That's her name!  It was given to her by some country boys in Iowa who were trying to decide if she should be taken to the drag strip in Nebraska or driven in a Demolition Derby up by Des Moines.  Personally, I am happy they got distracted from those ideas.

Its a classic 1966 Mustang Coupe with a 289 Cu.In V8, a C4 Cruise-O-matic transmission, Red Crinkle standard interior and, originally, a Wimbledon White paint job.  It was sold in an Atlanta, Georgia dealership.  

There were a handful of owners over the years but one of them didn't bother to transfer the legal title to one of the new owners because Georgia doesn't require the title to be transfered after a car is fifteen years old.  We are still trying to resolve that little dilema.

The pictures here will show you the progress of our work in restoring this wonderful car to the road.  Its engine was blown somehow in 1993 while the owners were driving on I-80 in eastern Iowa, leaving its owners stranded in farm country.

The left photo is how it cleaned up after the first washing.  The interior smells like some parts of a brewery from the fermenting grain dust collected in the farm shed where we found the car.  

The original owners were returning home from college on Interstate-80 when the engine made a loud crunching sound and lost all power.  They eventually had it towed to a machine shop in Shelby, Iowa.

The mechanic at the machine shop was a farmer working part time at the truck and tractor repair shop.  He was the only mechanic in the place with any experience with cars because he had been involved in Stock Car racing and Demolition Derby racing in southwest Iowa.  He found a softball sized hole in the oil pan and knew right away that the trouble was serious.  He broke the news to our hapless owners telling them that fixing the problem would take either a complete overhaul or replacement of the engine.  The couple spent the night at a motel and came back in the morning sadly having decided the cost was beyond their means.  The mechanic offered to buy the car so at least it wasn't a total loss to them.  The couple called their parents in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to take them home.

Over the next four years the Iowa mechanic rebuilt the engine and transmission.  The engine cylinders were bored out 0.030", the valve seats were milled and hard seats added to the valves so that unleaded fuel can be used, a new Isky cam shaft was installed along with a new crank shaft and a double roller timing chain.  The original carburetor was unusable so another was assembled from bone yard parts using the original cast iron intake manifold.  At some time after the engine was reassembled the automatic transmission was rebuilt.  It was never licensed by the mechanic who did the work.

When we first saw the mustang there was a snow drift across the hood and a thick layer of grain dust and dirt was covering the whole car, both inside and out.  When we returned the following week to haul it home the mechanic, who was now spending all of his time feeding the angus cattle, had to first install a new ignition switch before we could ignite the engine and take a short test drive.

The sound of the dual exhaust pipes is deep and powerful with a deep loping, throbbing sound giving evidence of the new cam shaft with its longer cam duration designed for extra power above the good old factory design.  Remember, this mechanic was a race car mechanic and couldn't help himself when it came to picking new parts for the engine.  He recommends a 600 cfm Holly carburetor and dual plane aluminum intake manifold along with an exhaust manifold designed for power.  He was skeptical about using the new add-on electronic ignition circuits.  We will probably have many such decisions to make as we go along.  Towing it home with the rear drive train wheels on the car dolly and the front wheels on the road forced us to drive below 32 mph for the whole 70 mile trip to keep it from wagging left and right as we drove.  We learned that I-80 traffic in Iowa doesn't like to slow down so after only 5 miles we pulled off to take county roads which were built narrow and bumpy but at least the semi trucks didn't come so close behind us before going around.

In the garage at home after getting washed and waxed the '88 Ford truck gray paint shines in mild contrast to the black vinyl top.  On close inspection we found only a little rust but that is no surprise knowing that these cars were assembled 32 years back with non-primed sheet metal at the factory.  Even the nicest of these cars is guaranteed to have a coating of rust on the back side of each quarter panel and fender.  The dust and high humidity of the farm shed where we found it had taken its toll.  At least one fender will need to be replaced and many little spots are apparent at the wheel wells and the lower edges of the doors.  The car was originally sold in Atlanta, Georgia and had never been undercoated so there was no preventing the inevitable rust.

We will add more pictures later as we make changes.  The first planned step is to remove and replace the carpet and then take a trip to the body shop for a coat of candy apple red.

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Carburetor
3-10-98
Ok the carpet stinks so its been removed.  When you drag a car from years in a farm shed its full of grain dust and will for sure smell like the grain is fermented.  Not a candidate for some perfume.

We replaced the instrument wiring harness and the alternator and the starter solenoid so it starts normally now with the ignition switch.  (The ignition switch still needs to be installed correctly without its bracket spring being cut in half.)

On the last test drive we dumped the old gas along a farm road and filled up with premium and resin dissolving additives.  The tie rods feel lose and the shocks are gone and the springs are lifeless but its tranny is the cool green dot variety so we discovered it either can be set on the green "O" to use just 2nd and 3rd gear for traction or 1st, 2nd and 3rd with it set on the "dot" one notch above the "O".

When we cleaned up the PCV valve and connected the PCV valve hose again to the carburetor the engine began to run more smoothly but still the pits.  When you press the gas pedal at low speed expecting to zoom down the street it coughs a moment like its on a rest break before getting down to feeding the gas. Also, at a constant speed the carburetor doesn't deliver gas consistently, making the engine cough and lose power randomly.  We bought a rebuild kit from NAPA and dismantled the carburetor and soaked it in solvent.  Don't pay a lot of attention to the directions when they say laquer thinner will work.  A light weight wire detailing brush, pipe cleaners and Methylene Chloride solvent mixed with a bunch of alcohol and xylene will work better.  (Don't go to the car supply shops for that stuff.  Its a lot cheaper at the lumber yard.)  The two carburetors in the trunk were actual true blue Mustang models but on the engine was a newer two barrel model from an early-70s Torino.  Its reassembly was interrupted by a storm that brought 11" of snow and drifts from high winds.  Lets hope we didn't lose carburetor parts in the process.
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Summer '98 to Sept '98

During the summer of '98 we installed a Pertronix electronic ignition into the distributor. That resulted in very solid idle and acceleration was increased tremendously. Time to look for a 4bbl carb and manifold.

Found a good body shop that will replace the floor for low dollars but it sounds like they want to use fabricated metal instead of metal that is formed according to Mustang specs. Until they answer that one we will be continuing our search.

Replaced the nylon bushings that go inside and outside the automatic shifter rod. Now the darn thing stays in the selected gear, finally.

There is a little light beneath the floor mounted shift plate with a metal shroud over the bulb with a little hole at the tip, It is supposed to be mounted so only the gear selected gets a little spot of light. It isn't installed at all because there is no bracket in place to hold the little light. That bracket is another mystery. It has to attach to the shaft of the shifter to work right, so we will be looking for that little bracket. Any suggestions?

11/2003 The 66 Mustang has been in a storage garage waiting for me to be able to afford to continue work on its restoration.

One large problem is getting the car titled in Nebraska, USA, because the Georgia registration was fouled up when the owner filled it out at the time it was sold. He put his own name on the line for the name of the buyer! Again, any suggestions would be welcome.
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