Back in the Day...

As part of my research into the proper gaps on these old Mustangs, I found some vintage photos online. The following photos were found at http://www.1965gt350mustang.com. If you are into old pix and original info about the early Shelby Mustangs, this is a site worth checking out.

A Not-So-Instant Replay: The Finale

I finished adjusting the gaps the other day. In addition to making the gaps better, I realized that the OE lower windshield trim now fits, both side windows fit better (perhaps the best they can ever get), I tightened the front bumper bolts that weren't tight enough (oops!), and the doors shut fantastically.

If the car hadn't been painted already, I could have tightened the gaps a bit better—but what's done is done. Everything considered, this task was worthwhile.

Driver's side:








Passenger's side:







(I should mention that the flash is brutal and lights up the voids considerably. Looks better in person!)

Ready For A (Small) Change...

I have a LeCarra steering wheel and hub on my '66 that looks and fits great. But I decided to change up the horn button a bit. I bought a metal cover and trim ring for covering the black plastic horn button. I bought the cover and trim ring directly from LeCarra. I was not able to find a nice metal horn button that had the Ford two-contact style for the horn...











I removed the LeCarra horn button with a pick. It is only attached around the perimeter and pops off easily. I cleaned the black plastic and the back of the new metal trim with adhesive cleaner.











I attached the new metal pieces with some good 3M double-sided emblem tape. I suppose a good adhesive would work here too, but this was less messy and permanently temporary in case I want to go back...











 I still have not decided what to do for a horn button emblem, so for now I am using the standard LeCarra button emblem stuck on here. Looks pretty good.

A Not-So-Instant Replay: Part IV

I'm finishing up the tightening of the door and fender gaps. I was side-tracked the past couple weeks with painting a garage for a friend.











But I have two quick pix of the fender bolts. The bolts show the marks left by the previous fender position about 3/16" forward of the new position. I was also able to install the bottom OE window trim that would not fit previously since the fenders were positioned too high and forward.











The passenger fender moved back a bit further than the driver's side. I already used a bit of touchup paint to hide the marks on this side...

A Not-So-Instant Replay: Part III

I got the doors fixed up this weekend, adjusting the door-to-quarter gap for width and flatness, as well as the door-to-rocker gap for consistency and flatness. When the hinges were moved (pretty considerably), I then put a steady bead of permanently flexible, clear silicone along the top and leading edge of the hinges for waterproofing. (Originally, this area was covered in factory "goop" brushed on to seal it before paint.)

The worked gaps are much better now, and the doors open and shut just great, particularly the passenger door. On the passenger door I also was able to close that gap by the handle pretty well. Since the door was too far in at the upper left corner, I loosened the hinge bolts on the door and pushed in the lower right corner. The lower right corner was a little too far out anyway, and this popped out the opposite offending edge.












The funny thing is that the side windows are perfect now. They fit just great without any modifications. They were a bit sloppy before, but moving the doors tightened the window gaps just right.

And a photo of the rest of the parts (not including the bumper).

A Not-So-Instant Replay: Part II

It actually didn't take long to get to this point. In addition to the removal of what you see in the pix, the interior door panels and kick panels are removed.











I tried to remove pieces in big "chunks"—such as the bumper with brackets attached, and the grill with the surround and headlight buckets attached. Hopefully, I can get it reinstalled like that too. :-)











 If there are no surprises I hope to have tighter gaps and a re-reassembled car here in the next couple weeks.

A Not-So-Instant Replay: Part I

Since I reassembled the car there's been something bugging me. Well, a few things actually. The gaps around the doors weren't particularly tight and this caused the fender gaps to be too loose. In fact, besides looking lousy to someone who knows classic Mustangs, the panel misalignment caused the front windshield trim to fit poorly (and the original piece of lower trim does not fit at all.)

I was reading a classic car magazine the other day and in the classic car auction recap pages, the author mentioned a car at auction with "panel gaps so big a squirrel could fit through." So, that was the last straw! :-)

The passenger door is twisted a bit too—too far in at the handle area and too far out at the front lower corner. The passenger fender is too far forward so the headlight trim doesn't line up. The fenders are also too far out, needing to be brought closer to the hood. Speaking of the hood, it can be brought back towards the cowl when the fenders are right.





When I reassembled the car I used the pilot holes the body/paint guys drilled. Frankly, I didn't know any better at the time and was probably anxious to get the car done. :-) Now, I will be closing as many gaps to 1/8" as I can (except for the front door gaps—maybe 3/16" on those.) Right now all the gaps are at least 3/16" and one is 1/4".





