First Fixes

As the car had been mostly standing for a few years, it had produced a common problem: coolant and oil leaks. There was some oil on the water pump and timing chain cover but I was not sure where it came from. At first I thought the intake manifold cork gasket had perished. I cleaned the oil and added some RTV gasket silicone to the manifold. Unfortunately this did not fix the problem as some more oil had leaked after a test drive.

I removed the air cleaner to check the intake. Soon I noticed that the bolts holding it were really loose! One at finger tightness and others a bit better. I tightened them but this still didn't fix the leak. Most likely the oil was coming through the timing chain cover gasket. Adding some more RTV there finally fixed the leak. I need to replace the gasket during winter.

Luckily the water leaks were simple. Both upper and lower radiator hoses were leaking from under their hose clamps. I just tightened them a bit and the puddles under the Mustang disappeared. The hoses seem old though so I'll replace them too while taking the timing chain cover out.

I also found a nice surprise from the glove box: original owners manual in Finnish. Always fun to flip through these old books.

The Mustang Is Mine

I visited the registration office today and transferred the Mustang to my name. So it is officially mine now! While there, I also asked about the previous owners. For some reason they could only see its history back to 1988 but could not give any other information to me. I decided to check the Finnish transport agency website and found a link where you could buy the cars history for a few euros. I paid it through my web bank and downloaded the report.

The two page history information showed four previous owners, but the first entry was from october 12. 1988. So not much more luck there. I called the agency to ask about older owners. The lady said, that their computer system only had record going back to 1988 on my car, but they should have other information on paper. You could order a full history by paying 31 euros. I decided to take it. It'll be interesting to see what they reveal. She did say one more thing: my Mustang had always been registered to Finland so it really is an original Finnish car.

Mustang Fuel Consumption

After owning the Mustang for two days, I've already driven over 500 km (310 miles) with it. Pretty amazing considering that I drove that much with the Corvette during the whole summer. It's just so much more comfortable and spacious inside the Mustang that I love driving it.

While cruising around, I decided to measure the fuel consumption of the car. I filled the tank when starting, drove for 160 km (100 miles) and filled the tank again. Nearly all of the way was driven on highway at about 100 km/h (62 mph). The car had drank 21,5 liters (5.68 gallons) which counts as 13,5 liters / 100 km (17.4 MPG).

Not as bad as the Corvette but still quite a lot. While cruising at 100 km/h the engine was turning 2500 RPM. Swapping the current 4-speed transmission to an overdrive T-5 would be a great upgrade when changing the clutch.

To GT, Or Not To GT

My Mustang might be a GT model but I'm not absolutely sure about that. Some of the details are there but some not. I found a web page called kcode that gives a checklist to go through. So I went to work.

1. Engine

The engine must be A or K-code. Check

2. The dual exhaust must have special reinforcements under the seat

I crawled under the car and removed the back seat but could not find the reinforcements.

3. Exhaust pipes exit through the rear valance

This is the biggest problem with my car. The dual exhaust exits below the valance and the bumper has the lower guards. It seems that the rear valance could have replaced at some point during the cars history. Perhaps the correct valance was not available in Finland at that time? The exhaust system has also been replaced at some time.

4. Special handling package

The GT handling package includes a lot of changes to the chassis. Larger front sway bar (13/16 inch thick), stiffer springs front and back, better shock absorbers and quick ratio 16:1 steering box. The sway bar seemed correct and the steering box had the correct HCC-AX marking. Rear leaf springs also had the correct four leafs. I can't really verify the front coils and shocks.

5. Large single master brake cylinder

Brake cylinder and the proportional valve below it seemed to be correct.

6. Fog lights

Well, the fog lights are in the front grill, but when I removed the lamps, the retainer piece had a stamp "DRAKE" in it. Probably meaning Scott Drake Mustang parts. The lamp housing didn't have the original FOMOCO stamp. Also the circuit breaker should be on the wiper motor bracket. Mine is right next to the windshield washer fluid bag.

7. GT stripes and badges

My car seemed to have the correct badges and stripes in the fenders and quarter panel.

8. Standard Mustang badges deleted

Yep, front fenders had the GT badges.

9. Rear bumper guards removed

My car had the standard rear bumper and valance panel.

10. Fog light wiring goes through radiator support

There was two holes where the fog light wiring passed through the radiator support.

11. Special GT gas cap

The cap seemed to be correct but had a stamp "PC 106" inside instead of the correct "SM".

