The Story - by Phil
It all started back in 1993 in Orange County, CA. I wanted to get an older car to restore, so my dad and I went looking and found a '66 Mustang for sale - project condition - but it ran pretty well and we paid $1000. It had a straight 6-cylinder 200 cu. in. engine, a 3-speed on the floor (H-style), and was pretty much original. The engine had some head problems (who doesn't?) and it burned more oil than gas. Gas, by the way was leaded and could still be found at some gas stations in California for about $1 a gallon.
We drove it home and I adopted it as my daily driver. The first thing to be replaced was the old radio. I installed a Pioneer head unit and some upgrade speakers because I wasn't planning on making it an expensive original restoration. It was a lot fun to drive unless some jerk in a BMW cut me off on the freeway without realizing that I had thirty year old drum brakes. My redemption was to pass the offender and stomp on the gas, thereby releasing a cloud of acrid, blue smoke. I called it my "smokescreen" retaliation.
Soon after getting used to it, I took to replacing the interior, mainly because I was a newbie and didn't understand the "proper" order of doing a restoration. I pulled the old powder blue carpeting, rust-treated the floor pans, then replaced the sound matting and the carpeting with black. I also dyed the headliner black and shot the dash and door panels and purchased new dash foam. The upholstery replacement was especially enlightening as it turned out to be quite easy. I then cleaned and re-shot the inside of the trunk.
After having sat with the engine removed and rebuilt for almost a decade, my dad took over and completed the engine installation, exhaust, body work, and paint. Now it looks good and drives well. We could drop a large engine in it but I think jazzing up the straight-6 is the way we're going to go since it's a much more streamlined and efficient engine than the clunky V-8. OK, OK... it's a Ford. But come on, it's a Mustang!
