The Man of Many Projects

[fastback]

Hello everyone. I stumbled onto your site looking for a wheel that would be right for my T-Bird. Wow! I love this place!

I'll start with the T-Bird...



It's a 5.0 car that I originally put together in the very early 90s. It's been dormant for a while and it desperately needs updating. The things you are doing here with your cars are exactly what I have in mind. I have a thread in the wheel and tire section looking for opinions on rims. If you think you know what would look right on it, please let me know.

This Mach 1 is as finished as it's going to get...at least as long as I own it. Regretfully, it's for sale, as I'll explain in a moment...



It's all done except for the paint. Originally, I didn't paint it because the paint looks quite presentable and I intended to drive the car often. You all know the story...as I improved everything else, the paint began to become a sore spot. It's a really nice, super high optioned, matching numbers car that will be a killer bargain for someone who's not afraid of a paintjob.

This is why my Mach is for sale. This is my '65 Fastback that my father gave me 29 years ago. It didn't look much better than this when I drove it to high school...



I lost my dad last year and this car feels like all I have left of him. The best restorers in the business told me to crush it and forget it, but that's never going to happen. This is how it looks today. All but one piece of sheetmetal needed to be replaced. The only thing we saved was the roof. I need to sell the Mach so I can continue on the fastback. You Mustang guys will certainly be familiar with Glazier's Mustang Barn. Fred Glazier says it's the worst one he's seen saved in his 35 years in business. Here's how it looks today with every single spotweld carefully re-created...



Last but not least, this is my Porsche 912...



I bought it because a) I've never done one before and b) because I want to try to do an all-over paint job from scratch.

Well, that's me. If it's got wheels, I probably love it. Thanks for having me.

[compos mentis]

Great stuff, glad you posted them.

Those T-Birds still look good and if you Pro T it, it will look even better of course-

I agree with restoring the Mustang your Dad gave you and selling the Mach to do it.

You would not have felt good getting rid of the '65, no matter what it cost you to restore it.

I like to see people doing things to honor their Dad's.

Skip

[BMF Machine]

Best of luck to ya! Great Story and Great rides! What motor has the Mach got in it? Here is My old T-Bird. It was a 1988 5.0 laid out on Hydraulics w/ 15x 8' ARE's? Hey it was 1990? Don't laugh me out of here. I loved the way it looked on the ground! My Bro has a 1970 Mach 1 as well. Gold and Black with the 351C 2 bbl carb.

[fastback]

Thanks, Skip. I know everyone thinks that their father is special, but my dad truly was. Let me tell you the story of this fastback...

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Mustangs (still am). As I got close to driving age, I wanted one really, really badly. My dad, a guy who loved cars, thought an old Mustang would be a good way to teach me some responsibility, as well as to teach me proper car care. There was one small problem...my parents were raising two of us and never made very much money. So, what did my dad do? He sold his own car that he needed for work every day in order to buy the Mustang fastback for me. Of course, we had to share it, because he still needed to get to work, but at night and on weekends, it was all mine. We spent an awful lot of time under the hood of that car and I'll always have fond memories of that time in my life. Just recently, I was helping a friend through a problem with his late model Porsche. He looked at me incredulously and asked "where did you learn to do all this stuff?" Honestly, it all began under the hood of that little fastback.

BMF, I won't laugh at your AREs. I has a set of the white ones on a 5.0 Mustang. They were a b%$ch to keep clean.

The Mach is a ram air 351 Cleveland. The '72 351 wasn't a very potent motor from the factory, so I heated it up a little during the rebuild, but then dressed it to look stock...

[dropit69]

nice cars..great story of the fastback..im sure your Dad would be proud you are finishing it..

[TPI Monte SS]

Welcome to the site! Great story, I commend you for saving that '65. And the T-Bird is cool! I always daydreamed of building one like that. My personal opinion would be to do a 5-lug conversion on it use a set of 18" Mach 1 replica wheels.

Enjoy the site!

[fastback]

Thanks for the compliments. I have the five lug, four wheel Cobra disc brake conversion sitting on the bench waiting for me to have the time. I'm also doing coilovers now, since I'll have it apart anyway. I'm seriously considering the billet Mach 1 wheels from wheel vintiques, but then my big vented rotors won't show through.

[TheRealDSTRYR]

You've got a great collection of cars there! I really like the Mach 1s. My good friend had a Mach 1 20+ years ago that he somehow put on its top during a doughnut stunt in the middle of a highway in north central Iowa....the car pillars crumpled and the roof was practically on the dash. Today that car would have been re-done in a heartbeat but back then, well, it was just a wrecked car and went to the scrap yard.

