This was
the second car I ever owned. This is also the car I still own today.
I've stripped it and painted it myself twice. I've done all of the repairs
except for transmission work.
click on photos for larger
pictures |
The finished
product.
Scroll to the right to see what led up to this point
1966 Mustang Coupe
Wimbleton White with a red interior.
289 V-8 with a 2 barrel carburetor
C-4 Automatic transmission |
1984 - I just found this first photo of the coupe after driving it home and replacing the "bad" parts with stuff from the parts car. The hood, trunk, and doors came off the parts car. |
1985 -
I bought this car in 1984 for $2500. It came with a parts car, a rebuilt
engine and transmission that had never been run, and few more troubles
that I hadn't anticipated. After rebuilding the original carburetor the
car started and I drove it home. A few weeks later the transmission was
sluggish in shifting and I took it to a tranny shop. The rebuilt transmission
had sat in a garage for 12 months and had rusted above the fluid line.
The only thing salvageable was the case. The car also had a spray-on
vinyl top that took a grinder to remove. I gave the car a quick paint
job in the parking lot of the sign company I was working for at the time,
redid the interior, and hit the road.
Unfortunately, the road hit back when a kid ran a stop sign and pounded
the driver's side fender. It was time to attack the rust. |
1989 -
After a commercial paint job that lasted about two years before rust
bubbles returned, I decided that the only way to do a job right was to
do it myself. All of the rust spots were sanded down to bare metal, and
coated with ZRC
Cold Galvanizing compound.
These areas were then primered. Black paint was sprayed over all the
bodywork areas. When sanding the black should disappear evenly; the black
spots that remain are the low spots. If you see bare metal, it's time
to tap down the high spot.
More
restoration details. |
1989 -
I painted the car in my garage after convincing my wife I wouldn't blowup
the house. I wrapped all the garage walls in plastic (to protect from
over spray), hosed down the floor (to keep down the dust), and hung chains
from the chassis (to ground the car preventing static). Also, I disconnected
the battery (no sparks). The front valence was damaged and I always thought
the headlights weren't bright enough, so I took this opportunity to customize
a little. The car was painted Wimbleton White acrylic enamel. I borrowed
all the necessary equipment, so the final cost of this paint job was
under $200. At this time there are only two rust bubbles coming up on
one fender lip. |
The interior
is a bit unusual in that the car came with a bench/notchback seat. I
have found these seats to be more comfortable than the standard buckets.
A Sony AM/FM Cassette stereo and a 200 watt power booster are mounted
in the glovebox cutout. With the glovebox door closed the car looks entirely
stock on the inside. Optional original equipment included air conditioning,
remote outside mirror, day/night rearview mirror, two speed wipers with
windshield washer, and, of course, the bench seat. The engine is a standard
289 with a 2 barrel carburetor, and a C-4 automatic transmission. I added
Ford tri-Y headers and dual exhaust. The car is weekly driven if not
daily and has a total of 152,000 miles on the chassis, 31,000 on the
engine and transmission. |
05.14.2008
