The time has finally come to get started on our 1968 Mustang Convertible. It's been in our family since about 1974 when my Dad bought it for Mom to use as her everyday car. They bought it off the used car lot at Book Buick in Nutley, NJ. This was the car Mom used to drop me off at cub scouts, go grocery shopping, take us to friends' houses and it was the car my Dad's coworker caught me driving around the neighborhood when I was 15 and he was in Colorado on a business trip!
It was taken off the road in the mid eighties after my oldest sister and Mom were in NYC with it and got side swiped by a delivery truck. After that it was parked in the driveway and gradually repaired and restored to where it is today. All of the sheetmetal is rock solid and the paint was done around 1990. The roof was done maybe around 2010. Kudos to the old man for keeping it on the road and getting it to where it is today!
Tomorrow afternoon we're finally going to get started working on making the car into a safe daily driver which might eventually be used by my kids in a few years when they're driving.
The plan is to replace the front and rear springs and shocks and to switch the front brakes over to discs. We're also going to address the really loose steering while making sure the engine and trans are solid. There's a trans leak and the power steering is low on fluid so there might be more mechanical work to be done after the suspension and brakes are finished. The windows are hard to crank and the rear right window checked out last year and is in the permanently down position (I feel like that sometimes!).
Maybe after the kids go to college we'll take it off the road again and do a complete restoration, maybe not. Here's to finally getting started though! Can't wait to drive it when it's done!
Side note; my son is helping, he's 12. He was poo pooing the car up until today. We've been storing it for my Dad for the last three years and it's pretty much just sat in the garage (I sold my '66 Bonneville convertible project to make room). We had it out today and, in the sun, he saw it's pretty damn cool so he was smiling and excited to start working on it.
Before:
It was taken off the road in the mid eighties after my oldest sister and Mom were in NYC with it and got side swiped by a delivery truck. After that it was parked in the driveway and gradually repaired and restored to where it is today. All of the sheetmetal is rock solid and the paint was done around 1990. The roof was done maybe around 2010. Kudos to the old man for keeping it on the road and getting it to where it is today!
Tomorrow afternoon we're finally going to get started working on making the car into a safe daily driver which might eventually be used by my kids in a few years when they're driving.
The plan is to replace the front and rear springs and shocks and to switch the front brakes over to discs. We're also going to address the really loose steering while making sure the engine and trans are solid. There's a trans leak and the power steering is low on fluid so there might be more mechanical work to be done after the suspension and brakes are finished. The windows are hard to crank and the rear right window checked out last year and is in the permanently down position (I feel like that sometimes!).
Maybe after the kids go to college we'll take it off the road again and do a complete restoration, maybe not. Here's to finally getting started though! Can't wait to drive it when it's done!
Side note; my son is helping, he's 12. He was poo pooing the car up until today. We've been storing it for my Dad for the last three years and it's pretty much just sat in the garage (I sold my '66 Bonneville convertible project to make room). We had it out today and, in the sun, he saw it's pretty damn cool so he was smiling and excited to start working on it.
Before: