My Mustang

I've been thinking a lot about my 1965 Mustang lately.  It's come up in conversation several times recently so I thought I'd share an adapted email I just sent to a friend who's been asking about it.  So, without further adieu, here's the long drawn-out story.

 

Do you remember that episode of 90210 where Dylan took his Porsche to the mechanic and the mechanic told him that he needed a new every-day car if he planned to keep his old Porsche around because he was running it into the ground? I just saw a re-run of that episode on SOAPNet the other day (don't ask). We'll it's pretty much just like that.

It was my first and only car from high school through college. I stopped driving it because I was running it into the ground, and because the transmission went out. My dad and I spent several weekends trying to rebuild the automatic transmission ourselves but could never get it quite right. Transmissions are a pain. So we eventually had it rebuilt, but in the mean time I bought my Focus. It has sat at my parents for a few years now, not having run for a while. I don't even think the rebuilt trans was ever put to the test. It's funny how priorities change.

This summer I started making some engine mods to make it drivable and reliable again, but never had the time to finish it up. It's a stock 289, but over the years we've added dual exhaust, an electronic ignition, and I'm in the process of converting from a 2v carb to a 4v carb. I have almost all the parts, but I've been cleaning stuff up as I go along and discovering additional projects. It really only needs a good solid weekend of work, but with the wife's car being a pain in the behind, and us buying a house I haven't had time to devote to the mustang. Hopefully in the next few months, while the wife's busy with her travel season at work, I'll have time to devote to it. I'd like to bring it up to Burbank and clear some space for it in the garage. We'll see if that happens. My goal now is to have it done for this summer.