Well i have finally figured out how to post pictures and i have already asked a chassis related question here and getting some much needed help. Guess im a little late at showing my find. While perusing ebay i was interested in finding a vintage mustang mainly because i really dig the lines and the good looks not to mention the nostalgia of owning a fine piece of history. i came upon this car and the bidding was about to end after i had watched it for several days and noone had bid on it. it looked like the weeds had grown up around this car and the car itself had taken a beating. as time was running out i bid and only the minimum thinking i woulnt get it but hey it was worth trying. so i won the bidding on the car at just a little over $1000 dropped the folks an email to have them call me so we can work out the details on me driving from Kentucky to Oklahoma to get it. when the call arrived i was told that the car was all original and that they still had the original straight 6 engine and the c4 tranny to go with it. The lady that owned the car told me that she was the third owner and that her father was the second owner, engine had been overhauled recently. by this time im thinking this is too good to be true right? im just dreaming ill wake up   and it will all be over. NOPE the only bad part was that the father in law was driving the car and had hit a horse! so there was a replacement hood, lower valance, fender and headlight assy. yup all included even with a new bumper, original radio, new shocks still in the boxes in the back floor board, original radiator and the tires on the car were new before the accident 10 years ago. Upon arrival at their house i was told that they had misplaced the title ok not a problem but they informed me that they had the first original title but they couldnt find it and it had the dealerships name on it that was in Oklahoma City. and yes the all metal tag on the trunklid is still there that the dealership had put on the car when it arrived on their lot. the headliner was still in mint condition and the rear seats just need to be cleaned, shoulder belts still intact along headliner but faded, very little rust mostly surface rust from not the new parts not getting a coat of primer and sitting for 10 years out in the weather. And so here i am now rebuilding the entire front end to get a glimpse at how shes gonna look.
i have decoded the vin and door tag and found out it was made in Dearbourne  Michigan, shipped to Oklahoma City Oklahoma 200 cid straight 6 c4 automatic tahoe turquoise exterior lt/drk aqua interior made on May 17 1968. Oh and guess what day i picked the car up?? you guessed it May 17 2008, exactly 40 years from its birthdate, something is telling me that this is the car car i have been looking for.


heres the biggest rust through spot the rest of the quarters have less than this



so i will be around asking a lot of questions because this is my first restoration project, so please excuse me if i ask a bunch of silly questions. All advice you folks throw my way will be warmly welcomed.  

nice find. good luck with it. and the only stupid questions are the ones not asked.  

Looks like a nice project. Good luck and enjoy it!  

Thanks guys, although it would be nice to put the car back bone stock, after reading this months MM i doubt i will. i am going to be using a color that was used in 92-96 gm cars called black rose metallic, the car was not originally a GT but it will probably end up with the extra options along with a black and white interior and woodgrain trim. Also if i can find the parts reasonably cheap id like to switch everything over to 5 lug so i can use what i always called cragers, or as know to some magnums. ohh the mail man just came with my new front spring perches gotta get back to work!!!  

Heres a good question for you folks. im going to be using the stock sway bar and was wondering about the end links. i have read that there are adjustable ones but why? is there a difference in how it will handle whether the sway bar is closer to the lower arm or father away from the arm. my car originally had the braces from the firewall to the shock towers, and im going to put in a bar between the towers, a montecarlo bar i think is what its called. I want this car to handle nicely and carve corners without dropping down a big chunk of change? so the improvements will have to be small and i know i will never be done tweaking and personalizing it. any suggestions on where to begin?  

Great story.

Where did you go in Oklahoma to get it?  I was just curious because that's where I live

Looks like a great project car, and good luck with it.  

Picked it up just south of Oklahoma City, a little community called Macomb OK.  

Macomb is not far from where I live.  

You start by making sure the car is safe to drive.  that means a brake system overhaul.  Next comes the mechanical parts so you don't wind up at midnight on  a lonely road back in the hills of Kentucky.  Then start on that rust.  Cut it out, and replace with new metal.  Paint the exterior.  The interior is your last project.  

Welcome, and good luck. That looks like a great car to start with. To answer your question about the anti sway bar links, they do have adjustable links but it is for fine tuning a race set-up and I doubt you will need to go that far. The main purpose of the link is to tie the bar to the suspension. Just make sure you use a good quality link and maybe some poly bushing to keep things tight. Again, nice car and ask all the questions you want!  

Poly bushings are not recommended for all applications. Do some research.  

The back roads in the hills of Kentucky is where i live is the sad part lol. Soaring3 that is exactly what i am doing. When i dismantled the drivers side spindle and cleaned everything up, i scrapped everything inside the drums, all the springs, clips, bearings etc. Buying all new parts to put back in there. As you can probably see in the picture below the drivers side is done, just waiting on parts to reassemble the passengers side. Then i need to start on the firewall, brake lines, master cylinder and hood hinges. The drivers fender and the hood was edp coated when they were purchased new 11 years ago but were never painted to prevent rust. Those parts i sanded down to the bare metal and shot with some primer imediately. Hoping i will have plenty of time this weekend to finish up the front end so i can get started on the engine so i wont have to push the car onto a trailer when i take it in for body work. A good friend of mine informed me that his son owns a body shop and is extremely good at body work, might even get a bit of a discount too. not something i would want to try myself.


Im using Thermoplastic rubber bushings and sway bar end link kits from Virginia Classic Mustang, pretty much where Im getting all my parts from. One question though where can i get some por15 at?  

I agree.  Body work is labor intensive and time consuming.  I had my 65 done by a pro.  The 5 grand that I spent on it was well worth the money.  I like to deal with the mechanics of these old buggies, but not the body work.  

If your going for correctness, that will guide what you do in restoring the car. I think the possibilities are much more rewarding in having a restomod type resto with comfort, safety, performance and looks as the main concern, but to each their own. There are alot of up to date mods to make these old cars run and drive much better than they did new. Just ***

May the adventure begin,
cushman  

I was sharing with you some suggestions about the suspension specifically to your question on the anti-sway bar. I too live in KY. The most common issue is the narrow bumpy winding roads. A good low cost upgrade would be some polyurethane bushings as the old rubber lets the bar move around a bit and takes away some of its effectiveness. Also I would suggest a couple other low-buck things that help it handle better. While you have the front-end apart it would be a great time to lower the upper control arm as Shelby did on the early GT350's. You could also cut a quarter of the coil off the front springs. These two mods together will lower the car about an inch total. The geometry will be better on the front suspension as the front tires tend to kick out at the bottom when the car leans with stock suspension. Early Mustangs tend to sit high in the front also which also doesn't do much for handling. I would recommend a good alignment too. The factory specs tend to allow the car to be a bit squirrelly. I used the settings recommended by dazecars.com and have had great results. A bump steer kit would also be a great addition, the early Mustang geometry tends to create a bump steer issue as I’m sure you will notice on the bumpy curves. This modification allows the tie rods to stay basically the same length thru the travel of the suspension reducing the “steer” effect of a bump. So I have done my research and only suggest these to help you as I have personally had experience with all these recommendations on the same road conditions and I’m not pretending to be some “know-it-all” Mustang expert, just sharing my opinion based on REAL experience.