ONEMANA CAR: UNDER THE RADAR

AT FACE VALUE, THIS MUSTANG FASTBACK LOOKS LIKE A SLICK WEEKEND CRUISER, BUT DIG A LITTLE DEEPER AND YOU’LL FIND IT’S A LITTLE MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

To be driving a car like this, especially with their surname, it would be a reasonable assumption that Murray and Robyn Ford are Blue Oval through and through. Any such speculation would be misplaced in this case, though — it’s more a case of coincidence aligning with the fact that they like what they like, and this ’65 Mustang does the job. The early Mustang fastback design always intrigued Murray, and, when this one came up for sale as an unfinished project, the Fords decided that it was time to build themselves another car. They purchased the car as a bit of a basket-case project. The previous owner had sandblasted it and ordered a heap of new panels before investing close to $20K in panel work. Once the Fords got the Mustang home, they realized that, while it had looked good from afar, it was far from that, with little of what was there actually useable. To get the ball rolling, the Mustang’s condition necessitated about another $20K worth of panel work before it was ready for the black paint you see here. Apart from the rolled rear guards and the mini-tubbed rear, the body was redone pretty much to stock — or, at least, that how it looks from the outside! With the bodywork underway, Murray worked with Jason Sellars from JSE Fabrications in Tauranga on the bits you don’t see, transforming the car from ‘just another Mustang’ into something really quite special. Not wanting the Mustang to drive like a ’60s car, the pair set about looking for a suitable donor, which they found in a 1998 Ford Falcon XR8. Once the electronic fuel injections (EFI) had been ditched for an Edelbrock intake and Holley carb, the engine began to look just like the stock Windsor it was replacing. It also offered the unseen benefits of many decades’ worth of design improvements, and, once rebuilt, it offered a significant power improvement. The XR8 auto was toast, so a rebuilt and modified Ford C4 was installed, along with an automatic pedal box to replace the car’s factory triple-pedal

assembly. A Flaming River front-suspension assembly was imported, and Jason modified it with XT Falcon stub axles and big BA Falcon drilled and vented discs. He also modified the XR8 rear suspension to fit, narrowed things up a bit, and used adjustable coilovers to hang it all off the new chassis rails that he’d fabricated to run the length of the car, tightening things up significantly. As part of that, the floor was raised two inches, essentially channelling the car over the new chassis rails, which enabled Murray to keep the exhaust up off the ground so that it wouldn’t drag with the car sitting so low — not that you would know that any of this has been done when sitting in it, as the seating feels stock. As Murray and Robyn had always planned to use the Mustang, many sensible upgrades were made, such as power steering using an aftermarket electric unit, vacuum-assisted brakes care of the XR8 donor, and relocation of the handbrake from beside the driver’s seat to the centre tunnel by using the XR8 item and a bit of help from Jason. Jason’s fabrication skills were also put to use in building the headers, exhaust, alloy fuel tank, new rear seat, and much more. Murray would have an idea, and, between them, he and Jason would make a list of what needed fabricating before Jason made it work and delivered the raw part back to Murray for painting, detailing, and installation. Despite all the modifications, certification posed far fewer headaches than the next warrant did, with the guys at VTNZ unable to determine stock from not and unable to make head nor tail of the many modifications underneath the car. Needless to say, Murray now gets his WOFs from people who understand older modified cars and the certification process! Murray and Robyn are more than happy with their new old car, using it regularly on the road and occasionally on the track. Having been thrown around both Hampton Downs and Taupo on club days, the Mustang handles well and drives much more like a modern car than a ’60s one. Even so, Murray will be the first to admit that there has been the odd spin when the driver’s confidence has exceeded his abilities! Now that the car is so well sorted, the plentiful road miles to Repco Beach Hop 18 are just part of the Fords’ plan to rack up many more.