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I found this 1976 Mach I through a friends friend who knew it was for sale. The owner's Aunt had bought the car new so it was only owned by one family. My friend and the owner had used it to cruise in high school so she had some fond memories of it. The car was well maintained for many years but had been sitting outside her country home and hadn't been started in 5 years so the body and interior were in fairly good condition but most of the mechanicals were shot.
To get it road worthy it needed tires, shocks, springs, brakes, fuel pump, battery, rack and pinion, gas tank, deck lid, gaskets, hoses, belts etc. etc. Special thanks to Phil's Mustang II Specialty Shop in Alabama for parts and advice. The engine ran good and didn't burn oil. The interior had the faux wood trim which I hated. That was painted red and the instrument panel cover was changed to the brushed aluminum look. Performance upgrades include an Edlebrock 4 barrel and intake manifold, Headman headers and custom bent dual exhaust, Accel coil and wires, Bosch +4 plugs and a MSD ignition box. I also had my stock distributor rebuilt and tuned, surprisingly it made a noticable difference.
I then turned to Larry Sobiek of Murfreesboro Tennessee for the paint and body work. We eliminated the Mach I blackout scheme and painted it all red, a 2004 Ford truck red which is deeper than the original color. Larry painted the entire car, door jams, under hood, entire deck lid, also installed the new weather stripping and molded in the hood scoop. As you can see he did a beautiful job.
I attend the Murfreesboro Hot Rod Club drive in occasionally and won an excellence award at the Music City Mustang Club show in 2005. I get plenty of thumbs up when driving around town. I always loved the way the Mustang II looked since I started driving in 1976 the same year my car was built, it reminds me of a 3/4 scale '67 fastback. Now that it is finished it looks just the way I imagined it would. Even my wife likes it, now that is an accomplishment!
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