OK I’ve been anxious and excited over the last few days so I’ve been trying to calm myself down by looking over videos on Youtube. So as you can see by previous posts I’ve found some good stuff. Now I’ve come across this little beauty from the guys over at Top Gear. On last weeks show they road tested the new Shelby GT500 and they compared it to a vintage mustang, which in fact was Richard Hammond’s personal car.

The Stig gives it a lap around the track, which wasn’t all that good, in fact it was exactly the same time as the the locally made Australian Monaro! They also compare it to the Roush Mustang, which has less BHP but still manages to produce a better lap time.

To be honest I’m not a fan of the new GT500, I’m not sure if it’s the review Hammond gave it or it’s the looks? Either way, I’ll let you be the judge, enjoy 9 minutes of Mustangs.

There’s some things that you just don’t want to happen when you’re restoring a classic. It’s your pride and joy and most of the time you love it more than your own mother.

This week it came to light that the founder of Customfastbackca.com and all round great bloke, David Ambler lost his mustang in a tragic fire. Some of you may know him from his time with Unique Performance. On many occasions David helped me with my orders and it was a breeze for him to organise parts to Australia.

Below are his own words on his loss and the aftermath and also why he left Unique Performance.

At the age of 15 I spawned my first true love affair, the Ford Mustang. A 1964 ½ Cherry Red Mustang that I spotted a local car show would soon be mine. As this enthusiasm grew, I channeled my inspiration for this vehicle to a 1991 Mustang GT, then a 1996 Supercharged Saleen Mustang and then to my favorite of all, a 1967 Shelby GT500 clone named “Eleanor”. In July 2001 I bought a project 1967 Ford Mustang from Kamloops, British Columbia hoping to build the car that inspired the movie “Gone in Sixty Seconds”. Little did I know I was about to start a six year love affair that would entail starting a website that now has over 1,000,000 hits, moving to Dallas, Texas to work for Unique Performance who shares the same passionate pulse as I and spending more money in this creation than my grandmother’s first house. Countless hours were spent underneath my creation with a best friend scraping dirt and grime and wrenching, I started a fire while trying to weld a bracket onto the firewall, I ordered subscription after subscription of car magazine trying to perfect this dream of mine and I even got a tattoo on my thigh that says “Eleanor” (just kidding). All this momentum to my shock would be halted Friday February 2, 2007 by a scorching blaze. The next day I went to see the remains of what was once the culmination of years of hard work and joy. The next day I went to see the building that used to shelter my creation, burned to the ground.

It’s funny, my initial reaction was shock and disappointment. Then brief anger; especially when I realized I had just cancelled my insurance just 2 months before because the insurance company had haggled me about the VIN number. I suddenly realized however that I was sublimely overjoyed. The epiphany, like you see in some Hollywood tales, was that I was happy to know that the call I received was not to inform me of the death of my baby brother, or that my Dad had a heart attack or any other countless irreplaceable things in my life that I cherish so much. That same weekend I rested calmly in the absence of regret, sadness, anger or shame. I sat humbled, but not by heartbreak. Sad only for my dear Mechanic friend Jerry who was building my car in his new shop that contained every tool he had been accumulating his whole life. Sad that his livelihood had been stripped in just five minutes.

Misfortune, however, was met with hope. Jerry’s friends reached out. Jerry’s friend convinced the shop where he works to let Jerry finish some work he planned to complete in his own shop. Jerry’s other friends also vowed to establish a benefit to help resurrect the tools and equipment lost in the fire. So while Jerry still sits stunned, saddened and sorry for my loss, he has been lifted by the grace of his friends and family.

So what about the burned and decrepit shell you see in the pictures? Surely I can’t bear both financially and psychologically to start from ground zero. Well there is even more good fortune. Doug Hasty, the man who brought me to Texas to share this mutual passion, called me that next day and offered to help get my project back on its feet. Doug offered on behalf of Unique Performance to send a new shell I’ll provide back through sheetmetal and bodywork and to help rebuild. A truly selfless offer that sets me even more in shock than I was that day.

Despite this tremendous offer, another opportunity showed its face. A Super Snake, built by Unique Performance, showed up at a government auction in South Texas. To make a long story short I picked up this Snake for myself at a steal of a price. My intention then and now is to run through this 175 mile car and ready it for sale, turning a profit. This profit would then allow me to take on whatever endeavor I so choose in the near future. The Snake by the way is grey w/ black stripes.

Now on to my life and why I left Unique Performance. During my time at University I majored in Philosophy, Pre-Law emphasis. Immediately after graduation I began my application process to Law Schools around the country. In this interim period is when Doug Hasty offered me the job in Texas at Unique Performance, which I took with some reservation given my plans, but mostly with open arms. It was never my intention to make my life in Texas permanent and so I sit here again today readying myself again for Law School. Although I believe that action is guided always by more than one reason, I can honestly say that my absence at Unique is a blessing only to my aspiration to become a lawyer.

I still have tremendous loyalty to Unique Performance and the people who make that company such an exemplar of thriving passion. Many of the posts I see are wildly speculatory. I will not clear up every post in all the threads, but I will say many of your conspiracy theories are unfounded. One clear thing you have all found through observation and experience is the lack of help in the parts department. The focus of Unique Performance is and will always be the production of vehicle. I will say that Ryan Howard is working very hard to fill all the orders. Please be patient with him as he has many other responsibilities to accomplish besides parts orders. I will say that my intentions and Ryan’s were (Ryan’s still are) to help all the incoming calls. I remember when the part’s department was up in running in full gear I would get about 60-70 voicemails a day. It would literally take my days just to answer all of one days calls and so I was always behind. Things are not that crazy there now (thank the Lord!), but Ryan was behind when I left.

