I had now owned and driven this car for a little while, and became interested in enhancing its’ performance a bit.  My friend Jim had a copy of the Ford Muscle Parts book.  This book was published by Ford, and contained proven engine combinations using Ford factory performance parts.  The engine combinations had really cool names like Impressor, Controller, and Dominator.  I Xeroxed Jim’s copy and spent hours studying it so that I could come up with what I thought would be the perfect bolt on engine combination for my Mustang.  Eventually I developed a plan that involved a rebuild and internal modifications, with later bolt on modifications to follow.  I don’t know what happened to my copied pages after all of these years.  After searching the Internet I recently found a copy of the relevant pages on Woody G’s Fairlane site.  Things have advanced a bit since that book was published, but at the time I considered it the gospel.

I purchased a Ford windage tray to help control the oil in the oil pan and keep it off the spinning crankshaft.  That particular part is still in use on my current engine today.  The muscle parts book said I should replace my harmonic balancer with a more performance oriented part.  So I ordered a balancer and timing pointer. I also purchased a solid lifter camshaft from the 427 high performance motor along with the requisite rocker arms and pushrods.  There was a Ford dealer that still stocked the camshaft, but the rocker arms were more difficult to locate.  I ended up visiting several Ford dealers in my area and bought whatever remaining stock they had until I had enough rocker arms to make a complete set.  The switch to a solid lifter camshaft proved to be my undoing in this plan, but I wouldn’t learn that lesson until I started my newly rebuilt motor for the first time.

I received assistance from several of my friends during the rebuild process.  Some of it was even helpful.  Eventually I managed to collect all the parts, have the machine work done, assemble the engine, and get it installed back in the car.  The big moment when I fired up the engine had finally arrived.  Once it started it ran rough and made a loud tapping sound.  I pulled the valve covers back off and inspected the valvetrain.  It turns out that the engine had short valve covers that didn’t have sufficient clearance for the adjustment screws on the rocker arms.  The previous hydraulic camshaft didn’t have these adjustment screws.  So the adjustment screws were coming into contact with the underside and baffles on the valve covers.  The end results was a few bent pushrods and one pair of very badly dented valve covers.  I replaced the bent pushrods and began a search for a set of valve covers that would clear the rocker arms.  The first pair I ended up with cleared the rocker arms, but hit the master cylinder and power assist when the motor vibrated.  This ended up ruining my master cylinder.  Eventually I came up with a pair that cleared everything off of an old Mercury engine.  But the first pair of valve covers I bought in the interim had an interesting story to go with it.

I had been religiously searching the classified ads for performance parts every week.  Eventually I found an ad with quite a bit of performance parts, including a set of valve covers and a set of headers that should fit my car.  I called the number in the ad and set a time to look over the parts.  The gentleman who had placed the ad was into performance cars.  His son also was into the hobby, and between the two of them they had quite a collection of parts stored in a garage behind their house.  He walked me back to the garage and opened it up.  There hanging on the wall was the rusty set of headers he had for sale.  I wasn’t very impressed with the condition they were in as I didn’t have a good way to clean them up.  He did have a pair of valve covers which I ended up buying.  They fit the motor and almost cleared the master cylinder.  A little bit of grinding on the valve covers got them closer, but still not quite right.  But then I looked around the garage and was amazed at what else I saw.

What I saw was a 1969 Mustang with a rather large hood scoop and some special markings on the front fenders.  What I was looking at was a genuine Boss 429 Mustang that this gentleman had sitting in his garage. For those who don’t know what a Boss 429 Mustang is I’ll try to explain.  In 1969 the major American car manufacturers were all involved with racing, based on the belief that cars that won races also sold well.  I believe the slogan was something like “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday”.  NASCAR racing was one of the most popular racing venues back then, as it still is today.The Chrysler corporation had a great engine known as the Hemi, named for its’ hemispherical combustion chamber head design, which made them a dominant force in most forms of racing at that time, including NASCAR and drag racing.  In fact, in top fuel and funny car drag racing those engines still dominate today.  That’s how successful that engine has been, and the name Hemi is still legendary with automotive enthusiasts today.  Ford attempted to counter with a new engine design known as the Boss 429.  NASCAR homologation rules stated that at least 500 cars fitted with this engine had to be sold to the general public in order to be legal for racing.  Ford could have installed this engine in one of their larger cars, but instead chose to install it in the Mustang body, which was no small feat as the engine was so wide and the Mustang engine compartment was not.  Ford contracted with a company called Kar Kraft to convert regular Mustangs off of the assembly line into Boss 429 Mustangs.  Fewer than 1500 of these cars were built and are pretty rare and very valuable today.