I've been finding plenty of old photos online of original Mustangs and they really had good gaps from the factory. I don't know where these old cars got the reputation for poor panel gaps from the factory, but I haven't been seeing it.

2 + 2 = 4

The factory floor mats in the 2006 were a little small and there are only two for the front, none for the rear seats. I found a set of four for only $85, and they are much larger.

They also include the GT logo in silver and fit great. (Other logos are available too for a couple dollars more.)

The rear seat mats are quite large and look great too (without logos).

Back to Grill 57 in Garner

I briefly stopped by the monthly show at the Grill 57 in Garner, NC, today. It's actually a nice drive down there and back, going through downtown Raleigh. There are only a few shows left this year, so I figured I'd try to get to some of them.

>> Check out my photo album (77 pix!)

Char-Grill Car Show in Cary

I hadn't planned on going to another car show today. I'm still getting over a nasty cold-thing, but I dragged myself to a show about 30 minutes away, in my '66 in fact. The '66 received a fair bit of attention actually so that was cool. There were a few dozen cars there, but mainly classics. I ate a 1/2 pound Char-Grill cheeseburger while I was there, took photos, and left exhausted!

>> Check out my photo album (80 pix!)

MADD - Shifting Gears Road Rally and Car Show

I've been sick the past few days, so I just wasn't able to make it to the huge Auto Fair in Charlotte, about 3 hours away. But I had to get out of the house for a very short while, so I stopped by the "MADD - Shifting Gears Road Rally and Car Show" in Raleigh with my daughter. (She hasn't felt well either!) There were a handful of cars there when we were there.

>> Check out my photo album (26 pix!)

The Albatross Has (Finally) Dropped From Around My Neck...

Just like Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, the albatross hanging from my neck (an inoperable passenger brake light, in my case) has dropped into the ocean and freed me from my life of misery. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it seemed that way sometimes! :-)

A couple years ago I had noticed that my passenger rear taillight seemed to be not working properly. I didn't think too much of it since I had so much other work to do on the car as I disassembled much of it for paint. I did, however, ask the vendor of the LED sequential taillight kit to replace the passenger side unit. (They did.) I figured it would be fixed when I reassembled everything after paint and that would be that.

Fast forward a couple years. My car is done with paint, and it's pretty much assembled. I replaced just about all of the wiring and switches last year. But the passenger taillight is still dim when the lights are on, and the brake light only works (dimly) when the car is off. When the car is running, the brake light on that side does not work at all. To fix the light, I've wracked my brains and spent stupid money replacing (again) new wiring, taillight housings, the turn signal switch, headlight switch, and even flashers... (I did after all have my share of defective reproduction wiring and switches.)

So today, perhaps out of complete confusion and total despair, I swap in two regular ol' 1157 bulbs, and voila! the passenger tail light and brake light work... I guess I got two bad LED lights in a row for that side? I couldn't get the slick LED backup light bulbs to work either last year, so I stuck with the regular incandescent bulbs there. Just to complete the trifecta of LED aggravation, I removed the LED parking lights on the front of the car (which worked fine!) and went with the 1157s up there too.

So now the only LEDs in the car are in the gauges (which work fine.) And all my lights are operational. I also decided I'm not putting sequential taillights in the '06 like I was considering... Not sure of the moral of the story here—besides having a run of bad luck perhaps—but it's a relief for sure!

So Many Shows, So Little Time...

Today I stopped by two local car shows. The first was the Triangle Italian Motorsports Group Car Show in Brier Creek. I didn't take many photos since the kids were with me, but I did shoot a handful of Cobra kit cars and a particularly nice late-model Ferrari.

>> Check out my photo album (14 pix!)

Later in the day, I drove out to Char-Grill in Raleigh and saw dozens of classics, and a few late-model sports cars. The bagged old Ford truck (see above) was really nice. Interestingly, the dark blue '68 Mustang coupe in my photos was painted by the same shop that painted my '66.

>> Check out my photo album (90 pix!)

I've Got ESP! (And I Didn't Pay Too Much.)

My 2006 Mustang GT had a three-year, bumper-to-bumper warranty from the factory. For the 2006 model year there was no extended powertrain warranty included beyond that new car warranty. With the warranty set to expire late last month, I set about finding an extended warranty. Ford offers an extended service plan or ESP through their dealers. The ESP is offered for various time/mileage options and with a range of service options. I wanted a seven-year plan (starts on Day One, so four years remain now) and a mileage of 60k miles (44k more than where the car is today).

