Thread: 1974 Mustang II Build

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Not holding out on you Ryan, the COE isn't mine (anymore )

That was part of the 51-52 Ford truck fleet I was building at one time. I had the red and white 52 F6 2 ton truck I've posted pictures of a couple of times. That one was done and ran a 402 BB Chevy hooked to the original transmission and rear end.

I also had a 51 F1 Short bed half ton that I put a Volare front suspension under with a 302, C4 and 9". It was mechanically done and I was driving it but it needed body work paint and upholstery.

And then there was the 51 F6 COE you saw. I was turning that into a car hauler. I lowered it a bit and was doing a dove tail bed on it. It was 90% mechanically done with a 440 Mopar and 727 Torqueflight with an Hone overdrive.

And then came the divorce...........I sold all 3. The guy who bought the cab over paid me for pulling the 440 (it ended up in a Road Runner clone). He was going to get the body "right out of there" Instead he ended up leasing part of the arena to store some of his cars on (all the ones you see on the background) so the truck just sat. It been sold at least 3 times now but never seems to get picked up.......as long as the rents paid I'm ok with it.


Oh and if you'd ever met my X-wife selling the 3 trucks was a very reasonable price to pay to get out of that mess


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"......I can picture the look on his face when you told him to do the other one,........"

Yeah Seth it was pretty much priceless.



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on the COE Mike. Does the price get cheaper every time it gets sold? Haha

Naw Ryan, it took a big drop after I sold it and the 440 and Torqueflight were pulled, but has been been pretty stable since then. Big plus on it is I did the jumping thu the hoops to get a good title on it.



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When is the time for sale #4?

Yesterday started out with Cade trimming some trees back and hauling out the branches. Then it was moving on to putting a new set of plug wires on, checking fluids, putting in some fresh gas and of course some more seat time.

spw by M Patterson, on Flickr


He’s getting pretty decent working the clutch and is wearing the heck out of first and second (not enough room to get into 3 and 4th). Getting about time to get him to start practicing stopping and starting on a hill LOL.


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Originally Posted by Mike P

Getting about time to get him to start practicing stopping and starting on a hill LOL.

Driving a stick shift Chevy around Fayetteville, Arkansas was my learning experience! Pulling up a steep grade to a traffic light made a guy learn how to feel the friction point through his feet a necessary skill!! Really like your Cade posts.

Originally Posted by rspears

Driving a stick shift Chevy around Fayetteville, Arkansas was my learning experience! Pulling up a steep grade to a traffic light made a guy learn how to feel the friction point through his feet a necessary skill!! Really like your Cade posts.

In 1961 my stepfather bought my first car, a 1952 Ford convertible, from a guy he worked with for $125. He lived in Springfield, Ohio, about 35 miles or so north of Dayton, and when the deal was done he handed me the keys and said drive it home. I had a very limited knowledge of a 3 pedal car and to say that was a learning experience is a gross understatement.

My learning curve was just the opposite. I had started driving tractors at about 9, and by the time I was 15 had gotten pretty good driving the pickup and even the old 2 1/2 ton grain truck around the fields.

One winter Saturday when I was 14 or 15 dad and I were clearing a hedge row about 1 1/2 miles from the house. We'd taken the family car for some reason. At the end of the day we walked to the car (a 62 Super 88 Olds) and dad climbed into the passenger seat and told me to drive us home. I got behind the steering wheel started the car and then had to ask dad what to do next.....it didn't have clutch .

Dad kind of laughed and told me to just put my foot on the brake and pull it into D. I managed to get us home in one piece......first time driving something with power steering. Stopping in the driveway wasn't real smooth.....it was my first time with power brakes too



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I once had a beater Pontiac Grand Prix that gave you 1 of two options either brake or steer, if you tried both either the brakes didn't work or the steering clamped down, found this out the hard way. It's best option was the electric windows missing the switch on the drivers side. You just had to pick the right two wires to spark and then it worked. Needless to say I didn't drive it unless absolutely desperate to get somewhere! :0

When I was first married to my first wife, she had a Gremlin (a green one no less) with a manual transmission. She had been driving stick for quite awhile, but she had a bad habit of holding the car by slipping the clutch while stopped on a hill instead of using the brake. She said that was the way her daddy taught her to do it and she was afraid that she would stall the engine. I explained to her that her daddy wasn't the one that was going to have to pull the trans and fix the clutch when she wore it out. It took a little more prodding from me, but I eventually got her to quit slipping , learn how to catch the engine just right and use the brake.

New cars with an emergency brake handle between the seats make it easy. Just hold the car with the E brake and start off normally. I think that's how folks are taught to do it now. We didn't have it so easy when I was younger. Most E brakes on American cars weren't that user friendly back then. We had to learn to catch the torque of the engine.

Originally Posted by Mike P

Dad kind of laughed and told me to just put my foot on the brake and pull it into D. I managed to get us home in one piece......first time driving something with power steering. Stopping in the driveway wasn't real smooth.....it was my first time with power brakes too

Having been born in 1910, my mom had zero experience with an automatic even after I was up in high school. Well, dad had always bought Studebaker standard shift cars and mom could, of course, drive them very well. He traded a very sweet little '55 Champion for a brand new 1957 supercharged 289 V8 Golden Hawk, with AUTOMATIC transmission. He took mom out in the country to teach her how to drive it. The first stop sign she came up to, she pushed her left foot to the floor with vigor (thinking that she was disengaging the clutch for the stop) and slammed the power brakes on full tilt boogie. Dad said the car turned sideways in the road and mom started cussing, making him drive her home. That was the first and last time she ever tried to drive an auto. When she went to her grave at age 86, she was driving a 4-speed Chevette.
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Richard I about pissed myself laughing great story thanks for sharing!

Cade's grades have been improving a bit, and it looks like he may pass everything this year. He's been out of school since Thursday.....his school was shutdown by the teachers walk out. As it stands right now unless they go back by Tuesday they'll start adding days to the end of the school year.

He was over last Sunday, we didn't do anything with the car but did get a new top coat on the roof of the house. Today we ended up replacing the 2 of the support posts on the porch, then it was some time with the Mustang.

Today he got to learn about setting timing. Of course he had to listen to Grandpa explain how it worked, which ended up taking about 3 times longer than actually setting it

CD1 by M Patterson, on Flickr


Then it was some more driving practice. Before we got started with that I asked him if he remembered the rules.......he grinned and said "yes, don't run over Grandpa and don't run into Grandpas cars "

I ended up having Cade start practicing starting out on an incline (we'll work up to hills a bit later ). He's definitely getting the hang of the clutch thing.


CD2 by M Patterson, on Flickr



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Good looking little Mustang, Mike! What you need is one of those 88 T-Bird 2.3 turbo coupes for a donor car and then.........