1974 Mustang II Build

No working on the car, or even driving it yesterday. A few things I've been working on came together over the last couple of weeks so things are going to get busy around here over the next couple of months. My hand's better but still healing so Cade coming over on Sundays is a blessing. Today was strictly a work day........pretty much by the time we were done Cade was ready to just call it a day.

Besides a few other small jobs Cade spent most of the morning putting caulking in about 500 ft of expansion cracks on the concrete pad out in the arena.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b379c8a6_z.jpgcc by M Patterson, on Flickr




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Poor guy. ;)
I think it's good that he knows about hard / monotonous work, and the satisfaction it can bring to a job well done..

I hoping he can take it as a lesson of life , file it away and somewhere in the future, it comes back as a story he shares with a friend or family member and it starts like, "oh, this 1 time my grandfather had me on my hands and knees pushing caulking into the joints of his concrete floor"... :LOL::LOL::LOL:

You know he's going to blame his future carpal tunnel surgery on you from caulking cement don't you LOL

He's a good kid, and rarely complains about the jobs I give him.

Every once in a while he does hear "how lucky he's got it". He's heard a few stories about me growing up on a farm. Mostly the one about riding a hay rack all summer stacking bales when I was his age or the walking the 50 acre bean field row by row pulling volunteer corn out of the rows.

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Originally Posted by Mike P

,,,,,,,,, walking the 50 acre bean field row by row pulling volunteer corn out of the rows.

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That reminded me of one of those childhood "teachings" I got too. When tasked with a similar job I thought I'd get out of it by saying, "But these are good plants." I was quickly instructed, "If they're growing where they're not supposed to they're a weed!" Keep pullin'...…...:LOL:

For us it was working our German Grandma's grape vineyard in the central valley Fresno area during the summers, fall and winter. Summer it was hand weeding half of the 60 acres of grapes(grown for raisins) in high heat, Fall was harvest season running behind tractor picking up paper drying trays of raisins out of the fields and throwing them into a collector bin, then in winter when everything was dormant and the temps were in the 30's -40's cutting canes and tying them to wire rails. It built character, and the desire not to be doing this when I was older(great incentive for school work). Grandma was the best boss, she was a task master and let you know if you were skipping a weed, etc... :)

We haven’t been getting much done on the 74 lately, most of the time Cade is over here we’ve been working on things we need to get done on the new house.

Yesterday we did make time to go out to the local wrecking yard I’ve been going to for years. The owner passed away several years ago and his wife passed a couple years back. The kids have elected to close the yard and crush most of the stuff.

There are only 3 Mustang IIs left (2 74s and a 77). I’ve pretty much picked over all three over the years but we decided to go out and look.

Cade and I took a pretty close look at the 77. No motor or transmission but the body is straight and solid and all the glass is intact. It was a V6/4 speed car (I bought the pedals out of it years ago and they are long gone). It’s factory air and has the Gia (1/2 vinyl top) and factory sun roof options and should have the 8" rear end.



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...48baf690_z.jpg77 Sunroof by M Patterson, on Flickr


We’re waiting to hear back on the title situation…… we need to make sure it has either a clean title or salvage title and not a crush permit (in AZ a crush permit does not allow the car to be titled and put back on the road or even sold for parts).

If the title is good and the price is right we’ll probably pick it up as a parts car/future project.


These old junk yards are all just about gone. This is the last one I know of in this area. It was good to take Cade out there before everything is gone to see all the neat old cars and show him how things used to be.


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Originally Posted by Mike P

These old junk yards are all just about gone. This is the last one I know of in this area. It was good to take Cade out there before everything is gone to see all the neat old cars and show him how things used to be.


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It's described as 'Progress' Mike.

Yeah right!

Speaking of progress Cade got his learners permit today :eek::D:D:D


There is still a bunch of small stuff that will be taken care of but the car is ready to put on the road once it gets a set of tires and alignment. I've got enough work for him here that that shouldn't take too long to save for (he already has the money for the alignment.) :)




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That's real exciting for him!

What's really cool about this whole thing is Mike is taking the time to get Cade to do the work himself. He will (I think) take better care and show responsibility for his car. More so than " Here's the keys to a new car". Mike you can be just as proud as Cade. More parents, grandparents should get involved with kids.