Here’s a picture of a Boss 429 Mustang

The car I was looking at had an unbelievably low number of miles on it.  I can’t remember exactly right now how many miles it was, but I want to say something like 600 miles.  All I can remember for sure is that it was practically brand new.  Except for one thing.  It had no engine in it.  However right next to the car was a brand new Boss 429 engine sitting on a stand.  When I asked the man about the car and engine he explained that he had purchased the car new.  The engine had failed while the car was still under warranty.  So he pulled the engine and returned it to Ford for post mortem analysis.  Ford supplied him with a new engine under warranty for him to install himself.  He further explained that Boss 429 Mustangs came with one of two versions of the Boss 429 engine.  There was an “S” version and a “T” version.  According to him, counter-intuitively, the “S” version was a track version and the “T” version was a street version.  He had originally had the “S” version, and the replacement from Ford was the “T” version.  So he was involved in a debate with Ford over whether he should get the same type of engine his car had come with originally, which was the “S” engine , or the current replacement “T” engine.  I don’t know how the discussion ever turned out.  I’ve also heard different versions of which engine was more desirable and why.  But this is the engine story as I recollect the gentleman explaining it to me.  All I know is that I drooled over car, and then paid for my valve covers and left.  But there could still be an exceptionally low mileage garaged Boss 429 Mustang with a brand new engine out there somewhere.

Here’s a picture of the Boss 429 engine that made that car so special.

I have another Boss 429 Mustang story I’m saving for later.  As far as the rebuilt engine turned out, I’m happy to say I did eventually get it running.  There was an issue with oil leaking, and I had to reinstall the intake manifold to fix a problem with coolant being sucked into the engine and blown out the exhaust.  I also had to pull both heads and have the valve guides replaced as the rebuilt engine was burning oil that leaked past the valve guides.  But this wasn’t the last engine I installed in this car.  But I got a whole lot of miles and enjoyment out of this one, as well as the satisfaction that I had rebuilt it myself.

***UPDATE***
Mustang Monthly has published an article about a Boss 429 Mustang and the owner’s story matches what I remember almost exactly. The story is from 2009, but I didn’t see it until recently. Here’s the link to the story.

One thing that everybody noticed on this car is how little room there was between the engine and the shock towers.  The shock towers are a part of the body where the front suspension attaches.  It is an integral part of the body and isn’t something that is removable without performing major modifications to the front suspension to go along with the shock tower removal.  On Mustangs they are located in the engine compartment on either side of the engine.  They take up valuable space in the engine compartment, and in the case of a big block Mustang there is very little room to spare.  This lack of space interferes with the owner’s ability to reach the spark plugs for maintenance.  And for a 60’s muscle car routine maintenance needed to be performed much more frequently than for the cars of today.  Even today, anybody who looks at this car asks how in the world I change the spark plugs.  And nobody believes my answer that I can do it without much trouble.  Of course until I learned the proper technique and had acquired the proper tools it seemed to be almost impossible.

It was the first time to change my spark plugs and I knew I was in big trouble.  I had driven the car over to me friend Pete’s house to work on it in his driveway.  Pete was the younger brother of Charlie who had rebuilt the motor in my friend Jack’s Dodge Coronet RT I mentioned in an earlier post.  Charlie owned a Camaro with a 350 small block engine.  He had built pretty much everything on the car himself.  He even painted the car in his garage.  He seemed to be able to do just about anything automotive.  Too bad he wasn’t helping us with this job.

Pete and I proceeded to start working on removing the spark plugs.  A few of the plugs came out fairly easily.  Then I moved on to the more difficult to reach plugs.  Pete and I tried all sorts of extensions, swivels, and sockets.  I had a swivel tool my father had bought me that would fit on the plugs, but I couldn’t get them to turn.  Finally we managed to break a few insulators.  We were both getting frustrated and about ready to give up.  That’s when another neighbor, Fred came to our rescue.  This is a different Fred than the one who owned the 454 Nova I mentioned in a previous post.

Fred was a long time Ford mechanic.  He had motorcycles and tools in his garage.  He had sports cars parked in the yard along the street in front of his house.  He had a boat and trailer that he took out fishing on occasion.  And he also owned a Ford muscle car.  It was a 1966 Ford 7 Litre. You are probably thinking around now, just what is a Ford 7 Litre?  Here’s the definition per the web site 7litre.org.

