What The Hell Happened To This Forum?

zookeeper

Founding Member
Aug 25, 2001
3,413
64
109
Rogue River, Oregon
I recently started lurking here again after a few years away and I can't believe the lack of foot traffic. It used to be a huge variety of people that came here to brag, complain, seek wisdom, start an argument, or just BS with fellow vintage Mustang people. Now I return and none of the old members are here and it's a giant snooze-fest! This is your wake up call! I challenge everyone reading this to POST SOMETHING FUN THAT YOU DID WITH YOUR CAR!! I don't care if it's a story about how you found your car, something you did in the garage last night, a road trip story (gawd forbid you actually DRIVE your car), or what. Post a fun picture of your dog riding in the car, pass on a story you heard, talk about what you plan to do when your car is finished or whatever you'd like but post something!

I'll start it off: I bought my '68 fastback in 2001 when my son was less than 1 year old. I sold my sportbike and my pickup and bought it as a 40th birthday present for myself with the intention of building a '67 Shelby clone. Here's a pic of the car right before I took it apart with my son and I. Because his child seat wouldn't fit in the back seat of the '68 it was also his first time ever riding in the front seat.

Meandchase.jpg


To make a long story short, it took 6 years to finish the car (did it all myself!) and it became the car I wanted, white with blue stripes, a 306ci small block with 2-four barrel carbs, a T-5 and it's low, loud and fun. I drove it maybe 3000 miles over 10 years so to say it was a garage queen is an understatement. Then I got a job in Oregon, packed my belongings and my beloved car into a trailer and headed out of California. Here the weather is beautiful during the summer and I don't have a gravel driveway or have to park in a gravel lot at work, so I started actually driving the car to work once in a while. In the meantime, my little boy grew up to a 6'+ teenager and one day the inevitable happened. He had his permit and came to me and told me he'd like learn to drive a manual trans and maybe someday if it was OK, he's like to learn to drive and since the only manual trans vehicle we owned was my pride and joy...you can see where this was going. Now I need to tell you, this car has only had 2 owners since 1968, the 93 year old lady I bought it from and me. Since 2001, I have been the only one to drive it. I Paid for it, I did all the work, it's MY car. But it's also MY son, he watched this car come together from day one. So I grabbed the keys and we went to learn to drive a stick. I drove to the bottom of our one-lane road since old cars feel a little "wandery" to people who'd never driven them. Once we got to the bottom, I got traded places with him and gave him the wheel. He let the clutch out the first time and killed it. Some guy sitting on the steps of a local store giggled, my son got embarrassed, but started the car and tried again. This time, the car lurched a couple times, then like magic, we were driving! I was never so proud to give my son an experience in my life! He remarked on the loose feel of the steering and the manual discs were a little different than what he'd felt in my wife's Fusion, but we both knew this was a special day. We stopped in a church parking lot down the road a few miles and I let him practice the whole clutch thing again. With the newer pavement, he barked the tires a couple times, got a dirty look from some old biddy who apparently thought a couple idiots in a loud Mustang were violating her place of worship. That day the Mustang went from "mine" to "ours". He started taking real pride in the car and someday will own it, but that day was huge for both of us.
Chase_zpsjlrkcp8z.jpg


So, what's your story?
 
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I haven't had time to work on my cars ,i have been busy , building and working on cars and new parts for everyone else .Be nice to actually get paid for some of it !
I did drop off the 4 speed for my 69 Shelby replica today to a friend to possibly rebuild ...if it isn't to far gone .This looks like it may be a slow year so may be i will get some me time for a change

The problem is i like working on cars and parts for every else :doh:
 
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UUmmmm, If you took a few years away from this forum then doesn't that make you guilty of the same issue your bringing up? maybe the people you're looking for did the same thing you did? ;):sleep::stir:
So I'm in the same boat as Horse. Working on other peoples cars while mine sits. I'm just finishing a friends car that came to me for for framework.
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But then one thing lead to another thing needing fixed and six months later I'm finishing up. The following is the things that came after
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Including Retro Radio, rebuild window regulators, fix crappy brake job some other idiot did, front end alignment, Upper and lower control arms, frame connectors, rear main seal, rebuild shifter, manufacture carb choke tubes that were long missing and fix a handful of other things that haven't worked in years. But glad to say its back together and leaving this week. Then back on my car, I think, Uh oh, here comes the wife with a list of honey dos, Oh and is that my dad pulling in the driveway with his POS truck to fix a few of the thousand things wrong with it:dammit:
 
