Tag Archives: Autos

If you thought the Mustang Stationwagon was Bad?

By | | , , , , , , , , ,
2 Comments

Why did he just buy a Ranchero???

 

1966 Ford Mustang Mustero

1966 Ford Mustero

By  Zach Bowman RSS feed

Posted Dec 21st 2011 10:00AM

The Ford Mustang has some strange skeletons knocking bones in its closet, including the Mustero. Believe it or not, the Mustang/Ranchero hybrid you see above was actually a Ford-licensed product. The company authorized Beverly Hills Mustang LTD to produce the machines for just two years.At the time, the conversion came carrying a price tag of $6,500. That made the Mustero as expensive as the Shelby Cobra. Needless to say, buyers weren’t exactly lining up with cash in hand for a pint-sized pickup sports car, and only 50 were ever produced, including this well-restored example.

According to the owner, this ’66 Mustero received a complete restoration in the ’80s and has been carefully stored indoors since then. A 289-cubic-inch V8 lurks under the hood, mated to a three-speed manual gearbox. Manual steering and brakes are part of the party as well, so be prepared for a work out when it comes time to wheel this machine through town.

 Thanks for reading.
Tim

The rebuilding of a Ford 3 speed manual Transmission

By | | , , , , , , , , , ,
3 Comments

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m going to rebuild the old 3 speed transmission that I took out of my ’70 Mustang coup and I’ll do it in stages (average guy, average time to spend on a project…especially one that isn’t going to benefit my cars).  The rebuild kit is on it’s way.

This the first time I’ve attempted this, so who knows how it’s going to go.

First I’m going to give myself a transmission anatomy lesson, which I’ll share here.

In the mean time here are couple of videos.

[vodpod id=Video.15939015&w=425&h=350&fv=file%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fvid299.photobucket.com%252Falbums%252Fmm296%252Ftimsweet2200%252FVIDEO0086.mp4]

[vodpod id=Video.15939022&w=425&h=350&fv=file%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fvid299.photobucket.com%252Falbums%252Fmm296%252Ftimsweet2200%252FVIDEO0085.mp4]

[vodpod id=Video.15751050&w=425&h=350&fv=file%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fvid299.photobucket.com%252Falbums%252Fmm296%252Ftimsweet2200%252FMVI_9345.mp4]

Exciting..HuH?

Thanks for reading

Tim

Driving Difference

By | | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Since I’ve gotten the 4 speed ( T-10 from 1967 Shelby) in the Mustang, I’ve been driving it a lot more.  I’m surprised at how much of an improvement it has made in the drive ability.  Of course there is more power going to the ground which is remarkable and the RPMs are put to much better used.  The original three speed top out pretty quickly and nothing left but engine noise.

Of course with more power hitting the ground, my current tires (wide and hard) tend to grip a lot less and spinning them through 2nd gear is common.  That will required some new, softer tread before long.

After driving the Mustang a few days in a row, I took the Vette to work.  Now you would expect there to be a difference, especially with the 120 hp disparagement in power  the Vette (about 420) and the Stang (about 300 – maybe a bit less) , but what I notice is how both cars arrive at top speed.

Both car’s like to launch, but the Vette does so with much less rear hunching then the Mustang.  The Vette feels lighter as it gets up to power – less down force on the road.  The Mustang is much different.  You can feel it, feeling the road.  I can actually feel the power longer and deeper in the Mustang as it move on up through the RMPs and the gears.

I think I’m ready to at a tach to the Mustang, I need to see the RPMs it’s turning out and then I’m going to have it dyno’ed.  It will be a good baseline before I get the  351 CJ head and intake installed.

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

Valiants Down-Under

By | | , , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment
I enjoy the off-beat (as in not in the top 20 collectible) cars.  And they really have some of those ‘down-under”.  I grabbed this from this site

I  LOVE Valiant cars!

Found this one in Yarraville, Melbourne.

 Thanks for Reading

Tim

The Cars of Cuba: Photos and stories from Havana

By | | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

I hope you can view this article.  Has some great cars – although the saying “keep the shiny side up”  doesn’t really translate – these just don’t have one.

I’d love to spend time wandering around Cuba, just to look at the cars.

The Cars of Cuba: Photos and stories from Havana.

