1978 Ford Mustang II
This special edition Mustang II was a model built as a premium car for Hot Rod Magazine. In June of 1977 the Monroe Handler graced the cover of the magazine, and editions throughout the year showed its progress to a world class race prepped performance car.
Seven of these cars were built and given out as part of a contest sponsored by the various sponsors, which included Monroe, the shock absorber company, Motorola, BF Goodrich, Centerline, Revel, Ford, Roush, and others.
A wealthy Arkansas senator decided he wanted one too. So with what I am sure was a considerable investment, one was built for him too for a total of eight cars.
The car was built by Custom Car Craft and featured a Roush stroked and bored 351 Windsor motor setup.
After building the original eight cars, before the company went out of business there was a extremely limited number of kits made up in fiberglass. Two years ago I secured an original numbered 1978 old stock uninstalled kit.
Just like the original 8 cars that were built, I have started with a 1978 Cobra II to begin my build. My model was constructed in late 1977 although it was vinned as a 1978. In addition to the original vintage uninstalled body kit, I have some premium extremely rare historically accurate parts going into the car.
I picked up my donor Cobra II body locally and it frankly needed a bit of work. However, the great part for me was it was rust free and for the most part intact and complete. Owning a II for many years, I already had a stash of many of its missing parts so many of its problem areas were easily swapped out with my stash of original replacement parts. In this case, I needed to replace the grill and forgot to replace the running horse with the grill snake. Most of everything I need to complete the project is ready to install in my garage. Now if I can get a little time to get it all done. Its surprising how many spare parts I had sitting around that matched up with the needs of this car.
The latest hurtle has been to replace the wiring harness. This fix was needed because a prior owner took many creative liberties to solve some electrical issues. In addition to the wiring harness the gauge cluster was missing and the drivers side lens over the gauges and dash panel was covered with black paint. Removal of those parts left a big hole and some hard to find items I had to replace. I have a 120 MPH speedometer in the car now with all dash wiring done. It took parts of three interior harnesses to get one that was perfect. I am very glad that part of the project is done as was very difficult to do properly. As part of this process, I removed all dash components clear to the firewall to the replace the air conditioning evaporator & heater core. The next stop was to reinstall the upgraded drivers side dash panel. This has been done and more about that is noted below.
Here you can see the Mickey Thompson Indy Profile tires that are mounted on the car's front. These white letter performance tires really give the car a great looking wide stance. Those are considerably larger than the factory tire package with Cobra IIs. The tire size shown on the car's front in these photos is a F-70 14. With the engine in soon, the front end stance will drop much lower than the factory curb height.
Some features of the car include a full-length console, automatic transmission, dual remote mirrors, map light, engine compartment light, heated rear glass, rear and both side and window louvers, sway bars, power steering, air conditioning, power brakes, breath taking specialized ground effects, dash clock, intermittent delay wipers, sport steering wheel, full console, and premium black door panels.
But a Monroe Handler deserves to be more than an off the shelf race prepped car, there has to be something rare and unique. Back in the 1970s, the agressive body kit was an amazing, aerodynamic look to make the handler a show stopper. The development of the Monroe Handler was a unique, covert attempt within Ford by engineers craving performance to get the company back into the automotive racing movement. In the basic economic realities of the time, Ford completely exited the whole performance mindset. The continuation of this program led to the launch of the SVO program in the Fox mustang era.
This car, like its original namesake, will get a few components that are very special. Originally, the Monroe Handler's side was painted with the names of the sponsor vendors. Seven original cars were built to be given out as a premium at car shows and NASCAR events to some very lucky people. Various manufacturers provided premium parts or contributions for the project, each vender in turn was recognized with their names featured on the car's side.
Monroe, the flagship sponsor, of course, had a set of adjustable air shocks for the back of the car, and of course our car has those.
Other vendors also participated, such as Motorolla, whose name was featured on the rear quarter panel.
Motorolla's contribution was a highly coveted AM/FM/8 Track/ CB radio which even then was ultra rare and very desirable. In fact, similarly equipped vehicles could count on an additional $750 to the price tag of a Cobra with that hardware. Today that might not seem like much but in the 1970s that was a tremendous amount of money. I was very lucky to have found an original Motorolla CT950AX for our project. It was obtained from a well-equipped car whose owner removed it shortly after it was purchased to use another model radio. In this case, since the radio was put away in a shoe box for a generation in a closet it is just like new These are extremely desirable and rare.
From power brakes, power steering, High performance V8, and all the interior and suspension parts, This particalar Mustang II has all the best options available in its model year, and in every way, is the best of the best. Today, my experience is that loaded older generation performance cars carry a higher value since most drivers today except many of the modern conveniences in their cars. This vehicle has the best of modern features, vintage era correct parts, unique history, and high performance.
Of the two Monroe Handler paint schemes, the version below is the one that graced the cover of Hot Rod Magazine. It is this version that I will use as a model for the repainting of my handler. I have created replicas of the original artwork elements on the computer in Adobe Illustrator format for the painting stencils of the sponsor logo artwork using the original era correct company logo styles. I plan to position them on the car as laid on on the original car layout. To my knowledge only one car was built in this paint scheme, and so this could be a two-of-a-kind car. That specific car has been lost to history with no known information where it went to. Of the two basic handler paint schemes, the magazine cover version seems more appealing and is most rare. Talk about a special opportunity!