In 1965 Ford Motor Car Division decided to introduce a new engine, using the FE block from the 352, 360 and 390 ci engines. This new powerplant would sport 428 ci, and would be a high torque, streetable big block. It was dubbed the “Thunderbird 7-Litre ” and was slotted to appear on some of the 1966 models. Fords executives decided that what better way to introduce the engine than to create a special marque to showcase it. Using a Galaxie 500, with an XL Interior, some added features and some custom badges, the FORD 7-Litre was born. It was available in either Hardtop or Convertible, in either automatic or 4 speed transmission. Marketed as the “Quietest Quick Car, or the Quickest Quiet Car”, the car offered a combination of comfort and muscle. It had available options like Power Steering, Air Conditioning, Power Windows, Power Seats Cruise Control and AM/FM Radio. Available one year only as a separate model, it was also available as an option package on the 1967 model. It is interesting to note that a 1966 XL could be ordered with the 428 for several hundred dollars less, making the 7-Litre that much more rare, as you were paying extra for the badges.

Fred’s car was a 1966 hardtop with a 4 speed.  It was black with a red interior.  I remember the bucket seats, wood grain steering wheel, and console.  Fred rarely drove the car and had it mainly to tow his boat.  It sat for months in his front yard.  When he was ready to take his boat out he would tinker with the car to get it running.  Next he would run it around the neighborhood a couple of times to blow out some smoke and make sure everything was working.  Finally he would hook up the trailer and take his boat out.  At the end of the day he would park the car back in his front yard until the next time he wanted to take the boat out.

None of us realized how rare these cars were at the time.  According to the 7 Litre web site in 1966 there were approximately 1717 of these cars built as a hardtop with 4 speed transmission.  Automatic transmissions were far more popular in those cars.  I remember when Fred finally decided to sell the car.  I would have been interested if I had known, but another neighbor, John, jumped on the chance.  He said he wanted to get the car before I did.  Unfortunately John failed to take into account the fact that after you purchased a car you needed money for things like tags, registration, gas, and upkeep.  I think he thought the car would run by itself or on the beer he purchased.  So he never actually registered the car or had a legal set of tags on it.  Being a clever sort of guy, he would save up enough money for some gas or collect donations from friends for beer and a joy ride.  He would then “borrow” a set of tags from another car in the neighborhood, put them on his car, and take it for a ride.  At the end of the night he would put back the tags so nobody would be the wiser, or so he thought.  The flaw in his plan was that he would get pulled over by the police and the tags wouldn’t belong to his car.  He usually borrowed the tags from Dave’s car and Dave found out when the police contacted him.  Dave took out his revenge by using a pellet gun and shooting the windshield and body of the car full of holes.  Eventually John sold the car for beer money to another friend whose name I can’t remember.  This guy went around buying old Ford Galaxies and had a collection of them in a barn.  I don’t know whatever happened to the Galaxie collection or to this particular car.  I would love to find out and see the car again.  If anybody finds a Ford 7 Litre that matches the description above and has what looks like bullet holes in the side of the car you found the one I’m talking about.

Here’s a picture of a 1966 Ford 7 Litre hardtop.

But back to the spark plugs.  Fred saw us working on my Mustang and came over to take a look.  I think he liked the car, especially when he saw it had a big block engine, the little brother to his 7 Litre.  He also saw the distress Pete and I were in.  He said “I know the secret to getting the plugs out on that car.  Wait here a minute”.  He went home and grabbed a few tools out of his tool box.  He came back with a 1/2″ drive ratchet, a spark plug socket, and his secret weapon, a 1″ extension.  He said with the 1″ extension we should have no problem removing and reinstalling the plugs.  And we were amazed when we tried it and he was right.  The next day I ran over to Sears and purchased my very own 1″ extension.  I still have it today and I could never change the spark plugs on that car without it.  Fred, if you are out there reading this, I owe you a huge thanks for that tip.  You were a life saver to this dumb rookie kid who had very little clue as to what he was doing.

Now I had the car, and it was legal to drive.  It was registered with the state, and I had my license plates installed.  Everybody I knew wanted to check out my new ride.  My friends Jim and Randy came by and immediately started finding faults for me.  Isn’t that what friends are for?  The performance wasn’t quite what they expected.  Randy’s first observation was that the fuel filter was most likely clogged, and that the metal fuel line ran too close to the motor, which would cause the fuel to boil in the fuel line.  His recommendation was to replace the metal fuel line with neoprene and add a larger fuel filter in that line.  Replacing the fuel filter was probably not a bad idea, but in hindsight the metal fuel line was not really a problem and also safer as well.  But based on the sage wisdom of those older and wiser than me I made the change as Randy had recommended.  I don’t think it made a difference from a performance standpoint, but everybody was happy I had made the change.

