NB:  As of Nov./Dec. '07, after providing fun and reliable transportation for me for a couple of years while my other wagon was out of comission, this car is unfortunately no longer with us.  After accidentally breaking the rear window while trying to fix the malfunctioning tailgate, I realized that the rust really had gone too far.  To have the car be nice again, I would have basically had to save the top half of the body from about the bumpers up, and replace the rest, so I made a deal with a guy looking to sell a solid '81 two-door and stripped off the driveline, interior, and front doors.  The engine and transmission are now in the '81 and the doors (or at least, the neato '79 mirrors and matching glass) are slated to go on my '87 Colony Park if and when I get around to it.

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This is a ratty '79 Country Squire I picked up at a local lot for $300 with a wheezing 351W and a slipping C4. Still, it ran well enough to tote me around town for about 8 months before I put in the stock-rebuild '87 5.0 out of my other wagon. I bought a fresh C4 with a Stage 1 shift kit from a respected local rebuilder in late '05, thus making the vehicle a good deal more road-worthy. Story is that it'd sat outside a trucking company for about 6 years, which in part led to the extensive rust damage and presumably the rod knock in the original engine.

Since putting in the new engine and tranny, I've taken it on several trips of 150 miles or more, and it's getting me around just fine. It's currently got a Performer 289 intake and Edelbrock 1404 carb (converted to electric choke), stock '90 Mustang cam and headers, and a set of Kumho Venture severe-snow-service tires mounted on the other car's original steel rims.

Special features include plentiful rust holes, cracked windshield, dry-rotted weatherstrip (makes freeway trips pretty noisy) and galvanized-steel floorboards attached with sheetmetal screws by a previous owner. The annoyance of the wind noise was for a time surpassed by particularly nasty exhaust resonance until I installed stock-replacement 2" tailpipes spec'd for a '90-'91 Squire (earlier years were more expensive ... go figure). Hit up the next pages to read more.

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Left and right: the Squire as it looks now. Same as it looked when I picked it up save for the blacked-out grill center and different wheels and tires.

Left: Pulling the old motor. It was greasier than it looks here. Right: The Squire parked in front of my '87 Colony Park.

Left and right: I also couldn't resist driving this piece of junk to my wedding. My wife has taken to calling it affectionately "the Uglimobile", though I think it's more fun to call it the Wonder Wagon (Das Wunterwagen?). Naturally, our friends vandalized it while we were detained by the photographer (so that's why my ex-boss demanded my car keys ...). The balloons were funny, but made driving dangerous, so we ditched many of them in the bridesmaids' bathtub back at the hotel where the out-of-towners were staying.