I'm really surprised street rodders haven't cut out the front ends of those cars. Guys still do it up here which blows my mind! Good to hear Cade is still learning and helping ya. Shoot me a PM with your addy. I have 2 things I need to send ya I forgot about.

This is really cool, Mike. My grandson just turned 12 and I’m hoping to build his first car in a few years.

We're still spending most of the time working on stuff for the new house as Cade is saving for the front end alignment and new set of tires. He's also got a cell phone now so some of the money is coming out of what he works for to pay for the service (he also paid for the phone himself).

We've been getting a few little things done like getting the seat belts to retract. The weekend before last he took the dash apart to get the lens out and cleaned up so gauges could be read better.

I had a headlight restoration kit on the shelf so that's what we used.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...35ebe405_z.jpgBez m2 by M Patterson, on Flickr

Taking the before picture was easy......it was harder to get a decent picture of it once it was restored. It actually looks better in person.


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That Mustang II is seeing more love than most , keep up the good work Cade !

At a car show today I got a couple of pics of a Mustang II for Cade. Although not just like his it made me think of his right away.

Thanks for the pictures Seth, I’m sure Cade will see it at some point. I remember when those things covered the earth. From the looks of it that’s a 2.8 V6 car……I also remember laughing at them back in my V8 Pinto days. Of course then again I remember building the one on page 1 of this thread some years ago too. :LOL:

Speaking of oldies but goodies it looks like this one is going to get a second (third ?) lease on a new life.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bf3a28a5_z.jpg75 Monza by M Patterson, on Flickr


It belongs(ed) to a friend of mine and it looks like it’s going to a 20 year old friend of his. It’s a 75 Monza that was an original 4.3 (262 CI) small block V8 car/automatic car. It currently has a (blown?) 283, ladder bars and a rear end of unknown origin in it. A few local guys still remember the car as being a reasonably stout street racer back in the day.

It’s going with a 350, set of Mirage rear fender flair, new headers, and the centerlines. I also suspect there are about 3 of us old guys that will be making a few donations of parts and (unsolicited) advice to the young man.

Does my old heart good to see some of the less popular old cars being projects again. It makes me real happy to see another generation dipping their toes in the hot rod pool too. :D



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The water in that pool can be cold and deep.

There is a little Mustang 2 coupe for sale in the next town over from me. Red & white paint, looks clean when driving past. But they must be asking a lot for it as they haven't sold it yet. After driving past it I "see it" as a pro tourer / pro street kinda car. LOL

I always liked the Monza 2+2's. At least they had a decent shape when everything else was going boxy. The fact that you could get them with a V8 and 4 speed helped too. Although I always heard that the plugs were a nightmare to change on the V8's.

While we're on the subject of unloved cars, I kind of liked the styling on the very early iron bumper Vega's too. The only Vega motor worth having was the Cosworth, though. I remember stopping by the local Chevy dealer to drool on a Cosworth Vega when they first came out. What can I say, American performance cars were pretty thin back in those days!

Love that Monza! My sister had the Oldsmobile Starfire version; I always liked that car.

I don't know if you've tried buying a iron bumper Vega, but from what I've seen they bring a lot of money, especially the station wagons. Same with the Chevy luv pickup, I thought I could buy either one of them for a couple hundred bucks but I guess not anymore

The iron bumper Vega's had very similar styling to the spit bumper Camaro's. A friend of mine had a GT station wagon in high school. I always thought I wanted one to put a small block in. It would have been a very fun car. Now, an aluminum 5.3 LS would probably be perfect. Too bad they've all been used up and/or scrapped. Like you, Seth, I remember the days when you could hardly give one away.

My late mother in law had a 76 Astre. It was a neat little car though a gutless wonder. It would run down the interstate all day at 65 mph even though it took it a couple of miles to get going that fast.

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Originally Posted by Hotrod46

The only Vega motor worth having was the Cosworth, though. I remember stopping by the local Chevy dealer to drool on a Cosworth Vega when they first came out. What can I say, American performance cars were pretty thin back in those days!

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Thin??? Darn near transparent!

Well it's been a while and it's been a long road but the big day was yesterday.