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Now we're getting somewhere! I'm not trying to start a peeing contest over why people come and go here, only trying to kick start some sort of conversation to keep each other motivated and give this forum some of the life it use to have. I'd love to work on Mustangs for a living, whether they're mine or for customer cars. In fact, my retirement plan is just that, to build a nice paint booth on my property and do paint after I retire. I'm one of those sick individuals who gets a thrill from block-sanding, welding and color-sanding and I think most paint guys are over-priced and under-quality.
 
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Slowly making progress. Almost have the shell strpped down to the bare buck in preparation for going on the rotisserie.
 

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I'm new to this forum but I'll bite.
rearqview.jpg

The prior owner had a hack fix the rear quarter. Cut off the damaged area and welded on a section from a coupe. Terrible job. water got under the 1" of Bondo and rusted out the supports.
canvqpcut1.jpg

Found a wrecked convertible with usable structure and grafted it to my car.
caropen.jpg

convqpaneloncar.jpg

rdLRqpan.jpg

After a few more Modifications
CIMG1779.JPG

After using a rotisserie I will never go back to laying on my back.
 
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I've seen that, even participated. But that's more of a "here's a picture of my car" thread. I'd love to see more of a "here's what I'm doing with my car thread". I've been around cars my whole life and cars come and cars go, but the people are the real story IMHO. I want to talk to and hear from people who enjoy their car as much as I do, people who's car has become part of their life. If I wanted to just see cars, a 5 second search on google will show me all the cars I want, all owned by people I don't know. See what I mean? Let's hear the story behind the car, where you found it, why you wanted it, why it matters, what sacrifices you might have made. Maybe it's just me but I like that kind of stuff.
 
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Jim, good to see you on the forum. I've been away for a while as well. I thought you were selling your car a while back when you were moving. I've been stockpiling parts for mine: 351w-410 stroker, Lentech AOD full manual shift, Borgeson steering and Ididit column, Wilwood front discs, 9" Versailles rearend with 350 posi and cobra disc brakes. FPA long tube headers (due in about 2 weeks), Global West upper and lower control arms. Midlife restored under dash harness and the rest new Alloy Metal Products harnesses. I'm searching for adjustable 68 strut rods and a coilover setup. I also need to get the correct flex plate and shift linkage. I've got a couple of broken bumper bracket bolts in the frame I need to address then it's time to start with sound deadening and wiring, then on to the motor/trans install. I purchased a Painless wiring harness a couple years ago but couldn't get motivated to start the install. I don't have 40 hours to spare! I decided to get the factory stuff and save some time, which is now a precious commodity... Below are a few pics of the car as it sits now.

IMG_2346.JPG
IMG_2347.JPG
 
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I'll contribute.

I've been around Mustangs for about fifteen years or so. However, my first one (1994 GT) ended up being a late model as I was in the market for the first Mustang I could get my hands on at the time; it just happened to be an SN-95. While I've owned a few other SN-95s and an '86 GT hatchback since then, I've always wanted one of the classics. Unfortunately, the time around which I purchased my '94 and shortly thereafter seems to be when the prices of the classics really became unattainable for the average kid with only a grand or two to spend.

Fast forward to mid-2015. I've been married for a few years now; I'm visiting with my in-laws and the subject of cars comes up. My father-in-law is a bit of a hoarder when it comes to automotive things and tools. It is at this time that I find out that he has two Mustangs squirreled away, one of which (a '72 convertible) I already knew about but wasn't terribly interested in. This time, I find out that he also has a '66 coupe buried in the garage under three decade's worth of lost tools and junk. I ask him what he'd take for it; he tells me that I can have it, I just have to dig it out. Sounded like a deal to me.

