Pieces - The 69 Mach 1

[manley 13]

I've never tried to keep a build thread for my car, but here goes nothing.

 

Story: Many moons ago, I was looking for a project car. I always loved Mustangs and the 69 sportroof is the sexiest of them all, in my not so humble opinion. One day, after work, a bunch of us guys were sitting in the garage drinking beers and such and one of them mentions this 69 Mach he knows about that has been sitting there forever. He wouldn't tell me where it was because he wanted to buy it. Another guy chimed in that he knew exactly what car he was talking about. Neither would tell me where it was. Time went by and I never found out....until... guy #2 decides he is going to move to Texas and will never have a shot at buying the car, so he tells me where it is! Sweeet!

 

I hunted the car down and found it sitting back a long lane on a farm that was unoccupied and for sale. This was around the beginning of year 2001 or thereabouts. It was sitting outside next to a 69 Roadrunner and a Suzuki. Back toward the barns was an old Vega(I think) wagon and a 74 Roadrunner. Inside one barn was a mid-seventies Corvette. Strewn about the barns were some Dodge 440's and trannys... rearends... Roadrunner hoods...and other random parts I never got to check out very well. And not a soul was around to ask if anything was for sale.

 

The Mustang didn't look like anything all that special but it was the year and body style I wanted. At the time, I really didn't know much about these cars except that I liked them. I popped the hood and the hinges were tight. It was already bowed in the middle. It had a hood scoop and the engine was a V8 with a manual trans behind it. Perfect! Rumor had it the car had been sitting for over 10 years, so I checked and I could still turn the engine over by turning the crank pulley. Excellent! Everything looked like it was there but it was in desperate need of being saved. On this first inspection, I didn't notice the dash said "Mach 1". The shifter knob was missing and somethings else which I can't remember. It had a console and a rear seat that folded down. The body looked surprisingly good, so I was optimistic! The rear wheels and tires were huge and looked terrible. Every tire was flat and I knew my biggest issue with hauling this car off was the brakes being rusted to the drums.

 

The search for the owner began. I got the address off the mailbox and a last name was on it as well. Or maybe it was on a piece of mail... I don't remember. Some people may not like this, but I wanted this car! I went home and got online. I started searching through the county property records to see who owned the land. I got a name that matched the name on the box.... I also got a current address: Murfreesboro, TN. Ouch... I'm in Ohio! The car is in Ohio! If I recall correctly, I still didn't have a phone number, so I started this search online as well. I found one and hoped it was the right person, so I called. I was pretty nervous and no one answered, so I didn't leave a message. The next time I called, I think the guy answered. He was really nice! We talked for a bit and I learned he had another restored 69 in TN with him. His daughter still lived in Ohio not too far from the farm. The car I was looking at was actually her first car from when she was in high school.

 

They were asking $3500 for the car.... I only had $2500 and I honestly thought that was more reasonable. It was impossible to see under the car and I was taking a risk in that regard. For all I knew, the car would split in two when I tried to move it. In the end, it took me 3 months to actually buy the car. Some of my detail may be off... this was a long time ago. I met the man and his daughter and paid for the car. The next day I planned to haul the car home. I think it was the beginning of April 2001. That night, we got an ice storm. Trees were down all over in my neighborhood and I was worried about the car. I loaded up tanks of air and headed to the farm with a couple helpers and a trailer.

 

It was an all day battle... we never got all the brakes to break free. You will wince at this, but we ended up using a tire and a truck to push the car onto the trailer once we drug it all the way down the lane and out onto the road. It was a nightmare.

 

Pics will follow....

[RPM 1,190]

Very cool story Mike. Persistence pays off in spades! Thank God (or Al Gore) for the internet.

 

Bob

[69SlowResto 19]

Cool story! Was Guy #1 pissed that you were able to snag it?

[manley 13]

Thanks guys! He wasn't thrilled but he was glad I got it and not someone else. He is a Mustang hoarder and has 7 in his barn right now, not counting a couple later models.

 

Okay.. going to try to upload some pics.

Edited September 8, 2013 by manley

[manley 13]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The farm where the car sat for 10+ years.

The car was originally Wimbledon White with red interior. An M-code Mach 1 with 4 speed toploader. Other option were the fold down rear seat and console.

Upon further inspection, the frame rails were shot. The car had been restored at some point in the mid-eighties. Their solution to fixing rusted quarter panels was to cut some from a donor car, lay them over the rusty ones on the car and start welding. So I had 4 quarter panels, technically. The deluxe door panels were missing. The hood, rear deck lid, and doors were all junk. Plus much more.