The next thing Randy did was grab hold of the fan blades and started wiggling them.  When he did so the front bearing on the water pump started leaking.  Randy told me “Yup, you need a new water pump.  Bad bearing”.  With my limited knowledge at the time I wasn’t sure if the water pump had been bad or if Randy’s action had damaged it.  But the bearing was now bad and I needed a new water pump.  Repair number two was performed in short order.  This car ownership thing was going to be expensive.  I just wanted to be able to drive, not spend my time fixing stuff.  But I hadn’t seen anything yet.  This was small stuff compared to some of the fixes coming up next.

My friend Jim had been bragging about my car to some of his friends.  Unbeknownst to me, he had challenged some of them to a race.  We went out driving, and Jim asked if he could drive my car.  Next thing I knew we were at his place of work and he was ready to race in my car against a couple of his friends.  I wasn’t completely pleased with the situation, but Jim was known for being able to squeeze every last bit of performance out of a car, and I was curious to see how my new car would fare against these other vehicles.  So off we went.

My memory is a bit hazy about the other two cars Jim was racing.  I believe one as an early to mid 60’s Chevelle.  I do remember that car had a built up 283, 4 speed, and some very steep gears, like 5.38 or so.  That car jumped out ahead, and I could see the driver shifting furiously through the gears about as fast as he could move.  It was almost comical as the car only spent a few seconds in each gear before he had to shift again.  He made it through all 4 gears in the same time that Jim got through first and was just shifting to second.  At that point the other car ran out of steam and we passed him by.  But for the time it lasted that car was really moving.  If I can remember correctly I believe the other car was a Nova with a small block and 4 speed.  We stayed together fairly even with him just a nose ahead.  Eventually he ran out of gear as well and we passed him too.  As we turned around for another pass Jim started to panic.  He said the steering was getting looser as he drove and that we needed to get home right away.  He wouldn’t even let us switch drivers back so I could see what the issue was.

By the time we got back home there was quite a bit of play in the steering.  Now I knew why the car had come with a spare steering box in the trunk.  The previous owner must have known there was a problem with excessive play in the steering.  He had apparently cranked down on the adjuster on the steering box to take up any play temporarily, but the maladjustment caused the gears in the steering box to wear excessively.  More evidence that this car had been through some calamity during its’ past life.

Replacing a steering box was beyond my ability at the time, although it really wasn’t a difficult job.  In fact I later replaced one myself.  But at the time that was way more than I wanted to handle.  I probably wouldn’t even know what a steering box looked like or where to find it on the car.  I found a local business called Jim’s Mustang Service that I chose to replace the steering box.  After all, he advertised that he specialized in Mustangs.  I think that after I started coming to him on a regular basis he was probably considering changing the name of his business.  I brought the car to him.  He inspected the replacement steering box I had and said he could install it.  He made short work of the job and I was back on the road the next day.

The next incident requiring a repair involved my friends Jim and Randy once again.  While Jim had gotten to ride in, and even drive the car, Randy wanted to see just how fast it was.  So we all climbed aboard and I took them both for a demonstration ride.  Jim had bragged about the car to Randy, but Randy wasn’t very impressed with the performance.  He decided it must be my driving that was the issue.  He may have been right, I don’t know.  But I wasn’t keen on letting either of them drive my car.

Randy pressed the issue, and Jim joined him.  They both kept insisting that Jim drive the car.  A lot of finger pointing and name calling ensued.  I continued to refuse.  Some more insults were exchanged.  I was really boiling mad at that point.  I told them “Fine, go ahead”.  I was so angry that I agreed just to get them off my back. It wasn’t that Jim was a bad driver or that I didn’t trust him.  Jim was a very good driver and a lot more experienced than I was.  He used to be a driver’s education aid at our local high school.  He had taught most of my friends how to drive.  I just didn’t want to give up control of my own car.  That and they had both made me so angry I couldn’t take it anymore.

So now Jim was driving my prized possession again.  He took off and banged a quick shift into second gear.  Unfortunately there was a loud clunk from under the dashboard at that point, and the clutch pedal didn’t come back up the way it was supposed to.  Jim had to put his foot under the clutch pedal and push it back up.  He had to perform this action every time he shifted gears.  He limped the car back to his house and parked on the street in front.

I was even angrier at this point and I let Jim and Randy have both barrels.  I was convinced that Jim was responsible, and I hadn’t even wanted to let him drive.  I said I was holding them both responsible for repairing the damage.  I left in a huff and walked home.  Jim and Randy were apologetic and said they would look into repairing the car.  Randy was more of the mechanic of the group at that time so he looked the car over and ordered the repair parts.  The failed part turned out to be the clutch pedal support under the dash.  The bushings had worn out and metal to metal contact caused the support bracket to break.

