- Joined
- Aug 9, 2020
- Messages
- 501
- Reaction score
- 679
- Location
- North Idaho & The Bahamas
- My Car
- 1973 Mach 1
Some other Fords
I'm going to start a build thread on my car.
I redid my '73 a couple of years ago. Before I was really familiar with this forum, I posted all of my progress in the long thread "What did you do to your car today". I regret doing so, and in hindsight I should have documented my efforts in a new "Project Build" thread.
This may take awhile, but I am going to attempt to cut/paste and document my efforts here. For the old timers, I apologize for the repeat posts. Although if you are like me, after a year or two I can't remember anything anyway so it might read like new.
I am going to start with the post I made when I introduced myself to the forum back in September 2020 as it gives some history on the car. Here’s my/the car’s story:
While I am not the original owner, I am pretty close. With my dad's help I bought the car in 1975 used from the local Ford dealer. It is a 1973 2V automatic Mach 1. When I acquired it there were 8000 miles on the clock. The woman who bought it originally traded it for a Mustang II.
I was in college at the time in Southern California and this is my first car. I was a road racing fan at the time and my Mach saw many late night high-speed runs on the Angeles Crest highway back in those years. During my college days I made a number of “improvements” on the car [pretty much anything that was on sale at Pep Boys
]. All of this work was done in the parking lot or under an apartment carport.
Hedman headers, Offenhauser Dual plane intake, Holley 650 double pumper, Ram air, 351 Boss valve covers, 1971 4V Ford HO Cam, Rear sway bar, radial tires, Mallory electronic ignition, 1971 rear valence and dual exhaust. I am sure I am leaving out a number of things, but that is what I remember. The car ran pretty well and I managed a high 14 second run in the quarter at Pomona which is saying something given the 2.75 open diff.
In about 1980 I moved in next door to a guy with a 1971 Mach 1 4V HO car. He was going to trade his Mustang in on a BMW so I asked him if I could swap out some parts. He said no problem, and over the next week or so I ended up with his 4V heads, carb and intake manifold. He traded in a slightly modified ’71…
Well come the early 80s and life got in the way. New wife, job, small garage…like many it was time to part with my pride and joy. I had a great dad who when learning that I was going to sell the car offered to buy it from me and store it until I could buy it back someday. He was sure I’d really like to have my “first love” back at some point in the future. He, like so many others, always regretted selling his first car.
As I recall he gave me $3000 for it. We never did any paperwork so legally I continued to own it. I guess the transaction is better classified as a fully collateralized loan where there were no payments and he held the collateral. He stored the car in his airplane hangar and drove it monthly around the airport taxiways to keep it fresh.
Fast forward to around 1992. My life situation changed and I was able to “buy” my Mach back for the same $3000 I gave him 10+ years earlier.
I decided the first order of business was to take her back closer to stock. I removed the headers, installed factory exhaust manifolds and factory dual exhaust. The ignition went back to points, coil back to yellow top, steering wheel back to original along with a few other things. She didn’t run nearly as strong anymore, but my days of racing up the Angeles Crest were behind me and I was happy to have my first car back.
Well, again life got in the way, my automotive interests changed and the old Mach ended up languishing in storage and un-driven for 25+ years which brings us to today. Now retired, I have the time and flexibility to work on the car again. I’m going to get her back running and do some things I have always wanted to do.
Here are some photos of the old girl:
I am very fortunate to start with a rust free and very straight car always stored inside. It also helps to be intimately familiar with all of the history.
I redid my '73 a couple of years ago. Before I was really familiar with this forum, I posted all of my progress in the long thread "What did you do to your car today". I regret doing so, and in hindsight I should have documented my efforts in a new "Project Build" thread.
This may take awhile, but I am going to attempt to cut/paste and document my efforts here. For the old timers, I apologize for the repeat posts. Although if you are like me, after a year or two I can't remember anything anyway so it might read like new.
I am going to start with the post I made when I introduced myself to the forum back in September 2020 as it gives some history on the car. Here’s my/the car’s story:
While I am not the original owner, I am pretty close. With my dad's help I bought the car in 1975 used from the local Ford dealer. It is a 1973 2V automatic Mach 1. When I acquired it there were 8000 miles on the clock. The woman who bought it originally traded it for a Mustang II.
I was in college at the time in Southern California and this is my first car. I was a road racing fan at the time and my Mach saw many late night high-speed runs on the Angeles Crest highway back in those years. During my college days I made a number of “improvements” on the car [pretty much anything that was on sale at Pep Boys
]. All of this work was done in the parking lot or under an apartment carport.Hedman headers, Offenhauser Dual plane intake, Holley 650 double pumper, Ram air, 351 Boss valve covers, 1971 4V Ford HO Cam, Rear sway bar, radial tires, Mallory electronic ignition, 1971 rear valence and dual exhaust. I am sure I am leaving out a number of things, but that is what I remember. The car ran pretty well and I managed a high 14 second run in the quarter at Pomona which is saying something given the 2.75 open diff.
In about 1980 I moved in next door to a guy with a 1971 Mach 1 4V HO car. He was going to trade his Mustang in on a BMW so I asked him if I could swap out some parts. He said no problem, and over the next week or so I ended up with his 4V heads, carb and intake manifold. He traded in a slightly modified ’71…
Well come the early 80s and life got in the way. New wife, job, small garage…like many it was time to part with my pride and joy. I had a great dad who when learning that I was going to sell the car offered to buy it from me and store it until I could buy it back someday. He was sure I’d really like to have my “first love” back at some point in the future. He, like so many others, always regretted selling his first car.
As I recall he gave me $3000 for it. We never did any paperwork so legally I continued to own it. I guess the transaction is better classified as a fully collateralized loan where there were no payments and he held the collateral. He stored the car in his airplane hangar and drove it monthly around the airport taxiways to keep it fresh.
Fast forward to around 1992. My life situation changed and I was able to “buy” my Mach back for the same $3000 I gave him 10+ years earlier.
I decided the first order of business was to take her back closer to stock. I removed the headers, installed factory exhaust manifolds and factory dual exhaust. The ignition went back to points, coil back to yellow top, steering wheel back to original along with a few other things. She didn’t run nearly as strong anymore, but my days of racing up the Angeles Crest were behind me and I was happy to have my first car back.
Well, again life got in the way, my automotive interests changed and the old Mach ended up languishing in storage and un-driven for 25+ years which brings us to today. Now retired, I have the time and flexibility to work on the car again. I’m going to get her back running and do some things I have always wanted to do.
Here are some photos of the old girl:
I am very fortunate to start with a rust free and very straight car always stored inside. It also helps to be intimately familiar with all of the history.
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