As you may know, I bought a Mustang on Monday. The specifics, it’s a 1968 C code (289 2bl) hardtop that’s been parked for 20 years and was bought for $5600. The list of what it needs is long, but not as long as it could be. For now, I’ll continue to live in the honeymoon phase and not worry too much about what it needs.
When we picked it up, my son offered to help pay for the car. He said while it wasn’t much, he’d like to offer $20 towards the purchase. Cute kid.
One thing that’s fairly solid on it is the body. On the body panels themselves, there is no rust, except on the rear deck, where it’s just started to bubble. But really, everything else is solid, which is the reason I took the leap. I could be made a fool, but if I am, oh well. Before I bought it, i did the magnet thing, looked at the quarters, door bottoms, rockers, fenders, floors, etc, etc. Of course, I’m worried about what’s hiding under that vinyl top, but for now, it’s fine.
I’m guessing that the rear quarters were replaced with ‘67 quarters, rather than the ‘68 turn signals being filled in.
The restoration is an older one, late 80s. The seller mentioned a transmission leak and the car being hard to shift. While I’ll agree with the leak, the transmission shifts fine, I’m guessing he wasn’t familiar with the B&M shifter, as I wasn’t.
Electrically nearly everything is functional. Two things I haven’t looked at troubleshooting yet are the hood turn signals and the horn. Everything else works, dash lights, all exterior lights, all interior lights, stereo (although I haven’t tested the wonderful Alpine trunk mounted CD changer. The Custom Autosound Kenwood head unit has RCA jacks, so I can easily add a bluetooth connection and stream from my phone.
I do need to go through the steering, brakes, suspension...well, go through is the wrong phrase, replace is more like it. I need to come up with a solid end goal, and plan accordingly. That will most likely frustrate my wife, as she wants it comfy and drivable NOW, but I do not want to rush it. I still don’t have a plan of attack.
Compared to the Cougar, it’s a much more solid car and a better starting point. The body is more solid, the floors are solid (torque box on driver’s side will need replacement), it runs/idles better.
And, all three fit in the garage!
