This saga began when I suggested to my son Alan that we
buy an older car to fix up for him. My idea was to save him money and have a car old enough that I could still repair it without
needing degrees in computer science and electrical engineering. Being a Mopar guy, I was thinking a Dart or Duster. Though
to this day he can't explain how or why, he fell in love with vintage Mustangs and insisted it would be a 64-73 Mustang or
nothing.
Thus the search began. We looked at all sorts of rust
buckets in his price range, including some with the rear springs coming up through the trunk floor. One day we answered an
ad in a local paper and arranged to go see a car the next day. When we got there we were surprised to find a relative owned
the Mustang. Thinking that a cousin who worked in a body shop wouldn't try to shaft us, we purchased the Springtime yellow
'67 coupe and towed it home. The engine had been removed from the car and was scattered across the garage floor. There was
a semi fresh paint job which covered a multitude of sins and rust. However Alan was happier than I had ever seen him. He was
the only eleven year old on the block with his own car, purchased with his money, and it was a Mustang.
Though it wasn't a continuous effort, the restoration
of this car took over four years. We replaced floor pans, quarter panels, and wheel houses. Every other piece of sheet metal,
except the roof, required patching due to rust. The paint was completely removed, mostly with a D/A sander, and the car was
primed. I towed it to the local vocational school and used their paint booth to spray the finish coat of Acapulco Blue. Power
disc brakes were added from a parts car. We also ditched the automatic trans in favor of a three speed. The engine was completely
rebuilt and has a mild cam with a 600 cfm Holley. The interior is all new with the exception of the original bench seats.
New bumpers, Goodrich T/As, and a large assortment of other new items were also installed.
There were times during this long, and many times tedious,
restoration I wasn't sure if Alan was interested anymore. However, I was wrong. He wrote a paper for English class which was
supposed to be an interview of someone about a significant event in their life. Though he never talked to me, he wrote his
interview of me concerning our work on his Mustang. When I read it, I realized how much it meant to him. Here's a description
of the finished product:
1967 Ford Mustang Coupe Acapulco Blue
Black interior
302 4V
Dual exhaust
3 Speed
3.00 posi rear
Power steering
Power disc brakes
AM/FM with CD player
Magnum 500 wheels
BF Goodrich T/A radials
Unfortunately this story does not have a fairy-tale ending.
Alan hit a patch of ice on his way to an academic bowl, and put the car in a ditch. The damage was more than I could repair.
We sold the car to a gentleman in New York, where it will begin it's third life as an organ donor for his '68 coupe that he
is converting from 6 cyl to V8.
