but what you're looking at is the passenger side rear wheel well. What I noticed was a previous patch job. On the outside there is some bondo bubbling up which I can only assume is covering this lap seem.

So here is a view of where the back seats will go. Looks pretty solid for the most part, no heavy scale to speak of.

Here's a view of the gas tank. There's probably some pounding to do in here to make the surfaces look nice... but then again it is a trunk.

Here's inside the driver door. Those little holes are the factory drain holes.

When we first looked in there we saw some sand and other debris. Dad vacuumed it out to reveal a nice sight in my opinion.

The Stang Comes Home

10 years of waiting, a good 2 years of convincing my wife, 1 garage addition, 60 stocks sold, 3 months of scouring Craigslist and eBay plus 12 hours of driving to see 2 rusted out POS finally led me to this point....a garage in Norwalk where I finally beheld IT. The Project Car. It took me approximately 5 minutes to know that I had found the car I would take from Gutted to Glory.

Welcome to my blog. The black car is a resemblance of what I'd like the car to look like when I'm done. Probably a different color but we'll see.

So since my fam van has no hitch, I had to leave the 1969 Mustang Coupe in that garage in Norwalk for the night. Early the next morning I pilfered my mother in law's SUV and hitch, a U-Haul car dolly and two of the more mechanically minded men I know and headed down to bring the Stang home.

Since nothing worthwhile is ever easy, 10 miles on the road home -- a wheel fell off. Between the three of us, we managed to overcome this obstacle and press on.

It takes a certain eye to appreciate the beauty and potential of this car. My mother in law's reaction was, "has it been in a fire?" but the reaction of those more knowledgeable has confirmed my own conclusions that the car is exceptionally solid and more than ready for a restoration.

Here's what I'm starting with.