This is the current state fo the restoration of my 77 Mach 1.
Met Chip Foose at the Atlantic Nationals in Moncton NB in July 08. Drove 2 1/2 hrs to show, waited 3 1/2 hours in line and met him. This is the first time in my life I waited in line for anything like this. Well worth it, he is a class act.
Below is the history of when first obtained the car(s) and the following pages follow the restoration from paint removal, sandblasting, and paint.
In using spacers/adapters, one is given the option of putting the car back to the stock wheels in a matter of minutes. The above are a couple of shots of the car with the stock 13" Lacy Spoke Aluminum wheels that were once white, but I had stripped, sanded, wet sanded and polished them to what you see above.
This is how the cars looked upon arrival after sitting for 18 & 13 years in a garage. Although the 2 + 2 looks great, there was rust on the floor as a result of sitting on a cement floor in an unheated garage for that period of time. The bumper reinforcements were rusted as was the gas tank and the motor was seized. The interior, other than a few cracks on the vinyl for the driver seat and a rotten carpet was in great shape. However, It was not the colour or style I was looking for.
The 77 Mach 1 was yellow gold in colour. It was an abandoned attempt at a restoration by a father and son, some 12 years earlier. The body was not in great shape but the hatch floor, glass, doors etc were in excellent shape. The front inner fenders were patched but not well.
A view of the driver's side of the vehicle showing the great condition of the exterior body panels on the 2 + 2. A second shot of the Mach 1 also shows the colour, yellow gold, that I was not crazy about.
This was the motor before it was removed and torn down. The picture on the right is the car engine bay now.
This is the photo of the car stripped down. It is about midway of removing the paint to the bare metal using a razor blade. It did not take as long as I thought it would. I choose this method as I was informed that sandblasting warps metal and the chemical paint removers get into seams only to leach out down the road and give your new paint problems. The undergear will be blasted.
Some of my Prevoius Mustangs & Capris
69 Mustang Grande - my first car purchased in 1973. 302 A/T
74 Mercury Capri V-6 built in Germany. 4 speed. This is one car i wish i still had. Although they shared the same engine as the II, the performance of the 6 cyl Capri would easily outrun the MII cars. I also had a 75 and a 78 Capri.
76 Mustang II v-6 4 speed Mustang that I purchased. Nice car that was fun to drive.
78 Mustang II Ghia in Dark Blue with v-6 4 speed and sports appearnce group. I bought this one new in 78 and a guy offerred me $1000 more than I paid for it after I put about 18,000 kms on it. The car only retailed for $5000.00. the guy hated the 79s and saw mine on the lot and I sold it, which was ONE of the biggest mistakes of my life. I have made many.
I bought this II in 1985 for $500 and painted it with the thoughts of having a toy again, but had to sell it as I had two young kids and a kitchen that I needed to renovate.
