I'm an Iowa transplant and play a scientist for a large animal health company by day, and an aspiring car restoration wanna-be by night. And I try to play husband full time. I love animals, and I love what I do and where I work; it's literally my dream job. And I get to come home to my almost-dream car (make it a 69 Mach 1 and then it's my real dream car).
We have an 11 acre horse farm in beautiful MI where we raise our 6 chickens, 2 horses, 3 cats, our Golden Retriever, Junebug, and of course 1 Mustang. I enjoy updating our house, making improvements to the farm and tooling around outside in general, playing guitar and piano, camping, and, in a past life, mixing sound. Oh, and working on my car!
Just a minor detail, but I've worked so [not] hard to keep this blog going for 7 years to chronicle my progression and efforts through this project, and don't even mark the crowning moment of the achievement. Specifically, NINE MONTHS ago I finished the car, and am just not getting around to updating it.
I don't intend for this to be the end of this blog as I still plan to post how-to's for how I did many things. I'm just getting lazy I suppose.
Well, all through the winter of 2014/2015 I was slowly adding parts to the car...trim, windows, the final fixins'. I had a big kitchen remodel coming up that summer so I knew I needed to finish the car before then, otherwise it wouldn't get finished or driven that summer as all my time would be spent on the kitchen.
I got classic car insurance (agreed value) through Heacock, whom I highly recommend. I got quotes through Hagerty and Grundy, but being I'm in MI with one of the highest car insurance rates in the country, they were very expensive and Heacock was several hundred dollars cheaper and with better coverage to boot. Then I took care of everything else, including registration and license plate, which was another almost surreal moment.
And finally, on one fateful day in May, I loaded it up and took it into the Muffler Man exhaust shop in town. I see a lot of hot rods going through there and they were enthusiastic to do my exhaust job too. They did a fantastic job of getting the exhaust installed and then I also had them to a front end alignment with the specs I brought in for the Shelby drop. They have a laser rack and did great there too. They have several real old school guys at this shop and that's exactly what I wanted.
In the end, the exhaust install was great, car sounds a little louder than I'd like with these Slowmaster 40 series Delta Flow and 2.25" pipes with H pipe and Tri-Y headers, and drones quite a bit, but still sounds good. It handled and drove so nice and smooth...it was a great summer. I took it to a few shows, drove it to work a few times, and for once just got to enjoy it. Enough talk, here's some pics and a video.
First time at the gas pump
Out to pasture.
Getting exhaust and alignment.
67 play date.
Our first car show.
Rose and Junebug came out to celebrate its first show appearance as well.
Wow! This restoration looks absolutely amazing and to be honest it is probably one of the best I have seen. I have been thinking about taking on something like this as a hobby for myself and well, you have inspired me to do so. The colors and details you have chosen are perfect and I hope you post more pictures soon with more adventures in your Mustang!
Thank you so much for the encouragement Madonna. I had to find a lot of sources of inspiration to finish this car because it's not always easy, so it's rewarding when it can be a source of inspiration for somebody else.
Wow, amazing job. IM now inthe same predicament you were in the last couple of years. I too have been messing around with my 66 for 7 years, and always have had to put off working on it to deal with life's and work's little quirks. However, I never let that, or the naysayers, discourage me from realizing this lifelong dream. I like you try to be a perfectionist, and have ended up doing absolutely all the work on the car, as I was not pleased with others opinions or methodology. At last , Im very near completion with only final body work, paint and interior to finish. I questioned myself for embarking on this journey many times, but the satisfaction it brings is priceless and well worth it.
The first time you take it out on a bona fide legitimate drive down the street makes it all worth it. The fact that I can walk out and get in this and it just starts up as fast as my other cars do, and I can drive around with no worries of reliability is extremely rewarding.
Wow! This restoration looks absolutely amazing and to be honest it is probably one of the best I have seen. I have been thinking about taking on something like this as a hobby for myself and well, you have inspired me to do so. The colors and details you have chosen are perfect and I hope you post more pictures soon with more adventures in your Mustang!
ReplyDeleteMadonna Gentry @ SVS Auto Care
Thank you so much for the encouragement Madonna. I had to find a lot of sources of inspiration to finish this car because it's not always easy, so it's rewarding when it can be a source of inspiration for somebody else.
DeleteWow, amazing job. IM now inthe same predicament you were in the last couple of years. I too have been messing around with my 66 for 7 years, and always have had to put off working on it to deal with life's and work's little quirks. However, I never let that, or the naysayers, discourage me from realizing this lifelong dream. I like you try to be a perfectionist, and have ended up doing absolutely all the work on the car, as I was not pleased with others opinions or methodology. At last , Im very near completion with only final body work, paint and interior to finish. I questioned myself for embarking on this journey many times, but the satisfaction it brings is priceless and well worth it.
ReplyDeleteThe first time you take it out on a bona fide legitimate drive down the street makes it all worth it. The fact that I can walk out and get in this and it just starts up as fast as my other cars do, and I can drive around with no worries of reliability is extremely rewarding.
Delete