Here is what I started with. The garage is somewhat dilapidated. I found a lot of old tools he had forgotten about when I initially started cleaning up. It's a T-code coupe, black standard interior, about as basic and common as they come. Originally was an automatic; someone replaced the drive train with a '71 6-cylinder of unknown displacement mated to a 3-speed manual at some point in its life. Only interesting thing about it is the original color: Sauterne Gold Metallic. 1966's version of 1967 lime gold, and not nearly as popular as the 1967 version. I googled some pictures and I like the look; current plans are to paint it in the original color once restoration is complete.

DSC_0501.JPG

Some progress was made after a bit of digging. I had to do most of it when my father-in-law wasn't around as just about every piece of junk I pulled out was deemed worthy of keeping: a well-worn coolant overflow bottle from who-knows-what car, completely rusted and unrecognizable body panels, a circa 1980's Ford steering wheel in terrible shape, you name it. First order of business was getting that filing cabinet off the hood.

A little more progress.

DSC_0365.JPG

Fast forward again to Labor Day 2016, and I finally got the car out of the garage after the better part of a day and the help of my father- and brother-in-law. His '72 convertible is now in the garage getting buried (he'll fix it up someday...). Since then, I've just been removing everything I can in preparation for getting the car sandblasted. The floors need to be replaced. Most of the rust I've seen—with the exception of the floors and some spots on the rear portion of both sides of the trunk opening—seems to just be on the surface. I suspect the floors are in such terrible shape due to the carpet being left in the car all those years coupled with the effects of animals living in it over the decades. In addition to the rust, I've also found a lot of bad body work and bondo. I'm hoping to have it sandblasted before the end of summer. The car is currently located at the in-laws in Dallas a couple of hours away, so I very infrequently get the chance to work on it. What you see was accomplished over a handful of weekends over the past year. This past weekend I removed the doors, fuel tank, fuel and brake lines, and other miscellaneous parts. I removed all the interior and glass prior to this. The only thing left to remove is the engine and transmission and suspension. I may leave the suspension on for the sandblasting as I need a way to move it around until then. Besides the rust, there is minor accident damage in two spots. There is damage to the front driver's side fender apron. It appears to have been rear ended and was very shoddily repaired with a big hammer. Most of the body panels I've removed are accident damaged or have many dents an a lot of bondo. It's coming home with me once disassembly and sandblasting are done. Hopefully work will progress smoothly as time and money permit. My father-in-law is a retired body guy, so I'm hoping I can learn some things from him. I'm a novice at paint, body and welding (still need to buy a welder and a plasma cutter), but I really don't want to pay a shop to restore this thing for me. It'll be a long project, so I'm hoping my 4-year-old son will get to help me out as he grows up.

DSC_0016.JPG DSC_0024.JPG DSC_0025.JPG DSC_0028.JPG DSC_0029.JPG DSC_0031.JPG DSC_0032.JPG DSC_0033.JPG
 
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Jim, good to see you on the forum. I've been away for a while as well. I thought you were selling your car a while back when you were moving. I've been stockpiling parts for mine: 351w-410 stroker, Lentech AOD full manual shift, Borgeson steering and Ididit column, Wilwood front discs, 9" Versailles rearend with 350 posi and cobra disc brakes. FPA long tube headers (due in about 2 weeks), Global West upper and lower control arms. Midlife restored under dash harness and the rest new Alloy Metal Products harnesses. I'm searching for adjustable 68 strut rods and a coilover setup. I also need to get the correct flex plate and shift linkage. I've got a couple of broken bumper bracket bolts in the frame I need to address then it's time to start with sound deadening and wiring, then on to the motor/trans install. I purchased a Painless wiring harness a couple years ago but couldn't get motivated to start the install. I don't have 40 hours to spare! I decided to get the factory stuff and save some time, which is now a precious commodity... Below are a few pics of the car as it sits now.

IMG_2346.JPG
IMG_2347.JPG
Mike, your car looks great! As for me selling, yes I was. After our move, I needed to buy a house. Since my plan is to keep our house in California until I retire (about 10 years) then sell it to pay off the house in Oregon, I didn't have an adequate down payment. So I approached our loan officer and told her my plan to sell my fastback, plus my wife's 427 Corvette to raise the down payment. Then she asked what they might bring and I told her probably $60K or so. Then she told me that would only lower my payment about $300 per month. So she got creative with the financing, I put down 3% rather than 20%, kept both cars and just paid the extra. Life is good once again! Here's a picture of my fastback, my wife's '02 Roush and my house that I didn't have to sell my toys for, lol.
9_10%20077_zpsjcorr98o.jpg
 
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I'll contribute.