What I didn’t know then and do know now is that this was a fairly common occurrence in older Mustangs.  The bushing must have failed long before I ever purchased the car.  The breakage occurring while Jim was driving was nothing more than a coincidence, and was destined to fail regardless of who was driving.  Randy was able to locate a replacement part at a local Ford dealer.  The aftermarket has now developed replacement bushings that are much better than the originals and do not fail so easily.  But at the time original parts were all that was available.  I ended up apologizing and assisting Randy with the installation.When Jim and Randy returned the repaired car it would barely move.  Seems the friction material on the clutch disc was entirely worn down to where nothing was left but the hub.  So I ended up having the car towed away and replacing the clutch disc, pressure plate, and throwout bearing.  Randy said it served me right.  He may have been correct with that assertion.  In the end we moved on and remained friends.

So the big day of my new car’s supposed arrival was upon us.  My neighbor, David (Jack’s older brother) said he had seen a tow truck at the entrance to our housing development unloading a black Mustang.  I was a bit confused as I would have expected the previous owner to drive the car.  Another clue that something wasn’t quite right.  Anyway, about 10 minutes later the car pulled into my driveway with Frank at the wheel.  A quick exchange of paperwork took place and Frank was on his way.  And now I had my new acquisition parked in the driveway.  Talk about being excited.  I still had no real clue what I was in store for.  I proudly showed off the car for all of my friends.  I couldn’t drive it because I had no tags and registration yet.  Getting that taken care of was my next task.  That would prove to be a bit more challenging than it should have been.

My first trip to the Maryland MVA was only a bit discouraging.  For those people who don’t know, MVA is the acronym for Motor Vehicle Administration.  In most other states it is known as the DMV.  But Maryland chose to be different and call theirs the MVA.  On my first trip to that agency I waited in line, only to learn that the title to the car wasn’t clear as there was a lien on the car.  The former owner, Frank had purchased the car at a used car dealer and hadn’t paid off the loan.  Seems he was using the money I paid for the car to cover the remainder of the loan.  So back I went to visit Frank to see if the lien had been paid off and to get a statement that it had been.  He took me to the used car dealer where he had purchased the car.  At that point he paid off the loan he had taken out with the dealer when he had purchased the car from them.  Then the dealer provided me with paperwork that showed that the lien had been lifted and the title was clear.  Hurdle number one had just been overcome.

Now it was time to make my second trip to the MVA.  I waited in line, and when it was my turn the clerk looked over all of my paperwork.  He said there was a discrepancy with the VIN on my paperwork and started questioning what the actual VIN was.  What I didn’t know then, and only learned many years later requires a short discussion about how Ford used to assign and mark the VIN numbers on cars going down the assembly lines back in the 1960’s.  This is a shortened and oversimplified explanation of the process, but it will server to explain what was going on and why the clerk was questioning the authenticity of the VIN.

In 1967 Ford assigned VINs to a car just prior to building it.  An assembly line worker had the responsibility of stamping it on the fender apron.  The worker would enter the VIN into a machine and then stamp it onto the left front fender apron.  The fender had a cutout to allow the VIN to show through.  Since this process was performed by hand there was an opportunity for human error to occur.  There are many stories of Mustangs with VINs that were stamped incorrectly and then stamped again with the correct VIN.  In the case of my car one of the digits didn’t stamp for some reason.  There are two VINs showing through the fender cutout on my car, both of which are missing the same middle digit.  If you remove the fender, or remove the passenger side fender, a hidden VIN with all the digits correctly stamped will appear.  My car also has the original body buck tag and door plates which both show VINs that agree with the hidden VINs.  But when I went to the MVA all I had were the VINs that were missing a digit.  The title for the car had the correct VIN.  This is the discrepancy the clerk had zeroed in on, and he wasn’t about to let some teenager pull the wool over his eyes.  I was blissfully unaware of how any of this worked at the time.

The clerk pointed out that there was a problem with the VIN on my car, but didn’t fully explain.  This is assuming he even knew about assembly lines and incorrectly stamped VINs at all.  I have to assume he was aware that VIns could be incorrectly stamped, as I’m sure any MVA employee who wasn’t new would have run into this situation several times.  He began to question the legality of the car.  After quite a bit of back and forth he requested I take a piece of paper and a pencil and trace the VIN onto the paper by holding it over the VIN and rubbing the pencil on the paper.  This had to be the VIN stamped on the fender apron, not from the body buck tag or the door tag, which can be removed and replaced fairly easily.  I asked him which VIN he wanted me to trace as the fender apron had two (I was unaware that it actually had another hidden one).  That question only raised more questions in his mind regarding this teenage potential car thief. I left the MVA frustrated and disappointed, but planned to gather all the evidence he requested and return to get my car registered.

