This saga began when I suggested to my son Alan that we buy an
older car to fix up for him. My idea was to save him money
and have a car
old enough that I could still repair it without needing degrees
in computer science and electrical engineering. Being a Mopar
guy, I was thinking a Dart or Duster. Though to this day he can't
explain how or why, he fell in love with vintage Mustangs and
insisted it would be a 64-73 Mustang or nothing.
Thus the search began. We looked at all sorts of rust buckets in
his price range, including some with the rear springs coming up
through the trunk floor. One day we answered an ad in a local
paper and arranged to go see a car the next day. When we got
there we were surprised to find a relative owned the Mustang.
Thinking that a cousin who worked in a body shop wouldn't try to
shaft us, we purchased the Springtime yellow '67 coupe and towed
it home. The engine had been removed from the car and was
scattered across the garage floor. There was a semi fresh paint
job which covered a multitude of sins and rust. However Alan was
happier than I had ever seen him. He was the only eleven year old
on the block with his own car, purchased with his money, and it
was a Mustang.
Though it wasn't
a continuous effort, the restoration of this car took over four
years. We replaced floor pans, quarter panels, and wheel houses.
Every other piece of sheet metal, except the roof, required
patching due to rust. The paint was completely 
removed, mostly
with a D/A sander, and the car was primed. I towed it to the
local vocational school and used their paint booth to spray the
finish coat of Acapulco Blue.
Power disc brakes were added from a parts car. We also ditched
the automatic trans in favor of a three speed. The engine was
completely rebuilt and has a mild cam with a 600 cfm Holley. The
interior is all new with the exception of the original bench
seats. New bumpers, Goodrich T/As, and a large assortment of
other new items were also installed. There were times during this
long, and many times tedious, restoration I wasn't sure if Alan
was interested anymore. However, I was wrong. He wrote a paper
for English class which was supposed to be an interview of
someone about a significant event in their life. Though he never
talked to me, he wrote his interview of me concerning our work on
his Mustang. When I read it, I realized how much it meant to him.
Here's a description of the finished product:
1967 Ford Mustang Coupe
Acapulco Blue
Black interior
302 4V
Dual exhaust
3 Speed
3.00 posi rear
Power steering
Power disc brakes
AM/FM with CD player
Magnum 500 wheels
BF Goodrich T/A radials
Unfortunately this story does not have a fairy-tale ending. Alan hit a
patch of ice on his way to an academic bowl, and put the car in a ditch.
The damage was more than I could repair. We sold the car to a gentleman in
New York, where it will begin it's third life as an organ donor for his '68
coupe that he is converting from 6 cyl to V8.
