Grabber Lime Restoration Update

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Hey Motorcity, what's the story with your 71 Red 429 Convertible (where did you find it, etc)

Thanks!

Kevin.
The convertible came out of Baton Rouge a couple of years ago.  The interior is pretty original but the door panels have been resprayed.  The exterior is straight as an arrow and the paint really nice (whoever did the paint work).  There are a few things incorrect (Mach 1 gas cap on the rear, doesn't have NASA hood springs, etc).  Mostly small items that can be corrected.  Fun to drive though, put about 300 miles a year on it.

 
I think I know the car! Did you buy it from Mickey Graphia? If so I have the "sister car (so to speak)" of that car. Do you know the story behind the owner before Mickey? Sad story. He was a big collector of Boss cars out of Texas. He had some really rare ones, including yours, a Boss 429, and mine (an all matching numbers, Bright Blue 72 Q code 4 speed convertible, white top, white interior with factory A/C, Tilt, Convenience Group, Tach, PS, PDB, and a Texas DSO). The story was that he passed away on his wedding night and the estate sold off the cars. I was too late and missed out on yours (unfortunately), but got mine as a consolation prize. Unlike your car, mine was a resto in progress and literally everything was in boxes. It took me 4 years to finish the car. I have the original 4 speed but put in a World Class T5 5 speed, upped the rear gears to 3.50s. added Decor Group with Stripes, Power Windows, Magnums, Rim Blow, and a very nice sound system. I changes the color from Bright Blue to Grabber Blue because I wanted a Grabber Blue one for my collection and already had several nice Blue Glow 73 Q code convertibles. Later I found two of the thirteen 72 R code convertibles. They are sister cars too. One is Grabber Blue and the other is Bright Blue metallic. I just finished the Bright Blue one and hopefully will get to the grabber blue one sometime in my lifetime! BTW, I absolutely love your stable!

 
I think I know the car! Did you buy it from Mickey Graphia? If so I have the "sister car (so to speak)" of that car. Do you know the story behind the owner before Mickey? Sad story. He was a big collector of Boss cars out of Texas. He had some really rare ones, including yours, a Boss 429, and mine (an all matching numbers, Bright Blue 72 Q code 4 speed convertible, white top, white interior with factory A/C, Tilt, Convenience Group, Tach, PS, PDB, and a Texas DSO). The story was that he passed away on his wedding night and the estate sold off the cars. I was too late and missed out on yours (unfortunately), but got mine as a consolation prize. Unlike your car, mine was a resto in progress and literally everything was in boxes. It took me 4 years to finish the car. I have the original 4 speed but put in a World Class T5 5 speed, upped the rear gears to 3.50s. added Decor Group with Stripes, Power Windows, Magnums, Rim Blow, and a very nice sound system. I changes the color from Bright Blue to Grabber Blue because I wanted a Grabber Blue one for my collection and already had several nice Blue Glow 73 Q code convertibles. Later I found two of the thirteen 72 R code convertibles. They are sister cars too. One is Grabber Blue and the other is Bright Blue metallic. I just finished the Bright Blue one and hopefully will get to the grabber blue one sometime in my lifetime! BTW, I absolutely love your stable!
That is a cool story (not where he passes away though), but neat that you know where my car came from and how you got yours!!!  I am going to retire at the end of this year and begin working on my projects.  I haven't gotten any further on the Grabber Lime one, so that is the first one to start tackling in January!  Here are few photo's of the garage from about 4 years ago.

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Wow! That is without a doubt the coolest thing I have seen in my entire life, Mustang Guru!! You are a man after my own heart, lol. Thanks for the pics and congratulations on making it to retirement and all the fun you have to look forward to. I'm glad there are people like you that are so dedicated to our hobby. I'd love to see your shop in person one day. Do you have plans to form or have you already started to form a museum?

Kevin.

 
Oh man that's a cool garage, would love to see that too! I'm all for a forum meeting...not far from there either. ::thumb::
Anytime the group or members of the group would like to have a meeting or stop by, just let me know as I will down there quite often now that I am retired!!

 
Congratulations on your retirement. Did that a few years ago unexpectedly. Lets just say I had enough. I remember you saying about needing to move things when I got the fender from you. Around here, that's not a garage. That's a warehouse....The only problem I found with retirement is the wife keeps the camper packed to go places. I would like to find one more car project someday, but I'm afraid I'll never find the time to finish it. Rich

 
Mike:

The Grabber Lime looks beautiful. Great work. Love to see it up close and personal. You do great work. Grabber Lime is The best color in my opinion. I'm putting together a Grabber Blue 71 SCJ, C-6 with drag pack, so I can identify with how slow everything goes. Looking for a 780 Holley Carb.

Work slowly continues on putting the Mach back together.  Headlight Buckets, Hood Bumpers,  Windshield Stops, Shock Tower caps and Hood weatherstrip all restored and installed.   Finding out that everything going back on the car is not as easy as taking it off!!!









 
Mike, Congrats on retirement! You clearly have enough to keep you busy, enjoy. Chuck

 
Congratulations on your retirement. Did that a few years ago unexpectedly. Lets just say I had enough. I remember you saying about needing to move things when I got the fender from you. Around here, that's not a garage. That's a warehouse....The only problem I found with retirement is the wife keeps the camper packed to go places. I would like to find one more car project someday, but I'm afraid I'll never find the time to finish it.  Rich
Thanks Rich!!  I need to quit buying project cars!!!  My plan is to spend time growing the parts business (I want to help younger kids get involved with the Mustang hobby, what better way to help tear cars apart and restore the parts and make money), and spend time restoring my cars!!

 
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