[Dragonsnake]

Col story about your dad and how he shared the car with you and learned you the tech bit .

And the T Birds from that time are cool too.

[Benoit23]

Ahh, I found your thread about the Mach. Very nice car & it looks like somebody will be getting a good looking car. What are you asking for it? I wish I would have found you before I bought mine. Good luck with your fastback, also a great car.

[SaturnVUEguy]

Love the story behind the '65! I never had a car work on with my dad. He's always been into cars, he is mechanically inclined, but just never had one to work on for whatever reason. I may be getting a project car though, but waiting for some houses to be built first though. See my thread for more details on that.

How much did that 912 cost you though?

[fastback]

Benoit, the deal is done at $22,000. I took a beating, but that's where the market is right now on the big-body Mustangs.

Saturn, the 912 cost me $132.00 on ebay...but it cost $1,000 to ship it here from Sacramento. It's pretty much rust free, which is unheard of for these old Porsches. The Germans didn't start using galvanized steel until 1970. I got another 912 from the east coast, which is complete and in great mechanical shape, but the body is swiss cheese. Just the replacement panels to fix the body would've been $5000, so it made sense to find a better body out west.



The plan is to make one beautiful 912 out of the two of them.

[SaturnVUEguy]

I have to find myself a deal like that!

[SixSpeed454SS]

Cool story about the fastback. The Mach1 is a sweet looking car. I think it is awesome that you saved the '65, regardless of how bad it was. I personally would sell the porsche to finish the fastback, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I am in no way dissing the Porsche, either. I have a personal fondness for 911/912 Porsches of all years.

I am finishing a 66 GTO that was my dad's car. He is still here, but his health isn't that great, so I want him to enjoy the car. His house was struck by lightning & burned to the ground (August 2007), 8 months after I got the GTO out of his house (he gave me the car for nothing, and I did offer it back to him, but he doesn't want it back). He lost a 64 GTO, 64 Tempest, & a 1934 Packard in the fire. This '66 was a car he always wanted to finish, but never had the $$ to do it. I've hustled for the last 2 years to get it on the road, so he can enjoy it. I plan on firing it tomorrow & taking it for it's first ride in 24 years. My dad will be there for the maiden voyage (as a matter of fact, he has to finish rebuilding the carbs tomorrow morning, so it can be fired).

Welcome to the site & good luck with your projects.

[monza]

Nice, very cool!

Cool story about the fastback. The Mach1 is a sweet looking car. I think it is awesome that you saved the '65, regardless of how bad it was. I personally would sell the porsche to finish the fastback, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I am in no way dissing the Porsche, either. I have a personal fondness for 911/912 Porsches of all years.

I am finishing a 66 GTO that was my dad's car. He is still here, but his health isn't that great, so I want him to enjoy the car. His house was struck by lightning & burned to the ground (August 2007), 8 months after I got the GTO out of his house (he gave me the car for nothing, and I did offer it back to him, but he doesn't want it back). He lost a 64 GTO, 64 Tempest, & a 1934 Packard in the fire. This '66 was a car he always wanted to finish, but never had the $$ to do it. I've hustled for the last 2 years to get it on the road, so he can enjoy it. I plan on firing it tomorrow & taking it for it's first ride in 24 years. My dad will be there for the maiden voyage (as a matter of fact, he has to finish rebuilding the carbs tomorrow morning, so it can be fired).

Welcome to the site & good luck with your projects.

[fastback]

Great story about the GTO. I hope your Dad enjoys the hell out of it and appreciates the work that went into it.

I wish my Father could've seen the fastback finished, but I didn't make it. My Father's first car was a '47 Mercury, given to him by his Grandfather, and it was always his favorite car. He talked about it often. I'd always planned to build him one just like it. He was just taken from us far too soon.

I suspect the Porsche will also be sold in pursuit of the fastback project, but I'm going to build it for the learning experience (particularly the painting aspect). It's worth a lot more finished than it is right now. We'll see when it's finished, which at my pace may be never.

[SixSpeed454SS]

We got the GTO running today after he finished the carbs & I put the distributer back in. My dad was sitting in the driver's seat saying "This brings back some memories, and I could get used to driving it real quick". I drove it to the gas station for some gas, but it has a collapsed exhaust lifter or 2. It is missing badly, and popping thru the carbs. It doesn't smoke & has real good oil pressure, so hopefully it's only a lifter problem. I'm gonna do a compression test to see which cylinder(s) are stuck. Soon enough it'll be ready to take for a real ride & I want him to be there to enjoy it, too.