Fox Body 'Stang (Part 1)

 

What says, "Blue Blood, American Muscle" better than a Mustang?  Since their initial re-conception as a high performance car, the Mustang has always had a powerful V8, a stick, a fairly light curb weight, and a live axle out back making it really fun to corner sideways at high speed.

This car is so awesome, but don't even get me started on the Crown Vic wagon in the background!

This paradigm has worked well through almost five decades!  This post (and the next one) is going to cherry-pick one right out of the middle of that timeline and focus on it for a little while.

'84 GT with the funk bulgie hood, T-tops, and '07 rims.

'80 Mustang with T-tops and the most righteous stance I've seen on one of these!

I'm a huge proponent of the mid-'80s Mustangs.  I'm even a member of the "Four-Eyed Forum."  I want one of these so bad.  I've heard a lot of knowledgeable car guys talking about these cars, that had been modded slightly, being one of the scariest cars to ride in because they were so quick and powerful compared to their measly 2800lb curb weight.  A lot of people like to use these cars for drag racing.  (We'll talk more about racing in the second part of this post.)

My favorite part of these cars is the shear number of restyles within the 14 years they built this body.  You could build a completely unique car with factory parts from different year.  For instance, I would use the fron end from an '83-4, the rocker covers and back bumper from a '87, the louvre-less quarter windows from a '93, the taillights and spoiler from an '80, and put it all on a T-top body ('79-'87).  It'd be a sleeper because of the engine swap as well as the bolt-on body parts.  People would see it and know something's different, but they wouldn't be able to pin point what it is because all the parts are stock.  They don't normally get put together on the same car, but they are stock.

I always kind of thought this would make for a good second gen Mad Max car, but maybe that's just me...

So, my T-top Franken-Fox body would have the classic, beautiful black paint job.  Like a good drag car, the rims are still up in the air.  This car would be a complete stealth build.  I might put flat black stripes on it too, like my GT500 KR clone concept.

This is the only view the people I drive near will be seeing.
Again with the stance...

Also like my GT500 clone concept, I would drop in a supercharged 5.4L in this car.  This would have to be mated to a 6-speed because and automatic in a Mustang like this would simply be a travesty.  I would definitely go for a road-hugging, pro-touring stance on this, but I'd run drag radials in the back (or at least leave room for them in the wheel tubs).  The interior would stay as stock as possible.  The only major changes I would do would be a roll bar (see pic), remove the back seat, and replace the front seats with something that has a little more "hug" to them.  I want to be comfortable on road trips, but not meet the shifter if I take a hard corner.

Let's see this car try to kill me with that inside!

So in the end, I'll need to get at least three of these Mustangs.  This one for awesomeness, the one in the next post for racing fun, and a stock '86 like the picture below for general mayhem and accidentally wrapping around some sort of tree, post, or bridge support.

Doesn't this shot just make you want to go out, jump in, and burn some tires towards the horizon.  I picture this doing a butt-sliding 180 onto that street on the left border there, tires ablaze and gravel flying everywhere.  The people left behind won't be able to tell which way it went other than the sound of revving engine because the cloud will be so thick!  These are the things I think about late at night...

Dodge vs. Chevy Goes too Far

This is an awesome video.  I must warn you, though.  There is some language from hicks that may not be suitable for children, but the content of what this guy does with his truck far outweighs ignorant hillbillies...

For your viewing pleasure:  Enjoy!

So Far Behind

Ok, so I realize that I haven't posted on her since September, so I owe my readers about 14 posts at this point.  Well, school gets out in three days, and I've been thinking about things for a while, so I should have some material to dish out to all y'all once all these exams let up.  If you need something to use your time up in the meantime, go watch Drive TV's show Big Muscle on Youtube.  That stuff is awesome!

Here's a sneak peak of some of the cars I've been thinking about:

'80s Ranger Rock Crawler
'80s Grand Marquis Sleeper
Fox Body Mustangs
'91 SHOble Project
A Better XJ
Off-Roading ZJ

That's just a taster, we can't give away all the fun!

Reviving the Car from My Past - The '91 Sable

So, as my family will find out when they get around to reading my blog, I bought a car Thursday.  The means of how I got it are odd and don't need to be posted online, but suffice it to say, "I have my old car back again."

The car in question is my old '91 Sable LS that I drove from August of '08 until the winter of '09 and it sat until '10 ( I think) when I sold it to a friend in need of some wheels.  The car has worn quite a bit since I sold it, but I needed to buy it before he traded it in for Cash for Clunkers.  I've been through a lot of crap with this car and lived to drive it another day, and I just can't see it (or any of my cars) go to the crusher.

