Mustang man over the moon
For Wayne Fabish, a Mustang is more than just a way to get around.
It’s a long-time passion, bordering obsession, that first stemmed from racing mustangs in the US.
His latest project, a 67 Mustang coupe, won first place for the 196768 notchback/coupe class at the
2017 Mustang National Convention car show in Invercargill on Labour weekend.
‘‘I was surprised in some ways,’’ he said.
‘‘That was like many years of hard work to get the car in that situation, but you know it was great, absolutely fabulous.’’
A member of the Taranaki Mustang Club, Fabish and his wife own a total of five Mustangs.
‘‘We’ve had good success with them and we’ve stayed with them,’’ he said.
Over the years he has built up many a racing Mustang, but the car he took to Invercargill is the
"I was surprised in some ways. That was like many years of hard work to get the car in that situation, but you know it was great, absolutely fabulous." Wayne Fabish
first road car he has built, and his biggest project to date.
He said it was nice to have a road car to drive after years of racing Mustangs, although the coupe is not yet certified for New Zealand roads, so he took it down south on a trailer.
‘‘The build was planned for quite a while before I started buying equipment and buying the car.’’
Fabish, who is a consultant in the marine industry, had imported all the parts from the US.
He spent four years transforming the car, which only had 62,000 miles on it from its one previous owner.
Although a beautifully restored 67 Mustang coupe on the outside, the car features a late model drivetrain with independent front and rear suspension, massive disc brakes, custom wheels, a six speed manual gearbox, and an ex-Ford racing team engine producing 600 horsepower.
With 2017 being the 50th anniversary for the 67 Mustang, this year’s Mustang show in Invercargill was the perfect opportunity for Fabish to unveil his creation.
Fabish said the underside of the car was probably every bit as shiny as the top, with the polished stainless steel under the car drawing many a gasp of admiration from other Mustang owners.
‘‘Everything that we could polish is polished,’’ he said.
He said a lot of people commented on the paint job which was done by R & E Automotive in Stratford.
‘‘Everybody down south that’s seen it was very impressed with what they saw.’’
Fabish estimated he spent eight hours a day, five days a week, for about 22 months building up the car, and that was once it arrived in New Zealand.
‘‘There was a lot of time spent in America over a period of two years putting it to the stage where we could ship it to New Zealand.
‘‘I know I have receipts for nearly everything I’ve bought for the car but I’ve not totalled it up.
He is planning to continue attending the Mustang Conventions, and looking forward to driving the car around the country to attend once it has the correct certification.
‘‘To build something like this you can’t cut corners. If you want good equipment you have to pay for it.’’
After four years of painstaking work only one thing remains to do.
‘‘Now it is time to enjoy it,’’ Fabish said.