100.000 miles

The 50th Anniversary driving season is about to reach the end and my project Snowback will soon be back from blasting so I need to make room for it in my shop. Destiny will spend the coming winter in my parents' garage in dry and warm. Before driving her in I decided to shoot a couple of photos from her. As Destiny is not a hot rod but a nice driver you can use for easily going to church so that's what I did and went to the Church of St.Lawrence.

550 years old church and 50 years young Mustang

While driving back from church the odometer turned around after 100.000 miles reached !

Mission accomplished !

I wonder if  anyone at Ford imagined in 1965 that someone would ever drive these cars after 50 years. Neither do I believe that they thought that 100.000 miles would ever be exceeded.

This year we hit only about 1.400 miles together, despite the unexceptionally warm July and August that we experienced. You just don't have enough time to drive whenever you want.

We made a couple of longer trips to Ford Nationals at Alastaro Circuit and to FMOC FunRun in Jyväskylä where the Mustang was first shown on Sunday, April 12th (!!!) in 1964.
What has been delightful is the average fuel consumption which is as low as 11.5 liters per 100 km (over 20 miles per gallon).

Destiny and the disassembled parts from Snowback

Technically seen the summer has been a success. No major problems encountered, except that the alternator seems like not charging enough with headlights on and engine running with low RPM. Another thing to address in future is the noise from the rear that can be heard when driving the top up. I suppose the rear wheel bearings may need to be renewed.

Destiny hibernates under the starry sky

So, Good night and see you in April , Destiny !

The Church of St.Lawrence in Vantaa

Preparing for the 50th Anniversary

It's been a while since the last update. Since the front end alignment not much has been done with Destiny (as a matter of fact I've spent more time with Project Snowback).

A couple of pictures of installation of the carpet underlayment, which is needed more for making the carpet sit nicely than for sound and heat insulation.

I first laid strips of jute padding (8mm thickness) lengthwise from pedals to the rear seat and then another set of strips crosswise. By applying shots of spray glue here and there, I ensured that the padding remained in place during the installation of carpet and seats.  I still re-used the old "furry" carpet. 

Later I found out that the crosswise strip on the seat platform should have not been applied. The seat rails tend to sink into the carpet and padding causing friction that prevents forward-backward movement of the seat.

This year the spring is early so the first visit out to fill her up with fresh gasoline was made on 11th March. After changing the oil and filter Destiny is ready for celebrating the 50th Anniversary season of Mustang.

The next project ?

Since last summer I have spent hours and hour checking eBay, Craigslist, German site Mobile.de and Swedish site Blocket.se as well as local markets to find a reasonably priced car for my next project. As mentioned in my earlier posts, Destiny only needs regular maintenance from now on. Though in my mind I preferred Mustangs (in order to have yet another Bullit or GT-350 clone) I kept my eyes open for Camaros, Firebirds and Cougars from '67 to '68. Of course a classic Chevy would do, but knowing what they are worth and knowing the limitations with the size of my shop I kept the focus on pony-size cars also keeping in mind that the clue in the next project was supposed to have a little bit angrier approach than just a nice looking cruiser.

The European market these days seem quiet when it comes to unrestored cars. Should you be interested in finding a well-restored car, it would not be hard to find one in Sweden, if you are willing to pay what it takes.

I found a '67 Cougar, a newly imported survivor in local sale. I spent a couple of nights planning and projecting what it would become in my hands, and made a decision to buy it. But someone else was quicker and bought it before.

I kept on calculating the costs for importing a car from US and for having it shipped, customs paid and taxed and faced the rough fact that any car doubles its price when doing so. US looks like it is running out of reasonably priced collectibles. Requesting 10 k$ for a project fastback without the engine in not unusual.

So, after approving the fact that obtaining the project would cost more than what I originally had expected led me browsing the Internet day after day and finally bidding (via an agent) for a couple of Mustangs. One was sold locally, the other went too high with price, the third one was pulled out before the bidding time ended and so on.

I was really getting frustrated for the hobby until a friend of mine called me on Thursday (Destiny's 49th Anniversary, BTW) and told that he had found the car I had been looking. And the good new on top of that , it was on sale within less than 10 kilometres from my house.

And here she is, VIN 5F09A******

The front is missing some details

In the dark it was hard to tell the color

The missing fender is included

The original paint on cowl side panel seems like Silver Blue

New tires on '67 rims

'65 Mustang Snowback

The left rear fender is in need for replacement again.

So, this cars has a lot of work to be done

• rust to be fixed
• broken windshield
• torn upholstery
• wrong rims
• drum brakes, no power brakes

But it also has a lot of potential

• engine said to be a 302 block, rotating (never fired up this side of Atlantic, though)
• 4 speed manual transmission with Hurst shifter
• all sheet metal needed included 
• passenger side fender included
• all the hard-to-find expensive fastback specific parts are there
• rear window with defrost panel (can't wait to see the D.S.O. of this one)
• NPD export service in Ocala, FL waiting for an order for missing parts

The car has now been towed in and today afternoon I'll be able to see it in warm shop, hoisted up and with good lighting. Should the car be what it is said to be I'll buy it !