The Car

The car is a 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1. There are many like it, but this one is mine. This site will detail the work and effort that is required to get this car looking great and back onto the road. It will take time (years), money (thousands), and effort (a lot) to complete it. But the light at the end is a car that is unmatched (IMO) in terms of style and looks to anything else. This is the car I have always wanted, and I am incredibly happy to say I finally own one.

The process of restoring it will be long and challenging but in the end I know it will all be worth it. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Onto the car…

The car is a Metuchen, NJ built 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1. Equipped with a 351-4V Cleveland (M Code) V8 engine and a four speed wide ratio manual transmission. It has a 3.00 Traction-Lok Rear Axle and came with yellow paint and black knit vinyl Mach 1 bucket seats. The car came with some welcome options, such as A/C, Power Disc Brakes, Power Steering, and an AM/8-Track Stereo. The car was ordered out of the Boston District Sales Office. Lastly, the car was produced on June 22, 1970, which was five days behind schedule.

I had no intentions to buy a 1970 Mustang when I did. My plan was to save up and buy it later on when I had the money to comfortably afford one. But, through a somewhat lucky turn of events the opportunity to purchase one fell into my lap….and like they say, the time to buy something is when you see it. On December 4th, 2016, I went with my dad to take a look at the car. It was located in CT approximately 3 hours away from the both of us. The seller told us that he had owned the car for 18 years and during that time the car had been inside the entire time. I had my hopes up! Here are some pictures of the car as it was first seen:

The car was there…but it was rough. The previous previous owner (PPO), who the seller had purchased it from had the wise idea to begin the disassembly of the car. For what purpose….we don’t know. Unfortunately, this meant that most of the engine bay was empty with the exception of the block. Luckily a majority of parts were saved so both BIG Cleveland heads were present. Other parts, unfortunately, were missing.

In addition to this the car had some obvious body/frame issues that would need to be attended to. Both rear quarters and drop offs were gone. And the passenger side frame rail was cracked. The hood was badly dented as well. Floor pans, luckily, were in decent shape. All in all, the car was mostly there, but had seen better days. BUT…for someone like me who had specific ideas in mind about plans for the car and desperately wanted a 351/4 speed (if I couldn’t find/get a 428 ;)), it seemed perfect. So with that in mind we settled on a price and I agreed to come back in a week or two to pick the car up.

The story will continue in the posts on the main page. A quick update on the current status of the car can be found on the status page. My plans for the car can be found on the plan page.

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