So, I know this car isn't impressive or cool or classic or even desirable, but I have always liked this car, and it's mine again.  It's not so bad...

This car is loaded with options; it was the Taurus that all first gen Tauri longed to be.  (I feel I should stop myself, and mention something that I don't know if I've mentioned before.  My dad used to buy Tauri so when they died, we'd have parts cars.  Including my '00 and my sister-in-law's '96, We've had roughly 15 Tauri, but most of them were first gen wagons, so I know the line fairly well.)  The best part that made it an ultimate Taurus is the fact that it's a Sable!  This thing has "bucket" seats, console, floor shifter, moon roof, alloy wheels, fully digital dash board, fake wood trimmed interior, four wheel disc brakes, 3.8L V6, full power everything, and even an aftermarket stereo.  I always thought this car handled way better than my previous Tauri (especially considering I went from a '90 Sable GS with a middle of the road trim level to this fully decked out car).  I thought this thing could be easily road raced with a few tweaks, but I never got that far.  The handling is hard to gauge right now due to worn out steering components, but I think we need to do some reconditioning on this car to get it back to how it was when I first drove it.

Who am I kidding?  It's pretty bad...

I really didn't want to get rid of this car.  I loved how the car felt and drove.  It was a really fun car.  Plus, I have a lot of history with this car!  (I think I'll save the stories for the comment section, so check those out if you want!)  Another thing is that this is the last car my dad bought for me to use.  I recently read a comment on the Taurus Club forum, and it kind of struck a chord with me:
     "That's a really nice ride! I would drive it and enjoy it, but don't abuse it or beat on it. If you do and you wind up scrapping it one day you will find yourself saying "man I wish I had treated that old car better so it'd still be around"...especially if it's something that was passed down to you by your parents. I had a 1994 Chrysler Concorde that got passed down to me by my mother. I gave my parents my 2004 Impala when she needed something more reliable to get to and from the hospital in. The Chrysler was the last new car she ever bought and it was sharp and really clean, but had some mechanical issues that needed sorting and they could not afford to do it. I spent a few thousand fixing little issues over the course of a couple years then I traded it in because it had a broken motor mount and I didn't want to fix it...and wanted something new(this was in 2006/7). Now that she has passed away I really hate the fact that I didn't keep it to hang on to. Not to get all downer on a subject or whatever. I'm just saying...it's nice to keep something that someone in your life passed to you....to remember them by one day. In a way it can help to keep them alive for you long after they are gone."
That is also why we will never sell my Mom's F-250 which was the last car my Dad ever bought, but that's a much later post when we start to restore that one too.

Check out the digital gauge cluster!  Oh, right; it's off...

 So, this car is in rough-ish shape, but the body is still pretty clean, except for the rear wheel wells and a little on the doors.  I'm thinking I should try to inhibit the rust, make the interior more awesome, and fix the suspension issues.  Then, I hope I can fix the rust that's there, the bad body work from the previous, previous, previous owner (before I ever got it), and at some point, paint it.  By that point, I will be well into the debate of whether or not I build a bored out SHO motor to go in it and beef up the trans to transmit the extra power to the roadway.  At this stage in the game, I'm thinking yes, but the motor in there right now is big and still good, sooooo...  We'll see, I guess.

As of right now and as far as I know, the car needs tie rod ends, at least one strut, body work, new rear bumper (from last time I owned it), muffler (or not), AC, steering rebuild, tires, alignment, possibly a wheel bearing, and definitely some weather stripping (also needed before I originally sold it).  I drove it across town with no title, expired out of state plates, and shaking, loose steering, and it is a bit of a handful right now.  I'll need to at least do the tie rod ends, alignment, tires, and possible wheel bearing just to make it road worthy without risking life and license every time I go places.  Once that is done and the moths settle back into my wallet, we'll be able to make a game plan and see what else needs to be fixed after that.

This is just SOME of the unintentional body customization I did last time I owned it!

This will be a fun ride!  (In more ways than one!)

P.S.  I just got this picture sent to me from my mom tonight.  This is a view of my mechanic's yard right now.

These cars just refuse to be separated from each other.
Some things will just always have to be in my garage...

Fairlane Wagons

As some of you know, I used to have a '64 Fairlane Ranch Wagon back in high school.  That thing was sweet with a 289 "Special" V8, C4 Cruise-O-Matic auto trans, something close to 4.11 gears out back, and dual exhaust with glass packs.  I had my fair share of tire smoke and sideways moments on those MN/SD gravel roads.

My Fairlane, shortly after I got it.