I went back home and made aa tracing of both of the VINs for him.  Then I returned to the MVA and waited in line for my turn.  When I got to speak with a clerk, it wasn’t the same person I had spoken with before.  He eyed all of my paperwork suspiciously.   After all, I was a teenager with more papers than I was required to present to him.  He questioned what I had, and I explained the story about the lien and the discrepancy with the VIN.  After some back and forth he also began to question the legality of the car and said I would need to bring proof from the state police that the car wasn’t stolen.  They could check my VIN (if they knew which one to run) and would confiscate my car if it turned out to be stolen.  I could also face criminal charges if I was implicated.  He sent me away to gather the additional evidence.  It was becoming even more discouraging, and I had now made the trip to the MVA three times, along with an hour round trip to the used car dealer with Frank to clear the lien.

At this point my parents tried to help me out.  They suggested I visit a different MVA location, preferably one closer to where the car had been purchased in case I needed anything else from Frank to prove the car’s title was clear and it wasn’t a stolen car.  So I drove the 30-40 minutes over to another MVA near where I had purchased the car.  While standing in line I felt nervous and frustrated.  What problem would they discover now?  Would the state police come and take my newly purchased car away from me?  Would I be going to jail?  Finally it was my turn to talk to the clerk.  I handed hum my paperwork and waited in silence.  He started looking it over and then stopped.  My heart sank.  He looked at me and asked “What is all of this stuff?  There’s a whole lot of extra papers here I don’t even need”.  I proceeded to dutifully explain about the lien and the VIN discrepancy.  He looked at the papers again and told me he understood about the lien and I had the paperwork I needed for that.  But he said he couldn’t understand why I had the tracing of the VIN as the correct VIN was on the title.  There was nothing stolen or illegal, and I certainly wasn’t going to jail as I had feared.  He threw my extra paperwork into the trash and issued me a title with no further questions.  The tags and registration would be in the mail in a couple of days.  I walked out of there shaking my head at all of the hassle I had gone through at the other location and grateful for how easily things had gone at this MVA location.

So now it was time to go car shopping.  I had some money saved, and it was burning a hole in my pocket for a muscle car.  I knew I wanted a small car with a big engine.  I had some general ideas.  Now to search the local classified ads for a likely candidate.  There used to be a newsprint magazine published weekly called The Advertiser.  I don’t know if they still publish it or not, but it was always filled with ads for cars and car parts.  I dutifully purchased this treasure trove of automobile listings every week and spent a considerable amount of time sifting through the car ads.  It seemed that the big block Dodge Darts were pretty much non-existent.  Big block Novas and Camaros were hard to come by and out of my price range when I did find them.  And big block Mustangs were only slightly more common than their Dodge counterparts.

Reminiscing about looking through the classified ads reminded me of one ad I looked at but could only dream about.  My friend Jack (the one with the Dodge Coronet) showed me an advertisement he had.  It contained cars that to us dreams were made of.  A company in Long Island, New York called Baldwin Motion used to advertise brand new big block Novas, Camaros, Chevelles, and Corvettes.  But these were no ordinary brand new muscle cars.  Not by a long shot.  They were brand new, built to order, custom modified, fire breathing versions of these cars.  They even included a written, money back performance guarantee.  Their phase III cars were guaranteed to run at least 120 mph and 11.50 in the quarter mile, provided they were driven by an approved driver on a sanctioned drag strip.  For me and a few of my friends this was something to drool over.  But of course they were priced way beyond what meager funds I possessed.  These cars are collectors items today and extremely valuable.  The company still exists, and is still doing what they are known for, creating built to order, tested and proven cars for performance enthusiasts.  You can find more info on their website.  Here’s one of their ads for the Phase III Camaro.

My search wasn’t going quite as successfully as I would have liked.  My friend Jim suggested I consider Ford Fairlanes that came equipped with the 390 engine.  He even had a mechanic friend of his inspect one for me before I went to look at it.  It was a red 1966 Fairlane GTA.  The A in GTA meant it had an automatic transmission.  Jim’s friend looked the car over and the only item he found was that the car needed a new starter.  Sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn’t.  Knowing what I do today that is a pretty easy fix.  But at the time to me a car that wouldn’t start consistently was a pretty big deal.  So I let that one go, even though it was most likely a much better buy than what I ended up with. The paint was pretty faded but other than that it looked very much like this.

