For the longest time I have dreamt of buying a classic American Muscle car to drive around America. A 1967 Ford Mustang fastback is one of my top 5 cars, but I knew this would be out of my price range. So I started searching on ebay to gauge an idea of what I could afford. I knew a convertible would also be way out of my price range so started looking at 60s coupes and found that there were quite a few within a reasonable price range. I am lucky enough to have relatives in a few different states so this gave me a bit of choice about registering and buying. I found a couple in California that were cheap enough to take a risk and put in a bid. I came very close to buying a 1967 black one in Sacramento, but something with the seller just didn’t seem right and I had a bad feeling so I decided to keep looking.
My dad then sent me a link to a blue 1971 convertible on Autotrader Classics that was in New York. It was a little more than I wanted to pay and I had wanted a 1960s one but the more I looked at it the more I liked it. There were limited details on the advert so I emailed the seller and asked for a bit more information. It was a 302 V8 5 litre 3 speed manual. Sounded perfect! I had wanted a manual, and although I would have preferred a 4 speed, it was sounding like the perfect car. The seller said it had a oil leak from the sump but had been restored 15 years ago and always kept garaged. So after some back and forth for a few weeks trying to arrange to see the car, a friend of my dads, Ali, very kindly went to view it for us on the 1st August 2016.
The seller had already dropped the price as he needed the car gone and Ali discovered some more issues. The clutch pedal was hardly working, and the seller told Ali that no one else had been able to drive it! The car also had drum front brakes that I wanted to change as good brakes are a must! After some bargaining the final price including delivery was agreed!
The car was delivered a couple of weeks later on the 22nd August and I was so excited! I was the owner of a 1971 convertible Mustang! <3
We got straight to ordering some of the bits for the car, such as a front disc brake conversion kit, new brake servo, new uprated roller bearing bushes for the clutch pedal and brake pedal bushes, rear brake drums & shoes, rear wheel cylinders, electronic ignition, oil filter and a few other bits and pieces.
Then on the 9th September, two days after my birthday my dad flew out to New York so that the car would be pretty much ready for when I flew out at the beginning of October!
Amazing thanks goes to my dad and Ali, along with my mum for all the amazing help they have given. Without them none of this would have been possible.
On the car the brakes have been changed to discs at the front and all new parts on the rear drums (shoes, drums, wheel cylinder and fittings), new brake servo, new bushes for the anti-roll bar and top shock mounts, new rear springs and shackles, uprated pertronix electronic ignition, new sump pan gasket, new rear main oil seal gasket, new uprated 351 boss clutch, new roller bushes for the clutch pedal and brake pedal bushes (these pedal bushes are a common problem on these mustangs and before the car was hardly drivable and thanks to these it completely transformed the car). Also many little jobs on the car, such as tidying the wiring and properly securing fittings has transformed the car into a fantastically reliable and great fun car!
