Sourcing parts; making plans
1964 Ford Mustang convertible
Owned by Quentin Willson
(c/o classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk)
Time owned Eight years
Latest/total miles 197/117,072
Latest/total costs £734/£12,434
Previously Converted to disc brakes, fitted new radiator, water pump and dampers
My Ford Mustang, 64 MUS, hasn’t missed a beat. Over summer the hood stayed permanently down, and the Mustang became the default Willson ride for balmy weekends. Now with gas dampers and disc brakes, it rides and stops like a modern and apart from a few body creaks over really rubbish roads I’m amazed how smooth it now feels.
Since my last report exactly two years ago, the only failure of note has been a stuck-down rear quarter window, but a replacement winding mechanism and new plastic rollers quickly fixed that. I aim to do a small improvement job every day but that rarely goes to plan.
Over the last few months, I’ve bought a new period-correct Ford windscreen washer bag, 1964 brake reservoir cap, twin chrome side finishers (much cheaper than rechroming), engine decal set, modern but period-looking radio as well as fitting new fuel, air and oil filters and changing all the fluids.
I’ve also bought an LED rear light conversion kit because the fear of being rear-ended by some dozy driver who doesn’t see the dim Sixties bulbs was keeping me awake at nights.
All these parts have been patiently accumulated as they periodically pop up on ebay from UK sellers. Buying anything from the States is now villainously expensive with postage and import duty often adding up to double the cost of the part. All I have to do now is fit them all.
Now the temperature has dropped, fitting a new heater matrix – which has only ever blown mild tepid – has become a priority, which means a couple of knuckle scratching days draining the coolant, taking out the heater box from under the dash, restoring it and changing all the original foam seals – which are now 59 years old – and fitting the new alloy matrix. When I get around to that, at the same time I’ll refill the system with Classic Cool so the cast-iron small block V8 should never overheat.
I’m at the stage I always get to with my classics where I want to turn 64 MUS into a real stunner and have new seats and a carpet set along with two new doors stashed away, bought several years ago. The door and boot shut faces need better paint finishes, and the new door shells should help sort the wavy panel gaps. During a previous American resto someone fitted new door skins which have never looked right. And while the white seats and black carpet are fine, the original 1964 interior was red, so I’ve always intended to return it back to factory-correct trim colour.
The paint I’ll have to farm out to a professional, but after my efforts retrimming the 2CV, I’m up for changing the seats covers and carpets myself. This, in theory, shouldn’t take long or cost a lot. Famous last words, I’ve heard myself saying many times before. When it finally happens, you’ll be the first to know.