Tag: 1966 Mustang

A classic Mustang year

Kustom Kulture Spring Break

The second show of the year today, but I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. One weather app said rain, the other two said cold and overcast at 17o. My wife was saying to me that I was mad at seven thirty this morning, I almost agreed with her. But, like a true trooper I powered through it. The cool bag was packed with a light lunch, but mostly drinks. The first stop this morning was going to be fuel at the Shell petrol station for a bit of open wallet surgery via a fill up of some V-Power. The guy in the next pump also had a classic Talbot Lotus was getting a fill up, we were having a chat taking our minds of the money on the display updating faster than a hundred meter stop watch. I asked “are you going to the Stonham Barns show?” He replied with no “me and a few mates were just going for a drive and some lunch”. That is awesome, enjoying his car with his mates and have a lunch looking at classic cars. The show at Stonham Barns has become a bit of local show. The show started at ten, but I got there at eight forty and there was only about tenor so other display cars there. My logic was to get in before the carnage waiting to get in. As it turned out I didn’t need to worry, I wasn’t that busy a show all day. I was directed into the main arena and direct to park next to a 1965 Mustang finished in vintage Burgundy metallic. The panels on our cars are the same, but there are some obvious exterior trim and interior changes between the two years.

I gave the car it’s customary quick detail to remove any road dust, During my ritual therapeutic dust off, the wind must have been just right as I got a waft of cooking, bacon! The burger fan was calling, my wallet was tucked in the jacket pocket while on the way, a purposeful stride with my nose leading the way. I ordered the sausage, as that looked even better than the bacon, to enhance my culinary delight I added cheese and some onions topped with a line of tomato sauce. I took a seat to enjoy my well deserved breakfast after my car cleaning. A crow flew down and was hopping around near the table, it was rewarded with small bit of the roll that I shared with it. At the price I just paid, it wasn’t going to get a lot. A sucker for wild life I relented and shared more with my new found friend. The more I gave, the bolder it got almost taking the bread out of my hand. The funny part was it hopped on the other side of the table and gave me the eye for more, that also worked and got more breakfast with me. I was trying to take a photo, and hold the roll at the same time, I think I did OK considering.

After the rather awesome roll I chatted with a few human friends I have seen for the first time this year. Then it was off to take some photos of the other cars. The show didn’t have a huge amount of cars which was a shame, but the quality of cars on show was great except for a few Walmart wagons that were allowed in, which was surprising as the info said pre ’70s.

As I was walking around the outer part of the arena more cars were coming in to park in the centre and started a couple of new rows.

Outside the arena was also getting busier as the arena was now full, I found a few of the finned beauties. I’m a bit partial to a fin it has to be said, they’re just mobile works of art.

Wandering back up the field there was only really another line.

This Pontiac caught my eye and almost got my personal winning vote.

That just leaves my winning vote; Mart’s Car of The Show. The artwork on the back of this was Ford was amazing, I hate to think how long and how much this was. The emblem on the cowl clinched it for me though!

A grey overcast day, it wasn’t full of cars, but it was pleasant with a lot of cars I hadn’t seen before and a few I had. The show was not really a family day, this was more of a true petrol head day out and spoke to lots of lovely people. I left just after two as a few other were starting to leave as well. A good show, no queue to get in and everything was very calm and civilised. My madness of getting up paid of as I enjoyed the show, even though I walking around with my jacket on. For change on the way there and and on the way home there was morons on the road that were near me and I had relaxing and gentle cruise home.

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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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