I know I am late again but I have a really good excuse. We just picked up Karl’s Mustang from the shop after having some much needed repairs.

When Karl, VP/General Manager at SIP and my son, was 15, he bought a 1989 Bronco from his predecessor, Darwin. The paint was faded but the body was in good shape and the interior was near perfect. It had been sitting for a number of years so the engine did not run. Karl removed the fuel tank and cleaned it out, then replaced all of the fuel line components. It fired right up but he could only drive it a few blocks before it would over heat and it ran a little rough. A new radiator and a $100 fuel injection computer solved those problems. He then painted it himself with a little help from his friends. It wasn’t perfect but it looked and ran pretty damn good. In his senior year of high school, he totaled it, but fortunately wasn’t hurt.

When he went to replace it, he found a 1966 Mustang that some guy, who watched too much TV, thought he could restore it in a tent in his backyard. The Mustang had spent its first 20 years in California and the next 30 years in Florida, the last 10 parked in a garage. There was no rust and no signs that it had ever been wrecked. It’s one drawback is that it had an anemic 200 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine. Karl decided he needed to do some major body work and completely redo the interior. He bought a beater Toyota convertible to drive while he worked on the Mustang. It took about a year but then it was his daily driver. He drove it for eight years, added seat belts, a killer sound system, AC, disc brakes, a two barrel carburetor, headers and dual exhaust. He finally decided he needed a reliable grown up car and parked the Mustang. He had every intention of driving it on weekends but the longer it sat, the less reliable it was.

It had been sitting for 5 years and would not even start so I talked him into taking to Tubby’s Customs in Clearwater. They are the ones who finished up our 1950 Ford F1 pick up truck. Even though the paint was in good condition on the Mustang, there were several places where it was cracking. It also appeared to be rusting around the windshield. So they did some extensive body work to align the seams better, make the doors open and close properly and repaint the affected areas. They also fixed the AC, brakes, replaced the dash, replaced the carburetor with a Holley two barrel and a bunch of other little stuff including fixing the horn (the first time it has worked since he owned the car). It may not be quick with that 6 cylinder, but it sure does run good and sound great.