The next car I looked at was a green 1967 Ford Fairlane, similar to the red one I had just looked at.  It wasn’t a GTA, but the owner said it had a 427 engine in it.  I remember it had a hood scoop that went the full length of the hood.  I don’t remember if it was supposed to be the original engine or not.  If it really was an original 427 Fairlane that was a fairly rare car, as very few were ever ordered with that engine.  I vaguely remember checking the VIN number, but I’m not entirely certain that was the case.  So it may or may not have been an original 427 Fairlane.  The issues with that car were that the hood and the gas pedal weren’t bolted on.  So I was not able to test drive the car.  That pretty much put an end to that purchase.  And in case anybody is wondering whether the engine really was a 427, all I can say is that the block did have the cross bolted mains unique to the 406 and 427 Ford engines.  The heads of the cross bolts were visible on the side of the block.  I knew enough to look for those bolts, but I didn’t know much more unfortunately.  The car was a dark green and looked pretty close to this one.

After weeks of searching I came across an ad for a black 1967 Mustang coupe with a red interior, 390 GT engine, and a 3 speed manual transmission.  At last, something that matched my original criteria.  I got very excited and rushed over to look at it.  It was being sold by Frank who lived in Landover, MD.  On my first look I saw a black 1967 Mustang coupe with the factory styled steel wheels and bald tires.  The paint was original in some areas and some sections had been repainted in a less shiny black.  A white tape pinstripe followed the contours of the front fenders and swept back across the doors and onto the rear quarter panels.  The right front fender showed what looked like some body damage that had been repaired.  And opening the hood revealed an original 390 GT engine.  It had a chrome top on the original air cleaner and the factory chrome valve covers.  The man selling it was quick to point out it had a “Harley” carburetor and mufflers that made it sound “bad”.  He meant Holley carburetor, which was what came originally on this engine.  I was ecstatic.  This was just the car I was looking for.  I asked if I could test drive it.  He said he would take me for a drive.  It accelerated pretty well and rode fairly smooth.  There was a groan whenever he made a left turn, but I didn’t realize what that could mean about the health of the car.  I just knew this was the car I wanted.

I was pretty much sold on this car, but there were a number of warning signs that if i had been more experienced would most likely have been telling me to either get out of there now or make a much lower offer than the asking price.  He wouldn’t let me drive it.  It groaned in the front end when turning left.  This turned out to be a badly bent left front outer wheel bearing, which after I discovered it necessitated replacement of both the bearing and race.  Both front fenders were rusted and had poor quality patches over the rust.  It turned out to be old rags stiffed into the rust holes and covered over with some type of plastic filler.  The rear quarters were almost completely covered over with a very thick coat of plastic filler.  I mean somebody had created quarter panels out of filler it was so thick.  The right front fender had some very crudely repaired accident damage, again including a thick coat of plastic filler.  Large sections fo the car had been repainted, and repainted badly.  This included the trim and emblems on the fenders which were now flat black.  The original steering wheel was in the trunk and had two of the three spokes broken off near the center hub.  Somebody had attempted to weld them back on but they had broken off again.  The back of the hood didn’t align properly as it stuck up too far.  And the trunk hinges were badly bent and the spring mechanism that holds the trunk open was missing.  I did notice several of these things, but youth, ignorance of what these warning signs meant, and my unbridled enthusiasm got the better of me.  I bought the car, but agreed to let the gentleman deliver it to my home for me.  My search was over.  But i had no clue what I had gotten myself into.  But I would soon find out as my problems began before I was even able to drive the car.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of the car in its’ as delivered condition.

So now that I was bitten by the car bug, I needed to search for just the right car.  My bright idea was to find a smaller/lighter car with a big block engine in it.  There were several cars I saw regularly that I really liked.  None of these cars were actually for sale at the time.  I only mention them because they were the type of car I was searching for.

There was a 1969 Nova SS with a 396 and 4 speed I used to see all of the time.  I don’t remember the owner’s name, but he worked at a local restaurant where my family frequently bought pizza.  It had the cool feature of having front bucket seats that swiveled to facilitate entry and exit from the vehicle.  That car was always one of my favorites.

Another big block Nova SS I saw frequently was owned by Fred.  I don’t believe it was the original engine, but he had a built 454 in it.  I never rode in it but saw it run on many occasions.  It was loud and it was fast.  It was reputed to be capable of doing a wheel stand, but I was never a witness to that feat of power. One day I was walking along one of our country roads just at the start of a short straight section that ran for something less than 1/10th mile at the most.  An older woman was just approaching the straight.  I don’t remember what kind of car she was driving, but she had an SS Nova or Camaro (I can’t remember clearly which) just behind her and Fred in his Nova just behind him.  As soon as they got to the straight away they both took off and blew by the woman who had a look of shock and terror on her face.  She looked scared to death from the noise alone.  They both had hit the gas right when they were next to me. The sound almost blew me over and I was immediately moved back several feet from the road and into the weeds. Fred passed not only the woman, but the other Nova as well.

