Tag: 1966 Mustang

A classic Mustang year

A Day In The Bay; The Video

Continuing on from my last post where I had visited Meguiar’s for their ‘Day In The Bay’ series. I have now been given access to all the pictures that Meguiar’s took on the day, but more importantly the video of the whole process is now also on YouTube, all eighteen minutes of it. Here are some great photo’s of the car from the day, and after avoiding being in any photos for seven years of my blogging, there is even a couple of pics of me in there, (I’m the one with the shaved head and a plain navy t-shirt). I have selected some of my favourites photos from the day, most of which are obviously the ones where I’m not in them. Rather than repeat myself with a write up again, this post is basically pictures, I hope that’s OK.

The link for the video of my car in the bay, is now on Meguiar’s YouTube channel here or watch it below.

The Washing & Drying

Into the Bay

Then it was time watch and learn how to machine polish the paint properly. There was some tiny swirls that needed a little correction first with some compound, before we got to the waxing stage.

Then I got to have a go with the machines.

Waxing

Buffing

The Final Results

With the outside completed we moved to the inside cleaning and protecting the seats.

Outside for the finished photo shoot.

Perhaps my favourite photo of the day!

I hope you like the pictures and more to the point the video, as much as I enjoyed the day. It’s funny though, I still can’t believe that I am going to show them. So, if you are going to leave comments, be gentle with this fifty something, grey haired old bloke! 😉

Remember: This is not a sponsored post by Meguiar’s nor an advert for them. I did by some products while I was there and will be reviewing them soon. Check out my ‘Car Detailing Reviews’ menu for the latest updates.

The car show season is nearly underway for this year, and I’m looking forward to a few shows this year. But, as the calendar dates pan out, there are a few shows on the same day which is rather annoying to say the least. So I will have to be selective with which ones I attend instead of going to them all.

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Before & After

I have had some emails saying why don’t I do a before and after photo set of the restoration? Then I got to thinking as to why I hadn’t up till now. There was no reason, so this post may be cheating a little as there is nothing new here. But what is new is the fact they have never been compared side by side before.  As I didn’t start my blog until a year after I bought the car, some of the earliest pictures don’t exist as such, during that time I had re-wired the car for the first time, managed to fire the car up, got the locks working (sort of), painted the trunk section and interior floor pans. Obviously if I had of known I would be doing a blog at that time, I would have documented it all much better than I have done. However my early work was re-done once the car had got to Mustang Maniac. Under their supervision and help it would be done “Properly” as Adam told me. So in effect you are indeed seeing the restoration from scratch, all be it not as bad as it was. I suspect that I would be playing catch up to keep on top of the car all the time to keep it looking good, especially with the original route I was going to take, ie; the amateur way.

Body Work:

 Rebuilt Back End:

left quarter
no lights and fuel tank out.

Underside:

This was the old underseal, dirt and what ever else was squirted on there. Welded, ground down, filled, sanded down, painted with red oxide and painted with proper underseal and satin black paint.

from inside the trunk

Doors, Roof and Sides:

new door
right quarter
rear glass removed
daunting start

Rebuilt Front End:

battery tray plate
new door

Interior:

Inside was originally treated with POR15 for rust protection. This was later removed and proper sealant applied at paint and then primer and top coats. The last step was the Dynamat sound proofing, before the carpet that is.

left different angle
Rear back
left side with prep sprayed

Engine:

The story here was that I wanted to go sort of modern with the silicone look. As I knew I wanted a blue look to the car I went for the blue silicone and the blue spark plug leads. I went of the idea and eventually swapped them for the revised black and chrome look. The spark plug leads were changed at the last month as was the valve covers. The cable routing went through a number of variations until I was happy with it at that point. Rewire of the car was the first job as I had to see if the engine started, which it did on the second turn of the key after twelve years of standing years. Pretty impressive.

