Fugitive Thought

• Make: Ford
• Model: Mustang
• Year: 1968
• VIN: 8T01T205770
• Door/Dash tag: 65A, R, 2AA, 15, 4, W


• Built at: Metuchen (Edison, NJ)
• Bodystyle: Hardtop, ragtop
• Engine: 200 CID - 1V, 6cyl
• Consecutive #: 205770 (very late 68 model)
• Body series: Hardtop - standard-trim bucket seats
• Exterior color: "Highland Green"
• Interior trim: Charcoal Black crinkle vinyl w/ "kiwi"-pattern vinyl
• Axle ratio: 2.83:1 "conventional"
• Transmission: "C-4" automatic

This car has power steering, blinker hood and a floor console. From a cursory inspection, it has been hit on the passengers front and in the rear bumper-taillight panel, and it shows some minor crumpling of the sheet metal as a souvenir. There's rust on mostly all of the exterior panels. The front frame clearly reflects the climate, the fact that it is made of mere sheetmetal, and the car's age. Ah, but the rear frame and trunk - au contraire! They are surprisingly very solid. The frame rails in back look like they were simply dirty..very little surface rust. This car also had a vinyl top which was removed..consequently, the now exposed raw steel has been through quite a battle with mother nature - and what appears to be the sap from whatever pine tree it was stored under. The interior is missing the kick panels, rear seat side panels and seat belts, but otherwise it is complete, excepting the original am radio. The interior matches the exterior in condition including the console. The engine runs (needs a tune up) and the transmission shifts forwards and reverse. The power steering works and the brakes work good enough to move the car around. And thats all she wrote for my original quick looksee.

Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking - what a wimpy engine!! Yah its a 6, yah its inline, yah its only got a 200 cubic inch displacement, and yah that only amounts to 130 horses or so. I'll live with it for now, until i get the car in decent enough shape for me to notice the engine. Until then, its largely a stationary body in need of some major TLC - more on that later.

I've had a week and a half or so to think about how I'm going to approach the restoration of this car. I think I'm going to keep it stock for now, or as close to it as possible. Money restricts the purchase of NOS parts of course, and the non stock parts that are in there at the moment shall suffice until i replace them. I wouldnt consider a 289 v8 engine or even a 302 outside of the realm of possibility - I could always get the proper VIN tags reproduced or swiped from a junk car...not that I'm really going to take this out as a concours car. Plus, who doesnt love the throaty rumbling of an 8? It may seem silly, but this will be my daily driver car, and I see no reason to stay stock with a purist's anal attention. I think I may make this a sort of stealthed modernized Mustang - original AM radio with slit for cd, a wiring system capable of supporting the speaker system for which my audiophile ears yearn, etc. Some neat possibilities: a five speed AOD tranny in an old C4 housing?? perhaps little photoresistors interfacing with a crafty automatic headlight circuit?? also important would be a decent means of preventing theft. rfid chip activated in proximity to the dash? We'll see...all of that is very far down the road.

Anyway, back to the present reality of things. (blech) The engine started, and now it wont. Here's the story. Last week, Dee and I went for a walk down to the beach, got distracted by some vinyl records in the trash (PEOPLE DONT THROW THESE OUT!! you make me sad), and decided we'd had enough exercise for the day. We wandered up the street, me figuring that I, the beast, could show her, the beauty, the car. (she likes mustangs just as much as I do :) mmm, yet another reason why I love this girl). Yeah so anyway, I refilled the radiator, checked oil and tranny fluid, and threw in a battery and decided to start the engine for ms redhead...didnt work. A little fiddling later, and with a roar we were in business. I brought the 6cyl up to a decent rpm, and then backed off out of pity for its roughness. Off goes the engine. I go back 10 minutes later to restart it to move it back into the garage....nothing. ARGH! I tinkered for a while, and yet nothing would help. I just ended up pushing it back into place. Twas a sad day. Recently I went back to do some investigating...the underdash wiring is a mess. The last person who owned the car (not the seller, who simply salvaged it - thanks Ken!) screwed it all up. Looks like the ignition switch went bad so they bypassed it with a switch, and then put in another when that wouldnt work. So I whipped out my trusty fluke multimeter and did some troubleshooting with the wiring - Ignition switch through the firewall checked out (I ignored the 87 ford blazer relay I found under dash and tried not to be pissed off). The wiring is good out to the coil, the distributor, alternator. Continuity and voltage at all points when key is turned in ignition. Chewing my lip while thinking of another angle of attack, I leaned on the passenger's front quarter panel near the battery and happened to feel the cable ..it was warm. The damn relay welded itself closed!! Yet another mark on the To Do list.

Today, I did a much more thorough inspection of the car. I wasnt exactly thrilled. It seems like the floorpans were replaced at some point in the past...but damn what a halfassed job! They might need to come out. The trunk and rear are still as solid as I originally thought them to be, but its quite clear that the rear quarterpanels have had far too much of their structure repaired by bondo and bad fiberglassing. They need to go. Luckily, just some surface rust on the new(??) floorpans..I might save them. Lordddy is the transmission loose. I was leaning on the driverside windshield support while trying to turn the ignition and the car lurched forward -- while in PARK! Time for some blocks in front of the wheels. Judging by the amount of surface rust INSIDE of the car on the top of the floorpan, I'd have to say that the cowl vents are leaking...oh joy, 240 spot welds to drill out - I can't wait. There are about 10 scattered rust holes in the roof - all ranging from less than a quarter inch to the size of a dime..those are easy to patch and the least of my worries. Becauuseeee: the front frame rail extensions are shot, as are the front torque boxes (an absolute mess). Frankly, I'm surprised we drove the car onto the trailer without an issue. They look frighteningly weak. Firewall looks surprisingly good, as does most of the front end - some slight issues where the angled arm support braces for the bumpers are attached. Oh, and about that halfassed floorpan job? it looks like they left the edges of the old one exposed, happily rusting away and eating into the new ones. Grr.

The verdict: total stripdown of the car to the frame.
I need to:

• replace all of the wiring,
• rebuild the heads,
• replace the manifolds,
• rebuild the wimpy 1 barrel carb (the choke broke - no wonder why it idled so rough),
• rebuild the transmission (though I will certainly first try that band adjustment suggested by Justin),
• drill out waaaaaaay too many spot welds to replace the cowl vents so nothing leaks,
• replace the front frame rail extensions,
• replace the dash (its warped beyond recognition),
• clean out the driver's side door and patch it (its rusty from where water got in at the long failed weather seal),
• cut out and replace a good deal of the frame near the steering linkages and torque boxes,
• fix up the floorpans so repair what was done wrong with them to begin with (and hope that I dont have to replace them too..yuck),
• fix the roof (maybe replace the vinyl??? I might just let it be a hardtop),
• and I should basically get new rear quarterpanels...theyre too far gone,
• replace the starter relay (though i can bypass it for now).
• replace the 87 blazer radiator that doesnt belong, and possibly the starter motor for the same reason
• ...and a multitude of other things that I am certain will be added to this list before long.

Mmm, well it seems that I've got my work cut out for me. Not sure whether I should jump for joy at such an engrossing project or whimper, run off and hide. Updates to follow.