Mustang stories from the past

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Joined
Jan 7, 2015
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Western North Carolina
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Multiple Mustangs!
Was talking with another member about the space saver spares and thought I would share this story from the past.

I ordered a 1973 Mach 1 and still own it. It came with the space saver spare and canister to fill it if needed. One Saturday I was headed home and my short cut took me across a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. I was a couple miles from home and tire goes down. I pulled over and thought a minute and decided I did not want to put the space saver on the ground or use the expensive cylinder, $16.00 then. I had a 1971 Maverick Grabber that I ordered new also and ordered the heavy duty suspension which gave me 5 lug wheels that were the same as the Mustang. So I decide to just walk home the couple miles and get the Maverick and use the regular spare in it. Beautiful day and a good walk. So I get the Maverick go back to the Mach 1 and change the tire. Hum what to do now I have two cars to get home. No cell phones in 1974 so I decide to drive one car as far as I could see then go back and get the other and take it past that one as far as I could see. Yes I was a cheap rascal for sure. Anyway during one of my walks between cars someone stopped and asked if I needed a ride and I told them no that I was in that car pointing to the Mustang and turned around and said that car also pointing to the Maverick. They looked at me like how the H___ did you get two cars here. So I more or less walked 6 miles to keep from using the space saver spare that is still in the trunk and never used.

I am 66 and grew up with the Mustang and have 8 of them. Simple, easy to work on and were well worth the money back then. I don't think much of that statement applies today. Can you see doing a ground up on a 2015 Mustang in 40 + years, never happen.

If you have a funny story with your ride share it. I will get into what drifting was like back in the 60's and 70's and no the Japanese did not invent it. I came from right here in the mountains.

Oh the pic is the space saver spare. The car has not been washed or cleaned in 32 years sits in the barn.

David

 
I did almost the same thing in 81, driving home about 3am after a long night of hanging out in my 65 fastback, I was a few blocks from home, and stalled the car. The battery was a bit weak, and the 65 wouldn't turn over, so I walked to the house, got the Mach-1 and jumped the 65.

Drove it home, then walked back, got the Mach-1, and drove it home, all the while hoping that W.U.P.D. wouldn't happen to drive by at 3am, so I'd have to do the pre-dawn explanation of shame...

 
I saw Don posted that he would propose changing the name of the thread to Mustang Stories From the Past. Which I think is a great idea. Here is another or you>

THE BIRTH OF DRIFTING

So I am reading in some of my Hot Rod or Car Craft magazines and I see where Ford is going to change the Mustang for 1974 so like many I go order my 73 Mach 1. The dealer said I was crazy to spend that much money for a Mustang that would never be worth anything when I could have an LTD for less money.

In 1966 when I was going to Asheville Buncombe Tech School I started to run on the new I-26 interstate highway with my 1950 Ford Hot Rod before they opened it. I would go around the barriers and run the dirt road bed and finally they finished it. I soon found out that the clover leaf exchange was the place to have fun and we started to race laps around all four exchanges without getting off. I contend that we invented “Drifting” here in the mountains not in Japan as most think and back in the 60’s. We called it power sliding because that is the term the dirt track racers used.

Ok so now I have this 73 Mach 1 with 351 4V and 4 speed with 3.25 rear and I am the champ on the clover leaf power slide. I had to put a set of booster springs around the rear shocks to get it to do just right. I had a friend that owned a tire store and he tells me I was his best customer getting about 2,000 miles out of a set of tires.

A good friend had a 69 roadrunner and it really made him mad that he could not even come close to me on the clover leaf. He calls a buddy with a Cuda and he does not know how to drive so no competition there. So he goes and buys one of the then new Datsun Z cars and calls me out. I could leave the Mach 1 in 2nd. gear and eat his lunch. I made him so mad that he set fire to the car to get out of the deal.

I also go to the autocross races and they all tell me to slow down so I can go faster but burning the tires and smoking the whole lot up until you cannot see was so fun. The crowd would cheer each time. They always had a hairpin turn and then the finish and I would keep the tires lite up until I hit the finish line.

The highway patrol during the time I drove the 1950 Ford would chase me but could not catch me on the curvy roads and there were only two of them and worked shifts so nobody to radio to. Hard to believe but a flathead V8 that was built as far as you could go and good suspension could out handle a 1966 Galaxy with 428 CJ in it. That was its downfall too heavy in the front.

When I got the Mach 1 times had changed and there were more cops on the roads that will be another story of how we had fun in the Mountains.

Good memories,

David

 
Great stories! I look forward to others posting.

I can't top those but my 65 was my first car. When I got it from my parents in the mid '80s it looked ok and ran a less than ok. I saved up some money from working in my junior and senior year in HS and had some bodywork done, painted a nice shiny coat of Rangoon red paint and bought a new carb. It looked great and ran much better. I drove it from East Tennessee to Mobile, AL where I used it as my daily driver for several years in college. I was always tinkering with the engine and carb to make it run better since it was a 6-cylinder car at the time and I wanted the most power possible out of it. I've swapped engines and transmissions more times than I care to remember but that's a different story. I was young and dumb and thought I knew everything about that car because I've literally turned every bolt and screw it has at some point. One persistent issue was carb problems. One day while driving to class the carb started flooding, not too bad but as I turned to get off the highway it started flooding out pretty bad and stalled a time or two. To keep it running I had to keep the engine revved up.