Brake booster in location at the very back right hand corner
prep for intake removal

Transmission:

unable to even see the grease nipples.
box end

Steering and Suspension:

finger tight fittings
steering box end of column
old shock right side
right

Brakes:

Even the brakes look as good as the outside of the car. The front drum brakes were replaced with disc brake conversion for stopping power and safety. The brake servo was original from the factory but was upgraded to dual system, again for safety.

Drum before treatment
Black caliper
drive shaft removed with back plate in place
brake set and inner gasket on (awaiting additional sprng for the seperator bar under the cylinder
Booster surface rust

Electrical:

All electrics have been replaced and the bulbs converted to LED where I can.

Original burnt out wire loom
lens and bulb out
LEDs located on the housing

Glass and Bright Work Trim:

rubber seal cut away and left on mastic
frame in place
frame Insides cleaned
right inside before clean
right inside cleaned
Original state

Paint Process:

There are hundreds of photos I could add here but I have kept it to the more key stages of the process.

Transportation:

These were some interesting shots of the car coming and going to different places.

ramp up

Driving Her:

Special Thanks:

I have mentioned this before, but none of this would have been possible without the help and moral support from Mustang Maniac and their associates; Adam, Al (Yogi), Paul (Lob Monster), Chris (Careful), John, Paul (the paint), Lance (OCD from Marketing). I have learned so much from them all, above all I have gained some great friends who have all helped me realise a life’s ambition and dream come true.

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Mustang Owners Manual

Original Ford Mustang 1966 Owners Manual

What is usually the one thing that is missing when buy a vintage or classic car? Original paperwork! Over the last few weeks I have been collating the pages of my original ’66 Mustang Owners Manual that I was lucky enough to get with the car. I have now finished converted my slightly grubby manual into a PDF document to share with anybody who is interested. For owners of these classic cars it’s a bible on specifications, original part numbers, service guides and tips. For those interested in memorabilia it’s an opportunity to read what ford had to say about their car that was to become a legend. I honestly hope this is of some use to somebody out there, please let me know if you do find it useful. I am pleased with the scan quality as the inside is in very good condition considering its age, but the pages are quite thin and are a bit delicate now. The PDF is around 6mb, so it may take a short while to download onto the screen depending on your internet speed. The size of the original manual is 210mm x 100mm. Enjoy 🙂

Click on the picture for the manual.

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I have also added the PDF to my Articles menu under 1966 Mustang Owners Manual. I wonder how man of these are still out there? Does anybody know?

Quick Link:

1966 Mustang Owners Manual click here

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Articles galore

Finally got round to it!

Over the months I have been searching around for good articles on the First Generation Mustangs 1964 1/2 to 1973, I believe I have completed that task at long last. I have come across a few articles that were sparse, some that just droned and so nit picky it wasn’t enjoyable, and some that were great mixture. I have had quite a few “hits” on the ’66 Mustang article that I posted a while back where it gave details of the car, number sold and options etc. I have collated all of the other car years articles together and added them to my “Articles – Mustang Profiles by Year” for the full specifications of each year, or for a quick overview comparison of the years models click here. There is a quite a lot of information about the cars for each year from optional extras available to colour options to choose from at the time. I have tracked down a good Vin Decoder with diagrams which shows where to locate the VIN and how to read it too, (the VIN details are also on each specific year of car too). The 1964 Ford Press Release for the Mustang is very interesting and worth the read. I would like to say that it was all my own work, however and sadly I can’t claim that accolade and the source(s) are acknowledged. I have taken some of the articles edited them and patched them together to make a longer article. It’s interesting as I was looking for the information that there does seem to be a lot of duplication on the web sites for this subject, it’s all pretty similar as it’s now as it’s a popular part of automotive history. I hope the articles turn out to be useful as they did for me and I learned quite a lot in the process. I will continue to find more interesting articles that catch my eye and post them too, keep checking for updates when you return. Looking forward to the weekend, it’s been a long week already.

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