I first bought this 65 Mustang as a daily driver in the early 90's and used it that way for a couple of years. It was a decent, stock car with 2V 289 and automatic, a serviceable white interior and a twenty foot paint job in the original Caspian blue.The car was parked in 96 and sat while life went on.
When we took her out of storage in the early 2000's, we cleaned her up and went through the brakes and started taking her to a few cruise nights a year and just joy riding in the evenings.
About 2010 new rear springs and shocks along with a set of 17" Torque Thrusts changed the look of the car.
The engine was disassembled and sent to Wagaman Bros. for machine work.The car was put on jacks and the engine compartment and the bottom of the car were scraped, cleaned and painted with chassis black. All wiring forward of the firewall was replaced and the radiator was replaced with new.
Bill stripped the car to bare metal. The doors were replaced due to some sub-par old repair work. The rear quarters were replaced and subtly bowed 1' for tire clearance when the rear was lowered. The taillight panel and trunk lid were replaced due to old accident damage. The car was blocked and a lot of time was spent on door gaps and panel alignment bringing things to a better than new level of fit and finish. The car was then sprayed in the original color with a two-stage urethane before color sanding and buffing.
We picked the car up and trailered it home (the only time this car has ever been on a trailer) for reassembly. The interior was sprayed with Lizard Skin for insulation and all interior metal was stripped and refinished. The base white interior had to go and new two tone blue and white Deluxe interior installed with enhanced seat bolsters from TMI and heated front seats. This was my first attempt at refinishing an interior with lots of trial and error along the way but it turned out great.
The restoration really started when a friend offered me an old Edelbrock F4b intake. I cleaned up the intake and picked up a Holley 600 carburetor and decided to detail the engine bay before installing. Out came the engine and transmission.
The engine came back from the shop and was assembled with a Lunati cam and HEI ignition. The C4 was rebuilt and installed with a slightly higher stall converter. Some Tri-Y headers and a Pypes 2.5" exhaust system and we were back on the road for a year or two.
In the fall of 2014 we decided to make the top of the car look as good as the bottom. The front suspension was completely rebuilt with re-located upper control arms to bring the stance down a little and improve cornering then the car was stripped of all trim, interior etc. and delivered to Bill Janosek for body and paint.
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