The beginning of the end...

I like my literature and in Christian "mythology" War, the second horseman of the apocalypse rode a red horse called Ruin, and given the state of parts of the car I felt it an appropriate name for the project though the 'official' name of the car has not yet been chosen.

I have long been a fan of American Classics and Muscle cars in particular. My first car was a 1986 Ford Capri as I couldn't afford a Mustang at the time and with my 30th Birthday approaching the time has come to build my dream instead of just expecting it to happen...

I saw this particular car advertised a few times on ebay and each time wasn't being bid on. Ironically a few friends sent me the link on separate occasions saying it would be the ideal car for me as I have rebuilt several cars in my past. So, I bit the 'bullitt' and went to view it...

Sure, she was a little rusty in the usual areas (trunk floor, cabin floors and right side chassis rail below the now non existent battery tray) but she be straight.

A little dusty after being stored for a few years in a
barn in Florida but a fairly solid car nonetheless. What sealed the deal for me was the honesty of the seller in describing the vehicle prior to riding down to see the car and the large amounts of parts that came included with the sale to remedy the majority of the tin worm.

The sale was made and after some silver tongued devilry managed to blag a small amount of space in one of the units at work in order to perform the tear down before sending it off to have the chassis rail repaired . So far I have put 6 hours into the car and I am documenting everything extensively, from numerous photos to a comprehensive excel spreadsheet to show exactly what is being spent, where and how many hours are being spent on the car. I will let the photos and brief descriptions of each take it from here but feel free to browse the many more photos included in my imgur album at your leisure. As always I will be happy to answer any questions and I am open to criticism provided that it is constructive

Many thanks

Chris








In it's new home. There will be plenty of WD-40 used I think

A few of the parts that came with the sale

Pretty standard fare for a Mustang in need of attention

No romancing being done here for a while, that's for sure!

Front valance removed despite some protest

Radiator support will be replaced, along with the front RH inner wing apron

Grille and upper splash panel found their way into the scrap pile too

The shot frame rail...

...and the replacement rail provided with the car

Doors were removed and then it was time to remove the fenders. As the repro panels are typically such a poor fit and the rust on the fenders is localised to the lower regions, I will be repairing rather than replacing.

Fender off to show a very rust free A post lower...

The worst of the rust is localised to the area below the battery (poxy lead/acid batteries)

Very clean drivers side

And end of play...

To finish off the first post a few random snaps

I know there are a lot of photos, and for that I apologise but I love doing this kind of thing and to do it to my dream car is especially rewarding. I have left a lot of pictures out but the full album is available at http://phoenixv8.imgur.com/

Hope you enjoyed and look out for the next update coming soon!