New to 7173 and 1st classic Mustang

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May 2, 2011
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Location
Portland, OR
My Car
1973 Convertible
Been looking off & on at 71-73 convertibles for about ten years. Mine was built when I was in Junior High and neighbors had them new at the time. I fell in love then. I preferred the 73 for the front end treatment and wanted a cloned Mach 1 look or was going to do it myself. I bought a 73 convertible July '10 that had had a lot of work done to it already. It needed some items to finish the car up and I felt I could do most of it myself. The previous owner had the car about 3 years and the previous to him about 10. Lots of receipts from both, and the original owner with the handwritten build sheet, owners manual and generic Ford shop manual (not much use). The 10 yr guy had rebuilt the 351C with a little enhanced performance, 1st re-paint to almost a match original blue, re-did the interior to white and put a top on it 12+ yrs ago. The 3 yr guy had added a bunch of Mach 1 clone items: rear bezel, spoiler & gas cap, grill, chin spoiler (though the NASA hood with the chrome lockdowns had come factory), new aluminum radiator, rebuilt the suspension front & rear all new with sway bars (lowered front 1"), new headers and Flowmaster stainless steel dual exhaust, added the American Racing 17" chrome wheels, and some other items. It drove like a new car with right over 100K miles.

I saw it needed: New Top (two tears in vinyl each side), the blue paint on the hood was faded, some general micro detailing of the interior parts and some minor fixes to things like the radio, window cranks, etc. All the minor stuff I could easily find at not too high of expense. The top was the only big item, maybe paint "someday".

I've taken apart the dash (polished all the plastic & dusted), added LED lights in the dash (I can see the speedometer now at night), Halogen headlights (can see the road at night now) with a daytime running bulb at bottom, new headlight switch, played with the radio (8 track works) but will replace as sounds terrible, polished the hood paint, just installing 3 point seat belts this weekend and have been working on the top. I removed the old one and have cleaned up the mechanism and repainted. I am about to start on the install of the new cloth top I ordered in black. I did a top myself 25 years ago on a '66 Oldsmobile Delta 88 I restored so the Mustang should be doable. I also have the side stripes for the 73 Mach 1 to put on. I am thinking of painting the interior of the chrome wheels "spokes" satin black to get an effect like the Magnum 500s until I get get my wife to agree spending those $$ is a good ide. She likes the hot rod look of the chrome wheels and they do look somewhat period correct.

Those of you that work on your cars know that each of the above "fixes" took many hours, some entire weekends, each. But the satisfaction when its done is priceless. I enjoy this type of detail improvements and driving the car. Took it out this Sunday (a rare non-rainy day here this time of year & with no top currently on it, important) for about a 3.5 hour drive around Portland to get some vitamin D.

I hope to get some good advice from other members and am happy to post my improvements as I did with the 3 pt seatbelt post under "convertibles".

The picture is from when I first got it. I will post additional once complete this Summer.Before 73 Mustang convertible  front quarter.jpg

 
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::welcome::

Very nice car and story!!! you will get a lot of info in here. look forward to hearing from you and seeing more pics!!

I have a 72 vert

 
Nice Mustang! Can't wait to see more photos!

Welcome to the forums!

::welcome::

 
Great introduction of you and your 73 Convert. Glad to see another 73 convertible on the road! If you have not done so yet may I suggest blacking out the insides of your headlight doors to match the honeycomb grill. Here is a picture of mine as it came from the factory. Looking forward to seeing more pictures!

DSCF8165.jpg


 
WELCOME aboard!

It would appear that you are well on your way to having exactly what you want out of your Convertible. As a couple of members have said or inferred, there are a number of Convertible owners on the Site.

I am sure you will bring a lot of "positives" to the Site and I look forward to interacting with you on the Forums.

Again, Welcome!

BT

 
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