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.
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.
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