Today's Adventures in Junk Cars: Craig gets a Mustang
Well, it's not for me, I'm holding it for a friend. No. Really. I am...
A friend, let's call him Brad, bought a 1987 Mustang GT about three years ago from a tow yard for $250. We drug it to my house on the trailer, changed out the ignition switch to one we had a key for and it started after tightening the starter bolts. It also ran really good. It was ugly though, way ugly. So ugly, we started referring to it as "The Ugly". Of course what do you do with a Mustang that runs good? You tear it apart to make it faster. We picked up a pair of GT40 heads from an Explorer, he had a machine shop go through them and install new springs, put the engine together and dropped it in the car.
Things took a turn for the worse here however. While straightening the lower core support so the radiator would set like it should we discovered the car had a fatal flaw. The frame rail was broke on the driver's side ahead of the strut tower. We pushed the car outside my shop with plans to repair the frame rail and get Brad back to driving this flaming turd pile.
Then things got even worse, Brad had a change of jobs, lost his house, got a divorce, etc. I didn't hear from him for nearly a year. When he resurfaced it was revealed to me that his soon to be ex-wife had at some point found a place that would loan $8,000 on this car. So now he's stuck with a payment on a car that's not worth $5.
Brad is back on his feet now, new young girlfriend, nice place to live and he wants to retire The Ugly and put this fresh drivetrain in something nicer. Enter The Ugly Too...
Not sure what he gave for this one, but I'm sure it was more than I would have...
We left after he got off work, drove two and half hours into Oklahoma to pickup this gem. After loading a car with no front steering, suspension or otherwise (luckily the seller had a tractor), BSing about racing, Mustangs and whatever else Oklahomans talk about we set of for the Missouri state line with a planned food and fuel stop in Vanita.
Fueling went as planned, but food is scarce this time of night in small town Oklahoma. So we had to settle for what had been in the warmer all day at the local 24/7 gas station. Brad opted for the mystery meat BBQ chimichanga, while I went for the house special:
Two thick slices of smoked Bologna with cheez on a dried out bun. Served with an ice cold Mexican Coke and BBQ crisps. Gourmet it isn't, food it might be.
The rest of the trip was uneventful despite seeing lots of wildlife crossing in front of the truck. The little Nissan pulled the estimated 5,000 pounds of trailer and car without issue. Posting an average of 13.7 MPG on the trip running 65-70 empty and 60-65 loaded.
Oh and the lesson of the day?
