Hello from Bothell, WA

[DragonKnight]

Hi everyone,

I'm Rich from Bothell, WA and a recent owner of a 1971 Mustang Mach 1, M-Code engine.

I basically bought this car as a restoration project while looking around for a 65/66 for my girlfriend (a bigger Mustang fanatic than I am). My original plan was buy/save this Mach 1 and slowly bring her back to her former glory while keeping the majority of my funds geared towards the 65/66. But now my gf wants me to pour all of it towards the Mach 1. All I can say is I love that girl of mine.

We're basically going to go the deal with the typical rust issues, strip her of the sad red-over-the-original-blue paint job and dress her up in something decent, build her up with some restomods (mostly suspension as I'm a former autocrosser and open track guy looking to face the challenge of bringing this beast to the track), and hopefully within the next year or two finish her up and then move onwards my girlfriend's own 65/66 (she really loves those years).

So hoping to learn a lot in the process and make a few friends. Nice to meet everyone!

Rich

[Mach 1 Club]

Welcome to the site Rich!

Hows about some pictures!

[1969jimmach]

Welcome to the site Rich!

Hows about some pictures!

What he said.Welcome

[don29163]

Welcome to the site ! Why not finish the 1st project while you collect parts for the new car. parts are kind of scarce for the 71-73 from what I am seeing.

[DragonKnight]

Thanks, everyone!

Got the first pic up. Not the prettiest and god knows what else we'll find when we start stripping her down some more. But hell, all for the sake of preserving and restoring this piece of Americana.

Rich

   

[BKDunha]

Welcome DragonKnight. Good to see the picture. Looks like it is all there at least. Some of us have started out with less and went down a longer road. Congrats on having a girl friend who loves the mustangs. You probably should hold on to her, not all of our significant others are as passionate or supportive, but we still love'em.

[DragonKnight]

Welcome DragonKnight. Good to see the picture. Looks like it is all there at least. Some of us have started out with less and went down a longer road. Congrats on having a girl friend who loves the mustangs. You probably should hold on to her, not all of our significant others are as passionate or supportive, but we still love'em.

Thanks! My girlfriend is a keeper, that's for sure.

Right now we're pulling out the interior to get a better idea on what needs to be done in regards to the rust. We're looking at possibly buying a MIG welder (probably from Eastwood) as the following has rust rot:

- Passenger side floor pan has some major rust rot. It will need a full length replacement.
- Driver's side is not as bad, but bad enough to need a full length replacement.
- Both toe boards will need to be patched.
- Cowl will need to be patched, replaced if we can find a rust free one (most likely patched).
- Firewall will need patching.
- Both the trunk floor and taillight will need to be replaced.
- Both lower rear quarter panels will need to be patched.
- Inner fender holding the battery will have to be patched.

We're hoping to at least get the floor pans done ourselves. If the other parts proved to be too difficult, we may look into hiring a welder to do the more difficult parts. My gf's dad had a guy that did welding on his 68 Camaro for $30/hr. If it doesn't cost much more, we may look into having him do the floor pans too. We'll see as my gf really wants to at least give the floor pans a shot and she's all about learning new skills.

Afterward, we'll get some Zero-Rust and topcoat on the car. Then we'll move on to the next step on getting the outside of the car media blasted for a new paint job.

We're not looking to making the car into a show car. We'll save that for a future Mustang once we get better.

Rich

[thundertc64]

nice Mach keep us updated on work

[JTS71 Mach1]

Yeah Man, build her the way you want it and have fun with it! These cars were'nt built to be perfect when they left the factory. So why should we turn them into museum pieces now??? Smooth her out, hop her up, paint her pretty and drive her, like you STOLE HER!!!! BY the way, Welcome to the Herd! JTS 71 Mach1

[Rare Pony]

Welcome to the Club from Virginia. Good luck with the resto and keep posting those pictures.