11-26-2013, 07:05 AM
My mother's first car was a 1968 fastback Mustang in Gulf-stream Aqua. Unfortunately it was wrecked and gone long before I was born. She never did get over that car though. Being her automotive first love, every car she had after was compared to that '68. I grew up with stories and pictures of her car and fell in love with early Mustangs myself.
I enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school and, upon completion of basic training, was stationed in 29 Palms. Since My family was in the L.A. area, I started looking for a car to make trips home in an effort to make living in the desert a bit more bearable. I mentioned to my parents that I was looking for an old mustang and my mom said, "You know...your grandfather has an old Mustang in his barn. You should go check it out."
Two hours later my dad and I opened my grandfather's barn squeezed between a gold 1989 Corvette and a 1959 convertible Cadillac to get to the back of the barn. On our way, we passed a 1962 Jaguar XKE, a 1959 Galaxy and a 1912 Overland roadster. The place was covered in 30 years of dust and grime but we made it to the back. It was the only covered car in the barn but the shape was unmistakable. The cover on the car had an inch and a half of crud on it. I pulled the cover off and was horrified to find another inch and a half under it. I used the side of my hand lie a blade to scrape the dirt away and was rewarded with a splash of bright orange.
We spent the next couple hours filling tires, long flat, with air, moving cars in various states of disrepair, and excavating the 'stang from it's tomb. A couple more hours of scrubbing and cleaning revealed a remarkably complete and original 1970 Mach 1 in Grabber Orange with a 428 engine, four speed manual transmission and shaker hood. The kicker was that it had been in the back of the barn since 1977 and had only 35k miles on it. We reached an agreement on a price, next to nothing, loaded it onto a trailer and hauled it home.
It spent the next two months being revived from it's long slumber receiving an engine rebuild, new fuel lines, hoses and tires, and the suspension checked out for anything that needed replacing. It was my daily driver from 1997 to 2003 when I decided to get something a bit easier on gas and not so irreplaceable. I still have the car though and would be loath to get rid of it.
One final note about my Mach 1 story. I got my Mach while I was a Marine. The original bill of sale lists the original date of purchase as November 10, 1969...the Marine Corps birthday... and we transferred the title into my name on November 10, 1997.
I enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school and, upon completion of basic training, was stationed in 29 Palms. Since My family was in the L.A. area, I started looking for a car to make trips home in an effort to make living in the desert a bit more bearable. I mentioned to my parents that I was looking for an old mustang and my mom said, "You know...your grandfather has an old Mustang in his barn. You should go check it out."
Two hours later my dad and I opened my grandfather's barn squeezed between a gold 1989 Corvette and a 1959 convertible Cadillac to get to the back of the barn. On our way, we passed a 1962 Jaguar XKE, a 1959 Galaxy and a 1912 Overland roadster. The place was covered in 30 years of dust and grime but we made it to the back. It was the only covered car in the barn but the shape was unmistakable. The cover on the car had an inch and a half of crud on it. I pulled the cover off and was horrified to find another inch and a half under it. I used the side of my hand lie a blade to scrape the dirt away and was rewarded with a splash of bright orange.
We spent the next couple hours filling tires, long flat, with air, moving cars in various states of disrepair, and excavating the 'stang from it's tomb. A couple more hours of scrubbing and cleaning revealed a remarkably complete and original 1970 Mach 1 in Grabber Orange with a 428 engine, four speed manual transmission and shaker hood. The kicker was that it had been in the back of the barn since 1977 and had only 35k miles on it. We reached an agreement on a price, next to nothing, loaded it onto a trailer and hauled it home.
It spent the next two months being revived from it's long slumber receiving an engine rebuild, new fuel lines, hoses and tires, and the suspension checked out for anything that needed replacing. It was my daily driver from 1997 to 2003 when I decided to get something a bit easier on gas and not so irreplaceable. I still have the car though and would be loath to get rid of it.
One final note about my Mach 1 story. I got my Mach while I was a Marine. The original bill of sale lists the original date of purchase as November 10, 1969...the Marine Corps birthday... and we transferred the title into my name on November 10, 1997.
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