Mustang II Diaries 1

http://mustangiidiaries.blogspot.com/

In November 2004, on a whim, I purchased a 1977 Mustang II off eBay. I don’t know the first thing about restoring old cars. But I had one of these when I was a teenager and it’s always owned a piece of my heart.There have been times when I’ve thought to myself–What were you thinking! I’m a mom of twin 6-year-old boys, with no extra money, and no mechanical experience! But I just love my car. Whenever I’m stressed, I drive it around town and I feel better.

Restoring my old Mustang–just keeping it running–hasn’t been easy. For a girl who never even
changed oil before, I had a LOT to learn. Progress is slow and I’m not quite ready to rebuild an engine, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far.

A Girl Gets In Over Her Head Restoring a 1977 Mustang II

Friday, July 2, 2010

New Wheels!

Pretty soon after getting my car, I decided to switch out the spoke-y hubcaps for some cooler looking wheels. Looking through an old Mustang II brochure, I saw a white with red stripe Cobra II with white lacy wheels and liked the look. Matching wheels to paint is not a look that appeals to everyone, but I thought that white wheels would be unique and add some personality to my otherwise ho-hum coupe.
I bought a set of 4 vintage white lacy spoke wheels from another II owner, along with four chrome center caps. As you can see from the pic, above, the wheels needed a lot of work. They’d been sitting in someone’s garage for years! I had them stripped down to the metal and powdercoated white. The picture below shows the powdercoated wheels and new tires mounted on the car. They look SO weird without the pinstripe! At this point I was thinking, hm, maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.
Locating someone to paint the pinstripes was more challenging than I thought. Apparently pinstripe painting by hand is a dying art. But I did eventually find a guy who owned a sign business (Shane’s Signs) in Manassas, VA who could do it. When I saw the final product I knew I had made the right decision about the wheels.
I might change them down the road but for now, I think they add a lot to the overall look of my coupe.