I sold my '73 Mach 1 in the 90's after I bought my house and I've finally managed to get another Mustang! My first was a '67 coupe with a 289. It was actually my first car and it taught me enough to get a job as a service tech right out of high school. After that I had a '67 Cougar and then came the '73 Mach. I bought it for $500.00 from a guy at Porter and Chester - it had no engine or trans. at the time but I had a 351C and a 4-speed toploader waiting to find a home. I actually drove that car in the snow! I let it go for $900.00. What a mistake. Who knew the prices would go the way they did. Well now I have a second chance. I picked up a basket case '71 last week. It needs EVERYTHING but I'm ready to bring it back to life. As soon as it warms up (I'm in Connecticut) I'll take some pic's so you guys can see what I've gotten myself into.
We would love to see the pictures of the current basket case. Quite a few of us have those. Some are even making great progress while others (I would be the poster child) can't seem to get any of the baskets organized.
Still - I at least have the car and prices can do what they want.
I am looking forward to your progress. Please document the progress for us.
Welcome to the site and I see we are neighbors. I am also from CT and can't wait for the warm weather to break so I can get back to my project. Please keep us updated on your project. Lots of basket cases revived here.
OK, you asked for it...
It's actually not as bad as it looks. The shock towers and cowl braces are undamaged. Mostly just the radiator support and inner fenders. It only has 62K miles. It was parked after the accident and then it just sat.
I'm working on a chassis jig / fixture to hold it all together as I'm cutting and welding. It's going to be a LOT of work but at this point I'd rather spend the TIME than the MONEY and when it's done I'll know exactly what's in it.
A few years ago my friend paid good money for a "fully restored" '65 coupe. It looked REALLY good but when I went to look at it I saw where the repairs had been made and i warned him about it. It started falling apart 3 years later and he ended up having to do a total restoration. He wasn't happy but NOW the car is solid. Fiberglass and Bondo is no substitute for steel!
Even though the prices of these cars has gone through the roof I know I'll probably never get ALL of my money back. I'm not doing this for that purpose. I'm doing this to save a cool car. :)
Ya think? LOL I'm actually more concerned about the rust than the collision damage. I won't know how bad it really is until I completely disassemble the car. Waiting for the weather to warm up so I can do that.
I'll start a new thread in the Restoration area as I work through the process. I'm hoping to have it on the road in about 3 years since I'll be doing most of the work myself. I have a brand new Mercedes that I can drive to work in the meantime.
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