 Sadly, as most high school students, I was forced to give up my precious Fairlane to pay for the mechanic bill on my daily driver, after two years of ownership.  Lucky for me, my bill was more or less of a trade to my mechanic who was a close family friend.

Fairlane as I last saw it while my name resided on the title, right before I went off to live in Milwaukee and left it at my parents' house in MN.

The sad shot that was e-mailed to me at college of my car being dragged away.

That was in '08.  I was kind of sad because my Fairlane had never gotten to see the glory it deserved.  Last week I was talking with my mechanic (still current owner of the Fairlane), and we were talking about car projects.  This conversation always winds up talking about our Jeep FC-170 that is still in a grove in MN, but then it usually turns back to the fact that all that's happened to my Dad's '52 F-3 and my Fairlane, since he's gotten a hold of them, is increased their rust content.  I was mentioning how I missed having an old car around, and he should make a deal with us and give one of them back.  He made the comment (quoted roughly), "Charlie, you know I wouldn't feel right selling it to someone else."

Armed with this knew knowledge and the image of what this car could look like with some help...

I know.

Right!?!

I started to think about what I could do with this car.  Although, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't feel right doing anything rash to the car.  It's all original, a very desirable year, higher trim level, factory V8 with low gears, and is simply an awesome classic that's fun to drive no matter what I do.  With that in mind, I would upgrade the suspension to have a sweet stance like the first pic, fix the rust, and rebuild the drivetrain.  Oh, I would also definitely have to get some sweet tires and wheels too.

Back in high school, I used to go and get parts from a Mustang restoration shop in the next town.  That place always had tons of awesome parts cars sitting out front.  While I still had the Fairlane, I saw a rundown '58 Fairlane wagon in the lineup out front, and in my classic 17-year-old style, I had this awesomely amazing idea:  Why not get a collection of Fairlane wagons!?!  I asked the guy who's car it was, and he directed me to his brother who, conveniently, worked there too.  He said I could buy it after he pulled some parts off of it.  I don't remember the price, but unlike my 17-year-old self, I realized that that was a bad idea (unlike the time I bought a '72 Mercury Monterey out of some guy's grove almost 2 hours from my house, realized I didn't have the gear or funding to bring it home and it wasn't worth it, and left it there to keep rotting).  Now that I may very well be re-acquiring my '64, I'm starting to think I should find a '58, and rat rod it.  A Courier would be way more awesome though.

Picture this in white and pink instead and pulled out of a leaky shed after 45 years, and that's what I tried to buy.

 As though that weren't enough Fairlane wagons for one man's garage, I've spotted another one!  When we moved here 3 years ago, I stumbled upon a great '67 Country Squire with 66,xxx miles on a factory 390!  It's even the same color as the '64 (minus the wood)!  The guy only wants $2000 for it, and here's the kicker, it runs and drives!  The front brake is seized, but it runs and can drag the tire under its own power.

Not the car in question

 I'm suddenly reinvigorated to buy this car.  I had decidedly put it out of my mind as something I wouldn't wind up keeping long-term, but that all changes when you have a set of them!  I'm a bit torn on how to go with that car, though.  Do I go with a pro touring style build like the one above, or do I do more of a dragster feel like the one below?  Either way, I'm definitely boring out the stock 390 and adding an off-roading cam for more low RPM power.  I also found a totally sweet dual 4bbl intake that would make this car look downright sick!  I would also get the trans, which I assume is a C6, rebuilt and adding a trans brake and some sort of gear splitter/overdrive add-on.  I'm also going to implement the concept I had when I was trying to chase down an Armadillo ('92-6 Buick Roadmaster wagon) and cutting off the rear end of the wood paneling to leave wood grain flames in the wooden frame on the sides.  However it looks beyond that will still look awesome no matter which way I go with it.

This website also makes a good case for the drag car look: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=254862

 This also goes along with my late dad's idea that we should open a station wagon restoration shop and call it Wagon Ho!

Reliant Nomad

So I was driving through downtown Milwaukee about a half hour ago, and I had a brilliant idea: I should customize a reliant wagon into a 2-door wagon.

Then I was reminded of one of my previous posts talking about swiping the AWD system from a Talon and grafting it underneath a K-car, and I thought that would be a perfect combination.  I would definitely use the 5-speed manual, but I'm starting to wonder if I'd still want to stick with a 4-cylinder turbo or if a V6 would be better.  I wonder if I could still use the factory 2.5L instead of needing to take the DSM route for the whole powertrain.  It's an interesting idea, and I think it would make for an epic sleeper, city car, daily driver, or track day car.  I really want to shoot by a BMW 325i in a corner while being sideways in this car.  What a jaw dropper!

Semi Ghymkana

The timing on this couldn't have been better!