October 2011 COTM! 1972 Mustang Mach 1

[Widowmaker00]

I figure what the heck? I'll post my car in here since there aren't many others. My car is a work in progress but has always been my daily driver. Here is the story.

I worked for my dad doing ceramic tile since I was a little kid and saved all the money I ever made.

It started when I was 13 yrs old. I bought a 1957 chevy stepside pickup with big plans (prostreet, blown bigblock) for $125. The truck was in rough, rough shape and me being young was unaware of the $$$ it was gonna take just to get the truck on the road. When I was 15 my dad asked me since the truck wasnt going to be done in time for me to drive it to school what kind of car I wanted to get, so I decided a mustang, any mustang, would be a good choice. After searching in car traders for a few months I found my car, 1972 Mach 1, rebuilt 351C, rebuilt trans, $3000. I went to go look at it and realized I had seen it before, we drove buy it on our way to a underconstruction housing development probably 100 times, and it was always sitting in the corner of this guys yard, with the engine out of it. Apparently this guy and his brother started to restore it, and just ran out of money. The car was gutted, only what was needed to drive was there. No interior, no grill or bumpers. Well to my surprise the guy had already bought a slew of new parts and just hadn't installed them, including a new grill (a standard one) a new headliner, and boxes and boxes of other stuff. The car ran like it was brand new, and was rust free. Perfect.

This is what it looked like the day after I bought it.



It still took a couple years for me to put it together, but I had it for my entire junior and senior years in high school, it was my only car and daily driver for 6 years. Ended up pretty much replacing all the engine parts anyways and the transmission blew up after a bunch of long road trips, but thats what happens when you put 4.11 gears in the rear end and take it down the highway for hundreds of miles. It got me in quite a bit of trouble when I was younger (burnouts and donuts all the time) but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have to thank my dad for giving me a job and teaching me to save money, because of that, I always had the most badass car at school.

And this is how it looks and sounds now.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIPnRelW7ao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ZcdlB8WSc

[OLE PONY]

Looks like it has come a long way! I think it's always interesting to hear the history of the car and the owner, thanks for posting.

[Don65Stang]

Awesome. I love the acceleration video. Nice! Still 4.11 gears?

[rocketfoot]

Nice job! I can only imagine if you had a chance to crack her open on the autobahn!

[Widowmaker00]

Awesome. I love the acceleration video. Nice! Still 4.11 gears?

Lol, yes still 4.11 gears, and that was just about as fast as the car can go with that gearing, as it was at like 5500 rpm and its just a small hydraulic cam car.

[URUGUAYAN_FASTBACK]

Men.. i saw your asceleration video! WOOOOOWWWW... love to see a high speed car
Your car has his personality... i love it!

[OLE PONY]

Bump to remind folks to vote for the car of the month submissions!

Cast your vote by clicking on the "Like" button at the bottom of the first post!

[Nance]

Two thumbs up ..

[marks73]

You doin 120 with spongy breaks? I'm sure you could see WAYYYYYY down the road. Motor sure sounds sweet.

[M Beauchamp]

I like it, its a great story.
I did the same thing when i was 16 with my 69 coupe.
Find jobs, buy parts, fix car up.