I've been around Mustangs for about fifteen years or so. However, my first one (1994 GT) ended up being a late model as I was in the market for the first Mustang I could get my hands on at the time; it just happened to be an SN-95. While I've owned a few other SN-95s and an '86 GT hatchback since then, I've always wanted one of the classics. Unfortunately, the time around which I purchased my '94 and shortly thereafter seems to be when the prices of the classics really became unattainable for the average kid with only a grand or two to spend.

Fast forward to mid-2015. I've been married for a few years now; I'm visiting with my in-laws and the subject of cars comes up. My father-in-law is a bit of a hoarder when it comes to automotive things and tools. It is at this time that I find out that he has two Mustangs squirreled away, one of which (a '72 convertible) I already knew about but wasn't terribly interested in. This time, I find out that he also has a '66 coupe buried in the garage under three decade's worth of lost tools and junk. I ask him what he'd take for it; he tells me that I can have it, I just have to dig it out. Sounded like a deal to me.

Here is what I started with. The garage is somewhat dilapidated. I found a lot of old tools he had forgotten about when I initially started cleaning up. It's a T-code coupe, black standard interior, about as basic and common as they come. Originally was an automatic; someone replaced the drive train with a '71 6-cylinder of unknown displacement mated to a 3-speed manual at some point in its life. Only interesting thing about it is the original color: Sauterne Gold Metallic. 1966's version of 1967 lime gold, and not nearly as popular as the 1967 version. I googled some pictures and I like the look; current plans are to paint it in the original color once restoration is complete.

DSC_0501.JPG

Some progress was made after a bit of digging. I had to do most of it when my father-in-law wasn't around as just about every piece of junk I pulled out was deemed worthy of keeping: a well-worn coolant overflow bottle from who-knows-what car, completely rusted and unrecognizable body panels, a circa 1980's Ford steering wheel in terrible shape, you name it. First order of business was getting that filing cabinet off the hood.

A little more progress.

DSC_0365.JPG

Fast forward again to Labor Day 2016, and I finally got the car out of the garage after the better part of a day and the help of my father- and brother-in-law. His '72 convertible is now in the garage getting buried (he'll fix it up someday...). Since then, I've just been removing everything I can in preparation for getting the car sandblasted. The floors need to be replaced. Most of the rust I've seen—with the exception of the floors and some spots on the rear portion of both sides of the trunk opening—seems to just be on the surface. I suspect the floors are in such terrible shape due to the carpet being left in the car all those years coupled with the effects of animals living in it over the decades. In addition to the rust, I've also found a lot of bad body work and bondo. I'm hoping to have it sandblasted before the end of summer. The car is currently located at the in-laws in Dallas a couple of hours away, so I very infrequently get the chance to work on it. What you see was accomplished over a handful of weekends over the past year. This past weekend I removed the doors, fuel tank, fuel and brake lines, and other miscellaneous parts. I removed all the interior and glass prior to this. The only thing left to remove is the engine and transmission and suspension. I may leave the suspension on for the sandblasting as I need a way to move it around until then. Besides the rust, there is minor accident damage in two spots. There is damage to the front driver's side fender apron. It appears to have been rear ended and was very shoddily repaired with a big hammer. Most of the body panels I've removed are accident damaged or have many dents an a lot of bondo. It's coming home with me once disassembly and sandblasting are done. Hopefully work will progress smoothly as time and money permit. My father-in-law is a retired body guy, so I'm hoping I can learn some things from him. I'm a novice at paint, body and welding (still need to buy a welder and a plasma cutter), but I really don't want to pay a shop to restore this thing for me. It'll be a long project, so I'm hoping my 4-year-old son will get to help me out as he grows up.

DSC_0016.JPG DSC_0024.JPG DSC_0025.JPG DSC_0028.JPG DSC_0029.JPG DSC_0031.JPG DSC_0032.JPG DSC_0033.JPG
Now THIS is exactly what I love to see and hear about! This is exactly what I went through, my toddler out in the garage with my every night while I worked on my car. Please, keep these coming!
 
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