I found Anderson & Koch Ford out of Minnesota and they hooked me up with the best Ford ESP out there called Premium Care. Premium Care basically covers everything including the radio, but no interior or exterior trim pieces though. (See plan details online.) They offer this particular plan I selected for $960 (with a $100 deductible) since my car was still under the new car warranty, and there are a few options you can choose for a small additional cost. I went with a $50 deductible and first-day rental.

This is the exact same Premium Care plan the dealer will try to sell you when you buy a new Ford, but sold online here for much less $. The plan documents arrived a couple days later in the mail. If you are in the market for a Ford ESP warranty, I suggest checking them out. [Update: I had a small $350 repair done in October (a common TSB actually). The plan worked great as expected, I got a free rental car, and my total repair cost was only $50. Cool!]

And So It Begins...

I really don't intend to modify this car, but couldn't resist a set of body-colored mirror covers in Satin Silver. I ordered the covers a couple weeks ago, before I even owned the car... :-)

They were $80 and are installed semi-permanently with 3M tape underneath. They fit perfectly, and the mirror housing is recessed to accept the cover just right. I believe the 2010 Mustang has a similar cover from the factory, so this mod seemed like a good thing to do. I definitely like them a lot.

The Silver Bullet Arrives!

Less than 49 hours later, I'm back home with the 2006 Mustang! I had flown out of North Carolina Friday morning and arrived in Phoenix, AZ by 1pm. The seller of the car picked me up at the airport, which was great, and we went to the DMV to get a "drive-out tag" so the car would be legal on the way home. By 3pm I was en route to Raleigh, NC. I picked up Interstate 40 in Flagstaff, AZ, about 150 miles north of Phoenix, and drove I-40 for nearly 2000 miles this weekend. I then exited I-40 and picked up I-540 less than 20 miles from my house. I'm amazed at how long I-40 is and it was basically a straight shot from A to B.

If you've ever been driving through AZ you'll recognize a view like this. I made a similar cross-country drive many times about 20 years ago in college. This time though AZ had highway speed cameras set up in and around Phoenix. I think I got nailed at one -- will have to check the mail this week and next to see. Perhaps with a temporary, paper drive-out tag I won't get a ticket... :-) [Edit: It's 10/18 and no ticket arrived in the mail so I'm clear!]





I travelled through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennesee, and North Carolina. But here's Mustang, Oklahoma! From the highway signs it appears Garth Brooks is from around there. Further up the road was Troy Aikman's hometown... (It's funny, in the car on an insanely long drive, that stuff actually sounded interesting.)





Here's the Mustang at one of the many rest stops. The seller graciously had the car serviced before I picked it up and besides being spotless it ran just great. (In the photo check out the leprechaun dancing on the roof!)





Tennessee certainly had its share of hot rods on the roads. There might have been a car show somewhere this weekend since they were traveling Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning in pairs and small groups. Cool!





SLAMMED! And this is on the freeway at about 65mph.





And keeping up with Mustang, Oklahoma, here's Shelby, Tennessee. BTW, since I was just passing through, I ended up stopping in Memphis at Leonard's Pit Barbeque, which I had seen on TV. I recommend it if you are in the area and like good barbeque!





So the trip log looks like this: I drove about 600 miles Friday for the first (partial) day, and stopped at a rest stop in New Mexico to sleep for 2 hours around 2am Saturday. Then I woke up and started driving by 5am Saturday for another 1000 miles and actually stayed in a motel passed Memphis, Tennessee the second night about 10pm. Got up Sunday morning about 6:30, and was on the road by 7am. Arrived in Raleigh tonight before 7pm after stopping for a couple good, inexpensive meals during the 600 or so easy miles. The car got about 26mpg according to the on-board info display.

>> Check out my photo album (33 pix!)

So here are my expenses this weekend: Delta flight from NC to AZ, $160 (I lucked out on the Delta website saving about $250 for a great flight); drive-out tag at DMV, $15; food and various road trip supplies, $55; fuel, $250 (I didn't write down either one or two fill-ups on Saturday, so I added $65 for two just in case); lodging, $58 (roach on motel room wall included for no extra charge) -- making it home in two days for $538 when a (top-notch) enclosed shipper normally takes a week and charges $1450, priceless!