There will be a few differences between my car and its namesake: My car will have rear and side louvers on the windows. Although at least one of the cars featured on the Handler model kit had this option. I am debating the installation of a new original Ford power AM/FM/CB antenna in the regular location on the passenger front fender as used on the other Mustang IIs, instead of on the roof of the car. The power antenna would have been used on late 1970s Lincolns with the rare option with the factory installed integrated AM/FM/CB radios. This Lincoln version of the radio was a different model than the Motorolla version. I think those subtle differences will enhance the curb appeal of the car.
Another interesting and subtle modification to the common factory equipment is the addition of an electric hatch release switch to access the cargo area of the car. I have a special switch that instead of using the key release only to access the lock, I can push a button inside the glove box. The lock mechanism appears identical to the other standard lock except for the single lead wire located on the underside of the fixture. Even though the Mustang II has mounting holes built into its design for the placement of this feature, to my knowledge this option was never made available on IIs as a factory option. This will be very convenient upgrade to be able to pop the rear hatch with a touch of a button.
It was fun to have the arrival of a new hatch from a king cobra with rear heated glass and a complete set of bucket and rear seats designed to match the car's multicolored paint scheme. More pictures of those items later. Also received was a custom built 351W oil pan built special for the unique needs of this car. Another exciting new addition to the car includes a set of the premium door panels unique to the 1978 model year. These were all donated by multiple members of my car club to help me out on the project. All that I can say, is, "Thanks So Much, Guys!!!"
Another rare part for the car by many considered to be the Holy Grail of Mustang II parts is an instrument cover dash panel with the circular machined metal finish. This option was originally known as "black engine turned." In my owning Mustang IIs for over 20 years and being a huge Mustang II junkie, I personally have laid my eyes only on two others, and know of an exclusive handful of these cars with this option. Its in great condition and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have found this piece. Its now installed into the car, hopefully this time to stay.
I can't wait to see my Monroe Handler come to life this coming year. For the most part I already have the parts I need, now I just need to do the work. We'll update the page later on as it progresses.
I am pretty excited about the opportunity to own a car like this and am gearing up to get some serious progress made on it. Think about it, most automotive enthusiasts will never get the opportunity to see a Monroe Handler, so its a wonderful situation for us.
As of December 2009, the engine is in the final stages of preparation prior to being reinstalled into the car and body panels are being installed. Here are a few of the engine parts ready to be put onto the car in the coming days.
Several Northwest area members of the Mustang II Owners Association at http://www.mustangii.net.forums/ helped assist with some of this work to lend a helping hand or contribute with parts. Thanks to so many forum members Its making some serious progress. A big thank you to all my online car club buddies. The Mustang II Owners Association is a car club unlike no other with the best support a car enthusiast could ever want. Here's a few shots of our time together during the early stages of the build.
Here's the test fit of the rear panels. When the wheels get mounted, the rear quarters will be sanded down, treated, painted, and the rear quarters installed.
The front looks great with oversize Mickey Thompsons. The front of the car has F-70 14 tires on it today. This converts over to a 215/70 14 size with today's format. It has an overall diameter of 26 inches, tread depth of 11/32nds, section width of 8.5 inches, and tread width of 6 inches. I could have gone to a G series tire, but I believe a little smaller footprint might have a better feel on the road. Compared to the factory 195/60 R13 size tires, these are huge.
For my other 1976 Cobra, I modified a set of Hooker Header Super Competition Headers to fit my Windsor heads. They were pulled off when I upgraded transmissions due to bell housing clearance issues, but they will get new life and better than ever placement in a car that could only have been dreamed of when I bought them.
These shots show the removal of some factory exhaust components and cleaning of the car's undercarriage, prepping for new suspension and body panel upgrades yet to come. In spite of a little surface rust on the fenders, the underside of the car is remarkably clean and damage free. You'll also notice the details of the all red tail light conversion upgrade done on the car. While perhaps not well suited for a concourse restoration, I really like the appeal of this upgrade for this application. Regardless of any other associations people will have with this car, most people will recognize the block of three all-red tail lights as part of the legacy Mustang look-- a view that I'm sure people will see a lot of if you know what I mean.
The N-50 14 tire size used on the rear of the Monroe Handler is a 1970s size which in today's tire naming convention converts to a 345/50-14. It has a height of 27 inches, section width of 13.2 inches, tread depth of 11/32nds, and tread width of 11.8 inches. For people not caring about specs, but curious about the tire, lets just say thats a lot of rubber where the tire meets the road. It fits under the Monroe Handler fenders and suspension without modification.
Below are the before, in-progress, and after pictures of the modular style 4 X 4.25 wheels in the same configuration as the original Monroe Handler. This set which I've owned for 20 years was modified to accomodate for the width and backspacing requirements of the car using original N-50 14 white letter size tires. Its exciting see the changes in the car's stance using the old school rims & tires. The combination of wheels and tires are as close as possible to historic original size and appearance. Below you can see the Mickey Thompson Indy Series N-50 14 tires mounted onto the car. Getting this step right was a huge deal for the desired look of the car.
Crunching the numbers with online calculators for such things, its interesting that with these tires, differential, and transmission at 100 MPH the car will only be turning 4200 RPM. It will be fun to see how she does in the 100 foot and quarter mile times. But since that is not going to happen anytime soon, we'll get to those details later.
Another recently acquired item from my car club buddies is a complete set of color matched front and rear seats with trim matching the original handler colors. They match the paint scheme of the original handler magazine cover car. More work is needed to prep the interior of the car before the reveal since the inside is currently a staging area for many of the car's parts while awaiting completion of the engine compartment. These will look sharp when they come out of storage this spring.
Check back for more excitement.