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...aca712d9af.jpgdone by M Patterson, on Flickr



Two and a half years give or take from when it got pulled from the shed the 74 is officially back on the road.

I'm pretty darn proud of my grandson, he did a lot of work to get it roadworthy again and a bunch of work to earn the money to buy the parts (and hopefully learned some stuff along the way).

Cade just turned 17 a couple of months ago and is now a licensed driver. There was a big push over the last month and a half to get the car done, plated and insured so Cade can hopefully find a part time job. With the current situation that might not happen for a while but he is looking and who knows.

He still struggles in school......he'll be a Senior when school starts in the fall but if he puts the effort into graduating that he did on the car, he'll make it.

Yesterday he drove the car for the first time (actually out on the road instead of doing laps in the arena) and actually got to use 3d and 4th gear. This is him and the car leaving the property for the first time.......


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nedUVjCoQqo


so ends one chapter and begins another.



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Congrats to Cade. Another milestone achieved. Good to see the Mustang living another life. Hope he enjoys it and cares for it.

Mike, not sure about your area, but in the food stuffs/supplies business; grocery stores, Wally World, and so forth, they're hiring around here. Probably short term stuff to keep up with cleaning commitments and restocking. But it might be hours and skill level stuff ideal for a young lad starting out. There'll be way lots of competition though too...……...

Yeah Bob that's pretty much what we're thinking and Cade's been putting applications in everywhere. The car also lets him now hit some of the other smaller places that aren't taking applications on line or possibly doing delivery work.

The big thing is to get that first job under his belt no matter what is.....if nothing else it's a line on a future resume.

It's a heck of a time, but a small silver lining is the traffic volume has dropped off considerably even in out small area, making it a little easier for Cade as he gains some more driving experience.


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Wow time passes fast these days. Seems like just yesterday he started this project! Great to watch his progress and your teaching and support!

Congrats to Cade! Car looks great. Hope he gets many safe and happy miles out of it.

Its good to see completion of another project. He should be proud as you should be too. Congratulations.

Good for you and Cade! If all grandpas' were like you, the world would be in much better shape right now ! I'm guessing it's not done, I'm sure he's thinking about that 302 transplant right now :LOL:

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Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

! I'm guessing it's not done, I'm sure he's thinking about that 302 transplant right now :LOL:

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Stroker 347!

:LOL::LOL::LOL::eek::eek::eek::LOL::LOL::LOL::3dSMILE::p:D

Congrats to Cade and Grandpa, good to see a Mustang back on the road!

So do remember your first car ? Do you remember the first time you gave a ride to your girlfriend in your own car? Do you remember removing all the friction material from one side of the clutch disk on that ride? Do you remember the first time you had to change a clutch by yourself?

I bet Cade will. :LOL:


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2d0c6571_z.jpgClutch change by M Patterson, on Flickr


From my own misspent youth I kind of figured the first clutch would be sacrificial (actually figured it would last a bit longer though). Anyway after a couple of days in the shop it's back on the road and Cade got a couple more pointers on driving technique ;) .

Now that he knows what a clutch costs and what it takes to put one in I suspect this one will have a longer life.



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Ah, life's lessons...……..:LOL:

A hard lesson to learn while on your back under your car. But he is young, and I'm sure that won't be the last clutch he changes in his Mustang. Bet he had fun doing it.

+ 1 on what Bob said.

By the time I got my first standard car (57 Chevy with a hot water 6), I had been riding dirt bikes with manuals for several years, so the clutch\throttle modulation learning curve was much easier. I had also been helping my grandpa out around his place and running his old winch truck. Kids now days have it a lot tougher, nearly all vehicles come with some form of auto. Even the the ubiquitous 4 wheelers that are many kids first motorized vehicle are all auto.

Cade will have a driving skill that probably less that 10% of kids his age will ever have. Driving a manual is such a rare skill now, that car thieves have even skipped over manual cars because they can't drive them.

Dang, that didn’t take long! He’s gaining some experience pretty quickly. :LOL:

I think that (as usual) Bob P. said it best.. I'd like to say something more but.. he is so eloquent!! 8-)


OH, tell Cade to learn this one thing... Speed costs money! How fast can you afford to go? rotflmao!!!!