1967 Mustang

Our customers come from far away to seek out our services. We could hold the record at eight time zones away. This customer is a young lady working as a civilian in Iraq for a contractor. She was home in Knoxville, Tennessee in the winter of 2008 and purchased this 1967 Mustang Coupe. By early summer, she researched us on the World Wide Web and made contact. To talk we had to call her at 8 am—5 pm in Iraq. Plans were made, and we provide a service of picking the vehicle up. The car was a little rough and had some unique repairs all ready in place. The bean-can exhaust patch, the rope for a motor mount fix, and the spring spacers to help worn out springs were classic. The car needed some TLC, and the owner figured she could resto-modify it as she wanted. She insisted on a five-speed manual transmission, power steering, and disc brakes. The logical answer was to install a Modern Mustang II setup that will give rack-and-pinion power steering along with power disc brakes. These are great additions to old Fords as they really free up engine space. She also has specified A/C. Since the original sheet metal was badly fatigued because of a couple of rookie body and paint jobs, all new sheet metal was ordered up along with fiberglass Shelby hood and California Special fiberglass deck lid and spoiler. The 289 was pulled and torn down and found to be original Ford. Although dirty, it was in excellent shape and would clean up with a .030 over bore and new pistons. The top end of the motor needed more work, and so an Edelbrock total top package was purchased to upgrade and to make some serious horsepower. They claim a stock 302 Ford kicked up 365 HP on a dyno using these same components. We are not sure about horse power specs, but if the 289 runs as well as it looks, the old pony will turn into a thoroughbred. Watch as this one comes together. The body work and first time of primer is complete, and the motor will be installed next along with the Tremec five-speed. As with all of our customers, she receives e-mail often and we take many pictures. Communication is the key.

The 289 Windsor motor has been installed along with Tremic 5 Speed for last time. The customer wanted to hear the motor run when she was in Afghanistan so the necessary parts were installed and a remote ignition wired in. The coil was “hot wired.” The small block fired right out of the gate and sounded awesome. The proud owner came and took her steed home over Christmas break to put in storage while she and her friend finished out their tours of duty over seas.