This is from Hagerty Insurance Company.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Alice Cooper’s Classic Ford Mustang To Cross Barrett-Jackson Auction

By | | , , , , , , , , ,
5 Comments
I’m hoping to get a few shots of it when I’m there.
Posted by on January 2, 2012 – 0 Comments

alice cooper

Any Alice Cooper fans out there? If you worship Mr. Cooper plus love classic ‘Stangs, the best of both worlds is about to cross the auction block at Barrett-Jackson this month. A red 1965 classic Ford Mustang with a 4-speed automatic 289 V-8 and only 35,915 miles. Supposedly fit his golf clubs in the trunk perfectly!

Here is an opportunity to own Alice Cooper’s 1965 Ford Mustang fastback with 35,915 original miles. Alice used this car for the Golf courses, going to the mall and dinner from time to time. We will include a set of Calloway golf clubs for the new owner of the car.


Source: [Barrett-Jackson]

The Mustang II – Say What?

By | | , , , ,
2 Comments

Ok…I sorry (not really) but I have to consider what my readers like.  And to date one of the most read articles on my blog is the piece I did on the Mustang II  King Cobra  http://wp.me/pKHNM-uY . (Go ahead you know are going to go read it!!)

So I’m going to do a series on the Mustang II (after all I’m project managing the restoration of a 1975 VW, I could spend sometime on that era Mustang).  We’ll touch on the 4 and 6 cylinders and  yes there was a 302.

So we’ll start with a history lesson.

1973 was the last year for the more powerful and larger bodies Mustangs.  Ford may have thought they were going back to the original size Mustang and the 1974 version was in fact close to that size.  The 1966 Mustang had a wheelbase of about 108 inches  ( 181.6 inches in total) and the 1974 was 96.2 (175.0 inches over all).  Compare to the 1973 which (depend on which version) was 187.5-190.0 inches over all.

The generation ran from 1974 to 1978 and sported some collectible cars, the King Cobra and Mach I…yes Mach I’s in a  Mustang II.

Here is a quick look.

 

1974 Cobra II – You Love it…I know you do.

1974 Mach I ok…sure..Pinto like.

1978 Mustang Cobra II – Excellent Looking

Thanks for reading.

Tim

The Meaning of Mopar -It Wasn’t Always About Power

By | | , , , , , , , ,
4 Comments

 
For all you MOPAR fans out there this is a great article by Auto Enthusiast.  I’m not going to repeat it all here.  Grab the link at the bottom of this post.

Mopar is a commonly used word in today’s motorsports and high-performance car scenes, but the origins of the term Mopar had absolutely nothing to do with high horsepower or checkered flags.

Chrysler was a young and growing company in the 1920s. It had bought out the Dodge car company in 1928 and the need for a dedicated parts supplier led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Division.

As the company continued to grow, Motor Parts Division featured a simple logo with the letters C, D, D and P (Chrysler, Dodge, De Soto and Plymouth) from the years 1933 to 1937.

Nelson L. Farley, a sales promotion manager, decided there had to be a better way of promoting the replacement parts. An “Activities Council” was created. Company records show the results of the Activities Council came to light in the spring of 1937. The group came up with “MoPar,” (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts). The first order of business was coming up with a logo to put the name on cans of antifreeze.

The first MoPar logo was oval and used yellow and red. The new logo and the new name were a big move forward in communicating to the customers. If you needed something for a Chrysler product and got it from the garage that sells the vehicles, it came marked as a MoPar item.

The original brand and trademark logo remained the same from 1937 to 1947. It was slightly changed in 1948. The second logo did not change for six years. MoPar parts were still factory replacement items, nothing more and nothing less.

 

 

http://www.amosauto.com/Articles/Mopar/Features/headline-for-web-5

Thanks for Reading.

Tim

Coming Up.

By | | , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment

Hope everyone has recovered from heavy eating and traveling, I know I need to rest up before Christmas, maybe even drop a couple of pounds ahead of time.

I’m also to attempt to meet my goal of 500 posts before the end of 2011. (Yes this one counts).

I have a couple of contests coming up with some auto related DVD’s to give away and some a couple of parking lot finds, and a feature car or two.

So swing by and drop me a comment.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Contests

By | | , , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment

I have 14 CD/DVDs to give away.

So I’m going to give the next two individuals that sign up for my feed a copy of the DVD Classic Automobile Films.

If you are reading this, grab my feed and then send an email too:

timsweet@average-guys-car-restoration-mods-racing.com

Include the address you’d like to have the DVD send to.  It’s that easy.

I don’t share any information with anyone, nor do I keep that type of information, even for my own purposes.