Mike Bunch
New member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2016
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- USA
- My Car
- 1971 Prostock Nostalgia Dragster
Last spring we bought an unfinished 1971 Mustang prostock project out of a warehouse in southern California. The build was started in 1970 and appears to have been a factory sponsored car.
From what we where told it was only half done but when we got it un burried it pleased us to find that it was nearly complete. Basically a ready to go roller with no engine or transmission. It had not been touched since Sept 1970.
Some but confusing recourds with it and the owner of the warehouse knows little about it - they bought the building in 1981 and it was there.
If it is a real body in white factory car I did good. If it is just a old school racer then I paid way to much. I have got some great help from people who know about the 1970 Trans Am factory body in white cars run by Bud Moore and they say it looks to be real just they have never heard of it. Ford has no recourds of it but we have a shipping reciept from Ford for #xx-xxxx and this car has that number on a rivited tag on the cowl. I am not posting the number yet until we figure out for sure what we have.
We did find paper work for engine work from a Paul Machine in Jupiter Fl dated 1970. That is how I found this site. I tracked down the owner of the address listed and he bought it from Paul Machine in 1986. He gave me the last contact info he had and it was still good. I talked to Mr. Pauls son and asked if he knew anything about it and was shocked to find out that Mr. Paul Sr. was still alive.
I flew to Missouri and met Mr. Paul at his sons home - Not only did he have recourds of the engine work he did he still had the engine. He had recieved a deposit and the engine was never picked up or paid for. From memory he thinks it was an Ed Terry or Martin car but they switched to a Maverick and then Ford bailed out of drag racing in 1972. I was able to purchase the engine for a fair price.
We drove down and what a great guy Mr. Paul is. He took me in his shop and in between his MANY Boss 429's and SOHC 427's was a 351c with all the 1970's tricks and port plates still in place. It was a Boss Engine shiped directly from Ford to Mr. Paul in 1970. He said I should join this site and post about the car.
He included another set of modified boss heads that he said would look the same but actually work better than those "cut up mother f.....ers". I wanted him to go through the engine but he said no saying at 94 he was not able to do much anymore.
We have stayed in touch and I have got him in contact with collectors and restorers that I know and they have been able to purchase quite a bit of his stuff.
We are close to documenting the car - it will not be a high dollar collectible because it was never raced or clearly owned by someone famous but it will be a nice piece. Once we are done confirming everything I will post pictures.
It was an honor to meet Mr. Paul and his family. I hope to be half as sharp as he is if I even make it to the 90s.
Mike Bunch
From what we where told it was only half done but when we got it un burried it pleased us to find that it was nearly complete. Basically a ready to go roller with no engine or transmission. It had not been touched since Sept 1970.
Some but confusing recourds with it and the owner of the warehouse knows little about it - they bought the building in 1981 and it was there.
If it is a real body in white factory car I did good. If it is just a old school racer then I paid way to much. I have got some great help from people who know about the 1970 Trans Am factory body in white cars run by Bud Moore and they say it looks to be real just they have never heard of it. Ford has no recourds of it but we have a shipping reciept from Ford for #xx-xxxx and this car has that number on a rivited tag on the cowl. I am not posting the number yet until we figure out for sure what we have.
We did find paper work for engine work from a Paul Machine in Jupiter Fl dated 1970. That is how I found this site. I tracked down the owner of the address listed and he bought it from Paul Machine in 1986. He gave me the last contact info he had and it was still good. I talked to Mr. Pauls son and asked if he knew anything about it and was shocked to find out that Mr. Paul Sr. was still alive.
I flew to Missouri and met Mr. Paul at his sons home - Not only did he have recourds of the engine work he did he still had the engine. He had recieved a deposit and the engine was never picked up or paid for. From memory he thinks it was an Ed Terry or Martin car but they switched to a Maverick and then Ford bailed out of drag racing in 1972. I was able to purchase the engine for a fair price.
We drove down and what a great guy Mr. Paul is. He took me in his shop and in between his MANY Boss 429's and SOHC 427's was a 351c with all the 1970's tricks and port plates still in place. It was a Boss Engine shiped directly from Ford to Mr. Paul in 1970. He said I should join this site and post about the car.
He included another set of modified boss heads that he said would look the same but actually work better than those "cut up mother f.....ers". I wanted him to go through the engine but he said no saying at 94 he was not able to do much anymore.
We have stayed in touch and I have got him in contact with collectors and restorers that I know and they have been able to purchase quite a bit of his stuff.
We are close to documenting the car - it will not be a high dollar collectible because it was never raced or clearly owned by someone famous but it will be a nice piece. Once we are done confirming everything I will post pictures.
It was an honor to meet Mr. Paul and his family. I hope to be half as sharp as he is if I even make it to the 90s.
Mike Bunch