It took me about two months to get the car "drivable." I completely overhauled the entire brake system. During that two months, I poured Marvel Mystery oil in the spark plug holes and would spend some time each day turning the engine by hand. The starter was missing, but most everything else was there. I found the one of the missing factory rims in the trunk and the other I had to go back to the farm and search for... found it in one of the barns.

I should also note that the farm sold about 2 months after I bought the car. All the other cars disappeared. I saw the 69 Roadrunner once on a used car lot, but it was so far gone that we couldn't close the driver's door after opening it.

Life has been tough since I bought this car. Raising two kids and a couple relationships gone bad. I struggled to find storage much less a place to actually begin the restoration. I sold the car once to a friend in order to keep my head afloat during a 7 month period where I was unemployed. I bought it back as soon as I could. I have my own home and garage now, so my baby isn't going anywhere unless I'm right there with her!

Edited September 7, 2015 by manley

[manley 13]

 

 

 

 

 

On the trailer

The second picture shows orange cones and barrels. A tree fell on my neighbor's house due to the ice storm. That was what got me worried about the car.

Edited September 7, 2015 by manley

[manley 13]

 

 

 

 

Checking things out

My neighbor had a Hurst T-handle and gave it to me since the car was missing the original one. The shifter is a Hurst Indy shifter, not original to the car.

Edited September 7, 2015 by manley

[manley 13]

 

 

 

Last few I took in 2001 plus a couple other random pics.

[prayers1 153]

I really enjoy stories like yours. I'm glad you pursued it and hung tough all these years. I too have searched county records & websites trying to find people to ask about their cars or house. Kudos to you.

[ak70stang 11]

Very very cool

[zudman 11]

I like reading stories also, this is a good one especially the part about sitting in the garage, Drinking Beers and B.S.ing. ( I can relate to this ).

 

IMO...That dosen't look bad at all, alot better then what I started with. Sounds like you have one of the main ingredients to get this done. ( patience ) Good luck...T.Z

[Machspeed 219]

Thanks for sharing, Mike. Good luck to you and happy restoration.

[manley 13]

The car was pretty bad....just wait till I get the rest of the pics up. lol. is there a cap on how many pics I can upload to this site? Do I need to host them elsewhere? I'll try again this evening.

[Mike65 475]

The car was pretty bad....just wait till I get the rest of the pics up. lol. is there a cap on how many pics I can upload to this site? Do I need to host them elsewhere? I'll try again this evening.

 

Mike,

You will need to have them on a host site, I use photobucket & copy & paste them here in my posts.

Mike.

[RPM 1,190]

More cool info Mike. Looks like we have more in common than cars. Me and my car went thru two divorces with two kids. Came real close to selling it, until my good brother who has an R code 69 Mach came to my rescue. Even had it listed on ebay and here. And my car isn't going anywhere either. Again, very cool story.

 

Bob

[manley 13]

It's definitely been an uphill adventure with this car, but things have leveled out and a ton of progress has been made.

 

Let's see how these pics turn out.

 

The tear down - rust, rust, and more rust

 

 

 

 

 

 

[manley 13]

First pic: look in the marker light hole and you can see the original quarter panel layer.

 

 

 

In this pic, you can see how the lower part of the original quarter was cut off, but the rest is still there. Also, the trunk floor is made of fiberglass.

 

 

Total devastation

 

 

[manley 13]

a 70 coupe from California with a rough body and no title was sacrificed to save my Mach. I needed all the frame rails.

 

All new aprons, shock towers, radiator support, export brace...

 

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics...

 

 

[manley 13]

 

 

 

 

[manley 13]

New tail light panel, rear cross brace, and quarter extensions.

 

 

 

 

New trunk floor panels and stainless fuel tank.

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2013 by manley

[manley 13]

Reassembled major body panels in order to help align quarters. I couldn't get my doors to align so I went on the hunt for good original doors and found a pair 10 minutes away for $300. One is a very nice original and one has had some well done repairs.

 

 

 

 

[manley 13]

 

 

 

 

[manley 13]

 

 

 

Finally home...

[manley 13]

And that is how the car still sits for the most part because of an accident I had with my Dewalt 4 1/2 inch angle grinder and a cutoff wheel. Cut my thumb to the tendon. Had to have surgery and therapy to get it working again. My hand is still pretty weak from not using it for 2 months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now it's time to start working on the car again!

[69SlowResto 19]

Holy crap...that looks painful. Awesome work on the car though!