Conclusion

Well, unless the car is some special European GT model, I just don't think that my car is a real GT. So many details are off that it seems that someone has decided to build a GT clone. Oh well, all the extra options are such a nice bonus that I don't really mind.

Checking The Ponys Pedigree

After getting the Mustang home, it was time to check what i had bought. So I snapped a photo of the door data plate and went to decoder web page.

The VIN code first:

• Year 6: 1966
• Plant T: Metuchen, New Jersey
• Body style 07: 2 door hardtop
• Engine A: 289 4v V8
• Unit 110982

And then the misc codes

• Body 65A: 2 door hardtop, standard interior
• Color Y: silver blue metallic
• Trim 22: light blue crinkle vinyl and blue rosette vinyl, standard interior
• Date 17J: september 17, 1965
• D.S.O 950096: export, special order unit 0096
• Axle 1: 3.00:1, conventional
• Trans 5: 4-speed manual

Seems that the car is largely in its original shape. Original body and interior colors, original engine and transmission etc. I still need to check the engine block numbers but as they are under the starter, I have not seen them yet.

Being an export vehicle also supports that it might be an original Finnish car. I have no idea what the special order 0096 means though. If any reader has some idea, please comment this post. I would like to know as much as possible about this car.

The Beginning

I fulfilled a dream of mine yesterday by buying a 1966 Ford Mustang. I've always loved their looks but never really had enough money to buy one. But now, after selling my previous project car, a 1976 Chevrolet Corvette, this was finally an option.

I've been looking for a Mustang for over a half year but had to try and swap the Corvette for it. This proved so difficult that I put the Corvette for sale. I was lucky to find the right buyer and could start searching for a Mustang with cash in hand.

I went to see a couple of different cars. The first was a 1968 that had just been painted and restored, according to the seller. Well, after some research we found out that it had originally had a straight six engine that had been swapped to a V8. Unfortunately that was the only thing that had been swapped. The brakes, transmission, differential and everything else under the car was build for the six cylinder. This meant that any car inspector worth his job would not allow it to be registered before upgrading the parts. This combined with the seller insisting that it was an original V8 car (even when we were checking the VIN) and asking a price that could buy you a fully drivable car, I walked away.

The next one was much better. A grey 1966 that really was an original C-code V8 car. The engine and automatic transmission had just been overhauled and worked great. It had a lot of tiny details to clean but the worst was the manual drum brakes in every corner. You had to check braking points from a map! I didn't really like the color either so I decided to check a few more options.

The third Mustang was a bit of a puzzle at first. The sale ad didn't really have any information about the car but from the pictures it kind of looked like a light blue 1966 Mustang GT with manual transmission. This would mean an A-code V8. After a quick call, I found out that the car hadn't really been driven in a few years but had still been serviced and had been inspected a month ago. The car was 150 km away and was worth a visit. A few days later I drove over with a friend that had a really nice 66 Mustang and knew what to look for.

We went through the car and it seemed like it actually could have been originally sold to Finland as new. We were not sure from the papers but there was an information tag in the engine bay in finnish and later I noticed that the speedometer was in kph. The GT status was also a bit of a mystery. Many of the options were there but some not. There was also a lot to fix. There was rust in the right rear wheel arch, right rear "shoulder" where the top was welded to the body and in the rocker panels. Paint was also flaking in a few other places. In addition the interior was pretty poor: floor carpets were torn, the seats a bit dirty and door cards warped.

After the external check, it was time to take a test drive. This experience was much better. The engine ran really smoothly and handling was excellent. Well, good for a 47 year old car anyway. The clutch was a different story though. It shook violently when changing gears. It would have to be replaced pretty soon.

After getting back, we chatted a bit about the cars history. I was told that the sellers brother had owned the car for the past 15 years. He had restored it about ten years ago and then took it to car shows and had been an active Mustang hobbyist. Unfortunately he had passed away about half a year ago. As others in the family were not interested in hobby cars, they decided to sell the Mustang.

In the end, even with all its faults, the car was interesting and one that I should be able to restore. So it was time to talk about the price. After a bit of haggling we found an agreement and wrote the papers. Then the car was mine!

Next came the interesting part: driving the car 150km to get home. This was a bit worrying as it had not been driven a lot during the last few years. It was also leaking a bit of oil and coolant. Luckily I had my friend with me to help if something went wrong. In the end, our worries were proven unnecessary as the Mustang ran beautifully the whole way and everything seemed to work.

This was a good start to my new project.