Meet Jolene. This is what the colour, stripes, and spoilers would have looked like when it is all done if she was salvageable. Read Update #3 below to learn why.
Its pretty, but what is it?
A 1971 Ford Mustang Mach1 powered by a high compression 351-
Special thanks go to the previous owners and dear friends Greg & Siony Thompson, my brother Todd for providing the truck and trailer to get it here, my ex-
Since the rust is too bad to consider fixing her, we thought about finding a rolling chassis to transplant the powertrain, interior and VIN into. There are a few around, just none in Canada that I can find. The logistics and costs of bringing one back from Arizona or nearby States are simply too daunting.
So, what now. Since I am not the only person out there with a ‘71-
October, 2023
A new project is born! Mark and I drove to Genelle, BC where the car was in storage. My brother and his lady met us there on Saturday and we loaded the car and assorted spare parts onto Todd’s truck and trailer.
Once everything was securely tied down and tarped over, we ate pizza, drank beer, and visited. Between the 10 hour drive, all the work involved in loading, and our rapidly increasing ages, we were done by 9pm and crashed.
We were up at 7 on Sunday morning, double checked the load, said our thank-
An uneventful 11 hours later the work to unload got underway. By 10pm that was done and we headed home excited about our new project.
Over the next couple of days we organized the garage, beefed up the locks, added lighting, and started actually doing something on the car. Nothing exciting, just changing a flat tire, removing the hood, cleaning out the leaves, squirrel poop and the assorted detritus from the hood, interior, and trunk.
There are large sections of the firewall and flooring that are simply rusted away to nothing. I can see from under the hood straight through the floor in the back seat to the ground. I guess that’s why they are sometimes called “rustangs”.
My brother Todd simply ripped out the hood hinges!
Loading up the Mach1 for its trip home.
Yes, it has the optional flow through ventilation system in the trunk floor
Yes, it does have an engine!
December, 2023
Rustang, indeed! The more I opened it up and the more pieces I removed, the more rust I found. Worse, significant portions of everything are simply gone. That’s not as bad as it sounds because all those parts that are gone were on the list of things to be replaced anyway. It will complicate the process though because I am not sure exactly what is holding it together right now.
Mark has a plan: start at the back where there is not too much rust damage (but most stuff has to be replaced anyway) and slowly work towards the front by replacing all the metal you can’t see from the outside of the car. Each new piece will be bonded and riveted and perhaps welded to the piece behind it, keeping things straight and true. Mark is a professional so I trust that if he says it will work, then it will.
It is a family project! Megan is removing the door card. Note the missing floor on the passenger side!
Fred Flintstone would feel right at home in this floor-
It is December in Alberta now and so the car will sit, alone, until spring. The garage is unheated, in fact, the entire Province is unheated right now. Even though we don’t have any snow yet, it is just too cold to do anything more.
I do have a few bits and pieces removed and on those few days when the temperatures get above freezing, I will turn on the heat in my garage and do some grinding, priming, and painting. I’ll then add the shiny bits to the pile in my office until the day comes when we start to put it all back together.
I hope to get back at it in early April and start ordering parts then. A bit of good news -
I bought some well used tires in the right size and the aluminium rims, some coasters for under the tires to make it easy to move around, more tools, shelving, high intensity garage lights, and the list goes on.
The bad news kept getting worse the more I dug.
- Ahead of the windshield, the only part that didn’t have to be replaced is the engine cradle. Everything else is too far gone and simply has to be replaced including the subframe, torque boxes hood, bumper, spoiler, battery tray, etc. Parts cost? About $7,500
- Inside is actually not as bad. The seats and interior panels are mostly salvageable The complete floorpan, seat rails, headliner, seatbelts, and of course all the behind-
the- dash wiring has to be replaced. Parts cost? About $5,000 - Behind the back window is like the front. Nothing is salvageable. New subframe, torque boxes, trunk, floorpan, inner and outer wheel houses, fuel tank, bumper, spoiler, and the list goes on. Parts cost? About $7,500
- Powertrain is only partly bad. The engine needs freshening up but not rebuilding. The transmission and rear end should be OK. The brakes, brake lines, bearings, drums and rotors, shoes and calipers, springs, control arms, sway bars. You get the idea. Parts cost? About $7,500
- The estimated $27,000 above does not include all the fasteners needed, fluids & filters, tires, cables. Also not included is additional tools needed (like a better welder) and painting the body. Figure another $10,000.
- Last but not least is the thousands of hours that will be needed to complete the project. So even if I had the $40,000 sitting in my project car budget (which I don’t), I would be about 80 years old by the time it was finished. I don’t think I will make 80.
So, what to do? It is not realistic to try and sell it as a project. I am going to sell the salvageable parts, some of which are excellent, and scrap the shell. Hopefully I will get enough to cover the costs I have put into it so far. Sigh.
RIP, Jolene
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Front sub-
All structural sheet metal is bad
Dash being removed revealing more bad news.
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