More Background

A new member of the family….

Finally, after many years of thinking about it, I finally bit the bullet in 2015 and started the hunt for a Mustang. As I live in Ireland, they are not very common, although I was surprised to find a few to take a look at. I drove 1.5 hours to view the first, a reasonably stock 66 coupe, which wouldn’t start or even turnover. Yet I still had to stop myself from forking out the asking price on the spot. A week or so later I found another to view. Another 1.5 hour trip and this time I was able to start it and drive it for about 2 minutes before it spluttered and died. The owner and his mates spent 45 minutes checking spark plugs & cables but it still sounded pretty rough. Sadly, I again drove home disappointed.

A couple of days later I had a call from the owner of the second car. All plugs and cables replaced and it was running fine…was I interested. I found myself saying yes, as long as they could deliver the car, which they agreed…wow…..it was actually going to happen and on April 10, 2015 it did….

As you can see, the car looked like it had been sitting in a field for a few years. It ran, but not very well. But I was still excited to finally own an iconic car. I could hardly wait to get started making it mine…

So what is it?

Whilst I started evaluating the car I also wanted to know more about the car itself. The doorplate was in place, which matched the details pressed into the fender. At some point someone decided to add the blue stripes (not the neatest job) and the fibre glass bonnet/scoop. It also had GT350H decals along both sills, so someone had created a tribute car.

However, if the doorplate details are to be believed my 66 Coupe was number 141,938 out of the Metuchen, New Jersey factory (1948 – 2004). It left the factory with the 289 V8 (4.7L), 4 barrel carb. (A-Code Car) putting out 225hp and updated Pony Interior. As far as paint goes, it was originally Wimbledon White