Thread: 1974 Mustang II Build

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When I taught my stepson to drive clutch, starting on an incline was lesson #1. I figured if he could master that, the rest would .. Wait for it ... All down hill from there. . Besides, he already had his license and had been driving autos for a couple years.

Mike, did the teachers walk out due to low pay, or? That's great his grades are coming up and he should pass this year. I'm sure driving the stang really helps him see the light.


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Ryan I wrote a response to your walk out question, but realized it was a bit political for this forum so I sent it to you in a PM. For the kids sake it's something that will be resolved quickly (and without a big tax increase for their Grandpa )


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Well, Cade is back in the dog house again. Seems he blew off a project in one of his classes (dropping his final grade for the class by a grade and a half). The project was assigned before the teacher walk out so he really has no excuse for not having the time to do it while school was closed for a couple of days.

His mom is understandably pretty mad, and I’m pretty disappointed. We don’t know for sure, but it sounds like he might still pass all his classes, we’ll know next Tuesday. Anyway, no working on the car or driving it this weekend.

I did convince his mom to let him come over yesterday and put him to work painting the trim on the house. Part of the money he earned for that will go to reimburse his mom for the supplies she bought for the project he never did.



HP by M Patterson, on Flickr



If nothing else at least he’s learning a work ethic (I hope).




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Mike, it won't mean a thing but.. tell the kid everyone here at the club is giving him a big frown! 8-(

Oh, thats good, reimbursing mom for the supplies, I like that !

With the unplanned trip back to Illinois it's been about a month since I've seen Cade but he's been over here for the last couple of days. Good thing too, there was a bunch that needed to be done around here.

I lost some of the trees that shade the garage over last winter/spring. They're Arizona Ash and at first I was afraid that it might be the Emerald Ash Borer that is working its way west. When I checked on the internet this spring they still hadn’t made it across Texas yet and I’ve cut up enough wood to be pretty sure that the Borer is not the problem. It’s either disease, or simply a lack of water. Either way they needed to come down before they fall down on the roof or the fence. My daughter (Cades’ mom) uses wood in the winter so at least the wood will go to a good cause.

We got all the dead ones down but there are still a couple that look iffy, so we might be taking a couple more down next spring. By the time we got the trees down, cut up and loaded I figure there is a bit more than 1/2 a cord. There was a bunch that really needs split which is something I don't mind doing, but I only got thru a couple of pieces before my carpal tunnel got to me......something I guess I'll have to have taken care of this winter. Working with Cade is really a pleasure.

CW1 by M Patterson, on Flickr


After the wood was loaded Cade got some more seat time in on the Mustang....more laps around the arena

After that it was pretty much just putting stuff away from the tree cutting. He did have to change out the locks in his tool box (the cheap file cabinet locks I originally used gave out. He did good, and I'm finding he needs less and less supervision.

CW2 by M Patterson, on Flickr

By the way it's official he did pass all his classes last school year.......now just 3 more years to go

Oh and he's eligible for his learners permit in the next couple of months (I can hardly wait)


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It's wonderful watching him grow through your eyes. He's really getting tall. Your guidance will help shape him in ways you might never fully appreciate.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

It's wonderful watching him grow through your eyes. He's really getting tall. Your guidance will help shape him in ways you might never fully appreciate.

X2. What he said.

Yeah, I'm pretty proud of the kid (I guess it shows )

I had a little fun with him when he said cutting and loading the wood was pretty hard work. I told him he and I didn't know what hard work was and told him a bit about my Great Grandfather and showed him a picture of Grandpa Stanbrough when he was 16 (Cade's 15 1/2).

S1 by M Patterson, on Flickr

He liked the picture, and (like me) was pretty impressed when he read the back. I was 9 when Grandpa passed (at 93), so i'm fortunate enough to remember him and pass on a few of his stories.

I didn't hear any more comments about how hard it was



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What you guys are doing is more than just family bonding, it's these shared work experiences and "work Ethic" that trust me, will give him a big upper hand in his work future, as so many kids today have no one to guide them, teach them mechanics, and wood chopping, the pride in work that is so important that will promote him as he grows older and already has!
My grandma did this for me, as my grandpa died of a heart attack at 50, some 12 years or so before I was born. Grandma owned 60 acres of grape vinyards, and knew how to care for them, as did all of her kids. She lived to be 94, in her unheated house (heated buy wood stove only, where in the summer temps hit 115, and in the winter below freezing. She chopped up old grape vines with an axe until she was in her late 80's, and hurt her back. My uncles and cousins helped cut wood until she passed at 94, still living in that house by herself. Our Grand parents had a different life full of amazing things that people today haven't a clue, it built character and they knew how to provide for their families and how to work hard. They valued the rewards this brought them from time to time, especially a new car, truck, or tractor. I'll never forget when my uncle Bill bought an air conditioned Ford tractor with a cassette stereo, he was the talk of the town!

AND. When he's done send him my way.

I'll show him how to put the hydraulic splitter to use, and get my wood split and stacked.

If something happened this day and age and people had to go back to living like they did in the late 1800s, I'd bet there may be 30% or a little more of the population that would make it.

That's great to hear Cade passed all his classes and it's good you're getting to work with him more. I really wish my kids could have met my Grandpa Russ. He was a hard working man that came from nothing and had nothing too.

Cade's had a pretty full summer, but summer's over and school's back in session already. It's been about a month since he was here last, but came over last night.

We got an early start on yard work this morning and put in about 4 hours by the time we got everything on the list done. Between this morning and the other work he's done this summer he' about 3/4 of the way to having enough for a set of tires.

It's been just about a year now since we pulled the old Mustang out of the shed and started on it. When we got to the Mustang the day started out the same way it did that first day we started on it.........with Cade giving it a bath


Aug 18 by M Patterson, on Flickr

At least this time it was moving under its own power. Cade still needs to get his learners permit hopefully sometime in the next month or two......but of course that's all going to be tied to his grades.


We were talking about the car last night and Cade mentioned that down the road he was thinking about putting a V8 in it (I must have done something right ) .

Well, not much of an update, but at least we're still plugging away.


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Always cool to see these updates