The Perfect Family Car

So as you know if you’ve been following along, Michael entered David’s 1967 Mustang Fastback into a car show. The car was a years long project of Michael and David’s and truly a labor of love.

Of course I wasn’t going to let Michael go to a car show without a custom, vintage sew to match the car! I didn’t have any men’s patterns from 1967, but I did have this one, from 1966. I figured it would work! So off I went to sew!

Since the 1966 pattern was one size only, I laid it up against a shirt I had previously made him (See blog post, “The Big Day, Finally Here! Part Three and Also The Wedding Finale; Sydney’s Wedding!”) It needed a little extra room, but not much.

This pattern had never been cut before, but it’s time had come now! I chose solid black fabric. I wanted green to match the car, but couldn’t find the right shade.

Got the pocket on. It was all coming together nicely.

When I sew with a solid fabric, I use pins to remind me which side of the fabric is the right side. I could very easily end up sewing something backwards.

But lets talk about the car for a bit. Like I previously said, the car was bought by my dad in 1972. It had one previous owner. a few years later my sister was born, thus making it our family car.

Here is a picture of my dad and Michelle, with the Mustang behind them. This was around 1974.

Here is another picture of the family car in the background, while Michelle and my cousin Melanie play in the yard together.

Time moved on, as a family we got other cars, but the Mustang still hung around. In the 1990’s my dad got it tuned up, and Michelle drove it while in high school. As old cars do, it started having engine and transmission problems. It got stored around 1996, and there it sat, until around 2015. Michelle said David could have it, and the father-son project went into full gear.

Here is a picture of it in storage, getting ready to be moved to my house for it’s rebuild.

The first thing we did was try to hose off all of the years of dust. There was a lot of work to be done!

The whole back end needed to be replaced. There was a lot of damage to the trunk area. While it was in storage someone had tried to break into the trunk, and pried it open. There was lots of body work to do in addition to this part.

Here’s David, picking old windshield rubber off of the body.

Michael and David both got the filthy job of removing the rust and dirt that was under the car. Yuck!

Michael built this rotisserie for the body so they could easily tip the car onto it’s side so they could work on the underneath. It had little wheels so they could roll it in and out of the garage.

Eventually they got the underneath cleaned, fixed, sealed, and painted!

Here’s the car, primed and getting ready to be painted.

Paint prep featuring David. Michael was so nervous to paint it. He had never painted a car before. He learned most of the techniques from watching hours and hours of YouTube videos.

Just goes to show you, where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you want to learn how to do something bad enough, the information is out there!

Here’s Michael, in the paint booth, nervously painting!

All of the interior was done by Michael and David.

New console, same ignition and key.

David doing something with the wiring. I have no idea what, but that’s not my area of expertise, HA!

Before the engine was in, and before the front fenders were on, we pushed the car down the street to our local car show. Michael and David entered it in the “Under Construction” category, and won 2nd place!

Engine time.

The car was officially done!

So fast forward to the first car show with it completed.

Here’s Michael in his 1966 shirt.

It’s a little wrinkled, he was moving all around fussing with the car all morning. But the car and the shirt look great!

And look! A picture of me at the car show survived! (Michael had deleted the pictures, not thinking.) If you missed last weeks post, my dress is a 1967, same year as the car.

There were over 70 cars in the car show, and the Mustang took 2nd place!! The white car next to Michael is his too. Another project for another day. I named his 1964 Ford, Aunt Bea.

Another picture survived, YAY!

Here’s Michael getting his award, with Jason, the man who put on the car show.

It’s fun for me to drive the car around. I have so many memories associated with the Mustang. I’m glad that Michael and David put so much work into it, and gave it a new life. More memories can be made.

Michael and David both learned so much by taking on this project. All of their struggling and hard work turned into a beautiful car, and lots of father-son memories!

Don’t be afraid to take on a project, or to learn something new!

The fun is in the journey!

As for me, onto the next!