Hot70Mach1

oh sorry you went through all that trouble, i saw the first pictures, i meant when you get a chance post new pictures, get one of the engine, two or three of the interior, gauges and trunk. a rear shot will do you good as well.

my enthusiasim overwhelmed me.

1969-1970 mach 1s are my favorite cars.

Ricks69mustang

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davesanborn

Brenda,

You're exactly right, you've got to start somewhere and you've done the right thing by reaching out to the wealth of experience all around you.

First off welcome to the wonderful world of classic Mustang ownership!

Secondly, welcome to the next best thing.... the virtual Mustang club! You're surrounded by a wealth of experience that's willing to share all of their knowledge with you. Just ask a question and you'll receive a response! The only thing I must warn you about is not all of the responses you'll get will be good advice. It's up to you to weigh the responses and make your own educated guess as to what the proper course of action is.

Some people will tell you to drive that baby all day long! In my opinion, that's not good advice.

A car this old may look great on the outside, but there are things you should do to familarize yourself with the car and "give the tires a good kicking" before you hit the open roads.

Speaking of tires. lets start there. Tires dry-rot whether they're in use or not. Garaging the car will slow the process, but rubber by nature will eventually dry out. Inspect the tires closely for any signs of cracking on the tread or sidewall. If the tires are 7-10 years old, I'd change them out for new ones. A blowout while driving this caris not a good idea.

Brakes. By chemical composition,brake fluid absorbs moisture from the air. Brake systemcomponents will corrode due to the trapped moisture within the system. Components that may look fine on the outside, may be near death on the inside. Inspect the brake system closely for any signs of corrosion. A great place to check is the the rear drum brake wheel cylinders. Pull the cylinder apart (even with the weakest of repair manuals it's easy)and if the cylinder has a light/dark brown gunk type mixture of fluid, replaceALL of the brake system components. The discoloration of the fluid (it should be clear) is due to corrosion and rotting of the insides of the brake components/lines. Replace everything.

Brakes again. And this is mostly cautionary advice... the brake systems on these older cars, even when properly serviced and functioning perfectly will not stop the car fast enough. There's nothingwrong with the old brake system, it's just that all of the carsdriving around you will have more modern systems incorporating ABS and usually 4 wheeldisc brakes. They're going to stop much faster than you'll be able to.Eithergive yourself plenty of room around you and pray a lot that no-one around you panic stops or upgrade the cars braking system. There are 100 companies that specialize in providing upgraded brake systems for these cars.

Headlights. You won't be able to see as well with the old sealed beamunits as the halogen or projector type bulbs in your modern car. Upgrade the cars headlights to halogen by replacing the bulbs or slow down while driving at night.

Your husband.I assume that this new addition is not the 2nd car in the household, but more likely the third or fourth car? It's a toy and he needs to make it his toy. By working on it, it will bring a sense of accomplishment and pride, and probably drain your savings account. Removing the engine is probably not necessary on such a low mileage car, but if he wants to jump into it, let him. Equate it to you painting or wallpapering the kitchen when you moved into your first home. The existing paint was probably fine, but you wanted to put your stamp on it by making it yours.

Local Mustang clubs. With a car as nice as yours, they'll find you in a matter of a couple weeks. You'll be driving the car one day soon and some stranger will follow you and invite you to the next meeting while drooling on your car (have tissues handy and get used to it). Don't be surprised if they/he never looks at you, but just keeps staring at the car... it's a guy thing. Learn how to open the hood or get used to someone else asking you if they can.

Originality. Your car appears very original. You'd be doing the community a favor by keeping it this way. While I modernize every Mustang I've ever owned... without any regard for originality, I'm usually starting with a basket-case piece of crap that is too far gone to make original again. Original cars command a different level of respect and usuallya higher premium if it ever comes time to sell the car. Modified Mustangs are EVERYWHERE. Original ones are fewer and farer between. If you make any changes to the car, try and make them such that they could easily be made back to original. Save ALL of the old removed parts. Save all your receipts in a folder and you'll thank yourself later.

Enjoy the car, but take a close look at it from a safety standpoint before you start driving it every day.

If you have any questions, post them here for responses within an hour (usually).

Anything else?

Dave

Hot70Mach1

this car gets to be garaged.

immediately, like yesterday immediately.

are we clear. i can tell you horror stories of classic mustangs being left outside at night to fend for them selves.

davesanborn

I concur. Garaged and/or heavily insured. With the sentimental value associated with this car,insurance can never be enough. My first Mustang years ago wasa 1970 Coupe with the 351 4V motor, FMX and 9". Within a couple months of completing thefull restoration, someone was kindenough to remove it from my posession. I never saw the car again and am still looking for it today (70 Coupe owners beware!)

Brenda, Look into classic car insurance by carriers such as Hagerty, Grundyor Heacock. Much better rates than local agents can provide. Figure $30-40k agreed value for the car as it sits today.

Dave

rmodel65

i agree with daves post but id also like to add suspension to his list, if youve got bad ball joint, tie rods etc then the car can drive funny and be squirrely all over the road. and eat new tires quickly

yes get insurance asap if you dont already have it, people like to ooogle(leaning on then scratching them with belt buckles etc) over these in parking lots and some like to tear up things they cannot afford


this car may very well be original paint, ford used enamels in the 60s they hold up extremely well.


congrats on the purchase and welcome

my77stang

definately keep that thing as original as humanly possible. i would seriously consider making it a trailer queen (god i hate to say that, but 18k mile 69's are NOT an easy find).

Hot70Mach1

i agree. as much as i hate to say that. but this is one extremely rare car.

dont replace anything thats disposable with an incorrect aftermarket piece.

dont fix whats not broken. this is a valuable car.

if you decide you need a project car to soup up let me know i have a 70 mach ready to go. o wait is this a bad place for a plug?
haha im just kidding.

in all serious ness. replace only essential parts, rubber brake lines, tires, fileters. bulbs. the minor things.

4reboy

Here I am


First off let me just say that you have one beautiful mach 1 there and I am extremely jealous. I suggest you get a Marti Report (http://www.martiauto.com/) to figure out the original options, production numbers, and what your vin means in general about your car, it is totally worth the money. In the mean time you can use an online vindecoder to determine the original color, body style, etc, etc. However the marti report will tell you if it came with the black hood treatment or not, mine said my car came with it. If your car did come with it you can go a few routes, you could simply just have the cowl panel and hood painted correctly, or leave it be for the time being. As far as I know most if not all mach 1's came with the black out hood, however there are some funky ones out there with weird stuff done to them from the factory.

PM me your email and I will send you this document I have with the dimensions of the hood treatment so that if you were to get it painted then it will be done correctly, just like it was from the factory.

My car is fairly period correct, but my hood is a glossy black instead of a matte black. Things didn't work out well with the matte black at the body shop so we just went glossy, its easier to maintain and I actually think I like it better.

Let me know if you need any pics of my car for any sorts of references, I have thousands of pictures from multiple stages of my restoration.

Take care and best of luck to you!

-David C.

lunarweasel

I vote trailer queen with occasional driving (short distance).

Another option would be to sell it for a ton of money. Use the $$$ to buy a "driver" 69 FB and save the rest....



My brother has a mint old Les Paul Custom (guitar) with all hang tangs everything, totally unplayed. I can't stand it as you have to wipe down your hands etc just to play it.