Here’s a picture of a 1969 Chevy Nova SS.  Both of the big block Novas I mentioned above were similar but in a lighter shade of blue.  I believe they both had Cragar wheels as well. 

I also used to see a 1968 or 69 Dodge Dart with 383 emblems parked at the local shopping center every day.  I don’t think I ever saw the owner or the car being driven.  But I was intrigued because big block Darts were not a common sight.  Plus I thought the car was cool looking, even though nobody else thought a Dodge Dart could possibly be cool.  Here’s a picture of another 383 Dart in the same color.  I always liked the bulges in the hood for some reason.  I don’t remember what wheels the one I saw had on it, but otherwise this car looks the same as the one I remember.

I also felt that a big block Mustang would fit the bill. I had gotten a glimpse of the then new Mustang at the New York Worlds Fair in 1964.  Back then it was popular for breakfast cereal manufacturers to include a prize for kids in the cereal box.  Including a treat for kids ensured that the kids would be asking for mom to buy them that brand so they could get that toy prize.  My favorite cereal was Post Rice Krinkles.  They don’t sell it under that name anymore.  I’m assuming that the rickshaw boy on the box cover wouldn’t be considered politically correct today.  When the Mustang first came out Rice Krinkles included a small plastic model of the Mustang coupe.  I remember playing with that toy quite a bit.  I also remember that Ford chose to release the Mustang coupe and convertible first, and the fastback came a few months later.  So when the fastback body style was released, I had to power through the remaining Rice Krinkles so that my mom would have to buy a new box, hopefully with the fastback inside.

I also clearly remember my dad’s friend dropping by with a shiny new red 1965 Mustang with a black interior and getting to ride around the neighborhood in it as a back seat passenger.  Dad was in the market for a new car at the time so he was curious to see his friend’s car.  Dad liked it, but ended up purchasing a 1965 Chevy Corvair instead.  One factor in that decision was that he didn’t like Ford.  In 1967 Ford restyled the Mustang and made it big enough to install the 390 engine similar to the one that had powered my friend Jim’s big old Galaxie.

Here’s a picture of a 1967 Mustang with a 390 engine.  People who know me might recognize it as the one I eventually ended up with, although it didn’t look like this when I found it.

So now that I had some ideas it was time to search for a likely candidate that was within my budget.

So what got me interested in cars in the first place you might ask?  My biggest influence was my friend Jim.  I met him at high school in 1973.  Jim had a 1968 Ford Galaxie with a 390 2bbl and a C6 automatic transmission.  I don’t know if it was Jim’s skill as a driver, my inexperience with faster cars, or if that car was a genetic freak.  Jim always said the car was built in Canada and was put together right.  All I know is that when he stepped on the gas it really pushed me back in my seat.  Jim used to say he could get to any location in the county within 15 minutes in that car.  That sounds pretty reckless looking back on it, and I knew it wasn’t feasible, but that was his claim.  Several other friends also drove Galaxies with 390 engines as well.  They also could move fairly well when called upon to do so.  But Jim’s car was the one I by far spent the most time in.  It also felt like the fastest of the bunch.  I helped him do routine maintenance and other repairs on it which started my learning process.

This Galaxie isn’t the same color as Jim’s, but it’s the same body style.  Jim’s car had some damage so the body didn’t look quite as good as this one.  But you should get the idea.  Definitely doesn’t have the muscle car look, but it was a fun car for cruising.

Probably the fastest car I rode in was my friend Jack’s 1969 Dodge Coronet RT.  It had a 440 4bbl and an automatic transmission.  The car was handed down to him by his older brother.  One of our neighborhood friends was a really good mechanic and he rebuilt the engine for that car to earn a grade at trade school.  He added headers, a Crane Fireball camshaft, and a bigger carburetor.  That car would really get up and move.  I got the opportunity to drive it on a couple of occasions.  Unfortunately it wasn’t running at it’s best any of those times.  But I still had the chance to floor it (at Jack’s urging) and feel what it was like to drive a car with lots of torque and power.  I still have two of the wheels from that car in my garage.

This isn’t Jack’s car, but here’s a picture of one just like it.  Jack’s was the same right down to the color, vinyl roof, and wheels.  The hood is interesting as I rarely see it on other cars.

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At this point in time I didn’t really know what I was doing, although as a typical teenage male I probably didn’t realize that.  I had enough experience working on my friend’s cars to be dangerous.  And I knew that whatever car I owned needed to have a big block V8 engine in it.  I wasn’t stuck on the brand name all that much.  Just that it had to be a muscle car, even though I wasn’t familiar with that term yet.