If technical questions arise, post them on the board to my attention and I will try to answer them all. Just know that I don’t check the board that often and that my response may take time. Thanks for reading guys.

David
CustomFastbackCA

I wish David all the best in the future and hope he gets back on his feet with his project soon enough.

So I stumbled upon this new add from Ford for the new Shelby GT500. Quite funny, I love their sense of humor, although I must say I’m a classic man myself and much prefer a vintage Shelby GT500 but I wouldn’t say no to this.

And how about this one from last year. Steve McQueen, the legend lives, driving the modern Ford Mustang. It’s quite ingenious the way they’ve done it.

Word just in! The old girl is heading in on Monday morning for the fitting of some of the kit and the last bit of body work with the rear chassis rail. Now i’m very excited.

Updates and photos will be posted as they come to hand.

So these are the blue lights in the front valance just inside the main headlights. Seems they are not produced by PIAA any longer and have been hard to come by. Luckily enough one of my friends on the Customfastback forum has a spare pair, and better still, they are brand new in the box.

Paying for them on Monday and hopefully have them in a few weeks. Once i get these that will complete all the exterior lights i need.

In an effort to keep the engine bay clutter free and neat I’ve decided to relocate the battery to the boot, and thankfully this isn’t too difficult with the Taylor Aluminium Battery Box. IT comes with relocation cables so setup should be a breeze. Here’s what is said about it.

Taylor’s three-piece aluminum battery boxes meet NHRA rules for installations where there is no firewall between the driver and the battery. They fit most battery sizes and hard-mount the battery to the frame. The removable top allows access to the battery without having to remove it from the box. A heavy duty, welded hold-down and the mounting hardware are included. Positive and negative standard battery cable included for trunk mount relocation.

TW48101 – UNIVERSAL BATTERY BOX RELOCATION KIT W/ CABLES

I finally got around to purchasing some more of the lights for the car, i went the easy way and bought them all from the one place, Mustangs Unlimited

So here is what i got:
PI8360 – CENTER DRIVING LIGHT KIT 67/68 ELEANOR (PIAA)

2x PI1202 – PROJECTOR DRIVING LIGHT ASSEMBLY XTREME WHITE

PI34085 – DRIVING/FOG LIGHT HARNESS (PIAA)

PI30034 – FOG/DRIVING LIGHT SWITCH (PIAA)

C7ZZ15511AR – BACK UP LIGHT ASSEMBLY RH 67/68 MUSTANG/COUGAR
C7ZZ15512AR – BACK UP LIGHT ASSEMBLY LH 67/68 MUSTANG/COUGAR

C5ZZ15514A – BACK UP LIGHT LENS KIT 65/68

BLG2 – BACK UP LIGHT HOUSING TO BODY GASKETS 67/70 PAIR

BLG3 – BACK UP LIGHT LENS TO HOUSING GASKET 65/70
TL1142 – BACK UP LIGHT BULB 65/68 MUSTANG AND 67/68 COUGAR

You may also notice i didn’t get to purchase the PIAA9591 Projector (blue) fog lights, well PIAA no longer makes this item so it wasn’t available. However I’ve found some, more info on them soon.

If you’re looking at body kits for your Mustang, there’s a variety of options to consider. Of course the main one is price, as sometimes you will get what you pay for but this doesn’t mean paying through the nose just to fit a kit that doesn’t look all that great, leaving you with a substandard look and an empty wallet.

So I decided to take a look at kits and show you what the potential of some of the better ones could be. Of course, modifying your car is simple enough, as long as you know your stuff.

So seeing as the car is going in in the next few weeks to get some body work and get part of the kit fitted I thought id post the kit I’m using. There are heaps of kit’s out there, lots of which are poor in quality and relatively cheap, however the one I went with is Australian made and is worth the extra cash.

You will notice the upper (and lower) side scoops are moulded closed, these will be cut open as both will be made functional.

Now here’s a closer look of the bits and pieces and the support brace for the front end.

I’ll post the photos of the kit being fitted as soon as i can. Till then enjoy the photos (and the finished product also in the photos)

So the movie car had the original guages in it, although it had an Autometer monster tacho fitted. I don’t wanna go the monster tacho way, but I do want to go the Autometer way.

Basically I wanted it to look like this:

So after checking out Autometer and seeing them in other cars I started to hunt them down. But again it wasn’t as easy as thought, being in Australia we use Kilometers Per Hour (KPH) better known as metric. So I had to order the Metric series of the guages, which I decided where the Ultra-lite Pro Comp range. Here is what I needed:

5″ Electrical Speedo – 4489-M
5″ 10K Tachometer – 4498
2 5/8″ Fuel – 4415
2 5/8″ Water – 4431-M
2 5/8″ Oil Pressure – 4427

After a lot of searching I found a guy in the states who ordered them for me through Autometer directly. Funnily enough I found him on Ebay selling guages, so I just emailed him. Turned out really cheap as well.

Here they are:

Well this is pretty much where I’m up to. The old girl has has all paint and gunk stripped off and had some prep work done.

So basically we’re almost ready to have the kit fitted up. She’s booked in for 3 weeks time to have some minor panel work and have one of the rear chassis rails pulled back into shape. So until then that’s where we are at with the body, coming along nicely I think.