Pit of Despair 71 Mustang

[Thumpin455]

The initial plan was to pull a car out of my dads backyard where it had been sitting for 13 years, throw a bunch of metal at it, get it drivable, and sell it for profit. After getting into the project and realizing just how much money I needed to get it nice enough for someone to actually want to buy it, it was obvious I would be very upside down on it.

Then my dad brought my Cougar up from its 20 year resting place and since it was bare metal and my first car, it needed done first, so this one languished in the shop being pushed around and shit piled on it.

Picked this one up from a friend for $20, drove it home putting oil in it twice to go 75 miles. Had to shut the engine off to put oil in because of the blow by on the 2V Cleveland. He said people liked to run into him when he drove this thing. I found that every panel had been whacked and some really crappy 'repairs' had been attempted, so this thing was a drivable pile when I got it. Sounds like the perfect project for me, right?

Its 13 year resting place.



Assessment in the shop before tear down.

[Thumpin455]

Then it was time to rip into this thing.

[Thumpin455]

Then I started welding parts back on it. The nice thing about Mustangs is almost every piece is reproduced, except for some parts on 71-73 cars. So the doors were shot, but I found a reworkable pair downstate, and he threw in a bunch of other parts since his car was going to be sold. Its still all just tacked in place because I wasnt at the stage yet to make sure everything fit right before I final welded it. Then the Cougar had to be done.







The cowl is trashed, you can barely see it here.















This is as far as it has gotten. Now it has some surface rust from sitting, still needs a trunk floor and tail panel. The plan is to fix the last two structural panels then put it on the rotisserie and clean the underside while rebuilding the rear suspension.

[mlcraven]

You're working another miracle! IMO this style of Mustang never received the enthusiast respect it deserved (personally, I believe the 1970 had the best lines of any of them but the 71-73s were a close second or third). Body put right, interior cleaned up, with some Magnum 500s and a built Cleveland in it, it will be a very nice example of the last gasp of the 60s-70s muscle car era.

Good luck with it.

[yellomalibu]

Wow.

Metal work (rust) is one of the things that will make me walk from a potential project. I'm glad there are people like you out there who are willing and happy to tackle those projects.

[tardis454]

You're working another miracle!

x2, Todd loves bringing rot buckets back from the dead.
Can't wait to see it when it's done!

[hauen]

I'd give my left n...errr, a lot, to have that kind of skill and patience. Nice work!

[Mater]

favorite mustang body style can not wait too see this one done

[Thumpin455]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I learned lots doing this one, but so much more since I started. This thing might actually come out pretty well. Still no idea of a plan, no burning desire, nothing really calls to me other than more available shop space.

Thoughts are of an LSR car, a street brawler, corner carver, stock thrown together to get it running, and just a flat black lowered with basset wheels freak. Maybe I will just play around with it and do things I have wanted to try for a while now, and see how it turns out.

If the lungs dont clear up here soon, I wont be doing much of anything. Something got in there and it wont come out. Cant breathe, feels almost as bad as May-June when I was fighting pneumonia. Two days a week max is all I can put in since late August. Hopefully the VA Doc will find out what is wrong and fix it. Im getting bored of sitting here playin video games.

[Scott Liggett]

Todd, looking at this mess and the mess the GTO started out as I gotta say this: "You crazy!" But, we like crazy here.

As for your health. Could be allergies. They are hitting people at times and in places that never happened before this year. Maybe because of the drought. Hope you feel better soon.

[cal67ss396]

Do you sleep. WOW

[Thumpin455]

Do you sleep. WOW

Of course. I dont have a real job, so it looks like I work faster than everyone else. Actually I am goofing off most of the time. Havent done anything since Sunday when I put both 65s and the Mustang in the shop again.

[STINEY]

I second the allergy thing.

I get the sneezy snotty allergy every year like clockwork for a month or two. Starts a week before school starts, ends 6-8 weeks later.

Not this year. No sneezy snotty all ALL................but I've been fighting a nasty cough since mid-July. On a whim, I tried Allegra-D, which has always worked for the other stuff.

Whammo. No cough. Back off the Allegra-D, cough returns. Bingo.

Weird too. I don't know what to think.

Hope you have something just as simple!

[DanStokes]

Take care of yourself, Todd. Good luck with the Doc.

Dan

[Thumpin455]

Well the doc gave me some meds, and ordered some inhalers for me. Also a respiratory test coming up next month. Picked up an air purifier today too, seems to be helping. I have it on in the room where my computers are, and where I do my planning, parts ordering, and some small stuff. With any luck I should be able to do something this week.