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This is my 1978 Mustang II fastback. My parents got me this car when I was 15 so we had a year to build on her and get her painted. The previous owners had yanked out the old 4 banger, 4 speed, and dropped a 302 and a C-4 in its place. They also put on a set of BFGoodrich Radial T/A’s, and new rims.
The engine was stock; exhaust manifolds, 2 barrel carb and intake, stock coil and plug wires. This all changed! I put on an Edelbrock performer intake (0-5500 rpm), double pumper carb and electronic fuel pump. Then I changed the ignition over to a Petronix electronic system and did away with the points and condenser. A new set of Hedman Headers, V8 coil springs and possibly one of the biggest power gainers, a Petronix Flamethrower coil. A set of performance plug wires went on too. We followed the headers with dual 2" exhaust pipes and performance mufflers. I added a set of Yellow Summit Traction bars for some contrast.
Now for the interior. The seats came re-upholstered, other than that we re-did the entire inside. We started by taking out the seats, carpet, and panels and replaced all of the rubber seals. We tossed the old carpet and ordered a new molded one from JC Whitney. All we had to do here was cut out around the bolt holes and trim away the excess carpet. All interior panels were cleaned and painted. The interior is easy on the eyes, comfortable and forgiving of light dirt on the floorboards. We made a custom aluminum gauge cluster above the glove box, the gauges are on bevels so they are tilted toward the driver, very cool. We also replaced the armrest with a custom aluminum one. We made and installed a 4 pt rollbar as a final touch.
The paint was a little under par, the clear coat was flaking off and there were two scratches in the hood. The scratches were taken care of by some good ol fashion bondo. One of my dad’s buddys at work (who happened to be the painter), said he would paint the car for us if we did all the bodywork that needed to be done in order to paint the car right. The paint job turned out great. I have two hoods for the car, one stock and one for my Mr.Gasket Street Scoop II cold air intake.
There was a lot of work involved in finishing this car but it sure turned out to be a very nice first car!
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