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Young guy with an old car

1K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  66_72stanger 
#1 ·
Feels good to be joining this forum.

Just found an all original 68 289 coupe. Genuinely found it in a barn and got a hell of a deal on it.

It's been sitting since about 85 but it's all there. It's got A/C, power steering and disc brakes on the front.
738737


I'll be poking around here for hopefully years to come.
 
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#8 ·
That body looks decent from the pic. A steal for the price imo especially if complete. My first decision would be if I wanted to keep it stock or not. What are you ultimate goals for this car? What do you consider critical updates? They worked pretty well when new.


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#11 ·
So the body looks like it was in a fender bender. Front lower valence, grill and hood have some damage. The trunk is also in pretty rough shape with some more damage to the rear bumper also. All the lights are undamaged which is nice.

I definitely want to keep as much original as possible because this car is missing very few things on it. It also already has the options to make this something I'd want to daily.

Things I want to go through of course would be brakes, gotta make sure those power brakes work with all the terrible drivers out here. I've got full faith in the original 289 that's in it and have no plans on swapping it out. I'll be ok without A/C for a while but if the power steering works I'll be a happy camper.

Some of the lights are also not working so I will eventually have to tackle some wiring issues.

I know it will take some time but I'm having alot of fun. It's a beautiful driveway ornament for the time being.
 
#12 ·
I once was a young guy with an old car, now I'm a middle-aged guy with three old cars, haha !!
Send more pictures! And welcome to VMF.
 
#15 ·
Hazmatt17,

Your car does look pretty complete, a good candidate for a reasonable restoration.
A rather common thread you are likely to hear from any of us looking back on our first mustang project would be to have a clear game plan of what want to do to your car. Not that it needs to be inked in stone, but mapping out the process careful before up start will save you time and money for sure. The olevwhile you are there can get you into some trouble. My first mustang project, a 66vert, starting by pulling the heads to replace a blown head gasket.
then cleanning up the ports, 4 angle valve grind, cam/springs/lifters.
But didn’t seem right putting that fresh top end on top of that block.
So pulled the motor to freshen up the bottom end.
that led to decking, line honing mains, forged pistons, hbeams, crank indexing, then all being blue printed and balanced.
Well of of course now I needed a better oil pan then an oil cooler.
Now my thought was who would put that motor in an engine bay that was not equally as clean.
yep, you guessed it, Ended up taken it down to the last nut, a ground up restoration. Just because I was there.

Love the car, and my 7 year old grandson will enjoy it to when he becomes of age.
But it was too nice to park at the beach for the day, so had to pickup another mustang for that.

Moral of this story is if you want to end up with a daily driver, try not to get side tracked to often with too many while I am there’s and enjoy both rides....
 
#16 ·
Hazmatt17,

Your car does look pretty complete, a good candidate for a reasonable restoration.
A rather common thread you are likely to hear from any of us looking back on our first mustang project would be to have a clear game plan of what want to do to your car. Not that it needs to be inked in stone, but mapping out the process careful before up start will save you time and money for sure. The olevwhile you are there can get you into some trouble. My first mustang project, a 66vert, starting by pulling the heads to replace a blown head gasket.
then cleanning up the ports, 4 angle valve grind, cam/springs/lifters.
But didn’t seem right putting that fresh top end on top of that block.
So pulled the motor to freshen up the bottom end.
that led to decking, line honing mains, forged pistons, hbeams, crank indexing, then all being blue printed and balanced.
Well of of course now I needed a better oil pan then an oil cooler.
Now my thought was who would put that motor in an engine bay that was not equally as clean.
yep, you guessed it, Ended up taken it down to the last nut, a ground up restoration. Just because I was there.

Love the car, and my 7 year old grandson will enjoy it to when he becomes of age.
But it was too nice to park at the beach for the day, so had to pickup another mustang for that.

Moral of this story is if you want to end up with a daily driver, try not to get side tracked to often with too many while I am there’s and enjoy both rides....

Haha thanks for the tips. I've had to battle myself thinking the same things while getting a simple plan together.

My favorite thing is learning the ins and outs of these cars. It's so much fun but I'm also only 25 so money is pretty tight. Student loans and normal bills put me in a pinch a few months before I got it. I dont have any plans to be dropping 10's of thousands of dollars to make it a true show car. I do believe however that it's a prime example of Americana and just how nice it is for being 51 years old. It has stood the test of time, especially down south here.

Here is a few new pictures since I've been tinkering with it
738873
738874
 
#17 ·
Well you bought it right, so take your time and have some fun.
Given it is so complete, half the battle is already won.
Hope you are only planning to employ that rubber fuel line, from fuel pump to carb, an a get it running only basis.
FWI
Ford designed that to be a metal line for a reason.
Loose a clamp, have a leak and it can be a serious fire hazard.

And the good news about working on these cars is:
1) they are fairly easy to work on,
2) parts are readily available,
3) this forum is full of people who have scrapped all the knuckles you will, are happy to share their experiences and knowledge.

So do not be shy in asking any questions or vendor recommendations.

Look forward to some pics of your work down the road!
 
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