So I'm a few blocks away from my school and at a school crossing where the crossing guard holds up the stop sign to let some kids cross. I'm at the front of the line. Did I mention that it was a manual trans? So there I sit, clutch engaged and in neutral, toes on the brake and heel pumping on the gas. Normally the guard lady waves to me each morning in my red convertible as I pass but this morning she and all the kids crossing in front of me were glaring at me as I continually rev the engine quite loudly...apparently I was being "that guy" and was protesting like I was some punk kid that I had to stop for some kids that were walking across too slow. I felt like an ass but if it shut off it was a pain to get restarted and that would have been another issue in the middle of heavy morning traffic. I waved to the guard like normal when she let the stopped cars proceed.

A few minutes later I opened the hood to see that it was flooding so bad that fuel was getting onto the manifold log. It turned out that the original 25 year old gas tank was the problem of all of the carb problems due to it adding a very fine amount of rust to the gas that somehow made it past the fuel filter and was clogging up the carb internals.

To this day whenever I'm on that road I think of that day when I completely pissed off the crossing guard and caused fear for those young kids as they thought for sure I was going to pop the clutch and run them over.

 
I do still have it. It is fully disassembled at the moment as I contemplate the next color change. I'm leaning toward Brittany Blue. Currently it's royal blue which looks like a purple-blue in the shade but is gorgeous in bright sun. I don't like the purple hues so that color has got to go.

 
Was talking with another member about the space saver spares and thought I would share this story from the past.

I ordered a 1973 Mach 1 and still own it. It came with the space saver spare and canister to fill it if needed. One Saturday I was headed home and my short cut took me across a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. I was a couple miles from home and tire goes down. I pulled over and thought a minute and decided I did not want to put the space saver on the ground or use the expensive cylinder, $16.00 then. I had a 1971 Maverick Grabber that I ordered new also and ordered the heavy duty suspension which gave me 5 lug wheels that were the same as the Mustang. So I decide to just walk home the couple miles and get the Maverick and use the regular spare in it. Beautiful day and a good walk. So I get the Maverick go back to the Mach 1 and change the tire. Hum what to do now I have two cars to get home. No cell phones in 1974 so I decide to drive one car as far as I could see then go back and get the other and take it past that one as far as I could see. Yes I was a cheap rascal for sure. Anyway during one of my walks between cars someone stopped and asked if I needed a ride and I told them no that I was in that car pointing to the Mustang and turned around and said that car also pointing to the Maverick. They looked at me like how the H___ did you get two cars here. So I more or less walked 6 miles to keep from using the space saver spare that is still in the trunk and never used.

I am 66 and grew up with the Mustang and have 8 of them. Simple, easy to work on and were well worth the money back then. I don't think much of that statement applies today. Can you see doing a ground up on a 2015 Mustang in 40 + years, never happen.

If you have a funny story with your ride share it. I will get into what drifting was like back in the 60's and 70's and no the Japanese did not invent it. I came from right here in the mountains.

Oh the pic is the space saver spare. The car has not been washed or cleaned in 32 years sits in the barn.

David
Hmmmmmm-Drifting, eh? Got one for you but just do not have the time to copy off my album, on either page 7, 8, or 9 of which just got it out of the shop for power disc brakes and(Mikke-Mikke-Mikke) guess what-guess what! 'Not Hump Day', no brakes, did a Tokyo Slide in this guys front yard, fortunately did the job to stop my stang but not before breaking the lugs off the rear wheels and the rear anti-sway bar snapping.

 
I cant compete with DonStang running over lil innocent chilrens .....

Well the oldest brother saved up from returning from VietNam. bought a 66. Now on another thread he had been "powersliding" gravel roads from the mid 60's. He missed his calling for dirt track racing for certain. My powersliding was in a 60 Chevy that had a 409 3duce 4spd set up. I was driving it awaiting the change over to my 56. We had this run called the "dips", a long sweeping turn that doesnt forgive much when you lay all that power into the turn. The rear floats around I correct but it wasnt enough we some how slid between trees at midnight into some rich guys front yard. Lights flash on he comes running out and I had my foot into the 3 duces shifting like a mad man out of his newly carved front yard...... ::shrug::

My first Mustang was a 65 an non eventful. I sold it to buy this supermod 302 built by this guy Bob McGraw of AER in Dallas in the late 80's so I was 30. So fast forward I'm at what is now known as Pate Swap meet at Texas Motor Speedway. Was held back then on a beautiful highway built for RACING! Well that's not quite the opinion of Tx State Trooper as me and a 69 Z passed him doing well over 110 or more (I was too skeer'd to look at the speedometer) we were side by side and that lil Mustang had a fender on the Z and my Stang kept gaining and gaining. Well we both RAN like criminals when Mr DPS gave chase!!! three things I know for sure..Mr.DPS probably wondered wtf (why the face), The Z driver is probably STILL scratching his head wondering how he was getting beat by a 67 Coupe and I'm still wondering eXACTLY how fast I was going. I can tell you that I truthfully believe over 120 to 30but I cant prove it. the 302 was backed by the original 3 spd and top end axle that knew NO TOP END!dancebananadancebananadancebanana

 
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